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Nathan Cox
Showing posts with label Nathan Cox. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nathan Cox. Show all posts
Monday, October 28, 2024
Sunday, May 19, 2024
Milford
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ORIGINS: Blue Mountains, NSW
GENRE: Indie
YEARS ACTIVE: 1998-2003
MEMBERS:
- Paul Mckenna - Vocals, Guitar
- Christian Menzies - Bass
- Nathan Cox - Drums
RELEASES:
- Me and My Monkey (2000) - Download Here.
- 1. End It
- 2. The Sky is Blue
- 3. Thumpy
- 4. Another Taste
- 5. Downy
SUMMARY: Milford was the brainchild of Paul Mckenna, who wanted to start a new band when he moved back to Blue Mountains after studying in Canberra for some time. He recruited heavy metal drummer Nathan Cox and then set about teaching his good friend and housemate Christian Menzies how to play bass. The band went on to play a handful of shows concentrated around the Blue Mountains, building a cult following and releasing an EP before slowing down and disappearing altogether.
SHOWS:
- Jasper, Blaxland Community Hall - 26th June, 1999
- Blaxland Tavern, Blaxland - 25th May, 2000
- Monkeyfest, Blaxland Hall, Blaxland - 16th December, 2000
- Community Hall, Warrimoo - unknown date
- Gearin Hotel, Katoomba - unknown date, 2003
ORAL HISTORY:
PAUL: I moved back from Canberra to the Blue Mountains as I was about to start studying industrial design at UWS. Sharing a house with my girlfriend at the time and my mate Christian, who I'd been to high school with in Orange. Although he had no musical talent and couldn't play an instrument, I had been widening his taste and appreciation of good music, and set to teaching him the bass. I spent every afternoon/evening for a couple months teaching Christian bass. One note at a time, over and over, until he was able to play about ten songs. The songs I was teaching him were all my own tunes, and as soon as he was competent enough we invited Nathan Cox to jam. Needless to say, Nathan was a fucking brilliant drummer. Being a metal/heavy style drummer, he was all over my indie stuff instantly. He understood the dynamics of my musical style and I barely had to explain what drum patterns or beats/fills I wanted at all.
Paul Mckenna, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
NATHAN: Milford was pretty much Paul's baby. He's one of those very gifted musicians that can just play anything.
Nathan Cox, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
CHRISTIAN: Ha, I never played bass. Paul said he needed a bass player and that he'd teach me to play! We were friends from school. I learnt from scratch, he was a patient teacher. Found a cheap 2nd hand lefty bass and started plucking away. Was hard but Paul and I lived together at the time so it's pretty much all we did... decked out the garage as a jam room.
Christian Menzies, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
PAUL: There was a Uni band comp at UWS Nepean coming up so we blundered through the handful of songs Christian could play, over and over, for a few weeks, and started getting tight. The comp was fun. Christian was shitting himself haha. We played well and got a good crowd reaction and certainly impressed a few of the punters but didn't get any further in the comp. I remember one of the judges coming up after the set and commenting that we were fucking great, and a few people asked when our next gig was. There was a bunch of the mountains crew that came to see what this indie band was that Nathan the rock god was drumming with. They were ready to tell us how shit we were... but were suitably impressed. Not a bad result for our first performance.
Paul Mckenna, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
CHRISTIAN: I was peaking... nervous. But I knew Paul and Nathan would keep it together if I fell. It was fun, that show at the Uni in Kingswood. It got easier over time. Like I said, Paul and I spent a lot of time in the garage jamming.
