Began recording in rented home

Anxious to build on the momentum afforded to them by the relative success of Magnified , Andrews, Edwards, and Scott began recording again in 1995, this time in a rented home owned by Lita Ford in the hills just outside LA. With the band again producing themselves, and Andrews handling the lion’s share of the engineering himself, the situation allowed the band to take far more time in recording than they ever had before, and follow their instincts as far as they chose without outside interference. As the recordings neared completion, they received word that their label’s distribution deal with Warner had expired and would not be renewed. Since Failure was essentially sidelined while the owners of Slash were trying to negotiate a new distribution deal, the band members kept themselves busy with outside projects: Andrews and Edwards (and friends) recorded an album of covers under the name Replicants ; Andrews produced albums for Blinker the Star and Molly McGuire (the Kansas City -based rock band, not the LA-based singer-songwriter); Scott did some session work. Meanwhile, the band continued to “unofficially” shop the record to other labels and industry personnel, while hoping that Warner would step up and release the album. In the spring of 1996, Warner did exactly that, agreeing to keep the Slash imprint one last time for Failure, and Fantastic Planet was released that August. Guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen , a friend and former bandmate of Scott’s, joined Failure around the time of the album’s release. The album’s first single, ” Stuck on You ” became an alternative-radio hit and achieved light to medium rotation on MTV, but failed to chart significantly. The song first charted in December 1996, then in January it peaked at No. 31 on the U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock chart and No. 23 on the Modern Rock chart. Other songs, such as “Saturday Saviour” and “Pitiful”, received some airplay from more adventurous-minded DJs, but no more videos were made for any of the album’s tracks, and due to the state of disarray at their label at that time, little effort was put into its promotion.