Showing posts with label Patrick Orriss. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Patrick Orriss. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 1, 2024

Dyasphere


ORIGINS: Penrith, NSW
GENRE: Black metal, Metal
YEARS ACTIVE: 2001-2005
 
MEMBERS:
RELEASES: 
  • Demo (2001)
    • 1. Death of Mankind

  • Demo (2003) - Download Here.
    • 1. Volatile Reality
    • 2. Bury the Hatchet
    • 3. Lunatic

  • Live Demo (2004)
    • 1. Death of Mankind
    • 2. Godsend
    • 3. Blink
    • 4. Zero
  • Demo (2005)
    •  1. Volatile Reality
SUMMARY: Dyasphere was a Penrith-based metal band started by members Sebastian, Clint and Rob under the name 'Desecration'. The band changed their name and underwent a lineup shuffle after auditioning Patrick Orriss on vocals. They then played shows mostly in the Western Sydney area and got to the final of the Great Western Bar Battle of the Bands competition. Halfway through their lifespan, they added a keyboardist to reflect some of the keys that had been included on their demo by producer Dax Liniere. The band underwent further lineup changes after a final show with guitarist Sebastian but were not able to get momentum again under the name Dyasphere, even though some recordings were completed with new vocalist Ace Brimshore. Members moved on to other projects after this point.
 
SHOWS: 
  • May Babies Party, Werrington Youth Centre - unknown date, May, 2003
  • Unsigned Idol Heat, New Embassy Nightclub, Penrith - unknown date, January, 2004
  • Kelts Bar, Blaxland - 21st February, 2004
  • Unsigned Idol Grand Final, New Embassy Nightclub, Penrith - 17th March 2004
  • Channel Cafe, Penrith - 10th April, 2004
  • Kelts Bar, Blaxland - 27th May, 2004

ORAL HISTORY:
CLINT: Initially the band was Desecration with myself on bass, and Sebastian and Robert on guitars... we then recruited Ryan Fernando on drums and Evan O'Brien for vocals. Not long after we also experimented with keyboards, adding Sebastian's sister Rhiannon to the group. After jamming for a bit and writing a couple of songs we started to promote ourselves online and learn of another much bigger band named Desecration so, with a bit of brainstorming, 'Dyasphere' was born. 
Clint Bertenshaw (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
SEBASTIAN: Back in the 1990s, a group of metalhead friends decided to give the band thing a go. Ashton guitars and 10 watt amps purchased, later the classic Metal Zone pedal for that extra distortion, and Desecration/Dyasphere was born. 
Sebastian Schroeder (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
PAT: I can't remember exactly how Dyasphere started. I think there was a 6-12 month break after Cherub Mafia had finished... I'd started dating a girl who was in Seb and Clint's social circle and they wanted me to have a crack and I one up'd them and dragged Kurt along with me after some convincing, which to him was probably more like nagging.
Patrick Orriss (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
CLINT: We auditioned Patrick Orriss and immediately wanted him. The same day Kurt Reichel joined the jam and we knew his style was perfectly suited so we parted ways with Ev and Ryan and got ourselves ready to gig. Rhiannon left around this time too and we went without keys until just after we recorded our demo CD with Dax at Puzzle Factory. 
Clint Bertenshaw (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
KURT: Compared to other bands I played in, Dyasphere was definitely more black metal. Angry and heavy.  
Kurt Reichel (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
PAT: Clint named the band before I joined. I believed it was a play on the word 'Dyer/Dire', as in consequences, and 'sphere' was in relation to planet Earth. It sounded metal until you knew what it meant, then it just felt a bit cheesy. I wanted to call it Captain Redbeard and the Moby Dicks. They wouldn't budge. 
Patrick Orriss (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

SEBASTIAN: The first gig we played was at the Kelts Bar. We were on the bill supporting Tocata, we played our set - which was the best performance from all of us. The crowd was mental that night. After the set we packed out gear off stage; while backstage packing our gear up, we were told that people were wanting us to sign our demo CDs. We thought it was a joke, but lo and behold, there were half a dozen people that we signed our demo for. That was the greatest feeling.
Sebastian Schroeder (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

KURT: One of our first shows was a May Babies party at Werrington Youth Centre - it was a party that was put together by a few people that all had birthdays in May. There were like 10 people that all celebrated their birthdays in that month. Wayne Bennett from Withdisdain was a May Baby, they bashed it out on stage that night too! The hall was hired out for the night as a private venue and invites were printed out on flyers and handed out to whomever they wanted to attend. 
Kurt Reichel (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
 
