Since 2017, Math the Band has been Kevin Steinhauser, Max Holbrook, Adam Waz, and Matt Zappa.
History
Formation as a solo project and early years (2002–2006)
Math the Band was originally the solo project of sixteen-year-old[12] Kevin Steinhauser created in 2002,[11] "doing his own thing" after getting kicked out of other bands he was in during high school for reasons he attributed to him "not being any good" – most notably,
Christian pop punk band The Schwartz where he played guitar and was the only non-religious member.[33][34][35] The origin of the name Math the Band originates from Steinhauser thinking of band names and having a pin on his backpack that simply said "Math" on it and he wanted a pin for his band so he named the band after the pin.[33] During this time starting in 2002, Steinhauser released the studio albums: Robots Will Rise, Eep! An EP!, One Man Band For Single-Celled Organisms, The Lost Levels, Math the Band and the Secret of Mystery Island, Imaginary Everything, Greatest Hits and All Good Things, All in Good Time all under the Math the Band name and did live shows with a laptop and sometimes a box of costumes.[33]
Transition to duo (2007–2017)
Kevin Steinhauser, Justine Mainville and Zach Burba performing as Math the Band in July 2008.
Steinhauser met Justine Mainville after playing a few shows with her then-band The Reaganauts[36] while they were both in college. They later became friends and dated, leading Steinhauser to ask her to join on drums and synthesizer in 2007.[34] The duo lineup of Math the Band released the studio albums: Math the Band Banned the Math, Don't Worry, Get Real, No Thing, Stupid and Weird and Math the Band the Band the Album.
Transition to band and Flange Factory Five (2018–present)
Mainville later left the band and Max Holbrook, Adam Waz and Matt Zappa joined the band. In 2019 and 2020 they performed at
PAXEast[37][38] and
MAGFest[39] and played with a setlist featuring yet-unreleased songs announced as part of their young adult fantasy novel.[39] On April 20, 2020[40] they released the single "Wet Cement", the music video's description announced it as part of Flange Factory Five, a five-part series of releases based on the band's yet to be released at the time studio album of the same name.[41] The album itself released on October 1, 2020, and is the third release in a collection of five monthly releases.[42] The second single from the album titled "Duel of the Deer" released on July 5, 2020.[43] The first release under the name Flange Factory Five was Flange Factory Five: the Novel a book which is a "fantasy adventure novel with magic, wizards and other characters".[44] On October 23, 2020, the band streamed the first part of live reading the book on their
YouTube account.[45] The second release was an energy drink advertised as "A New Sport Utility Beverage"[46] The fourth release was a
guitar pedal, Steinhauser describes it as "a replica of the pedal that’s a playback device of the album, and you can make the sound go all weird."[44] and was originally planned for a release in November but was released in early December[47] along with an accompanying demo.[48][49][50] The fifth was planned for a release in December and be a video game for the
Game Boy Color,[44] it is unknown when it will release but is currently in development, its released date was delayed due to their making sure the game was up to "gamer standards".[51]
On March 16, 2021, Math the Band announced an online concert at
AS220 for March 25, it was their first show since the
COVID-19 pandemic.[52] On April 1, the band released the music video for "That Thing You Don't", in the video the band stars on a fictional TV show titled Good Morning Void, at the end of the video, Steinhauser and a fictional manager are seen in the studio watching the performance, before the manager begins berating Steinhauser, and eventually "firing" him, upon being asked by Steinhauser who would replace him, the release of "Duel of the Deer (Matt the Band)" single was announced and released the same day.[53][7]
For
April Fools 2022, Math the Band live streamed an "album delease" for Flange Factory Five featuring Steinhauser and Waz playing the entire album, providing commentary and subsequently destroying copies of multiple versions of Flange Factory Five removing it from streaming services, since then the album has remained removed. Steinhauser also mentioned the delay of the Game Boy Color game saying "it originally was going to be a five-minute-long thing that just got to a point in the book, and it was like do this thing and then I was like I wanna make it a longer thing and it's just not done yet." Him and Waz also joked that after the album delease and it's finished, it could be "preleased".[54]
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ab"Mike D's Top 5 Can't Miss Shows of November - Motif". 2 November 2016. Retrieved December 13, 2020 – via Motif. Math The Band (or Math The Band The Band) are Providence's punk rock kitchen sink band and the most fun you will have in November, which, let's be honest, is a generally disappointing month.
