Tora (Band)

Tora are an Australian electronic band formed in Byron Bay NSW in May 2013.^[1] The band consists of Tobias Tunis-Plant (vocals/synth), Jo Loewenthal (vocals/guitar/samples), Jai Piccone (vocals/guitar), Thorne Davis (drums), and Shaun Johnston (bass guitar). Classed under the new-age genre Chillwave,^[2] Tora derives it's name from the Greek word ‘τώρα’ meaning 'now'.^[3]

History

2006-2012: Early Career

All band members Jai Piccone, Jo loewenthal, Shaun Johnston, Thorne Davis, Tobias Tunis went to a Rudolph Steiner School in the small NSW town of Mullumbimby.^[4] During the early years of high school. Jo Loewenthal, Toby Tunis and Shaun Johnston formed an indie-rock band with Loewenthal on lead guitar and vocals, Tunis on drums and Johnston playing bass, later named Alice Blu. In 2010 the three left Shearwater to attain a diploma in contemporary music served by NRCAC.

2012-2013: Formation

Mid 2012 in Melbourne, Loewenthal began experimenting with electronic music production through Reason software and while working full-time in call centre was reintroduced to Davis. Tunis was travelling Europe and developing new song ideas and Johnston was undertaking a Bachelor of Audio Engineering at JMC Academy. At the end of 2012, Loewenthal and Davis moved back to Byron Bay. "After moving back up from Melbourne, we decided to make a more electronic-fused band and incorporate electronic production," says Jo.^[5] From October Loewenthal and Tunis rekindled a songwriting partnership and began working on more electronically infused music. In January, Loewenthal began teaching music to Jai Piccone which quickly developed into a strong friendship and songwriting partnership. When Shaun Johnston returned from Melbourne in May 2013, Tora officially formed as a five piece band with the release of the first single 'Unobtainable'.

2013: Tora EP

With the release of their debut EP in October 2013, seven tracks of swirling, electronica influenced pop, drawing from the likes of SOHN & James Blake.^[6] The band received strong public interest as the single Calming Her was blogged by a variety of music channels^[7][8][9] which clocked up 100,000+ plays in its first three months of release. The band was invited to play their first large scale performance at Falls Festival Byron Bay on NYE.^[10]

2014: Eat The Sun EP

March 2014 Tora released their single These Eyes which received 120,000+ plays within the first three weeks again with a lot of support from blogs.^[11] The release was followed up with a tour across some of Australia's major cities (Brisbane, Sydney & Melbourne) in April 2014.^[12] Over the next few months Toby Tunis began working with female vocalist Merryn Jeann from fellow band Potato Potato. According Loewenthal, "most of the song was created in our bedrooms."^[13] Soon after her vocals were developed into a track titled 'Overcome ft. Merryn Jeann' which was released early July 2014 and marked as the most successful release the band had made at this point, receiving huge blog action from channels like 'TheSoundYouNeed'.^[14] Within the same month Tora won a national radio competition with Triple J to open the main stage at 'Splendour in the Grass - Art & Music Festival' in their hometown of Byron Bay.^[15]

September 2014 Tora accepted a support slot with Miami Horror on their "Wild Motion (Set it Free)' tour again playing Australia's major cities.^[16] On return Tora released their long awatied second EP, titled 'Eat the Sun' in November 2014 with tracks "from candle-lit R&B jams, to soothing, electronically laced ballads."^[17] Again, riding the momentum of their release Tora embarked on 'Eat the Sun' tour^[18] of which the Sydney & Port Macquarie performances completely sold-out. The year finished up with a run of shows at 'The Falls Arts & Music Festival 2014' in Byron Bay with Tora on the line-up along with bands such as Alt-J, Jamie XX, BadBadNotGood & Glass Animals.

2015: International Tour

Attracting worldwide attention with over 2 million streams on Soundcloud^[19] alone Tora embarked on an international tour in April 2015. Starting with the 'High Enough' tour in Canada the band continued through to Europe for the summer playing internationally acclaimed festivals, such as The Great Escape Festival in Brighton, Fusion Festival in Germany, and Glastonbury Music Festival in UK alongside acts such as Pharrell Williams, The Who, Glass Animals, Jon Hopkins, & Jack Garratt.^[20] August 25 the quintet release an original work titled “LATP”^[21] Early October the band returned to Canada^[22] for another run of shows before finishing up in America with CMJ Festival in New York and a North American tour with fellow Australian band SAFIA.^[23] As summarised by Loewenthal on the bands return home "193 days, almost 80 shows and over 50,000km of driving."^[24]

Musical style

With their sounds having been compared to the likes of SOHN, Toro Y Moi and James Blake.^[25] Tora's music is a blend of ambient harmonies, layered rhythms and pulsing soundscapes. A beautiful homage to the new genre of Chillwave.^[26]

Labels, Agencies & Management

• Managers - Patrick Davies & Franz Schuller
• Labels - Indica Records (Canada)
• Agents - The Agency Group (America), Select Music (Australia), CAA (UK/Europe) Z|ART (Europe)

Discography

Extended plays

• Tora EP (October 2013)
• Eat the Sun EP (November 2014)

Singles

• LATP (August 2015)
• High Enough (June 2015)
• Overcome ft. Merryn Jeann (July 2014)
• These Eyes (March 2014)
• Offering (August 2013)
• Captivate (June 2013)
• Practice (May 2013)
• Unobtainable (May 2013)

References

External links

• Official website
• Tora on SoundCloud
• Tora on YouTube
• Tora on Twitter
• Tora on Facebook