Apathy was the alternative rock band of the Midwest mailbox bomber Luke Helder. The group was active from May to December of 2000 and had three members:

Luke Helder - Vocalist and Guitarist

Eric Hielscher - Bassist

Mike Stanton - Drummer

Helde wrote most of the songs and lyrics. His main influence was Kurt Cobain and Nirvana but at the time the band was together he was also heavily influenced by Silverchair. There was some internal conflict in the group as the other members' musical tastes and influences were quite different - Hielscher's favorite artists at the time included heavier groups such as Tool and the Deftones while Stanton preferred punk groups like NOFX. Helder was very protective of his creative control over the music and kept his lyrics written in a notebook which he wouldn't let even the other members of the band read.

Apathy was formed through the initiative of Helder who was introduced to Stanton by a mutual friend. Helder had gone to high school with Hielscher who had first taught Helder to play guitar and when Luke mentioned that he was looking for a bassist to start a band, Hielscher started practicing bass guitar in order to join. After a few weeks the two came back from their first year at university to their hometown of Pine Island, Minnesota and began practicing with Stanton.

In under a month the band was already playing live shows in the area. However, they only enjoyed limited local success and never signed a record deal or toured outside of southeastern Minnesota. Nonetheless they did release one record, Sacks of People, which they funded and distributed themselves. The CDs were sold at their live shows for $8 and it was the band's usual practice to autograph them.

When news broke that Helder was the mailbox bomber, a year and a half after the group's last live show, the band was suddenly the subject of much attention by music critics and the media who scrambled to acquire copies of the album (of which only 500 copies were made). Some copies were sold on Ebay around the time of the incident for over $200. Reviews were overwhelmingly negative with one critic describing Apathy as "a Nirvana-damaged garage band". [1017]

External links

Apathy's website