Mystik Spiral is a rock band formed by Trent Lane and Jesse Moreno. Drummer Max Tyler and bass player Nicholas Campbell are also members. The band is known in Lawndale and its surrounding areas. They are an alternative rock/alternative metal band: sources call it "post-alterna-grunge" or "trance punk." Most of their songs aim for screeds on the tortured human condition, to a ludicrous degree.
They often introduce themselves as, "We're Mystik Spiral, but we're thinking of changing the name." Some of the alternate names have included: "Helpful Corn" and "Something-Something Explosion." They also wondered if it would help if they "spelled Mystik with two Ys." Despite this, the band's name never officially changes during the show's run.
The Band's History[]
Musical Influences[]
The band is mainly influenced by alternative rock and alternative metal. Trent's name itself has been suspected of deriving from Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, with the name Mystik Spiral deriving from the Nine Inch Nails album, The Downward Spiral. Trent's appearance also largely resembles Perry Farrell of Jane's Addiction.
Trent can be seen listening to "Clown" by Korn in "The Invitation". Jane also mentions that Trent has been practicing the intro to "Come As You Are" by Nirvana (not a difficult bit to learn) over and over and over. In "Road Worrier", Trent and Jesse are heard listening to "A.D.I.D.A.S." by Korn, as well as "I Don't Know Anything" by Mad Season. In "That Was Then, This Is Dumb", Trent has Korn and Prodigy posters on his wall. Trent and Jesse also compare the CD and vinyl editions of Frank Zappa's song "My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama". In multiple shots of Trent's room, we see he also has Sisters of Mercy and Bauhaus posters on his wall. In "Pierce Me", Trent is listening to "Cut You In" by Jerry Cantrell as he is driving Daria to Dega Street.
According to Reburb, they are:
"Jane's Addiction, Morrissey, The Doors (the band, not the movie, which sucked), Cocteau Twins, Zappa, NIN, Nirvana, Gregorian Chants, thunder, the Banana Splits."
The MTV website Reburb filled in the background of the band:[]
The roots of Mystik Spiral were planted when 12-year-old Trent Lane met musical soulmate Jesse Moreno at summer school (well, around the corner from summer school). These two young iconoclasts discovered that they shared a mutual love of rock and roll, water pistols, and gum.
With acoustic guitars donated to the band by Mr.Vincent Lane (a big draw on the singer songwriter circuit of early-1970s Ann Arbor, Michigan -- see Daybreak Dreamin') the two boys began experimenting with unorthodox riffs and jarring, atonal juxtapositions. Eventually Mr. Lane clued them into the concept of tuning, and things took off from there.
Performing for family and friends as 'Wax Lypps,' 'Indyan Burn,' and occasionally 'Boa Constryctyr,', the boys developed a repertoire of angst-driven power pop and Weird Al Yankovic covers. They decide to turn electric when they realized that it would be louder.
In high school, they teamed up with drummer Max Tyler after he answered a notice placed in a local paper. Attracted by the pared-down, zen-like simplicity of the ad ('They charge by the word,' Trent notes), Max blew everyone away with his energy, drive, and ownership of a drum kit. The threesome played numerous basements throughout their teen years, developing their signature style of pioneering 'trance punk.' They changed their name to Mystik Spiral and immediately began reconsidering it. But the name stuck, since Jesse had already written it in metallic marker on his guitar case.
The lineup became complete when the threesome spotted Nicholas Campbell hitchhiking along the side of the road in 1996, and the rest is history (including a five-hour wait for a tow truck when The Tank broke down a few yards later.)
In the late 90's, Jesse briefly also appeared with the group Bats With Guns, which later splintered into Cats With Gats and Bats with Bats. Trent has worked on many solo projects over the years, including an unfinished tone poem inspired by the weather, a yet-to-be-completed opera about the life of actor Nick Nolte, and an idea for a sort of hybrid comic book/CD sampler that he'll get around to eventually. Nicholas and Max wish people would pay more attention to them.
Members[]
| Member | Role |
|---|---|
| Trent Lane | vocals and guitar |
| Jesse Moreno | rhythm guitar |
| Max Tyler | drums |
| Nicholas Campbell | bass guitar |
In The Daria Database(circa Season 2), Jesse's younger brother Danny was the self-proclaimed "recording secretary" for their fan club—meaning he does all the writing for it—and was desperate to become their fifth member, thinking it would happen "next year." A year later, on the website's Fan Club section, Danny goes unmentioned.
"Reburb" says Jane used to be "director of band graphics until she got fed up with the whole spiral direction controversy and quit."
MTV's websites mention that Max and Nick are fed up of Trent and Jesse getting all the attention.
The Band's "Career"[]
They are generally portrayed in a negative light—in their very first mention in Road Worrier, Daria said the name sounded like a Doors tribute band and Jane laughed that they wish they were that good—and the few of their songs that are actually heard are considered to be rubbish. Even Trent once said the songs in the second set were so lame, he'd leave the gig if he wasn't in the band (Jane's Addition).
Despite all this, they keep getting gigs, both in Lawndale and elsewhere. They've performed at Brittany Taylor's birthday party, a kids party in Fremont, the Club Glamour Lounge near Ashfield, various dives across Carter County, and regularly in Lawndale at both McGrundy's Brew Pub and The Zon. Their website states "We are available for weddings, sweet sixteens, Bar Mitzvahs, acquittal parties, keggers. Not too early in the day, please...Cash, check, or barter accepted." A genre magazine named Smudge Magazine gave them a (ludicrously purple prosed) favourable review, calling them a "convincingly tormented quartet," while Muck & Rage gave them a bad review because the reviewer was a surly douche and thought Trent looked like the type of boy his ex-girlfriend liked.