CLINT: We experimented with some keyboard over the tracks on the 2003 demo and we liked the sound. We wanted to continue it live so we recruited Alan Dodd on keys. Recording the demo with Dax was huge as most of us hadn't been in a studio before.
Clint Bertenshaw (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

ALAN: I'd known Pat and Kurt for some time and had played with them in the past. The other guys I knew through social circles. When I was between bands, they asked if I was interested in going to a few rehearsals and testing out how keys and some samples would sound in their songs.
Alan Dodd (Keyboard, Samples), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
REVIEW: Dyasphere are a six piece metal band hailing from the western suburbs of Sydney... This ain't Dashboard Confessional; it's more like Chop-you-up-into-little-bits Confessional.
Review, Kerrang, 2024
 
PAT: We played a final for a Battle of the Bands comp in Penrith. Seb's daughter was born the day after and we all thought that was a big effort from the bloke to turn up. I think it was our first show was Al on keys too. 
Patrick Orriss (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

KURT: A few shows stand out in my memory - one was the Battle of the Bands in Penrith at Great Western bar. The other was our final show at Blaxland Tavern. We also did a few gigs at Great Western Bar on a Wednesday band night, I think we played like 4 or 5 shows there. We did a party gig for Clint's birthday, might have been his 21st.  
Kurt Reichel (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

CLINT: Winning our heat of the Penrith Underground Idol was a highlight, as well as laying the finals. We didn't win but having Glen A. Baker say that, whilst it wasn't his thing, we were good at what we were doing - well, that's a win to me! 
Clint Bertenshaw (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

KURT: I think the band stopped due to Sebastian, our lead guitarist, having a baby with his girlfriend at the time. He was working twelve hour days and he needed to quit the band. We never bothered to find another guitarist to replace as the band started with him, Clint and Rob. If one original member leaves, the band name gets left behind. As we were all working full time jobs, we were all becoming less available to jam, practice, and write new stuff. I think we were all having girl troubles at the same too, haha. 
Kurt Reichel (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

CLINT: Our farewell gig up in Blaxland was memorable. We had Daryl from Tocata jump up and do our song Volatile Reality with us. After that gig the band didn't immediately break up. Pat left to join the Black Arts Movement and Seb left as his daughter was born. Alan stepped up to guitar and we recruited Ace Brimshore as our vocalist. We jammed with this line up for a bit but it didn't make it out of the rehearsal room.
Clint Bertenshaw (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

SEBASTIAN: With the band dynamic having six members, all with songwriting capabilities and different musical backgrounds, there came a time where I felt that I needed to move musically in a different direction and so I left the band. 
Sebastian Schroeder (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

ALAN: We attempted to continue Dyasphere after Pat and Seb departed by changing the line up. I moved to guitar and Ace came in on vocals but it unfortunately didn't continue on. 
Alan Dodd (Keyboard, Samples), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

ACE: I first saw Dyasphere at a band comp above the Embassy Hotel. Ended up going to their farewell gig... they were looking for a replacement vocalist. I hit them up online via Yahoo Messenger. Went for a try out and ended up in the band. I was in the band for maybe 6 months, maybe a year. The funny thing is we got booked at the Backdoor at Penrith Panthers Club for the Dyasphere comeback show and we randomly broke up... can't remember why. While I was in Dyasphere I'd started another banded called Thoughts of Yesterday, so when Dyasphere broke up Thoughts of Yesterday ended up on the Backdoor lineup and Clint the bassplayer from Dyasphere filled in on bass for us. 
Ace Brimshore (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

ALAN: My favourite memories of the band are the camaraderie, the support from friends and family of the band, and also the laughs (including the cheeky prank here and there). And I'll always remember the energy and atmosphere of the Kelts Bar farewell show.
Alan Dodd (Keyboard, Samples), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

RELATED BANDS: Cherub Mafia, Dark Sorcerer, Vanity Star, Laura Mosa, The Arbitrary Method, Tocata, The Black Arts Movement, Many Ions Apart, Silenced/Last 2 Die, Voice of Chaos, Vendetta Symphony, Thoughts of Yesterday, My Life Of Yours, Chair Like Issues, SpearJustice, Not Another Sequel Just Another Prequel, Hate Injection, Chaos Trigger, Kincaid, Infernal Ruin
 
BAND TREE:

PICS:



Friday, April 19, 2024

Patrick Orriss

Patrick Orriss

REGION: Penrith, NSW

Monday, April 8, 2024

Cherub Mafia

ORIGINS: Cranebrook, NSW
GENRE: Nu-Metal, Metal
YEARS ACTIVE: 2000-2001
 
MEMBERS:
SUMMARY: Cherub Mafia were a metal band that came out of Cranebrook High School. They began playing shows after transitioning from playing covers to their own original songs. Internal tensions within the band led to a new name, Hardkore Pawn (HKP for short), before things eventually fizzled out. They did not do any recordings.
 
