Alien Ant Farm formed in Riverside, Southern California, in 1995, originally consisting of Dryden Mitchell (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Terry Corso (lead guitar), Tye Zamora (bass) and Mike Cosgrove (drums). Their name comes from Corso’s desk job inspired daydreams – “…I thought to myself, wouldn't it be cool if the human species were placed on earth and cultivated by alien intelligence? Maybe the aliens added us to an atmosphere that was suitable for us, and they've been watching us develop and colonize, kind of like what a kid does with an ant farm.” Following the release of 2 EPs (1996’s “Singles: $100 EP” and 1998’s “Love Songs EP”), their independent underground album, “Greatest Hits”, won the Best Independent Album at the L.A. Music Awards in 1999. However, it wasn’t until they signed with DreamWorks SKG in 2000 (after forging a friendship with Papa Roach) that their debut studio album, “ANThology”, was released.
In 2001, their cover of Michael Jackson’s "Smooth Criminal" got to number 1 on the US Modern Rock chart, number 1 in Australia and New Zealand, and number 3 in the UK. Follow up single "Movies" was a Top 5 hit in the UK, a Top 20 hit on the US Modern Rock chart and a Top 20 hit in New Zealand, and “ANThology” eventually went platinum, peaking at number 11 on the US Billboard chart. 2002 saw the band contribute "Bug Bytes" to the first “Spider-Man” soundtrack, however in May of that year the band was involved in a bus accident while touring in Spain. The driver, 26-year-old Christopher Holland, was killed, and Dryden Mitchell suffered a fractured C2 vertebra.
Alien Ant Farm’s second studio album, “truANT”, produced by Stone Temple Pilots’ Robert and Dean DeLeo, was released in 2003, climbing to number 42 on the US Billboard chart, supported by the single “Glow” which achieved moderate success with a Top 20 position in New Zealand. However, 2 months after the release of “truANT”, their record label, DreamWorks, closed its doors. Later that year, citing ‘irreconcilable differences’, guitarist Corso split with the band, joining Powerman 5000 - Victor Camacho, a long time friend of the band, was immediately enlisted, enabling the completion of the remainder of the Truant tour. Meanwhile, Universal Music bought DreamWorks, assigning the band to its Geffen Records label.
In 2004, the band recorded the song "Dark in Here" for “The Punisher” video game, and in 2005, former Spiderworks guitarist Joe Hill was named as the long term replacement for Terry Corso. Ongoing issues with Geffen though meant that, after working on an album with producer Jim Wirt (who recorded their independent debut release “Greatest Hits”), the album’s release was shelved, and Geffen subsequently denied the band the rights to release it themselves. Undeterred, the band hit the road and made bootleg copies of the album, dubbed “3rd Draft”, available to all of their fans. In late 2005, Geffen finally agreed to let the band release the album on another Universal label, Universal Music Enterprises, and in May 2006, “Up In The Attic” was released digitally on iTunes, with first single "Forgive and Forget" the only track that was added to the original unofficial “3rd Draft” release.
Tye Zamora left the band to go to college in April 2006, and was replaced on bass by Alex Barreto (formerly of Chain of Strength, Hardstance, and Inside Out). In July 2006, “Up In The Attic was released worldwide, along with “BUSted: The Definitive DVD” and in 2007, second single "Around the Block" was released on the iTunes Store.
In February 2008, the band posted a statement on their website saying all the original members of the band were back together, revealing that the band had ‘unofficially broken up’ in 2007 due to the fact that 2006's “Up In The Attic” was their least successful album (number 114 in the US Billboard chart). It had appeared that they had broken up again since Dryden Mitchell had joined/formed the band Send the Sages, but the band's MySpace profile has been redone with a new layout, and an announcement that new material was being worked on.