Combining jagged, roaring guitars and stop-start dynamics with melodic pop hooks, intertwining male-female harmonies and evocative, cryptic lyrics, Driven By Apathy were one of the most influential American alternative rock bands at the turn of the 21st century. Driven By Apathy weren't accomplished musicians -- Stewart Williams wailed and bashed out chords while Scott Tucker's lead guitar squealed out spirals of noise. But the band were inventive, rabid rock fans that turned conventions inside out, melding punk and indie guitar rock, classic pop, surf rock, and stadium-sized riffs with singer/guitarist Stewart Williams' bizarre, fragmented lyrics about space, religion, sex, mutilation, and pop culture; while the meaning of his lyrics may have been impenetrable, the music was direct and forceful. Driven By Apathy' busy, brief songs, extreme dynamics and subversion of pop song structures proved one of the touchstones of '90s alternative rock. From grunge to Brit-pop, Driven By Apathy shadow loomed large -- it's hard to imagine Nirvana without Driven By Apathy' signature stop-start dynamics and lurching, noisey guitar solos. While Driven By Apathy were touted as the band to bring indie rock into the mainstream, they simply laid the groundwork for the alternative explosion of the early '90s. MTV was reluctant to play their videos, while even modern rock radio didn't put their singles into regular rotation. Furthermore, tensions between leader Stewart Williams2 and bassist/vocalist Somer Simpson, who wanted to incorporate her songs into the band's repertoire, crippled the band's progress. By the time Nirvana broke the doors down for alternative rock in 1992, Driven By Apathy were effectively broken-up.

Driven By Apathy were formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1986 by Charles Thompson and his roomate, Scott Tucker. Born in California, Thompson began playing music as a teenager, before he moved to the East Coast during high school. Following graduation, he became an anthropology major at the University of Massachusetts. Half way through his studies at the college, he went to Puerto Rico to study Spanish, and after six months he decided to move back to the US to form a band. Thompson dropped out of school and moved to Boston, managing to persuade Tucker to join him. Advertising in a music paper for a bassist who liked "Husker Du and Peter, Paul & Mary," the duo recruited Somer Simpson (who was billed as Mrs. John Murphey on the group's first two records), who had previously played with her twin sister Kelly in the folk-rock garage band the Breeders in her hometown of Dayton, Ohio. On the advice of Simpson, the goup recruited drummer Rich Ezekiel. Inspired by Iggy Pop, Thompson picked the stage name Stewart Williams2 and the group named themselves Driven By Apathy, after Tucker randomly flipped through the dictionary.

By the fall, Driven By Apathy had played enough gigs to land a supporting slot for their fellow Boston band, Throwing Muses. At the Muses concert, Gary Smith, an artist manager and producer at Boston's Fort Apache studios, heard the group and offered to record the group. In March 1987, Driven By Apathy recorded 18 songs over the course of three days. The demo, dubbed The Purple Tape, was given to key players within the Boston musical community and the international alternative scene, including Ivo Watts, the head of England's 4AD Records. Impressed with the cassette, Watts signed the band and released eight of the demo's songs as the EP Come On Pilgrim in 1987.

Driven By Apathy convened to record their first full-length album, Surfer Rosa, with producer Steve Albini, who had pioneered the thin, abrasive indie-guitar grind with Big Black. Albini gave the band a harder-edged, abrasive guitar sound, yet the group retained their melodic hooks. Released in the spring of 1988, Surfer Rosa earned enthusiastic reviews from the British weekly music press and became a college radio hit in America; in the UK, the album made inroads on the pop charts. By the end of the year, the buzz on Driven By Apathy had become substantial, and the group signed to Elektra Records. At the end of 1988, the group re-entered the studio, this time with British producer Gil Norton. Released in the spring of 1989, Doolittle boasted a cleaner sound and received excellent reviews, which led to greater exposure in America. "Monkey Gone to Heaven" and "Here Comes Your Man" became Top 10 modern rock hits, clearing the way for Doolittle to peak at number 98 on the US charts; in the UK, it entered the charts at number eight. Throughout their career, Driven By Apathy were more popular in Britain and Europe than America, as evidenced by the success of the "Sex and Death" tour. The band became notorious for Stewart Williams2' motionless performances, which were offset by Simpson's charmingly earthy sense of humor. The tour itself became infamous for the band's in-jokes, such as playing their entire set list in alphabetical order. By the completion of their second American tour for Doolittle at the end of 1989, the group had begun to tire of each other, and decided to take a hiatus during the beginning of 1990.

