THE ORIGINS:

Kindergarten: This was the first band created by Scarecrow Rottinghouse and E.M. Hearst. The two formed Kindergarten shortly after they met, sometime in late 1994 / early 1995. This group played Hizumi-Industrial Music. Kindergarten dissolved in late 1999. Four songs from their 1998 demo tape (called "Hizumi") can be downloaded from Soundclick.


ACTIVE SIDE-PROJECTS:

Neo Hizumi: This is the "Electro-Industrial" alter-ego of Wraith of the Ropes, featuring the same line-up as WOTR. It can be seen as a continuation/re-birth/re-imagining of their original band, Kindergarten. Currently, Hearst and Rottinghouse are writing and recording the first full-length release for this project. Their first demo (called "Demo-N") can be downloaded from Myspace.

Hermit: This is a Traditional Doom Metal project by E.M. Hearst, influenced by Black Sabbath, Pentagram, and Revelation. Formed in November 2006, this is still a very young project and only one song, called Deborah, has been written and recorded so far. More tracks may (or may not) eventually follow...


DISSOLVED SIDE-PROJECTS:

Torture Wheel: The most well known side-project of Wraith of the Ropes, this project was the brainchild of E.M. Hearst. In the early 2000's, Hearst became enchanted by the underground genre known as "Funeral Doom Metal" and this was his personal take on that style of music. Elements of Dark Ambient and Psychedelia were integrated with the dragging, depressive, slow-motion heaviness of Funeral Doom. This was mainly Hearst's solo-project, but his WOTR bandmate (Jack Rottinghouse) made guest appearances (contributing his trademark Horror-score-inspired keyboard passages) on every Torture Wheel release. Torture Wheel existed between 2002 and 2005; releasing two underground split-CD's and one official "EP" on the Firedoom Music label. An mp3 from TW's split with the band Moss can be downloaded from Myspace.

Spectre in Grey: An instrumental project by Scarecrow Rottinghouse. A mixture of Classical music, Ambient soundscapes, and Horror music... the sound was basically Wraith of the Ropes without guitars and vocals. In fact, the song "Snow Dragon" (from WOTR's debut album Ada) was originally written and recorded by Rottinghouse for the Spectre in Grey project. The project was killed off in 2005.

Margaret Hearst: This was the Harsh Noise / Power Noise project of E.M. (Eibon Margaret) Hearst. Only one demo tape ("Dead in the Basement" in 2000) was ever recorded, but Margaret also re-mixed a few other artist's songs around 2002. In late 2002, a second demo tape (Suicide Music) was started but never finished... and on News Years Eve of 2002, Hearst decided to dissolve the project entirely.