AP2 was the continuation of, or the evolution of the forerunner Argyle Park. The first incarnation of the band recorded one album, Misguided, for R.E.X. Music in 1994, performed only one live performance at Cornerstone Festival in 1995, then broke up shortly after amidst a plethora of controversy in Christian music circles. The bulk of the controversy involved the band not being positive enough or evangelistic enough.
While the bands’ members were all known by pseudonymous aliases, it is fairly well-known that the creative forces behind the project were Scott Albert (AKA Dred and Deathwish) of Circle of Dust/Celldweller and childhood friend Chris Martello (AKA Buka), who at the time worked for MTV Sports and was responsible for getting lots of Christian alternative/punk/hardcore bands into MTV programming.
The outfit returned in 2000, newly-christened AP2, stating that “Argyle Park had reopened” (incidentally the name of a real park near where the guys grew up in Long Island, New York). Added to the creative team of the band was Klayton’s (Scott Albert’s then-current nom-de-plume) younger brother Dan Levler (AKA Level, born Dan Albert), who wrote most of the material on 2000’s Suspension of Disbelief, which released on Tooth & Nail.
If you’re not getting confused with the band members, aliases, and name changes, you’re probably not paying attention! Add to that the long list of guest appearances from a host of characters known in Christian and secular circles, and it starts to get downright ludicrous. However, none of that matters. The music was fantastic. Ridiculously creative and genre-bending, the band’s work has been cited by a number of other artists as highly influential in their own work.
