The Hidden

The Hidden existed between 1991 and 1994, putting out two releases and recording enough material for an additional studio album, compilation album, and live album to be released posthumously. Hailing from northern Illinois and consisting of Brian McNally, Zackary Webb, Erik Peterson, and MX Skroch; the Hidden plied their trade in a suburban basement, a ghetto storefront, and a leaning house slowly sinking into a landfill. Playing frequent hometown shows, the band made the previously unknown Czar Bar into the place (for a few) to be. Taking to the road in a customized utility vehicle, the Hidden revealed themselves to the denizens of Dallas, Denver, and Albuquerque despite fire ants, influenza, and poverty.

In the beginning there was "Bone of Contention"; a cassette-only E.P./demo released in 1992 that contained four of the band's typical "powerrockalternometalcountrifieddevilballadpunk" type songs, and the title track which featured plaintive wailing behind archival news recordings of the discovery of Jeffrey Dahmer's apartment.

Then in 1993 the Hidden recorded a full-length CD called "Stop. I'm bleeding". An interested party financed the affair through the vehicle of "Iguana Trifle Recordings". This release contained most of "Bone of Contention" plus six new tracks. "Stop. I'm bleeding." showed the band's sound expanding, showing a tendency towards the epic (The Legendary Bolt Upright), the spastic (The Blanket) and the subdued (Sleep Spoons).

In the Summer of 1994 the Hidden recorded 17 new tracks and hit the road on a multiweek U.S. tour. This tour was turned into a video documentary titled "Soundmen, State Parks, and Open Sores" which to date has only been viewed by the Hidden and their associates. The songs that the Hidden recorded were slated to become an album called "Brave New Failure", but the previously mentioned tour wore the band down and they went their separate ways. "Brave New Failure" was finally released in 2006, though widespread distribution was neither sought nor achieved. This album captures the final period of the band's existence; as more complicated song structures, sudden stop-start dynamics, and off-time rhythms were becoming the foundations of the Hidden's sound.

The final audio records of the Hidden were released to a select few in 2007. �Chicago�s Thickest Band in the World� collects unreleased studio recordings, songs that never made it to the studio, cover tunes, and a helping of tour field recordings featuring antics and spoken word experiments. Also compiled in 2007, �Covered With Blood and Touring� collects twenty live tracks recorded at eleven concerts across the United States. Taken from video shot at the time, these remastered songs show the level of fervor that the Hidden was able to obtain.

~MX Skroch, August 2008