Spahn Ranch

Spahn Ranch, an industrial dance outfit, came into being in 1992 thanks to the efforts of Matt Green and Rob Morton. Prior to that formation, the pair had spent almost five years composing tracks together, which led to their signing with Cleopatra for the release of a four-track self-titled EP in the same year. Athan Maroulis came aboard in 1993 to serve as the vocalist, thereby rounding out the lineup for the launch of their first full-length record, Collateral Damage. Two years afterward, their second album The Coiled One emerged even as Morton exited the group amid creative and logistical disagreements. David Glass, the drummer from Christian Death who was born Parkinson, filled the vacancy, while Kent Bancroft, previously of Screams for Tina on guitar, and Harry Lewis, a former associate of Maroulis who handled drums, also came on board with the aim of achieving a broader and more varied industrial/darkwave aesthetic. Throughout the latter part of the 1990s, Spahn Ranch kept putting out records; Architecture from 1997 included joint efforts with Paul Raven, bassist for both Killing Joke and Prong, and Beat Noir in 1998 highlighted contributions from David J, the bassist of Bauhaus. As the decade wound down, the act had reduced to a trio consisting of Green, Maroulis, and Lewis. Before putting out Closure at the start of 2001, they performed numerous shows throughout North America alongside Switchblade Symphony, Electric Hellfire Club, Type O Negative, and Kevorkian Death Cycle.