With its roots originally planted firmly in the industrial rock genre, 16volt has remained a mainstay enjoying a worldwide underground fan base and successfully crossing over into multiple genres for years.
16volt’s founder, songwriter, lead vocalist, programmer, and rhythm guitarist Eric Powell signed his first record deal in 1991 at a very young age and subsequently delivered three albums; Wisdom (1993), Skin (1994), and LetDownCrush (1996). Working with co-producers; David Ogilvie (Nine Inch Nails, Skinny Puppy), Keith “Fluffy” Auerbach (Ministry), Jeff “Critter” Newell (Ministry, Angels & Airwaves, Blink-182), and special guests William Tucker (Ministry), Marc LaCorte (Schecter Guitars), and Bryan Black (Black Asteroid). These three albums earned worldwide praise and garnered features in Guitar Player, Alternative Press, B-Side, Kerrang!, CMJ, Industrial Nation, B-Side, and more. Reaching a #1 slot on Rolling Stone’s alternative charts (LetDownCrush) as well as a #2 slot on Rolling Stone’s alternative charts (Skin), the band made a mark as they consistently charted on both college and national radio along with extensive touring in North America.
16volt then brought on producer Bill Kennedy (Nine Inch Nails, Megadeth, Sepultura, Mötley Crüe) to make the highly recognized album “SuperCoolNothing” (1998, Mercury/PolyGram) – featuring renowned film composer and musician Joseph Bishara (Insidious, The Conjuring, Marylin Manson, Danzig), Chris Vrenna (Nine Inch Nails), Mike Peoples (Skrew), and Kraig Tyler (Crazytown). With Polygram being acquired by Seagrams shortly before the album release, 16volt found themselves in the middle of a legal battle while Mercury lost all funding and moved the album to Island Records as a catalog item. The band bought the rights to the album in 2000 and signed an agreement with Sony Entertainment to feature the album within the Playstation game “Primal” as well as being a double release in Europe with the game on one disc and the album on another. The band was also skinned into the game as characters and included in interviews as in-game bonus material.
In 2007 16volt signed a multi-album deal with Metropolis Records and released “FullBlackHabit” (2007), “American Porn Songs” (2009), and “Beating Dead Horses” (2012) to a hungry underground fan base with guests such as Paul Raven (Ministry, Killing Joke, Prong); Steve White (KMFDM); Bildeaux (Lance Herbstrong) and mix engineer Shaun Thingvold (Strapping Young Lad, Lamb of God).
16volt’s extensive touring resume included stints with the likes of KMFDM, Korn, Filter, Chemlab, Orgy, Prong, Stabbing Westward, The Revolting Cocks, Fear Factory, Front Line Assembly, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, Front 242, and more, as well as multiple successful headlining tours.
In early 2016 16volt entered the recording studio in Portland, Oregon to begin writing and recording a new album with producer Marc Jordan (Velvet Revolver, The Cult, Stitched Up Heart, The Mowglis, Hyro Da Hero, Bleached, Die Antwoord). The new album titled “The Negative Space” was released independently on September 14, 2016. Never satisfied and as always prolific… In early 2017, 16volt entered the studio to begin work on their 10th album effort “Dead On Arrivals” which was self-produced and released in October of 2017.
16volt continued to play several select festivals and shows through 2019 including the Cold Waves Festival (Chicago, NYC, Los Angeles), Terminus Festival (Canada), MachineFest (Colorado), and more.
During the summer of 2021, Eric began working on material again in his private studio. In the Fall of 2022, 16volt announced resigning with Metropolis Records and began work on a new album titled “More of Less” slated for a 2024 release. In addition, Metropolis will re-issue a combined version with select tracks of the albums “The Negative Space” and “Dead On Arrivals” titled “NegativeOnArrivals” on May 3rd, 2024.