To-Mera
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| To-Mera | ||
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| Background information | ||
| Origin |  Surbiton, England |
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| Genre(s) | Progressive metal | |
| Years active | 2004 - present | |
| Label(s) | Candlelight Records | |
| Website | www.to-mera.com | |
| Members | ||
| Paul Westwood Hugo Sheppard Julie Kiss Tom Maclean Lee Barrett |
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| Former members | ||
| Akos Pirisi | ||
To-Mera are a progressive metal band based in Surbiton, Surrey in the UK. The band play a technical and challenging style of metal characterised by long songs, multiple time changes, and rich female vocals.
Contents |
[edit] Personnel
[edit] Current members
- Julie Kiss - Vocals
- Tom MacLean - Guitar
- Lee Barrett - Bass
- Hugo Sheppard - Keyboards
- Paul Westwood - Drums
[edit] Former members
- Akos Pirisi - Drums
[edit] Biography
[edit] Formation of band
To-Mera was formed by Julie Kiss and Lee Barrett (ex:Extreme Noise Terror / Disgust / Mussolini Headkick) following her departure from the Hungarian progressive metal band Without Face. At the start of 2004 Lee Barrett began searching for full-time members and Akos Pirisi, a huge fan of Meshuggah and a master of polyrhythmics, was brought in on drums. Later Tom MacLean was found after he, a big Without Face fan, recognised Julie and introduced himself at a Dillinger Escape Plan concert. After the band's demo was recorded, To-Mera finally found a full-time keyboard player in the shape of Hugo Sheppard.
[edit] Demo reaction and album recordings
The band recorded their debut demo in July 2005 at The Peel rehearsal rooms (Kingston upon Thames) on a laptop, and it was mixed in France by producer Brett Caldas-Lima (Kalisia / Malmonde / Fairlight).
The demo was sent to many webzines and magazines, where universal acclaim was given. The band received "Demo of The Month" at Organ Magazine, Zero Tolerance magazine and Imperiumi.net (Finland). These, and many other, great reviews led to a number of interested record labels getting in touch. It soon became clear that Candlelight Records (Emperor, Opeth, 1349, Zyklon, Enslaved, etc) was the best choice for the band and a multi-album, worldwide deal was signed on 7th January 2006.
To-Mera recorded their debut album Transcendental in May/June 2006, again with producer Brett Caldas-Lima. Drums, guitars and vocals were recorded in Veszprem (Hungary), while the bass and keyboards were recorded in London (England). The audio mixing and mastering took place at Tower Studio in Montpellier (France). The album was released in Europe on 11th September 2006 and 3rd October 2006 in the USA.
[edit] Change in band line-up
On 15th July 2006 the band announced the departure of drummer Akos Pirisi. This was due to the fact that Akos' commitments in his home country of Hungary made it very difficult for the band to rehearse and play as a live unit in the UK. As a replacement, the band brought in Paul Westwood from Foe, an experimental rock band based in London.
[edit] Reaction to Transcendental
Transcendental received very positive reviews after its release in Europe, with many webzines and magazines giving it high praise and marking it for its ingenuity and technical proficiency. The band also received KKKK in October 2006's Kerrang! magazine[1] as well as a full-page feature[2], which was a huge step for a new metal band. The Kerrang! feature gave the band greater notoriety and as a result they garnered a lot of interest from promoters wanting to book the band for live shows. In the end the band chose to sign with The Agency Group, who specialise in promoting gigs at a large number of international venues. The Agency Group has also expressed interest in getting To-Mera to play over in the USA.
[edit] Influences
To-Mera cite their other influences as Opeth, Evergrey, Symphony X, Dream Theater and Pain of Salvation. The band's name reportedly derives from the word TaMera (land of inundation), one of the names the Ancient Egyptians gave to their country[3].
[edit] Announced gigs
- 7th/8th April 2007 - Headway Festival, P60, Amstelveen, Netherlands
[edit] Past gigs
- 28th October 2006 - supporting Emperor, London Astoria
- 17th October 2006 - Barfly, Chalk Farm, London
- 29th September 2006 - Bloodstock festival, Derby
- 28th September 2006 - The Crown, Middlesborough
- 13th September 2006 - supporting Octavia Sperati, Camden Underworld, London
- 9th September 2006 - The Peel, Kingston, London
[edit] Band trivia
- The idea for starting a new band came to Julie Kiss immediately after her departure from Without Face. However, it took two years for the final line-up to take shape. The band later revealed that the hardest part of finalising the line-up was finding a keyboard player. It took so long that they nearly gave up hope in To-Mera altogether[4].
- The word 'To-Mera' was taken from a book on Egypt which cited the Egyptian name 'TaMera' incorrectly. By the time the band had found this out, their name 'To-Mera' was too well-known to change.
- The first non-album track the band played live was a cover of Dream Theater's Under A Glass Moon. This was debuted at their first ever gig on 9th September 2006. The band have since played Vince DiCola's theme from the original Transformers movie as well.
[edit] Discography
- (2005) Demo
- (2006) Transcendental
