Mantissa

There are 2 artists with the name: Mantissa.

1). Mantissa is a heavy rock band formed as Killing Time. Killing Time formed in Melbourne, the band comprised Adam Pringle, Nina Grant, Chris Paine, Jed Starr and Tubby Wadsworth. In 1991, they started to gain a following and after a bidding war were signed to Polydor. Their first release, Ruby's Mind, reached #76 on the Australian charts. Wadsworth was sacked in 1991 and was eventually replaced by Syd Green. (One of the intervening drummers was Russell Hopkinson, later a member of You Am I). 1992 single Dream Alone peaked at #32. In 1992 Starr left and was replaced by Chris Collins. Killing Time supported national tours by Jane's Addiction, Mudhoney, Scatterbrain and Baby Animals.

Killing Time changed their name to Mantissa in 1992 due to there being bands named Killing Time in USA andJapan. Their first album, Mossy God (produced by Mantissa and Terry Date), was released in 1992 and reached #66. The two singles from the album, Mary Mary and Land of the Living, peaked at #62 and #64 respectively. Mantissa supported the Red Hot Chili Peppers national tour followed by their own national tours to promote their releases. In 1993 Mantissa located to USA and to promote the US release of Mossy God toured heavily, including a support for Mindfunk.

Mantissa returned to Australia in 1994 and opened for Pantera, played the 1995 Big Day Out then released another EP, Inter Alia, in 1995. They recorded their second album, Thirst (produced by Mantissa and Michael Letho). This album did not perform very well and after one last national tour they broke up in 1996. Syd Green joined Christ Art Museum in late 1995.


2). Based in Atlanta, Mantissa began in 2001 as the duo of Brian McGrath and Nathan Jones. With the help of members of the Fairline Parkway (another Lazyline band), the two recorded a track for the Lazyline compilation, "The Ladder Failed." Soon after, mostly by chance and without songs to record, the two found themselves in a friend's studio recording Mantissa's debut full-length, "Building A Working Model." Given Mantissa's interest in studio trickery and experimentation, this was long before they thought about playing out live. And in fact the two thought that Mantissa would remain forever a studio project. The record is reminiscent of slow-core melancholy pop and has been described as "like that guy from Crooked Fingers singing over The Arab Strap," and "like a combination of The Notwist and Red House Painters." Jeff Clark of Atlanta's Stomp and Stammer has said of the album: "Ten disconnected dispatches for lost, lonely souls everywhere, these are simple, melodic poptones achieved with not-so-simple means, built upon spidery minimalism and occasionally atypical percussion.

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