They had a website from 1999, fronted by Trent, where you could book them, join their fan club ("Make a stand against corporate rock (until we sign a record deal)"), and see their lyrics. Max set it up. It's very clear on the site that they need money badly.
They have never released a CD. The IIFY Post-Movie Chat had Trent state they have a 15-track CD in the works "and we only have 14 left to go"; in 2001, their website said they needed to agree on the cover art and get the drum kit "out of hock". They have released a vinyl single of "Behind My Eyelids" (with B-side "Icebox Woman") under Plush Records (Daria Diaries) but on their website they admit many shops refuse to order it.
Is It College Yet? gave them a Future Ego: being members of a church choir (while Trent was a US Senator).
Songs[]
- Behind My Eyelids
- Every Dog Has His Day
- Freaking Friends
- Icebox Woman
- Ow! My Face
- Little Sister
- Mr. Normal
- From the Futon
- Been Workin' on the Railroad (cover version)
- Paingasm
- Incontinent Love
The fan club card
Fan Club[]
Mystik Spiral has a fan club! It was first seen in The Daria Database, run by Jesse's brother Danny Moreno ("recording secretary"). The Mystik Spiral Fan Club had a newsletter sent out to "Spiralmaniacs": one page personally typed by Danny, and released very infrequently.
A year later, on Spiral's website (run by Trent), you could join their fan club online and get your own print-off membership card:
- You can show your support by joining our fan club. But what we really need is for you to come to our gigs. And not ask us to comp you when the cover is only three bucks. And if you could help us load the amps into The Tank, that would be excellent. Is there anyone out there with a CD burner?
- You can send your name to me via email after I get my account set up -- watch for an announcement. (I'm still working on thinking up a screen name. I've tried a bunch of them, but they were all taken. I can't believe there's someone else out there who knows the names of all those cartoon characters.)
Benefits of Membership[]
- One more cool thing in your wallet to show girls at a bar.
- Earn valuable frequent flyer points (pending).
- Show card at gig, receive special limited edition hand stamp.
- Make a stand against corporate rock (until we sign a record deal).
- You can buy us drinks after the show.
Spiral's Website[]
The website logo
It also doubled as Trent's homepage:
- Hey. I'm Trent Lane, lead singer and guitarist for Mystik Spiral. This is my homepage and the Spiral's virtual headquarters. I hope you get into it. Our drummer Max set it up. (He lent me a book that tells how to do HTML but I fell asleep every time I tried to read it. I mean, what kind of digital "revolution" is it when you still need books?)
- Soon you'll be able to play an interactive multimedia role-playing game based on the adventures of our band. I have a lot of cool ideas for it and I'm gonna get around to writing them down soon. So check back in a couple of days. Months, whatever.
WHO WE ARE:
- Mystik Spiral performs a raw, naked brand of searing, anarchic sound. Our songs are stark reminders of the tortured human condition -- howling sonic poems of raw intensity. We will also play the hora upon request.
- WHAT WE DO:
- We are available for weddings, sweet sixteens, bar mitzvahs, acquittal parties, keggers. Not too early in the day, please. Sorry, we don't wear suits and ties, no matter how much you pay us. (Though Nicholas will DJ in a white tuxedo for a reasonable price. He's got a kid to support. He gives out keychains and other prizes. It's really kind of fun.)
- HOW TO BOOK US:
- Cash, check, or barter accepted. (I'm in the market for a beat-up motorcycle jacket or an ashtray in the shape of a Scottie dog.) Call 555-3877. If no one picks up, try again later. I probably kicked the phone over by mistake.
They also had wallpapers, sample songs, and lyric sheets:
- The music files on this page are digital, which kills me. To hear the Spiral through the rich, warm tones of analog recording, buy our 45 rpm single "Behind My Eyelids" in your local record shop. When you learn it's not there, ask the guy at the counter to order it. When he refuses, don't take it too hard. Good try, man.
- Our full-length CD will be out soon, if we can agree on the cover art and get the drum kit out of hock.
Gigs[]
Lawndale
- The Zon
- McGrundy's Pub
Spin-off Show[]
- For a specific synopsis, see Mystik Spiral pilot episode.
After the end of Daria, a pilot script was written for a spin-off starring the band. Mystik Spiral was originally reported to be in production in at least one article about Is It College Yet?, but then the closure of MTV Animation was announced. The script wasn't seen until it was included on the Daria DVD boxset.
The pilot involved the band being conned by Max's brother into moving into a rundown house in the "cool town" Mirage, where they might hit the big time. The style of humour shown was different to Daria, lacking a sarcastic 'straight man' character and with some more surreal gags (Jesse managing to turn his new room into the exact same tip as his old one). It featured no Daria characters (outside of Spiral) and instead introduced new ones; whether it would have later shown any older ones (or at least Jane) at some point is unknown. Trent's voice actor Alvaro J. Gonzalez, in an interview with the Sheep's Fluff, said the show would have had the band "embark on a cross-country tour shedding riffs and experiencing all that life on the road has to offer."
Some new running gags and facets were introduced for the band members, such as Jesse turning out to be somehow capable of attracting girls with ease. Gonzalez also thought the spin-off would show whether Trent and the others really did just need a chance to be successful.
Glenn Eichler said in 2010 that "my only regret is that I never got to hear 'Incontinent Love' set to music."