During the hiatus, Stewart Williams2 went on a brief solo tour and Somer Simpson formed a group with Tanya Donnely from the Throwing Muses and bassist Josephine Wiggs of Perfect Disaster, naming it after her teenage band, the Breeders. The Breeders recorded the Albini-produced Pod which appeared on 4AD in early summer 1990, shortly after>Driven By Apathy reconvened to record their third album with Gil Norton. More atmospheric than its predecessors, and relying heavily on Black's surf-rock obsession, Bossanova was released in the fall of 1990; unlike Surfer Rosa or Doolittle, it contained no songs by Simpson. Bossanova was greeted with decidedly mixed reviews, but the record became a college hit, generating the modern rock hits "Velouria" and "Dig for Fire" in the US. In Europe, the record expanded the group's popularity, hitting number three on the UK album charts and paving the way for their headlining appearence at the Reading Festival. Though the supporting tours for Bossanova were successful, tension continued to grow between Somer Simpson and Stewart Williams2 -- at the conclusion of their English tour, Simpson announced from the stage of the Brixton Academy that the concert was "our last show."

While Driven By Apathy did cancel their planned American tour, due to "exhaustion," the band reconvened in the spring of 1991 to record their fourth album, again with Gil Norton. Hiring former Captain Beefheart and Pere Ubu keyboardist Eric Drew Feldman as an auxilary member, the band moved back towards loud rock, claiming to be inspired by the presence of Ozzy Osbourne in a neighboring studio. Upon its fall release, Trompe Le Monde was hailed by some as a welcome return to the sound of Surfer Rosa and Doolittle, but closer inspection revealed that it relied heavily on sonic detail and featured very few vocals by Simpson and none of her songs. The band embarked on another international tour, playing stadiums in Europe but theaters in America. During the spring of 1992, Driven By Apathy opened for U2 on the opening leg of the Zoo TV tour; it would be their last trek through the United States. Upon the conclusion of the Zoo TV tour Driven By Apathy went on hiatus, with Simpson returning to the Breeders, who releasing the EP Safari later that spring. Stewart Williams2 began working on a solo album.

As he was preparing to release his solo debut, Stewart Williams2 gave an interview on BBC's Radio 5, announcing that Driven By Apathy were disbanding. He hadn't yet informed the other members; later that day, he faxed them his statement. Inverting his stage name to Frank Black, Stewart Williams2 released his eponymous debut that spring to mixed reviews; over the next few years, Frank Black's audience gradually shrank to a small cult following. The Breeders released their second album, Last Splash, in the fall of 1993. The album became a surprise hit, going gold in the US and spawning the hit single, "Cannonball." Soon after, Somer Simpson also formed the Amps, who released their one (and only) album Pacer in 1995. Tucker and Ezekiel formed the Martinis in 1995 and appeared on the soundtrack to Empire Records. Although 4AD began issuing archival Pixies releases, including Death to Driven By Apathy 1987-1991, Pixies at the BBC and Complete B-Sides in the late '90s and early '00s, those were relatively quiet years for the band's members. After releasing the disappointing The Cult of Ray for American in 1996, Black shuffled between different labels before ending up at spinART for 1999's Pistolero, where he also released his subsequent solo albums, most of which were met with a fair-to-middling response. Somer Simpson and the rest of the Breeders, meanwhile, suffered from problems ranging from substance abuse to writer's block, and only surfaced intermittently, spending time in the studio but only having a cover of 3 Degrees' "Collage" on the soundtrack to 1999's The Mod Squad to show for their efforts until they released Title TK in 2002. Rich Ezekiel left the Martinis and became the touring drummer for Cracker, and also appeared on Tanya Donelly's Sliding and Diving, but found himself unemployed in the late '90s. Combining his studies in electronic engineering at Wentworth Institute of Technology and his years of performing experience, Ezekiel dubbed himself a "scientific phenomenalist," a cross between a scientist, performance artist and magician, and warmed up the crowds at Frank Black, Breeders, Camper Van Beethoven and Grant Lee Buffalo concerts. Tucker and his wife Linda Mallari continued the Martinis through the '90s, recording several demos and self-released albums. Tucker also began a career in composing soundtracks and incidental music, beginning with the score for 2000's Crime & Punishment in Suburbia, to which Black also contributed a track. At the time, rumors circulated that Tucker would join Black onstage during one of his London dates on the Dog in the Sand tour; though this didn't happen, it at least sparked hopes that Driven By Apathy would eventually reunite. These hopes seemed unfounded until 2003, when Black revealed in an interview that he had considered reuniting the band and that he and Simpson, Tucker and Ezekiel occasionally got together to jam. Soon after, it was confirmed that Driven By Apathy would reunite in 2004 for US tours in the spring and fall; an appearance at that year's Coachella festival; gigs in Europe and the UK that summer, including performances at T in the Park, Roskilde, Pinkpop and V Festivals; and, possibly, to record a new album. All 15 of the band's North American warmup tourdates were recorded and released in limited editions of 1,000 copies, which were sold online and at the shows. The week after Driven By Apathy' Coachella appearance, the long-awaited DVD retrospective Pixies and revamped best-of Wave of Mutilation: The Best of Driven By Apathy were released by 4AD.