SHOWS: 
 
ORAL HISTORY:
KURT: Ryan, Aaron and myself went to the same high school and in our mid teens we started hanging out at the Backyard Cafe and socialising with the old Mondo crew. Scott and Patrick came around to my place one day where we were jamming in my garage. They were listening to us play and asked us if they could join and complete a five piece band. We were totally up for it, jamming together on Metallica, Slipknot, Korn, and Sepultura covers. One day we decided to write our own songs... we all had our input and then the songs were born.
Kurt Reichel (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
SCOTT: Pat, Kurt, myself, and Ryan used to hang out at the Backyard Cafe with everyone else. I think Pat and Ryan were keen to start a band... We just started fucking around and one night at Pablo's (Save Some For Daddy) joint we were all pretty soused and I pointed at a Christmas decoration his mum had in the house of all these little cherubs pointing violins downwards. I said, "It's a cherub mafia". 
Scott Belshaw, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

KURT: My earliest memory of a show was a gig in Blaxland Community Hall. Small venue, only a crowd of maybe 30 people, and 3 bands - all local. A lot of hairspray went into my hair, to try and make it stand up straight like an '80s mohawk!
Kurt Reichel (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
REVIEW: Cherub Mafia was an assault. I found their influences a little too obvious, but no doubt with time these guys will have a lot more to say for themselves.
Review of Monkeyfest, Obzine Issue 18, February 2001
 
 
SCOTT: It was great times. I was like 16 and going to the Great Western Bar for the open mic night where we'd scam jugs and then win the case of beer and hammer it afterwards. 
Scott Belshaw, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

KURT: Chris McMahon from Thy Art is Murder was a groupie and wanted so badly to be a part of the band. We didn't know where he would fit in, so we just had him as a stage performer doing whatever he wanted to get the crowd going, and he would help out Patrick with growling vocals. 
Kurt Reichel (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

REVIEW: Then there was the circus bonanza that was Cherub Mafia. It was somewhat strange that the most hyped and successful band of the day was only fourth in a lineup of seven bands. Sprinkling their set of brand spanking new originals with one or two covers (including a great version of Coal Chamber's 'Loco'), dressed in an assortment of bright colours and bizarre costumes, and throwing out free slices of cheese to the punters, they managed to pull an astoundingly huge crowd. One of their original songs, 'Serenity Suffering', really impressed me too.
Review of Judge's Carpark show, Obzine Issue 20, June 2001

KURT: It was just a bunch of fun hanging out with the best of mates all the time, having a reasonably large following, being recognised by people around town. We even put a colour theme together... I was Blue, Ryan was Red, Scott was Purple, Pat was Green, and Aaron was Orange. We wore those colours on stage and Ryan loved Slipknot so much that he wore a red jumpsuit on stage.
Kurt Reichel (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

RELATED BANDS: Thy Art is Murder, Vanity Star, Dyasphere, Tocata, The Black Arts Movement, Laura Mosa, Evolvar, The Arbitrary Method, Casa Del Disco, Notion

Monday, March 4, 2024

Tocata


ORIGINS: Cranebrook, NSW
GENRE: Metal, Nu-Metal
YEARS ACTIVE: 1994-2007
 
MEMBERS:
  • Andrew Kounelis (Vocals) [1994-2006] (also Guitar) [1994-1997]
  • James Young (Guitar) [1994-2001, 2003-2007]
  • Chris 'Frosti' Tar (Bass) [1999-2007] [ (Drums) [1994-1996]
  • Wesley Baiada (Drums) [1997-2007]
  • Daryl Russell (Guitar) [1997-2007]
  • Nathan Clarke (Bass) [1994-1998]
  • Russel Young (Guitar) [2002]
  • Patrick Orriss (Vocals) [2006]
RELEASES: 
  • Self-titled (2000) [as Porndrug]
    • 1. Denatured
    • 2. Week
    • 3. In(va-lid)
    • 4. My Pain
  • Unearth This (2001) - Obzine Compilation [as Porndrug]
    • Denatured

