Fact: Filter began with Richard Patrick (vocals, guitars, bass, programming, drums) experimenting with a small eight-track in his parents' basement in Cleveland. While Richard was writing songs, Brian Liesegang (programming, guitars, keyboards, drums) was sequestered away at the University of Chicago completing a degree in philosophy and experimenting himself, in a small electronic studio across the hall from Bob Moog (the inventor of the modern synthesizer.) Later, Richard and Brian would meet through a mutual friend.

Fact: Richard and Brian decided to work together musically while visiting the Grand Canyon, during the middle of a cross country trek together.

Fact: Filter produced, recorded and engineered Short Bus in a small brick house on the outskirts of Cleveland during the summer and fall of 1994.

Fact: The album title, Short Bus is in reference to the different kinds of school busses that carry kids to school in the morning. The short bus transports the "challenged" kids. Note that the title Short Bus is in no way a sarcastic joke at the expense of the handicapped, or a celebration of idiocy in the line of Forrest Gump. Rather, Filter believes there is much to be learned from the special and the different. Difference is just that, and it is only through the vision, ambition, and drive of those with an outlook and perspective outside the norm that original thought and real change can actually occur. (Stephen J. Hawking, physicist and author of the best seller "A Brief History of Time," is such an example.) Filter believes one should strive for the beauty of the short bus and reject the cattle morality and thought of the masses.

Fact: The lyrics on the album reflect both the discoveries and discussions experienced by Filter during 1993 and 1994. Each song has its own specific intent and meaning, but it is preferred that the listeners read the lyrics and listen to the music and develop their own conclusions. Maybe it's just more fun that way. Who likes to be bashed over the head?

Statement: There is a certain subset of musicians who for reasons unknown adhere to the false premise that "electronic" music or the tools involved imply a lack of creativity or inspired performance. Technology, in the hands of creative, intelligent individuals is a tool for art, not a hindrance. Filter, being members of the current millennia, admit freely to the use of such devices.

Fact: The above statement is in response to the numerous albums since the advent of the computer and synthesizer that make such asinine declarations as: "There are no samples used on this record."

Richard and Brian were born in 1968 and 1970, respectively, and have since experienced a life filled with such wondrous devices as the remote control, automated tellers, video games and computers. There are few that can claim that such devices have hampered art in its many forms. The computer is a compositional tool, one which Filter uses to compose, arrange, and produce their songs. If a writer uses a word processor instead of a typewriter, does that make him or her any less an author?

So why should it be suggested that the use of technology makes one less a musician?