In 1994, 16volt skipped the industry-standard “sophomore jinx” and released the slightly more raw-sounding “Skin.” This release brought more praise and won features in Alternative Press, Kerrang!, CMJ, Industrial Nation, B-Side, and more. “Skin” reached the #2 slot on Rolling Stone’s alternative charts and charted everywhere from the United States (CMJ) to France, Germany, Ireland, and Japan. 16volt hit the road again for club shows and radio junkets and destroyed it everywhere they showed up.
16volt’s third release came in 1996 by the name of “LetDownCrush.” Co-produced by Jeff “Critter” Newell (Ministry, Filter) and featuring special guests Stella (Stella Soleil, Sister Soleil), William Tucker (Ministry), Marc LaCorte, and Bryan Black (Haloblack, Motor, Xlover), the release once again proved that 16volt was a major force to be reckoned with. Interviews and features followed in huH, B-Side, Alternative Press, Kerrang!, CMJ, Industrial Nation, Guitar Player, and many more respected national rags. LDC charted again, this time at #1 on the Rolling Stone alternative charts and globally on college and commercial radio. This release also marked the debut of 16volt’s national touring career. Vowing to stay on the road for as long as possible, Powell put together a lineup that would tour for over nine months straight in a custom van, making their way around the United States several times with the likes of Chemlab, Bile, Acumen Nation, and Korn.
The touring paid off and interest in 16volt grew. The band returned home to be wined and dined by much larger labels. In 1998, along with full-time members Mike Peoples (Skrew) on bass and Kraig Tyler (Chemlab, Crazytown) on guitar, 16volt signed with Slipdisc/Mercury/PolyGram and got to work on the band’s fourth release, “SuperCoolNothing.” Produced by Bill Kennedy (Nine Inch Nails, Megadeth, Sepultura) and Joseph Bishara (Drown, Danzig), SCN was the band’s most aggressive album to date. This time, Powell and Co. got a hand from special guest Chris Vrenna (Nine Inch Nails, Tweaker) on drums. Upon completion of the album and the most intense promotion schedule to date, they hit the road adding John "Servo" DeSalvo (KMFDM, Chemlab) on drums, playing shows with the likes of Orgy, The Flys, and Candlebox. During the first two weeks of touring, however, Mercury/PolyGram was purchased by Seagram’s, creating a ripple that would send 16volt back home and cause the firing of the entire Mercury team slated to work on the SCN record promotion.
Two weeks after the chaos, SCN was released with no promotion, no touring, and no support. 16volt quickly began to search for another label to pick up the pieces, but it was too late and the mess too large. After close to a year of fighting, lawsuits, and the inability to make something good come from the bad, Powell shut down operations and pulled the plug. Kraig moved on to join Crazytown and Mike and Servo carried on with their own side projects.
After a long and well-deserved hiatus, the band convinced an investor to buy back SCN from the dead labels; they then re-released it on their own as “SuperCoolNothing V2.0”, a.k.a. "SCN2.0." The double-disc set included remixes by Filter, Orgy, Deadsy, and Crazy Town, in addition to some demo tracks that the band had started working on. Powell gathered the troops sans Tyler and began to mount a comeback.
Shortly after the re-release, 16volt was tapped by Sony to provide the soundtrack to a new PlayStation 2 game called “Primal.” At the end of production, 16volt had furnished 12 tracks (The Official Primal Combat Soundtrack) and was actually digitized into the game as the opening-cinematics band.
To celebrate the release of “Primal,” 16volt hit the road in 2002 with KMFDM for a North American whirlwind, completing 34 shows in 36 days. Most of the dates were sold out, and by KMFDM’s own admission the tour was one of the best packages they had ever put out. 16volt returned home on the tour bus and inked a deal with Capitol Records. The band then spent 11 months working on demos and being bombarded with pressure to compromise, which ultimately forced Powell to walk away and head back underground.
In 2005, Powell inked a one-off deal with Cleopatra Records to release 16volt’s first-ever “best of” collection. The double-disc set titled “The Best of Sixteen Volt™” features fan-picked tracks on one disc and the first-ever live release of 16volt on disc two. Powell cleaned house, went into isolation, and began working on the next phase of 16volt.
In August of 2006, Powell had a new record under his belt called “FullBlackHabit” that he began shopping to indie labels. He found a new home at Metropolis Records and inked a worldwide multi-album deal. The new record, slated for release in early 2007, features guests appearances by Paul Raven (Ministry, Killing Joke, Prong); Steve White (KMFDM); Bildeaux (Necrofix, OHN); Kraig Tyler (Chemlab, Virus23, Crazytown); Scott Robison (Drøne); and Jason Bazinet (SMP).
In the Spring of 2008 16volt, with live members Steve White (KMFDM), Jason Bazinet (Chemlab, SMP), and the return of 16volt veteran Mike Peoples hit the road for a highly successful U.S./Canada tour. Playing 28 shows in 30 days the band once again set it's mark to a high level by playing to larger than expected crowds on all stops of the tour.
On September 8, 2009, 16volt released "American Porn Songs" on Metropolis Records. It has met with nothing less than very positive reviews by fans and pros alike, and is generally being heralded as their most kick butt work to date. It is yet another solid record, featuring the band's trademark layering of heavy, aggressive guitars over pummeling electronics and beats.
