| Rolo Tomassi | |
|---|---|
Eva Spence live in Oxford, UK |
|
| Background information | |
| Origin | Sheffield, England |
| Genres | Mathcore, jazzcore, experimental rock |
| Years active | 2005–present |
| Labels | Destination Moon, Holy Roar, Hassle Records |
| Members | |
| Edward Dutton Joe Nicholson Eva Spence James Spence Joseph Thorpe |
|
Rolo Tomassi are a British mathcore band from Sheffield, England. Their name is taken from the fictional character in the film L.A. Confidential. On 22 September 2008, the band released their debut album, Hysterics, through Hassle Records.
Contents |
The band formed in 2005. Not long after forming, the band had written some songs and immediately began to perform at local venues/pubs to small crowds. At this time, the band released some of their first material on to a 3 Track Demo CD which they could sell at the shows they were performing at. The demo CD-R was released under James Spence's (keyboardist/vocalist) independent label which he named "Mayday!". There are 8 releases under this label. After a split EP with Mirror! Mirror! (limited to 333 copies and released through Speedowax) the band signed to Holy Roar Records and released a self-titled EP featuring re-recorded songs from previous demos and EPs along with new songs.
In June 2008, Rolo Tomassi were given a spot at Download Festival.[1] The band was featured in the February 2009 edition of Rock Sound, with singer Eva Spence appearing on the cover along with The Bronx and Fucked Up as part of the magazine's Shred Yr Face 2 tour.[2] The band played the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas in March 2009. On 29 June James Spence revealed that recording of the follow-up album to Hysterics would commence during the summer of 2009. The band also performed at Underage Festival and Sonisphere during August 2009. On 14 August 2009 it was announced that Rolo Tomassi will be playing the Australian music festival Soundwave in 2010 alongside bands Faith No More, Meshuggah, Alexisonfire and Jane's Addiction. They also played sideshows in Melbourne and Sydney as a support act to Jane's Addiction.
Towards the end of October 2009, the band flew to LA to record their second album. Artwork for their second album is, like Hysterics, designed by Simon Moody. Recording finished on 31 October and the album is due for release in March 2010. In early February 2010, it was announced their second album would be titled Cosmology and was due for release on 19 April 2010. In interviews, the band revealed they were working with American DJ/producer Diplo.[3] The album has since been pushed back to 24 May.[4] On release, Cosmology debuted at number 183 on the UK album chart.
The band played on the Ronnie James Dio Stage at Download Festival and played on the NME/Radio 1 tent at Reading and Leeds in August 2010. In the band's blog in June 2010 it was written that there may eventually be a Discography styled release in the future which will allows people to hear all of the bands material released before the Rolo Tomassi EP. On 7 August 2010 they played at the Hevy Music Festival near Folkestone, England. Throughout October and November 2010 Rolo Tomassi supported The Dillinger Escape Plan on their UK tour.[5] On 19 December 2010, they were to play a free gig at London's Bloomsbury Ballroom, the tickets were won through Rolo Tomassi's website. This was to be filmed to be released as part of a documentry for the band due in 2011. However, the show was cancelled due to the ill health of Eva Spence and so a new UK Tour had been announced for May.[6]
On 18 april 2011, Rolo Tomassi released "Eternal Youth" which is an anthology of rare and non-album material including acoustic versions, remixes of their own work by various artists and a cover of Throats. This release was accompanied by a short list of tour dates across the UK in may 2011, these dates were confirmed to be the only tour date Rolo Tomassi would do in 2011.[7] On 8 July 2011, Rolo Tomassi headlined the Red Bull Bedroom Jam Stage at Sonisphere.[8] Rolo Tomassi has expressed interest in working with Anthony Gonzalez or Kurt Ballou respectively of M83 and Converge as producers for the third album. As of July James Spence has stated that the third album has not progressed far enough for them to search for producers.[8] James Spence also has stated that they, as of July have atleast two songs created, with a lyrical concept that sufaces as focuses on self reflection.[9]
Their music has been difficult to classify simply because of the band's resistance to being identified with one single genre.[10] They typically have been acknowledged as being mathcore, jazzcore and experimental rock. They have been identified as "falling somewhere between grindcore, progressive and alternative rock".[9] Their mathcore influence is noted in their huge influence from The Dillinger Escape Plan.[5] Their jazzcore style is shown in their use of jazz breakdowns and swapping chaotically between explosive mathcore, calm atmospheric experimental music and acid-jazz.[10][11][12] Their music is also noted for sharing traits with nintendocore for the use of 8-bit synthesizers and in terms of chaos and sound.[11] The compilation album Eternal Youth by the band gave insight into their musical development since their inception in 2005 with their demos onto their latest b-side releases with Hassle records.
The band have also named several other diverse influences, such as Mew, M83, Meshuggah, Botch, Converge, At the Drive-In, Thursday, Goblin, Yo La Tengo and The Dillinger Escape Plan.[5]
| Year | Album details |
|---|---|
| 2008 | Hysterics
|
| 2010 | Cosmology
|
| Year | Title | Album |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | "I Love Turbulence" | Hysterics |
| 2010 | "Party Wounds" | Cosmology |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||