Side projects exist in music for myriad reasons. They can be a way to blow off some steam from the stress of your full-time gig, a way to explore ideas that wouldn’t fit your usual artistic vision, or simply as a chance to get creative with some new folks for a bit.
While seemingly low stakes and low commitment by nature, that’s not to say a side project can’t make music that rivals it members’ main band. In fact, some of our favorite records are the ones that were made under casual, jam-when-you-can scenarios.
We asked Revolver readers to rank the greatest side pieces, and these were the top five vote-getters.
Mad Season
While Mad Season’s lineup is bursting with Seattle grunge royalty, their story actually started a few states over in Minneapolis, when Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready met bassist John Baker Saunders in rehab. The pair bonded, and as soon as they got back to the West Coast, they set up rehearsal time with Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin and began crafting stream-of-conscious bits of blues-rock fluidity. Soon after, they brought in Alice in Chains vocalist Layne Staley and started playing shows around town as Mad Season.
The band’s lone full-length, 1995’s Above, is by no means a cross-pollination of Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and Screaming Trees — there’s not a whole lotta stadium-massive anthems or bleak-and-bleary grunge-gloom to behold. Instead, songs like “River of Deceit” and “Wake Up” offered up gentler, psilocybin-tongued explorations of jazz, folk rock and Hendrix-ian guitar flourishes.
A low-key cult classic with a legendary pedigree.
††† (Crosses)
Deftones vocalist Chino Moreno has stepped outside of his beloved main gig many times over the years — including work with Team Sleep, Palms, and Saudade. While all great in their own right, the side project of his that’s developed the most fervent and faithful fanbase has got to be ††† (Crosses).
Founded in 2011 by Moreno and Far guitarist Shaun Lopez, ††† have explored various elements of gothy darkwave and hazy electronic beatwork. Across two albums and multiple EPs, they’ve made music that appeals to folks who dig the nocturnal vibe of Deftones, the high-drama futurism of Depeche Mode, and more.
While ††† have maintained an off-and-on status over the years, each time they return is a blessing.
A Perfect Circle
A Perfect Circle exists, in a way, because two roommates just wanted to start jamming together. Maynard James Keenan was already killing it in TOOL when guitar tech Billy Howerdel moved into his place. When Howerdel started showing the singer some demos he’d been working on, the vocalist knew he wanted a piece of the action. Starting with the dark-edged alt-metal melodicism of 2000’s Mer de Noms, the pair and a rotating cast of musicians began building an impressive legacy of their own.
While APC went on an extended hiatus in the late Aughts — with Keenan focusing on TOOL and another one of his side projects, Puscifer — he and Howerdel returned in 2018 with Eat the Elephant and have maintained a reasonably steady presence the past several years alongside moonlighting members of Smashing Pumpkins, Failure and more.
Nailbomb
Few Nineties metal albums pierce the skull quite like Nailbomb’s thrash and industrial masterpiece, Point Blank.
The project was the brainchild of Sepultura’s Max Cavalera and Fudge Tunnel’s Alex Newport, with their no-holds-barred debut pivoting between full-speed terror-thrashing (“Wasting Away”), cold and calculated mechano-metal (“Vai Toma No Cu”) and disgustingly bounced noise-rock (“Cockroaches”).
Adding to Nailbomb’s top-tier side-project status, Cavalera brought two Sepultura bandmates, his brother/drummer Iggor Cavalera and guitarist Andreas Kisser, aboard to bump up the insanity of the studio sessions, as well as Fear Factory riff lord Dino Cazares.
Point Blank remains as bleak and menacing ever, with Max reminding us as much with the band’s recent reunion set (albeit without Newport).
Down
Down are not only one of the greatest side projects of all time, but arguably one of metal’s most pure and perfect unions, in general.
Brought together over a shared love of Sabbath, Southern rock and sweet leaf, the band’s lineup has been steered by Pantera’s Philip Anselmo, Corrosion of Conformity’s Pepper Keenan, Crowbar’s Kirk Windstein and Eyehategod’s Jimmy Bower since the early Nineties. Since then, a revolving cast of bass players has included Crowbar’s Todd Strange, Pantera’s Rex Brown and Goatwhore’s Pat Bruders.
While iconic, Down have never been the most active of bands — they’ve been on an off/on schedule since the early days, and it’s been a full decade since we’ve received new music from the troupe.
Nevertheless, they’re the ultimate side project, fully beloved even when they’re not stoning the crow.