The Outside World was born out of the wreckage of the grunge era, towards the late 90s. As bands like the Smashing Pumpkins and Stone Temple Pilots at least temporarily dropped like flies, the band realized that the old adage about wanting something done right applies particularly when you're a connaisseur. Pulling the members together was Mike's doing, and essentially consisted of collecting the first half-competent musicians he could find. In separate semi-inspired fits of teen angst, they developed and eventually rejected two band names, one for inadvertantly sounding too much like a beer, and the other for sounding too much like a generic Stabbing Westward song title.
After a brief hiatus while Mike took audio recording in college, the band reconvened in London, Ontario, spending a year playing open mic nights and discovering the perils of intense slacking and living away from parents. When it became obvious that the current state of things was untenable, the band more or less went their separate ways. Mike, Judd, and Gideon (me) more or less found that they were working on music in their free time ANYWAY, and that it wasn't as good without the others' input, and after another period of inactivity found themselves again writing music together.
In the years since, there have been several drummers and bassists, but none have quite shared the requisite mix of elitism and humility, blunt honesty and willingness to accept it in return, goodwill and black humour, and intensity of emotion in the music that makes someone truly a part of The Outside World. Some songs have been recorded here and there while there were members, others have been pieced together with me on 5 different tracks, or without drums, or with sequencers, but mostly we're biding our time until we can afford either studio time or possibly top-of-the-line V Drums. We have about two albums worth of material to get out and counting, so when that time comes, we'll be ready. Even if we don't have a bassist and/or drummer.
To the extent that we have a writing philosophy, it is simple: each song should genuinely express emotion, whether it's a soft piano song I wrote on my ex-girlfriend's piano, a layered piece about the soul-crushing view of work so much of society shares, or a heavy indictment of judgmental believers. Some might criticize this principle as self-indulgent, but I believe I do my best work when I'm doing it for myself, and not trying to conform to the whims of a public clamoring for the latest song with lyrics saying nothing but known by all the fans, "a good beat" that's simple enough that a 5-year-old could play or program it, and a video featuring one or more sets of perky breasts regardless of whether the artist in question is female. Our biggest influences include Pink Floyd, Radiohead, and the Matthew Good Band. We hope you enjoy our music as much as we do.