Christian Menzies, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
PAUL: After the band com we started playing around the mountains a bit. Blaxland Tavern was our first 'real' gig. We played with another band, Glister, and I think another band that I can't recall. Again, we had a large contingency of local metal heads who were all very keen to hear this indie band Nathan, Lord of the Drums, was playing in... Matt Cleary, local rock god, who we had 'borrowed' Nathan from, told me he was quite impressed that we "didn't sound anything like that You Am I shit" and that it was okay for Nathan to keep playing with us. Haha! Some old dude also came up after the set and was full of praise. He said the way we played reminded him of the Hendrix Experience... not our songs but the way we played with simple and steady basslines and full drums and guitar sounds. I was a bit chuffed by that - but we definitely didn't sound anything like Hendrix.
Paul Mckenna, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
REVIEW: Milford kicked off the night to a small audience but didn't seem discouraged as they pumped out some form of rock I would like to compare to the likes of You Am I. I don't know much about this band but they held together very well, and I was particularly impressed with the vocals.
Anonymous Review of Jasper Show, Obzine Issue 2, August 1999
REVIEW: Milford opened the night around nine with their own blend of Sonic Youth/Smudge/noisy guitar styled rock. It's cool to watch the famous Nathan (Sickend/ex-Futile) play pop-type drumming. I really like this band, they have style.
Mark Alston, review of Blaxland Tav Show, Obzine Issue 11, June 2000
CHRISTIAN: The Jasper gigs were definitely fun, and some Battle of the Bands show at the Tav was fun too.
Christian Menzies, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
PAUL: Nathan often disappeared for weeks, sometimes a couple months at a time. He was hard to keep track of. Appearing and staying at our place for a week or two, then vanishing again.
Paul Mckenna, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
CHRISTIAN: Recording was great. It was my first experience recording, playing to drums in headphones. Nathan nailed it first go of course. Took me a few goes. A friend did for us - Matt Capper. Turned out nice; lo-fi. We used to also do lots of old four track recording at home too.
Christian Menzies, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
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| Review by Mark Alston, Obzine Issue 11, June 2000 |
REVIEW: They're a band I definitely want to see again. Their dirty guitar sound and melodies, and the vocal delivery, remind me of Bluebottle Kiss in their 'higher up the firetrails' days.
Review by Phil Williams of Monkeyfest, Obzine Issue 18, February 2001
PAUL: Our last gig was at the Gearins Hotel in about 2003 I think. We hadn't jammed or played for about a year and a friend's band were playing there and needed another band so we said, fuck it, let's play. We had one jam a couple days before and just did it. We opened for Christian's mates and they weren't going to play after us because they said we were too good and couldn't believe we hadn't played for so long! We all got a kick out of that and were keen to get back into playing but, sadly, it just didn't happen, and that would be the last show for Milford.
Paul Mckenna, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
Monday, April 15, 2024
Dalkiel
ORIGINS: Lower Blue Mountains, NSW
GENRE: Metal
YEARS ACTIVE: 1997
MEMBERS:
- Matt Capper (Vocals)
- Matt Cleary (Guitar)
- Nathan Cox (Drums)
- Ben Parker (Bass)
SUMMARY: Dalkiel was a short-lived metal band formed by some members of Futile. Several members went on to re-form Futile after Dalkiel broke up.
SHOWS:
- Glenbrook Oval, Glenbrook - unknown date, 1997
ORAL HISTORY:
NATHAN: Dalkiel started off as a side project with our friend Matthew Capper singing and it was really fuckin' cool. Matty ended up working in the music industry for years with Warner Chappell Music Australia and worked his way right up the ladder.
Nathan Cox (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
BEN: At some point for reasons unknown to me, Futile broke up and Nathan, Matt and I wound up in another band playing together with our mate Matt Capper. After that band had run its course, it kind of pretty much turned back into Futile, and that's how I joined Futile.
Ben Parker (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
RELATED BANDS: Futile, Sickend, A Case of Severed Limbs, Magma One, Flying Fists of Fury, Bred From Hate, Day of the Dead, Brown Helmet, Milford, Amongst the Demons, Grenade, Steel Cap Therapy.