  • Tulpas (2002) - Download Here
    • 1. Stab
    • 2. Drowning
    • 3. I_O
    • 4. Son of God
    • 5. Bipolar
    • 6. Saiyan
    • 7. Stab (Remix) [Bonus Track - Multimedia Version of CD]
    • 8. Punk Song [Bonus Track - Multimedia Version of CD]
  • Damaged: Music to Skate To (2002) - Obzine Compilation
    • Son of God

  • Self-Titled (2006) - Download Here.
    • 1. Promise
    • 2. Reap and Sow
    • 3. The Sacrifice
SUMMARY: Starting as a high school hard rock/grunge band called Mud Puppy, the band was initially a four piece comprising of Kounelis, J. Young, Clarke, and Tar, jamming on cover songs and playing school concerts. Original drummer Chris Tar changed schools, prompting a line-up shuffle that brought in Baiada and Russell. The band became heavier as they began to write their own songs, changed their name to Porndrug, and recorded their first EP in a studio in St Marys. The band stopped playing for a year when they finished school, then re-starting with Tar returning on bass to replace Nathan Clarke, changing their name to Tocata in 2002.  

By 2001 Tocata were playing a lot of Great Western Bar jam nights and began playing a range of local shows and gigs in the city, as well as embarking on some East Coast tours, with Daryl Russell acting as band manager a lot of the time. James Young's career commitments meant that he had to take a break from the band around 2002 and his brother Russel filled in at this time. Further EPs were recorded with Dax Liniere at Puzzle Factory Sound Studios. 
 
Eventually around 2005, Kounelis was replaced by former Cherub Mafia vocalist Patrick Orris. Tocata played a couple of shows with this lineup before both Orris and Tar decided to exit. The rest of the band decided to call a day a few months later.     

 
SHOWS: 


ORAL HISTORY:
"The band started around 1993/94 in high school. We all loved Pantera, Sepultura, etc., but we weren't good enough to play that, so Nirvana covering was all we had for a short while. I was one year ahead of the other guys but Wesley, I grew up next door to him, so he introduced me to the other guys. We practiced hard with a different group of players. I was always on guitar and vocals at high school. It was a high school concert night that we were closer to the band we became... maybe 1996 or 1997. The school brought new instruments so we used them everyday. Destroyed them. The high school Music teachers were very nice but hated us after 2 or 3 years of that."
Andrew Kounelis (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
As Mud Puppy, left to right: Andrew Kounelis, James Young, Chris Tarr, Nathan Clarke

"When the band KoRn came out, that was when we started writing our own songs, and played them at a high school concert night. We got in some trouble for playing Pantera's 'Suicide Note Part 1' because the school didn't really want us playing a song with that title."
Andrew Kounelis (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
"I started working at Pizza Hut at 16 when Andrew was doing delivery driving. We started talking about music, etc., and we started hanging out after work, talking more music, and doing delinquent things. After a while he just asked me to join the band. Don't think he even asked any of the other members or anything... just that I was suddenly in the band. The band felt like it was kind of over around this point as they didn't jam or anything but I started taking my guitar to school and James and I started jamming together at lunchtime. I played the high verse guitar part and James latched onto it, wrote a chorus, and then 'Denatured' was born."
Daryl Russell, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
"I started to play drums around the same time that Daryl joined the band. We changed to 'Porndrug' at this stage. We were still playing mostly covers of Nirvana, Silverchair, but started to progress to heavier music - playing some Korn and Deftones covers. We started to write our own songs and were playing the odd gig here and there - school concerts and some parties."
Wesley Baiada (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
"I stopped playing guitar to focus on vocals around maybe 1998. The guitar was way too much stuff for me to drag around... And I had sold all my stuff because I found marijuana in Year 12."
Andrew Kounelis (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024 


