| Enochian Theory | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Portsmouth, Hampshire, United Kingdom |
| Genres | Rock/Metal/Progressive rock |
| Years active | 2004–present |
| Labels | Mascot Records |
| Website | www.enochiantheory.co.uk |
Enochian Theory is a rock/metal/progressive rock band, formed in 2004 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, United Kingdom. The original lineup of the band consisted of drummer Sam Street, bass guitarist Shaun Rayment, guitarist Scott Ware, and singer/guitarist/keyboard player Ben Harris Hayes.
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The band members met through their individual involvements in the south coast of England local music scene[1] Drummer Sam Street, bass guitarist Shaun Rayment and guitarist Scott Ware came together to start jamming after meeting in school.
In September 2004, Ben Harris-Hayes came to audition for the band after being handed an advert/flyer for the band by his sister[2] and impressed them with his vocals and songwriting ability.
He became a permanent member shortly after and with the line-up complete, ENOCHIAN THEORY were formed officially. The band began to write and demo music, completing their first recording in March 2005.
Their first recording was Our Lengthening Shadows, a seven track CD, which was sold at shows and via the band's website. It was well received by the local music press who saw great promise in the band and their songs. The innovative rock/metal E.P opened new doors for the band and allowed them to secure shows around the UK. The E.P would eventually sell out. Over the course of supporting its release, the band’s sound continued to evolve and led them back in to the studio for their next recording.
The band entered The Old Blacksmiths studios in Portsmouth, during June 2006 with Emmy nominated producer and engineer Rich Tamblyn in order to record the five new tracks that would make up their second record. It was entitled A Monument to the Death of an Idea and would showcase the progressive, hard rock and atmospheric style they had developed over the course of the past two years.
The E.P was ready for release by August that year.[3]
With the 2005 Our Lengthening Shadows E.P. now discontinued and the self-financed A Monument to the Death of an Idea, initially only available only through the band, Enochian Theory managed to secure support shows with several established bands including Twin Zero, Red Sparrowes and Ephel Duath.[4]
In order to promote the release on a wider scale, the band used their musical knowledge and contacts they had made since their formation and formed a partnership called Anomalousz Music Records Ltd.
By setting up their own record label, A Monument to the Death of an Idea would become available worldwide. The band signed with CODE 7/Plastic Head Distribution to handle this, allowing the CD to become available through all major music outlets such as Play.com, Amazon.com, and HMV.
With the CD now available worldwide, press coverage followed with such music publications as Metal Hammer,[5] Classic Rock Magazine,[6] Zero Tolerance Magazine,[7] Power Play[8] Big Cheese (magazine),[9] Black Velvet,[10] Play Music,[11] the Greek version of Rock Hard and Spanish rock and metal magazine This Is Rock all featuring articles about the band and reviews of the E.P.
The band chose to release "Namyamka" to rock and internet radio stations making it available as a downloadable single and shot a video to accompany it which was made available for request on rock channels Kerrang! TV, Scuzz and Rockworld TV.
To further support the release of the E.P and the "Namyamka" single, the band booked and embarked on their first U.K tour, entitled 'Theory in practice'. It was promoted by their Anomalousz Music Records label and booked for them by The S-a-N Agency.
It initially ran through the month of October as a three band bill with two other up and coming bands, SpeedTheory and About A Plane Crash, who had been receiving positive reviews of their own in many magazines and other media outlets. It took them to venues in Liverpool, Cardiff, Brighton, London, Nottingham, Leicester and Cambridge.
With the success of the first leg, and with positive feedback from crowds and venues alike, the band extended the tour, with a short second leg which ran in early December. The itinerary took the band to venues and places they had not seen during their first leg including Plymouth, Exeter and Cheltenham.
On 21 December 2007, it was announced via the bands official website, that guitarist Scott Ware had left the band. The remaining members wished him well in his future endeavors.[12] The remaining members continued as Enochian Theory and auditioned for a new guitarist early in the 2008. The band played a well received and successful home coming gig show at the Wedgewood Rooms in Portsmouth 24 June, with a stand in second guitarist.[13] In August 2008 while recording their new CD, the band decided that they would continue recording and touring as a three piece.
On 28 May 2008, the band officially announced on their website, that their next full length release would be called ‘EVOLUTION: Creatio Ex Nihilio’. The band had been working on new material since the turn of the year and had thirteen tracks written and ready to take in to the studio.