Sunday, March 31, 2024
Futile
ORIGINS: Lower Blue Mountains
GENRE: Metal, Heavy Alternative
YEARS ACTIVE: 1995-2000
MEMBERS:
- Matt Cleary (Vocals, Guitar)
- Nathan Cox (Drums)
- Nick Qumivutia (Guitar) [1995-1997]
- Craig Rozinski (Bass) [1995-1997]
- Ben Parker (Bass) [1998-2000]
RELEASES:
- Demo (1997)
- 1. The Victim
- 2. Brothers
- 3. Mushroom
- 4. Hermit
- Self-Titled (1998) - Download Here.
- 1. Liar
- 2. The Damned
- 3. Bubbles
- 4. The Sure Thing
- 5. Sleep
- 6. Rape
- 7. One Dead Friend
- 8. Budrunner
SUMMARY: Influenced by bands like Tumbleweed, Mudhoney, Helmet, White Zombie, You Am I, Budd, Sepultura, Fear Factory, and Zambian Goat Herders, the band Futile was formed by some high school students with a shared love of heavy music. Unusually for a Blue Mountains-based local band of teenagers, they went on tour and played their first show in Queensland. The band broke up in 1997, with Cox and Cleary going on to form the shortlived band Dalkiel. After this band finished, Futile re-formed as a three piece in 1998 before winding down in 2000. The band members still occasionally jam together (as recently as 2023).
SHOWS:
- Rainbird Festival, Katoomba Showground, Katoomba - 9th December, 1995
- Blaxland Tavern, Blaxland - 29th March, 1997
- Blaxland Tavern, Blaxland - 5th February, 1998
- Melrose Hall, Emu Plains - 19th June, 1998
- Youth Week Big Gig, Civic Centre, Springwood - 1st May, 1999
- Jasper, Blaxland Community Hall, Blaxland - 29th May, 1999
- Blaxland Taverm, Blaxland - 10th June, 1999
- Jasper, Blaxland Community Hall, Blaxland - 26th June, 1999
ORAL HISTORY:
NATHAN: Matt and Craig were the original two. I don't know how the fuck they found me but they did, then they came around for a jam and it just happened.
Nathan Cox (Drummer), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
MATT: Craig and I were at St Columbus trying to start a band. Then I went to Blaxland High and hooked up with Nick and Nathan who were already playing stuff. I think weed as the key for all of us at the time. First show we played was at a festival thing, not a big thing - it was
like a local skate/fete thingy. It was in Nambour, Queensland. We
thought we were the best going on tour.
Matt Cleary (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
BEN: I was friends with the band all from school. I used to go to their gigs and really liked their music. At some point for reasons unknown to me they broke up and Nathan, Matt and I wound up in another, Dalkiel, playing together with another mate named Matt Capper. After that band had run its course, it kind of pretty much turned back into Futile, and that's how I joined the band.
Ben Parker (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
MATT: The Mountains music scene was good back in the party rock days. It's not anymore... we only play the Tavern. It's our home ground.
Matt Cleary (Vocals, Guitar), Obzine Issue 1, 1999
BEN: My favourite show was the Christian Youth Week show at the Jasper Hall in 1998. We only played for about twenty minutes.
Ben Parker (Bass), Obzine Issue 1, 1999
BEN: As odd as it may sound, some of the best gigs we played were at the Blaxland Tavern. Back at that point, they actually had a lot of good bands playing there and the three of us lived within a few hundred metres of it so we used to play there a lot and had some great times there.
Ben Parker (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
"Futile are sounding chunkier than ever, with their guitars tuned down lower than usual I believe. People seemed to crawl out of thin air, packing the tiny room. Nobody was let down because Futile put on a good show, as usual"
Review, Obzine 2, 1999
"In their time they were the heaviest band in the Lower Blue Mountains area and played a lot of Jasper concerts. Futile were one of the earliest local bands to make an impact on the local scene and built up a huge cult following."
Mark Alston (Review), Obzine Issue 16, 2000
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