Mantissa

Mantissa
Mantissa
Origin	Melbourne, VIC
Genres	Heavy metal, alternative metal, funk metal
Years active	1992 - 1996
Labels	Polygram
Associated acts	Killing Time Christ Art Museum; iOTA; Good and Evil; Utter Stench;
Past members	Chris Collins Nina Grant; Syd Green; Chris Paine; Adam Pringle;

Band Members

Line-Up
- Chris Collins (guitar)
- Nina Grant (bass, vocals)
- Syd Green (drums)
- Chris Paine (guitar) (d. 16/11/15)
- Adam Pringle (vocals)

Band Information

Mantissa was originally known as Killing Time and featured Jed Starr on guitar and Tubby Wadsworth on drums. The name change to Mantissa came in August of 1992 when the band was in the USA for the recording of the Mossy God album. The band also switched base from Sydney to Melbourne (where they had, rather ironically, originally formed as Killing Time) around the same time. The first two singles from the album reached the bottom half of the national Top 100 while the album peaked at #47. During the year they supported Red Hot Chili Peppers before relentlessly touring throughout the US for most of the rest of the year.

Mantissa rocked with plenty of funk-laced heavy metal power while maintaining a high melody factor and the band’s music won a large US following. Mantissa toured and worked in the US for almost two years from the end of 1993. In November 1994 Mantissa supported Pantera before a January 1995 appearance at the Big Day Out in Melbourne and Adelaide and the release of the Inter Alia EP. Thirst was released in August 1995 but was unable to capture the success of their previous releases and following a national tour Mantissa disbanded in early 1996.

Chris Paine passed away on November 16, 2015. In early 2023, an extended 30th anniversary vinyl edition of Mossy God was released that included material from the three Killing Time EPs and unreleased tracks.