Cutting Jade

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Cutting Jade is a five-piece rock group from Pretoria, South Africa

[edit] History

Cutting Jade formed in 1998. Their first demo single was released to South Africa's largest campus station TUKS FM (then still Radio TUKS) in late 1998 and reached number one on the station's South African Top 10. The same song also made it to number 10 on the station's Top 30, the first unsigned band ever to feature at all on that chart. Their second demo gained a similar response and the band became popular at live shows in Pretoria.

So There We Were, was Cutting Jade’s first album. The band described this independent release "as an emotional rock album with relevant and accessible lyrics. Our intention has never been to baffle audiences with erudite lyrics or impress them with technical complexity any more than it has been to be part of any musical fashion or trend."

Cutting Jade then signed to the David Gresham Record Company late in 2001 and brought out a second album: Between Two Lives. Ten Seconds, the first single off the album, reached number 1 in the national Top 40. Look at me now, the second single off the album was also successful. A fan described Between Two Lives as "an album packed with raw emotion, driving guitars and passionate vocal deliveries".

In April 2002 the band travelled to France where they played at a yacht sailing festival.

In July 2002 Cutting Jade played a four-date tour in the United Kingdom with Wonderboom, another band on the David Gresham label. The tour comprised one night in Wales, one at the Shepherds Bush Empire (on July 26, 2002) and two at other London venues.

Early in 2004 the band's future seemed bleak when it was cut loose by David Gresham Records and vocalist Andrew Duggan left to pursue a solo career. The band recruited Logan Grobbelaar, a twenty year old marketing student at the University of Pretoria, as a vocalist and began recording a third studio album: Come Back to Life.