Apathy (14)

Apathy was a three piece grunge band formed in 2000 by three college students in Rochester, Minnesota. The band was influenced by Nirvana and moderately successful within the Rochester rock scene. In 2001, Apathy self-funded and self-released their first and only album, Sacks of People, recorded at Last Minute Records with producer Michael Thompson. Apathy would sell Sacks of People through music stores in Rochester and at their own concerts. The album initially sold poorly and music stores sometimes gave them away for free. In May of 2002, Luke Helder, Apathy's vocalist and guitarist, went on a domestic terrorism spree in which he planted pipe bombs in mailboxes across the US, attempting to create a smiley face on the map of the United States. The bombs were rigged to explode upon the mailbox being opened and were found in five states; six people were injured by the bombs exploding. Helder was arrested in Nevada and covered by newspapers as the "Midwest Pipe Bomber", eventually ruled incompetent to stand trial and incarcerated in a prison mental institution. Shortly after Helder was incarcerated, Apathy disbanded. The few extant copies of the album briefly sold for large sums on ebay after Helder's arrest, and for many years after it was unavailable with only two songs available on filesharing sites.