There are plenty of bands that definitively formed and shaped my preferences on music but it's safe to say that Failure had an outsized influence. Maybe one day I'll write up just how impactful they were but just know that by listening to Fantastic Planet I opened up doors to many other bands. One in particular was a collaborative project called Lusk that featured members of Failure, Medicine, The Replicants and bassist Paul D'Amour from Tool. I am sure I saw the video for "Backworlds" on 120 Minutes but it wasn't an album that many people had heard or even heard of. It's an album that's been out for 28 years and I still stand by how much I enjoy it and how enjoyably unique it is.

Anyway, all of that is to say that I've never really seen much written up about Lusk. I randomly stumbled on this history of the band from Alicia Berbenick that includes a direct interview with D'Amour himself. It's nice to know there are some others out there as impacted by Free Mars as I have been and even better to get this kind of insight from everything about the collaborations, the song compositions and even the artwork.

The record is now streaming on all platforms and I do suggest you give it a whirl.

---

I would remiss if I did not also mention that D'Amour went on to form a band called Feersum Ennjin that released an EP with SU Records back in 2005. It is excellent, as well as the full-length album that I believe is streaming on all the things.