Foreign Objects (band)

Deron Miller and Jess Margera first met at East High School in West Chester, Pennsylvania in 1992, and began performing together as Foreign Objects in 1995.[1][2] The duo recorded its five-track debut EP The Undiscovered Numbers & Colors with engineers Bob Zeigler and Matt Wacik in the summer of 1995 at Trix Trax Recording Studios in Malvern, Pennsylvania, and released it through Distant Recordings on October 1 that year.[2][3]

By 1996, Miller, Margera and live bassist Ryan Bruni were performing together under the name Oil (a group which would later evolve into CKY),[1] although Foreign Objects did continue recording up until 1998.[3] The first lineup of the band performed two live shows,[2] at least one of which took place at Henderson High School.[4]

James Murphy performed additional guitar on Universal Culture Shock.

In October 2003, the pair began recording songs for a planned second Foreign Objects release at co-producer John Teague's West Chester studio.[3] Miller enlisted former Death guitarist James Murphy, with whom he was then working on the Death tribute album Within the Mind: In Homage to the Musical Legacy of Chuck Schuldiner, to play lead guitar on the songs.[4] Murphy also co-mixed (with Teague) and mastered the album.[4] Miller praised Murphy's contributions, claiming they made the album "a thousand times better".[5]

Recording was completed by spring 2004.[3] Universal Culture Shock/Undiscovered Numbers & Colors, featuring the newly finished songs in addition to a remixed and remastered version of the band's original EP,[3] was released on October 31, 2004, by Distant Recordings in a limited run of 2,000 copies, distributed exclusively through online retailer Amazon.com.[5] The album was later included in the Distant box set Distant Recordings 15 Years in 2009.[6]

Miller revived the Foreign Objects moniker in 2014, revealing that the group was working on an album entitled Galactic Prey, for which the title track was released in March that year.[7] A campaign on crowdfunding website Indiegogo was later set up for the album,[8] successfully raising the target $13,000.[9] The album was originally slated to feature contributions from Jonathan Masi, a songwriter and fan of the band who reached out to Miller with concepts and ideas for a number of songs.[10]

As of April 2014, the lineup of the band included guitarist Dave Sudock and bassist Shaun Luera, with Tim Yeung planned to take over on drums.[10] Miller later confirmed that Luera's brother Tim had joined on drums,[11] and later in the year Sudock was replaced by Kenneth Hunter.[12] Miller has claimed that he originally invited Margera to be a part of the Foreign Objects reunion, but that he declined.[13] Galactic Prey was released on October 18, 2015. In January 2016, Miller revealed that the band would be working on the follow-up to Galactic Prey, which would be titled Lean, Mean and Bleeding Green, that year.[14]

All four members of Foreign Objects also performed as 96 Bitter Beings. During that band’s 2022 of America, Tim Luera abruptly left the band hours before a live show was to take place, followed shortly by his brother Shaun. Miller has stated that since their departure, neither of the Luera brothers have reached out to him to explain their actions and, as a result, would not be welcome to rejoin the band. Miller has since stated that he has no future plans to continue Foreign Objects outside of re-releasing previously released material.