"It's hard to say exactly when, but we wrote a four track EP and recorded and released it. We didn't print covers properly in order to save on costs... just printed covers at Wesley's place and put them together ourselves."
Daryl Russell, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
"Mostly James would come up with stuff. The heavier stuff was usually James, melodic stuff usually me. Frosti wrote the main riff in 'The Sacrifice'. Each member owned their own instrument. It wasn't until after pre-production recording for our EPs that we started tweaking other stuff. Like, Wes came up with awesome idea for 'Reap & Sow', where the guitar goes high but drops to half time... was so good! I still try to implement it now in music. The high part in a song from one of my more recent bands only exists because of that part from Wesley."
Daryl Russell (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
"My favourite memory of playing was being able to preach the good word with people thinking it was just heavy metal... I was going through hard drug times. And all my writing was about spiritual division - Jesus vs. Satan. And unfortunately my Satan was drugs. It was definitely a cathartic experience performing on stage but after a while I refused to repent and decided to do it for all the wrong reasons. We had some great stuff that wasn't properly recorded - all with very nasty insides."
Andrew Kounelis, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
Shirt design
 
"Porn Drug, a heavy metal/hardcore act from Werrington, really got into it and got a little most going at times. Songs like 'Denatured', 'My Pain', and a song which seemed to be an anti-punk punk song (singer Andrew introduced the song as 'Who wants to be a hardcore punk?'), got the crowd going like no other band of the day. Every song was tight and the crowd really got into it. Porn Drug are definitely a band to look out for."
Review of show at Emu Plains Community Centre, Obzine Issue 5, 1999
 
"The name came from an artwork I saw called something like Toccata 27. It was always supposed to be (tocata), all lower case with brackets, which we went to after the phonetic logo we did [tə ká tə] was a disaster to put in press... It was just too painful to get consistency across different media."
Daryl Russell, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024 
 
"Our Newcastle trip was a great time, and recording with Dax was also great fun. In the early days of Tocata we used to have a great time jamming at my parent's place in the garage and playing Goldeneye on Nintendo 64. Probably spent more playing this game then jamming... best game ever. Just hanging out with each other was great."
Wesley Baiada (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 

 
"A standout memory would be The Shenanigans tour to Newcastle. There's a photo somewhere of Russ with a beer case on his head next to a passed-out guy at the bus stop across from the Cambridge Hotel in Newcastle. The passed-out guy adjusted the beer case on his head first before taking it off."
Daryl Russell (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
"Recording one of the EPs... during the gang vocals of 'The Sacrifice' everyone yells out 'Cattle'. I yelled out 'Kettle' and its all I can hear when I listen to it now."
Daryl Russell (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
"It was clever, powerful and played with so much passion. The live shows were always full-on, with Daryl often egging the others on to put on a good show... The cleverness and diversity developed with time, which made them a band you didn't get tired of hearing and seeing."  
Dax Liniere (Producer), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 
"I was speaking to a guy from the U.S. for about 6 months, maybe in 2005. He was a producer and he had all our stuff up to that point. I got in contact with him through a friend in Baulkham Hills. He wanted more of our stuff and he would get things started. I never told the guys... I was going to leave it as a surprise. But then my mother passed away, the guys fired me from the band. Maybe I just became a lost soul... I didn't even call that producer back, I just dropped all the music stuff."
Andrew Kounelis, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
"Towards the end we were looking to invest more money into the band to try and play more interstate shows but Andrew didn't always have a lot of funds. We all had a big chat meeting about it and it's then that we made the decision to let him go from the band. Probably the worst decision we made."
 Wesley Baiada (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
"The band I was in previously, The Black Arts Movement, and Tocata both rehearsed out of the one place in Seven Hills. Andrew went one way and I left my band and it was a natural progression of things for me to join Tocata as singer. We were all pretty good mates."
Patrick Orris (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
"I think Patrick played a show or two and he and Chris then decided to leave. Daryl, James, and myself continued to practice for a few more months but we agreed to wind it up."
Wesley Baiada (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024 
 
"Tocata were a different beast. Totally raw and no bullshit one second and then quite technical and deep the next. I enjoyed it but at that moment in my life I kind of fell out of love with singing. That was why I left Black Arts Movement. There were other issues in that band that ultimately led to why I started to feel that way but I won't get into that. I was pretty upfront with the boys with this. I was only ever gonna be interim. My focus was more on writing the music instrumentally."
Patrick Orris (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024


"I would say that life essentially happened, we had been trying to push it as much as we could. Looking back, we probably could have made it work, it wasn't really the same without Andrew."
Daryl Russell (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

"I'm a school teacher now and I'm joining a seminary in 2 weeks to become an orthodox priest. I am the bass voice in my church's choir... all Russian though, no screaming."
Andrew Kounelis (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

RELATED BANDS: Lynchmada, Tolerable Enemies, Cherub Mafia / Hardkore Pawn, Many Ions Apart, Drytime, From Valley Ruins, The Black Arts Movement, Dyasphere