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ab"math the band" – via
Tumblr. we are a band from providence, ri. we make electronic punk music using analog synthesizers & 8-bit video game systems. we play a lot of shows and have a lot of fun.
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abc"Bio - Matt Zappa". 7 April 2016. Retrieved December 7, 2020 – via mattzappa.com. Matt Zappa, Berklee College of Music Alum, is an internationally-touring drummer of such bands as Protean Collective, Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys, and Math The Band.
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abcd"How Many Times Has Math the Band's Kevin Steinhauser Puked Onstage? More Than You'd Think". 27 November 2012. Retrieved November 30, 2020 – via Phoenix New Times. The album combines the arena-sized bear-hug riffage of party rocker Andrew WK (who brought Math on tour last year), the tweaked synth dorkery of Atom and His Package, and the absurd yet serious motivational verse of traveling YouTube "Internet poet" Steve Roggenbuck.
^"Musicians will band together to help needy dogs at Providence fundraiser". Retrieved December 14, 2020 – via Providence Journal. Notable locals on the fundraiser's bill include Morales's screamo band Amitié, hip-hop artists B. Dolan and Jesse The Tree, and punk acts Math The Band, Anxious Wave, Just Flesh and 30 Helens Agree. The latter will be playing its first show in more than a decade.
^"Math the Band | Bandcamp". Retrieved December 1, 2020 – via
Bandcamp. Math the Band (the Band) make glitched-out, chaotic, celebration pop for the constantly anxious.
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ab"Andrew W.K. - Live in Philadelphia". 3 April 2012. Retrieved February 12, 2021 – via Punknews.org. Math the Band fared much better with the audience. Combining Nintendocore with a pop-punk urgency, the duo of Kevin Steinhauser and Justine Mainville got some enthusiasm out of the attendees.
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ab"Math the Band | The Deli Magazine". Retrieved December 14, 2020 – via The Deli Magazine. Not to be confused with Math the Band (those guys are retired), Math the Band The Band is a 6-piece electro-punk band from Providence that brings a consistently catchy, youthful, synth-heavy brand of punk rock to the New England scene (think Bomb the Music Industry, but more infectious). Formed over 15 years ago by songwriting duo, Kevin Steinhauser and Justine Mainville, Math the Band (the Band) has grown and evolved into a major voice, both locally and nationally.
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abKilin, Egon (October 10, 2017).
"The 3 Best Adaptations Of Video Games In Pop Culture". Retrieved December 13, 2020 – via loadthegame.com. But more interesting are the excellent 8-bit covers of classic songs. And, of course, some fantastic original tracks have made using 8-bit at their core.
Horse The Band, Math The Band, and more, took a ridiculous concept and made it work. Using punk and metal sounds, they transcended their own genres by being completely original while managing to sound great.
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abcde"Math the Band: "Four to Six" | Punknews.org". 17 February 2012. Retrieved December 13, 2020 – via Punknews.org. Synth-punk duo Math the Band have unveiled a video for their song "Four to Six." The song is the first single off their upcoming album, Get Real the follow-up to 2009's Don't Worry.
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ab"A Look Back on Atom and His Package, the One-Man Band That Made Punk Uncool Again". 19 April 2016 – via
Vice. Kevin Steinhauser, who started a sequencer-based duo with his girlfriend called Math the Band, also featured on Up End Atom, cites Goren as an influence as well. "I love how he took what were essentially punk songs, and turned them on their head with unusual instrumentation," he says. "Hearing Atom and His Package inspired me to take my bedroom recording project and play shows, and record albums."
^"Unlimited Enthusiasm at the Cunniff School". Retrieved January 21, 2021 – via cunniffkidsnews.com. Math the Band has one music video. It's a song about sharks that I mentioned. It was really fun because I got to be hoisted up by a wire and flown around.