Signed to Reprise Records

Richard Patrick played guitar with Nine Inch Nails during the touring for Pretty Hate Machine and in the music videos for Broken ; he left the band while Trent Reznor was recording The Downward Spiral and began a new recording project with Brian Liesegang. Dubbing themselves Filter, they signed to Reprise Records in 1994 and recorded their first album, Short Bus , which was released in the following year. The album was commercially successful, and included the hit single ” Hey Man Nice Shot “. This song was somewhat controversial, as it was seen as capitalizing on the public suicide of R. Budd Dwyer . Kurt Cobain ‘s suicide was widely rumored to have inspired the song, but the band denied this. The first single ” Hey Man Nice Shot ” was also included in the soundtrack for the movie Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight in 1995 before Short Bus was released. In need of a live band to tour the album, Patrick and Liesegang recruited Geno Lenardo on guitar, Frank Cavanagh on bass, and Matt Walker on drums. They would all later be featured in the video for the album’s second single, “Dose”.