American Head Charge was a metal band from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The band has earned two nominations at the Kerrang! Awards. History Formation (1997-1999) Early incarnations of the band sported names such as Flux, Gestapo Pussy Ranch, and Warsaw Ghetto Pussy, although these were short-lived. The name Flux was already adopted by another band and so was dropped due to the chance of copyright infringement and libel, while the latter names were abandoned within a period of six months so as not to alienate prospective label interest. "I'm a fan of 3-word names", Hanks said in a December 2001 ConcertLivewire.com interview. In reference to the band name, he confessed; "It means nothing. No meaning by it. Pretty much that purpose right there." Although sometimes speculated that their name was taken from Adrian Sherwood's famous dub label On-U Sound act African Head Charge, which was formed in the early 1980s, it is in fact a coincidence. Chad Hanks remarked in an interview before they were signed that, "It turns out that there is actually a band called African Head Charge; it's so hard to be original these days." Trepanation (1999-2000) After settling on the name American Head Charge, the band made their debut on the underground industrial metal scene with their 1999 independent self-released album Trepanation. The personnel on the album saw Heacock and Hanks (now respectively re-christened Martin Cock and Banks) joined by guitarist David Rogers, Peter Harmon on drums, and Christopher Emery on keyboards/samplers. Further exposure came through two track offerings to Dwell Records tribute albums, namely in homage to industrial bands Ministry and Marilyn Manson. Second guitarist Wayne Kile, keyboard player Justin Fowler and sampler/sound programmer Aaron Zilch joined the ranks during mid/late 1999, while Peter Harmon parted ways from the band and Chris Emery took over the vacant drum position. After supporting System of a Down in Des Moines, Iowa in August 1999, System of a Down's bassist Shavo Odadjian was impressed enough that when American Recordings label owner Rick Rubin asked Odadjian if there were any bands he should check out, he told Rubin about American Head Charge. Six months later the band was offered a record deal with Rick's American Recordings, then under the Columbia Records umbrella. The War of Art (2000-2002) After the local success of Trepanation and the band's signing to American Recordings in 2000, the band moved to Los Angeles to begin work