CIRCA REGNA TONAT
The Band were originally conceived over a telephone conversation between Adam Lewis and Daniel Barnett in November 2005, in which the former party stated that he wanted to “start a doom band” to which the latter party replied, “what the hell is doom?”. The meeting of the two had happened a month or so prior to this conversation in a pub called The Railway in their hometown of Caerphilly. Daniel was front man of the three-piece grunge outfit, The Esoterica, who that night were supporting Adam’s band, Anna-O. After seeing The Esoterica, Jonny Lee Evans, guitarist in Anna-O stated that “I want to be in a band with that guy”, sewing the seeds that would eventually lead to Adam’s call to Daniel the next month.
In January 2006, the three came together at Redrock Studios, where they emerged with a few basic ideas that would eventually become the songs ‘Lice’, ‘Hydro/Claw/Ride’ and ‘Multipleorganfailure’. The initial intentions of the band were to write dynamic instrumental pieces without the aid of bass, choosing the more preferred Boss Octave Pedal to enhance the sound. A sound which inspired the final choice of name. For weeks the three went through the names ‘Rape Technique’ and ‘Spastic Wedding’ before settling on three latin words which had been used as an inscription on Henry VIII’s throne and also by 16th Century Poet Thomas Wyatt, ‘Circa Regna Tonat‘, meaning ‘Around The Throne Thunder Roars‘.
The band rehearsed furiously for four straight months, getting the songs as tight as possible to gig with. However, the more the band rehearsed, the more dynamic the songs became and that’s when the decision was made to bring in a bassist to allow both Jonny and Daniel to be more experimental. Rhys Griffiths and Daniel had been best friends for years and had started their first band, Franco, together back in 2001, so the decision to choose a bassist was an easy one.
From that point the band started building a strong reputation as a great live act on the South Wales circuit. In the summer of 2006, the band recorded their first e.p. entitled ‘Burning Witches For Glue’, followed a year later by the highly experimental second offering ‘Lightswitch Impulses’, which has gathered a cult following in its wake due to the use of two basses and schizo-noise shreaks mixed with progressive, post-rock instrumentals. During the past three years the band have secured high profile support slots with the likes of Taint, Noxagt, An Albatross, Rolo Tomassi and more recently Manatees, Part Chimp and The Airborne Toxic Event. Mikel Jollett of The Airborne Toxic Event has stated that the band were “by far the best band we’ve played with on the entire UK tour”.
Currently the band have finished working on their forthcoming release, ‘Dance-off with a Triceratops’, which was recorded and produced by the respected Charlie Francis at Music Box Studios, Cardiff, on December 6th 2008 in one ten hour live session. It is set for release in early 2009.
“Excellent, original tunes” “Pretty Remarkable” Adam Walton (BBC Radio Wales)
“(CRT) can lurch out of the light and in to the shade with a snap of a chord, often to fine effect” and have described the music as, “Fat-arsed Instrumental Heaviness”. Buzz Magazine
Link: Official Website
MUNROE EFFECT
Munroe Effect released their ‘You Are Goldmouth’ EP Nov 17th 2008 via London indie Function Records.
Equal parts free flowing melody, angular jagged heaviosity and layered soundscape beauty, live these guys unleash a series of truly epic aural concoctions that show them to be something very special in a time of homogenized safety. Formed in Portsmouth in 2006, the band quickly found their feet, undertaking early support tours with Oceansize and Future of The Left. They consolidated this hectic touring schedule with a true stroke of luck when they entered a Coke/Itunes competition judged by XFM’s Eddy Temple-Morris, seeing off 700 other bands to make it into the live performance final at London’s ULU.
Frontman Dan Sutton picks up the tale – “We went on to play and lost the Audience Vote to some guys dressed like A Clockwork Orange”, he laughs, “But we still came away with an iPod each and a £1800 Apple laptop. Within a couple of weeks we sold the four iPods on eBay and the laptop to our sound guy. We then used the money to pay for van insurance and new brakes so we could stay on the road touring.”
This kind of pragmatic determination underlines just how serious the Munroe Effect are about taking their music to the masses. Soon afterwards Function Records (Meet Me In St Louis, Caretaker etc) made a move and picked up the band, releasing the ecstatically received ‘Who’s Throwing Rocks/Death Clash’ 7” Single in January of 2008.
A string of dates with The Subways, Reuben, thisCITY, In Case of Fire and Fighting With Wire followed, and led to the bands second release with the same label. Nov 2008 the band released ‘You Are Goldmouth’ – an EP which set out their stall and highlighted the intelligent ferocity and elegant construction which defines their sound so well and was supported by a a joint headline UK tour with SHAPES and more shows with bands such as Haunts, Amusement Parks on Fire, Pulled Apart by Horses, Blakfish & Baddies.
With E.P artwork from San Franciscan artist Doug Boehm and mastering from Nick Zampiello (Ghost of a Thousand, Botch) it was with a searing statement of intent and a call to arms for all those rendered apathetic by the unadulterated monotony of modern rock music.
ULTRAVIOLENCELAND is their debut album, set for a March 2010 release in UK & Germany/Austria/Swiss territories with two free download singles set for Oct 09 and Feb 2010 release both with extensive tours planned.
A collection of thoughtfully constructed aggressive and memorable rock songs loaded with powerful introspective lyrics and defining, jagged riffs twist and turn to deliver a sincere and ambitious breath of fresh air from a new British band.
And for those of you wondering – what sort of name is ‘Munroe Effect’, we’ll leave the last word to frontman Dan Sutton – “The name ‘Munroe Effect’ was chosen because it wasn’t bad enough not to use, and we needed to get on with being a band. Plus, if you put it into Wikipedia, you get some cool shit about explosions.”
Fair enough.
Link: Official Website
KYSHERA
Kyshera have been described as an ‘eclectic mix of pretty much everything’, blending elements of Rock & the Avant-Garde whilst maintaining a strong sense of melody throughout. As a live band, Kyshera are often referred to as ‘mental’, ‘energetic’ or just ‘loud’ and they incorporate real time sample triggering & electronics alongside the onslaught of Guitars, Drums, Bass and hanging Mannequin heads! However, ‘writing about music is like dancing about architecture’ as Frank Zappa once said so come & see for yourself what all the fuss is about – you wont regret it!!
Link: Official Website
Record Label: KindyRecords
HUNDRED CANNONS
Hundred Cannons, “a car accident, your first love, the start of something out of nothing”.
Link: Official Website
FIRE SEASON
http://www.myspace.com/thefireseason
PLUS:
INTERNATIONAL EXIT BASS GRINDER DJS
For full into regarding the month festival in association with The Joy Collective, see http://www.mezefestival.co.uk