Pre-production for the new recording began at the beginning of July with the recording of the album completed on 12 October 2008. The finished recording was mixed and mastered in Sweden by David Castillo, who had co-produced the Katatonia record 'The Great Cold Distance' on the Peaceville label as well as mixing the Opeth record ‘Watershed’ on the Roadrunner records label.[14]
It was mixed in Castillo’s recently completed new state of the art recording facility ‘Ghostward’ and had the honor of being the first project worked on there.
The artwork for the album was conceived and realized by Swedish artist Robin Portnoff, after the band sent him the lyrical and musical themes behind the album.
The band began their pre-release preparations by headlining a show at the Enska Club in Portsmouth on 2 May,[15] and then providing support for chart topping Australian rockers - The Butterfly Effect at their show at the Hamptons venue in Southampton on Thursday 14 May 2009.
In the weeks prior to its release’ tracks from the new album received rotation on Kerrang radio and Bruce Dickinson's BBC 6 Music rock show.
The album was released through the bands own independent label on 3 August 2009 with CODE 7/Plastic Head Distribution once again handling distribution.
The release was met with exceptional reviews in musical publication across Europe including the English, German and Polish editions of Metal Hammer,[16] Classic Rock Magazine,[17] Terrorizer (magazine),[18] Zero Tolerance Magazine,[19] Power Play,[20] the German, Greek and Italian editions of Rock Hard,[21] Big Cheese (magazine),[22] Spanish magazine 'This Is Rock', Italian magazine 'Metal Maniac', Norwegian magazine 'Helvete', Finnish magazine 'Inferno' and Romanian rock and metal magazine 'Maximum Rock'. It was also reviewed on nearly 100 websites[23] throughout Europe.
On April 29, 2010, the band released a press release via the musical press and their official website saying they had signed a deal with Mascot records. As part of this deal the album was rereleased worldwide through the label on September 27 of that year.
In May 2009, Blabbermouth.net reported that the band had been confirmed to appear at the ProgPower Europe 2009 festival.[24] Festival organisers were quoted saying "probably hardly anyone has ever heard of this band, but that will definitely change when they will release their new album in August 2009.” and also “ENOCHIAN THEORY definitely will surprise many of you."[25] The festival took place between 2–4 October at JC Sjiwa in Baarlo, The Netherlands.
On 11 November 2009, the official website for The Metalcamp festival confirmed that Enochian Theory were to co-headline the second stage at the 2010 event. They will. Festival organisers at the time were quoted as saying "Enochian Theory are gaining more and more reputation with their music, crossing various genres. The aim of pushing themselves as musicians and expanding their sound further creates an even more epic addition to their already impressive repertoire”.[26] The festival took place between 5–11 July 2010 in Tolmin, Slovenia.
To support the release of the new album, the band began working with booking agents in the UK and around Europe to arrange their own tour.[27] The tour itself began on 21 September and ran through in to 2011 seeing them tour England but also make their first forays in to Scotland, Holland, France, Ireland, Slovenia, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia.[28]
During the course of the tour, the band have secured the prestigious support slot for Spocks Beard on a full European tour as well as Katatonia's show in Southampton, UK on the 6 November 2009.
In conjunction with Classic Rock Magazine and Factory Music booking agency, Enochian Theory were part of the Progression 2.0. - 'The New Breed' UK tour in March 2011. They were joined by Touchstone and Jurojin.[29] The itinerary for the tour covered Sheffield, Glasgow, Manchester, Bristol and London.
Towards the end of 2010, the band began shooting a completely animated video for their song 'A Fire Around The Lotus' which will be released online. The band also requested producers and DJ's submit their ideas for remixes of the bands songs.[30]
The band have finished writing new music for the follow up to 'Evolution: Creatio Ex Nihilio'. They entered Rob Aubrey's, Aubitt recording studio, on 16th August 2011 with a view to releasing the new album in early 2012. Aubrey has previosuly worked with Transatlantic, IQ, Spocks Beard and Tony Levin among others and will be overseeing the recording and mixing of the album. [31][32]
In December 2011, the band's label announced the title and track-listing for their 2nd full album. Entitled 'Life...And All It Entails', the album will consist of 13 tracks and will be released in February 2012.[33]
Scott Ware - Guitar (2004–2007)