16volt hit the road again in the Spring of 2010 along with Chemlab and Left Spine Down on the highly energized and successful MIDI Ghetto Tour. Included was a stop at the Kinetik Festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, playing alongside Leather Strip, Imperitive Reaction, and more.
16volt released the studio album, Beating Dead Horses on May 10th, 2011. Beating Dead Horses was 16volt’s third album on industrial powerhouse label Metropolis Records. It was produced by Eric Powell and mixed by Shaun Thingvold (Strapping Young Lad, Front Line Assembly, Lamb of God).
In support of the albumm Beating Dead Horses, 16volt hit the road in the late spring 2011 for a 4-week tour of the United States with industrial legends My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult, as part of the Sinister Whisperz Tour. They immediately followed up with a west coast tour with KMFDM.
The newest album, The Negative Space will be released on September 7, 2016. Joining Powell is Erik Gustafson on Guitar and Steve Hickey on Bass and Backup Vocals.
For more information, visit http://16volt.com and to get the latest news as it is announced, follow @16volt on Twitter.
And You Are All Alone Again
16volt Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The darkness filled from wax to pin.
The faces blur in a pool of sweat.
The subs keep pumping out the idle threats.
The sun comes early when you waste the dusk.
Your head still swimming on a plane of dust.
The sound pulls out as it starts to fade.
Is this a dream or are you awake?
Don't you know the summer's gone?
The rain won't end and you are alone again.
Your mind is hotter than the fire of sun.
Heat so hot that you come undone.
Stale synapses blown like a fuse.
Gonna collapses from overuse.
Bodies melt together in sync with tone.
Pound to the rhythm come skin and bone.
Swollen to smolder and ashes to dust.
They grind forever in hyper lust.
Don't you know the summer's gone?
The rain won't end and you are alone again.
(Backwards Stuff)
Don't you know the summer's gone?
The rain won't end and you are alone again.
Don't you know the summer's gone?
The rain won't end and you are alone again.
The lyrics of "And You Are All Alone Again" by 16volt paint a picture of an individual in a club, lost in the music and surrounded by people but still alone with their thoughts. The first verse describes the sensory overload of flashing lights, thumping subwoofers, and sweaty faces, creating a disorienting atmosphere that blurs the line between reality and dream. The chorus reinforces the feeling of isolation by emphasizing that the summer is gone and rain won't end, leaving the subject alone once again.
The second verse delves deeper into the mind of the singer, describing their mental state as "hotter than the fire of the sun" and their synapses "blown like a fuse." Despite being surrounded by bodies "melting together in sync with tone," the singer is overwhelmed and about to collapse. The final line of the verse - "they grind forever in hyper lust" - conjures images of frenzied hallucinations, further blurring the line between reality and dream.
The backwards section at the end of the song only reinforces the chaotic, disorienting atmosphere created by the lyrics, with the repeated chorus seeming to mock the singer's isolation by emphasizing it repeatedly in reverse.
Line by Line Meaning
The lights bring color to a new heaven.
New experiences fill your world with vibrancy and excitement.
The darkness filled from wax to pin.
The darkness grows deeper and more ominous, like a candle burning to its last bit of wax.
The faces blur in a pool of sweat.
Intense emotions overwhelm you, causing faces to blur and merge together in a pool of sweat.
The subs keep pumping out the idle threats.
The harsh beats of the music only serve to reinforce negative thoughts and fears.
The sun comes early when you waste the dusk.
Time drags on when you waste the precious hours of the evening, leaving the morning to come too soon.
Your head still swimming on a plane of dust.
You feel disoriented and overwhelmed, clouded by an endless haze of confusion and uncertainty.
The sound pulls out as it starts to fade.
As the music fades, your sense of reality starts to slip away, leaving you feeling lost and alone.
Is this a dream or are you awake?
You question the boundaries between reality and your own imagination, unsure of what is real or not.
Don't you know the summer's gone?
Time passes too quickly, and moments of beauty slip away before we have time to fully appreciate them.
The rain won't end and you are alone again.
Despite the seeming permanence of negative emotions such as grief or loneliness, they are simply temporary states that will eventually pass.
Your mind is hotter than the fire of sun.
Your mind is consumed by intense emotions, burning as bright as the sun itself.
Heat so hot that you come undone.
The intensity of your emotions is overwhelming, and threatens to unravel your entire sense of self.
Stale synapses blown like a fuse.
Your brain feels fried, unable to process basic information due to exhaustion and overstimulation.
Gonna collapses from overuse.
Your body and mind are pushed to their limits, threatening to entirely collapse under the strain.
Bodies melt together in sync with tone.
Intense emotions and experiences can cause people to lose a sense of individuality, merging together in a shared experience.
Pound to the rhythm come skin and bone.
The music hits you hard, reverberating through your very core and affecting you on a physical as well as emotional level.
Swollen to smolder and ashes to dust.
Over time, the intensity of emotion wanes and fades, leaving behind little more than a memory of the experience.
They grind forever in hyper lust.
Moments of intense passion or emotion can feel never-ending, grinding on until it seems as if your entire life is consumed by their intensity.
Contributed by Michael N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.