Bio, 2005:
Out Out was formed by Mark Alan Miller from years of ongoing experimentation with songwriting, synth programming, and a general fascination with all things sound and recording. Early works were often pieces written more for the exercise of recording than for the sake of the songs themselves (and a lot of it sounds that way.)
At some point, likely in 1988, through collaborations with Pater Dysparia (Peter DiNardi) Taylor 808 (Taylor DeuPree) and others, a newfound confidence in the songwriting side was attained. With that revelation, the need for a 'band' name arose. Out Out was eventually chosen.
Demos were recorded, and early ones that went out to the obvious places like Wax Trax! and Play It Again Sam, included early versions of D.W.I. and Admire The Question. (Mark: "It is still my belief to this day that someone over at Wax Trax! gave that demo to My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult or KMFDM - the bassline on the Naive remix that TKK did for KMFDM is pretty, well, obvious. Who knows?")
Through a connection with Taylor 808, an early version of Pepperbox Muzzle was released with Jason Szostek on Turn Of The Century Records. A cassette-only release, and recorded and mixed at the home studio called Radio Valkyrie...
Jason and Taylor knew of a slightly bigger label that was just getting going, and as it was co-owned by Skip McDonald of Tackhead (likely an Out Out influence anyway) calls were made, meetings set up, and Out Out and Axis Records started a relationship that yielded the partial re-recording of Pepperbox Muzzle with Skip and Mark co-producing. Some of the original home recordings we deemed finished and of high enough quality to make it on to the Axis CD release, including Ingrates, Admire The Question, Resurrection and Protoplasm. D.W.I. and Antidote were recorded by Skip, Mark, and Paul Harding at the legendary Southern Studios in London. Many On-U Sound recordings, Ministry's Twitch and Revolting Cocks' Big Sexy Land, as well as a zillion punk classics were tracked there. The place had a vibe, and it affected Mark in a profound way. (Mark: "To work in that studio where all of those amazing recordings were made was beyond inspiring.")
Initial reviews from Billboard, B-Side, Alternative press and others were favorable, but immediately after the release of Pepperbox, Axis' US distributor Rough Trade closed it's doors, making all releases temporarily unavailable.
Cargo Records stepped in and picked up Axis' distribution a short while later. Finched was recorded and released the year after, and in the meantime Mark and Peter continued work on Peter's project Vein Cage, which Axis also released - the CD Feral Din. Also, Mark's engineering was taking off, recording local bands, one of which was New Radiant Storm King, who Axis picked up for a little while, most notably releasing My Little Bastard Soul.
Sadly, good things must come to an end, and for various reasons, Axis and Out Out parted ways, with Axis scaling down their operations to a bare minimum.
All the while a slow, steady effort was made to get Out Out picked up by another label. Demos went out, labels such as Zoth Ummog and Cleopatra conversed, and a decision, a very tough decision, had to be made between two final choices, 21st Circuitry and Metropolis. At the time, they were of similar size and stature, and both Don from 21stC and Dave from Metropolis made Mark feel welcomed and comfortable. It is no longer remembered why Mark picked Metropolis in the end, but he did make it a point to release tracks with Don on 21stC whenever possible.
Metropolis almost immediately released Nisus, followed by remastered reissues of Pepperbox Muzzle and Finched. Voiceprint was written recorded and released shortly thereafter, fulfilling the agreement between Metropolis and Out Out.
During the making of Voiceprint, Out Out was also called upon to consult on a Simpsons promotional theme song remix, did a soundtrack for a video game (that sadly was shelved) and dabbled in other kinds of electronica, like drum 'n' bass and techno. Over the years from then to now, those latter experiments added up to a possible new Out Out record, provisionally entitled The Acid Pirates Present Virtual Sound Images. (Mark: "It may very well see release if the upcoming Out Out collection does well enough.")
Over the course of those first four albums, Mark saved unreleased remixes up for a possible remix album, and in 2002, the idea was born to combine those remixes with a 'best-of' disc of sorts, where four songs from each record would be given a fresh mix (or in the case of some of the early Pepperbox material where the multi-track masters weren't available, reedited from stereo mixes) to insure a 2CD release of wholly new versions (Mark: "so people who have some or all of the older records won't be asked to repurchase something they already own, but instead get a proper value and some fresh perspectives...")
That takes us to the present. Out Out, while only now reemerging from a hiatus that started in 1999, was not dead, but merely resting, to paraphrase the Python.