Io (English band)

io
Origin England Birmingham, England
Genres Experimental rock
Years active 2006 -
Website http://www.weareio.co.uk
Members Al Lawson
Stu Atkins
Dave Wright
Steve Wood
Past members Tom Lawson, James Black

io is an experimental rock band from Birmingham, UK. The band currently consists of Al Lawson (guitar/vocals), Stu Atkins (guitar), Dave Wright (drums), and Steve Wood (bass).

The band formed in 2006 after the collapse of two Birmingham bands, State of Serenity and Project-7. Al Lawson (guitars/vocals), Stu Atkins (guitar), Dave Wright (drums), and Tom Lawson (bass) started writing loud, progressive, instrumental music that evoked the feeling of Mogwai, ISIS and Red Sparowes. After cementing a live show described as "so spectacular and powerful it could have soundtracked the moon's conversion from a glowing, white golf ball into a fearsome, reddish planet",[1] the band entered the studio to record their debut EP, itwaslostinthefirewestarted. Recorded by Jay at Dub:Rek studios in Derby, the self-released EP garnered praise such as "a 'choose your own adventure' book for audiophiles"[2] and "sublime, contemplative, and explosive epic noise".[3] In August 2007, the band tour the EP in the UK with friends Death of London and To the Bones.

March 2008 saw the European release of io's debut album, Monolith. Released by short lived French label Arghh! records (Mothertrucker, God is an Astronaut, The Mantra Above the Spotless Melt Moon) the album consisted of the four tracks from itwaslostinthefirewestarted together with two new tracks, "Where we're going we don't need roads" and "Farewell, my concubine". Favourable reviews in France, Germany and Italy allowed io to tour mainland Europe to support the release. After the tour James Black, who had been playing bass since the recording of the debut EP, left to band to pursue his love of dubstep. He currently DJs under the name Arctic.

A struggle to replace James saw a quiet end to 2008. In 2009 Steve Wood took over on bass and the band began playing live and writing for their second full length album. The album "Materioptikon" was released in November on Grammatical Records. The album received positive reviews such as "a stunning piece of progressive hardcore/post-rock mashup"[4] and "A beautiful, melodic, Post-Rock epic that forces repeated listens".[5]

Discography

Title Release date Label Type
itwaslostinthefirewestarted 2007 Self-Released EP
Monolith 2008 Arghh! Records LP
Materioptikon 2010 Grammatical Records LP

External links

References

  1. ↑ Sandman Magazine, March 2007.
  2. ↑ Rocksound Magazine, November 2007.
  3. ↑ Rockmidgets, October 2007.
  4. ↑ The Silent Ballet, December 2010
  5. ↑ Beard Rock, January 2011
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