10 Great Songs By Side Projects

Being in a band can sometimes feel like working for a company. A bunch of people come together for one common goal...whatever that goal is.  While it's true most bands are a business at the end of the day, there are still artists within that business and they more often than not need to let some creativiity out. If for some reason they feel it's not getting out in the band they're in, a side project is often the answer. Sometimes they join forces with other musicians or simply spit something out on their own. Here are 10 Great Songs by some of these Side Projects.

1. The Postal Service - "Sleeping In"

Ben Gibbard became a well known feature in the American Alt-rock scene with his band Death Cab For Cutie. After he helped out on Dntel's album Life Is Full Of Possibilities he and Jim Tamborello (producer of Dntel) began mailing each other pieces of music and The Postal Service was born.  Their debut album (and only album to date) Give Up was released in 2003 to rave reviews. Featuring poppy synth beats being fused with introspective and honest lyrics it left a massive congregation of fans wanting more. 10 years later they'd get their wish when The Postal Service released 2 new tracks to commemorate the 10th year anniversary.

2. Probot - "Shake Your Blood"

Dave Grohl is one of those guys who probably releases music even in his dreams. Getting his feet wet as the drummer in Nirvana, Grohl would rise to the top and sit on the throne of 90's rock as the front man of Foo Fighters. Feeling he still wasn't getting his heavy metal itch scratched he unveiled Probot in 2004. Probot was Grohl's love letter to the metal scene and wrote the majority of the songs on the album with certain heavy acts in mind. On the song 'Shake Your Blood' Motorhead front man Lemmy, contributed the bass lines and wrote the lyrics he sang. Lemmy figured it took him about 10 minutes.

3. Puscifer - "The Humbling River"

Some people need a side project to express themselves differently from how their original band is perceived. If your Maynard Keenan you need a side project to escape from your side project. Keenan known primarily as the front man for Metal band Tool, started A Perfect Circle in 2000 as a get away from that. In 2003 he contributed a song to the Underworld soundtrack and released it under the moniker Puscifer. Since then any music he feels doesn't fit within the hemispheres of either Tool or APC are released as Puscifer.

4. Black Star - "Definition"

In 1998 two already established MCs in the world of Hip-Hop got together and gave us the gift of Black Star. They were Mos Def and Taleb Kweli. In a time when the turmoil of the East Coast/West Coast rap battles cumulated with deaths of Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur, Black Star came in to raise awareness of the dangers of idolizing such a lifestyle and were also praised for their social and political messages in their lyrics. Though it wasn't a chart smashing album the respect it gained inside and outside of Hip Hop was immeasurable.

5. Hot Snakes - "If Credit's What Matters, I'll Take The Credit"

Sometimes what was intended to be a side project grows into something much more permanent. Hot Snakes was started in 2000 by John Reis of Rocket From The Crypt. Along with members from other bands like Drive Like Jehu, Obits and Sultans he released Automatic Midnight in 2000 and it also became the first record released on his own Swami label. Hot Snakes would go on to release 2 more albums in 2002 and 2004. To this day they still continue to pop up here and there for "reunion" shows, even though they never really broke up, because they were always only a side project.

6. Foxboro Hot Tubs - "Mother Mary"

Typically a side project comes along when a single member of a band feels the need to break away and try something new, or simply do a solo project. In the case of The Foxboro Hot Tubs an entire band simply changed their name for one album, that band was Green Day. The garage-rock pseudo-group came from a late night recording session and also includes Kevin Preston along with all 3 members of Green Day. Originally they tried to pass themselves off as a new up and coming group, but Billie Joe Armstrong's unmistakable voice gave them away. The name Foxboro Hot Tubs comes from an unfinished housing development Green Day used to hang out in a drink as youths

7. Blood Orange - "Chamakay"

Dev Hynes is a British singer, composer and producer known for his work in Lightspeed Champion and also his involvement with folk act Bright Eyes. In 2009 Hynes started working on an electronica project and named it Blood Orange. With a few of his other acts either finished or on hiatus Blood Orange gained more and more attention. To date he has release 2 Blood Orange albums including the critically acclaimed Cupid Deluxe in 2013.

8. Eagles Of Death Metal - "Wanna Be In LA"

Writing, recording and releasing music is another automatic function of Josh Homme, like breathing or blinking. Known best as the hulking front man of Queens of the Stone Age, one of his first side projects was the hilariously named Eagles Of Death Metal. Though he famously quipped that he didn't have a side project and was actually just in two bands at the same time. Their most successful album was 2008's Heart On. Homme always started Them Crooked Vultures with fellow musical schizo Dave Grohl.

9. Fort Minor - "Where'd You Go"

Linkin Park were one of the biggest heavy metal acts of the 2000's. Known for crunching power chords and throat slicing screams, some of their charm came from the bits of hip-hop that got occasionally tossed itnto their songs. Mike Chioda was the guy responsible for that, or "the guy who raps in Linkin Park songs" so it should come to the surprise of no one that he released a hip-hop album himself under the moniker Fort Minor. The Rising Tied was released in 2005 and reviews were generally favourable. Chioda consulted with his friend and former collaborator Jay-Z about the album, though I don't believe Jay appears on the record.

10. Box Car Racer - "There Is"

Jason Newsted might be able to sympathize with Box Car Racer. When Newsted felt his creativity wasn't getting out enough in Metallica and front man James Hetfield was not onboard with one of his side project's moving to the next level, Newsted walked. Similarly in Blink 182, Tom Delonge (guitars/vox) and Travis Barker (drums) felt a bit confined to the pop-punk brand of Blink and started playing a more acoustic oriented style. The third member of Blink Mark Hoppus resented that Delonge had not wanted him in the group feeling it would turn into just another Blink 182 album under Hoppus' control. Delonge also claimed Barker was only asked to join so he wouldn't have to hire a studio drummer. After all these years, and only one Boxcar Racer album to speak of, this little side project is still a point of contention between the members of Blink. Additionally it was one of the alleged reasons for their initial break up.

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JZ