Cog (band)
Cog is an Australian progressive rock band well known for their live shows which have yielded them the informal title of the "kings of Australian underground rock". Since their formation in 1998, they have racked up hundreds of gigs, all over Australia, becoming one of the most hardworking bands of the country.
Table of contents |
Biography
Flynn Gower and Lucius Borich (the son of renowned Australian rock guitarist Kevin Borich) were friends at high school in the 1980s. Borich being a drummer, and Flynn being a guitarist, they would occasionally jam. As their school careers finished Lucius went to form the band "Juice" while Flynn formed the 5 piece funk metal band "The Hanging Tree." In 1995 Flynn left Juice and joined The Hanging Tree, which eventually broke up and both Lucius and Flynn went to the USA. There, they formed Cog and wrote some of the songs that would become regulars in their hectic touring schedule for the next 5 years. To fill out the bass, Flynn brought his younger brother Luke in. After they formed this legitimate lineup, they toured aggressively, clocking up thousands of kilometres of weekly driving, between Sydney and Melbourne.
Their first residency, at a pub in the Sydney suburbs was without a vocalist. They encouraged people to send them demos for the vocals job, however the band were so unimpressed with the demos that Flynn trained his voice to fill the vacancy. Their breakthrough gig was a Wednesday headlining slot at Excelsior Hotel in Surry Hills, where they packed out the club consistently for 4 months. They were recognised with a nomination for "best emerging live band in NSW" at the Australian Live Music awards. In 2001 they released a demo called Pseudo EP, the "pseudo" referring to the fact that it was only a demo. The track listing for this demo is believed to be: 1) 1010011010 2) Moshiach 3) Holes 4) Bondi RFHK. They were signed to the underground label Little Samurai Records later that year and started work on what was to be the two Just Visiting EPs.
The two EPs, despite the slight differences in style between them, were written and recorded at the same time. The band chose not to release the studio session as a full album so they would not lose their debut album virginity, and would get twice the publicity. They grabbed a breakthrough gig, just before the release of Just Visiting Part One, supporting System of a Down at the Hordern Pavilion. Just Visiting Part One was released in February 2002 and was still consistently appearing in the ARIA Top 20 Heavy Rock/Metal singles/EPs chart over 2 years after its release. In July, the song "Bondi" was added to Andrew Haug's Triple J 3 Hours of Power Compilation. Just Visiting Part Two was released in October that same year and was also still appearing in the ARIA Top 20 Heavy Rock/Metal singles/EPs charts after two years. That year, Cog also won, not merely nominated for "best emerging live band in NSW" at the Australian Live Music Awards. After an extensive tour supporting the two EPs, including a slot at the Big Day Out in 2003, Cog headed for the studio to record their latest project, a maxi single.
The single contains "Open Up", a cover of a dance song originally recorded by Leftfield, which became a live favourite. The single also contains the extended versions of "Paris, Texas" and "Moshiach", as well as a remix of Open Up by DJ Silk. An interesting detail is that the release date was on the third day of the third month of the third year (of the millennium). They toured in support of the single before again entering the studio, this time using more than a mere 8-track that they used to record the Just Visiting EPs.
Throughout the rest of 2003, the band worked on writing and demoing their forthcoming debut album. The band had completed the pre-production for the album by early 2004, however they were not able to go into production due to a lack of financial resources. During this time, and adding insult to injury, their demos had been noticed by renowned producer Sylvia Massy Shivy (Tool, System of a Down), who agreed to produce the album once they were able to gain the funding to travel to her California studio. Thus the band was in limbo, playing occasional gigs while continuing to sustain a life for themselves through drab day jobs. After around six months of shopping their demos around, even to private investors as well as music labels, Cog signed to Difrnt Music, a new label for which Cog was the first signing and formed and run by former Universal Music Australia head honcho Paul Krige. During this time Cog also signed to management company Aloha Management (Shihad (Pacifier), Killing Heidi).
Cog recorded their debut album, "The New Normal", during September, October and November of 2004 with Sylvia Massy Shivy, and released the album on 12th April 2005. It debuted on the ARIA albums chart at number 19, and at number 6 for Australasian artists, receiving rave reviews nationwide.
Discography
Albums
- The New Normal (2005)
Singles and EPs
- Just Visiting Part One (2002)
- Just Visiting Part Two (2002)
- Open Up (2003)
External links
Categories: Australian musical groups