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Photo: Steve Gullick |
Graeme
Moncrieff
Vocals and Guitar
Ian Moncrieff
Guitar
Steve Yeomann
Bass & Keyboard
Stool Vacant
Drums |
| Biography |
Great bands rarely know where the music comes from; they're the vessel for something above and beyond. So it is with HALO: four resonant early twenty somethings who formed a band in Bristol and soon discovered that blazing euphony was their instinctive sound.
If there are earthly phenomena which account for HALO's gorgeous coherence then you'd have to list the following among them: Lead vocalist/guitarist Graeme and guitarist/vocalist Iain are brothers separated by just a year. The Moncrieff brothers were born in Ayrshire, Scotland but moved to Bristol as schoolkids and, as they became immersed in music, the first signs of wayward behaviour surfaced when the head teacher called Graeme's parents in to a meeting "about my supposed drug and alcohol problem... I didn't think it was a problem."
At seventeen, Graeme taught his younger sibling how to play on his Dad's acoustic guitar, and the core of what would become HALO was established. Today, the power and confidence of the live HALO experience belies the brothers' quieter offstage characters. Well, it's always the quiet ones...
With the addition of drummer Jim Davey - whose inspiration ranges from John Bonham to current hero Tool's Danny Carey - and Steve Yeomans (bass/keyboard/ vocals) - who clinched the audition despite turning up on the back of his mate's bike with neither amp nor bass - Halo was born. Something had to be very right about the four way mesh and they swiftly found that it was.
The convergence of the foursome in a rehearsal studio outside Bristol was clearly part of a grand plan from above. Jim Davey brought with him a love of Led Zeppelin, Mercury Rev, Smashing Pumpkins, The Beatles and The Stones. Steve Yeomans - despite his inauspicious introduction - brought to the table his skills as a multi-instrumentalist. The trip hop fog had lifted locally and in a less than a year HALO were the most sought after rock band in the area, blowing away A&R men before finally signing to Sony S2.
In HALO's short two year history from first rehearsal to finished album, the evidence for their being in 'the right band' has snowballed. It was there in the vicious melodic bite of early tune 'Sanctimonious'. It was present when they played their first gig together in 1999 at Bristol's Louisiana, shocking even themselves with their live intensity - a trick they repeated on a larger scale when they lucked into a slot at Ashton Court festival the same year.
With their debut album pretty much in the can, produced by the legendary Al Clay (one time Pixies producer), the evidence is now incontestable. Passionate fire sign rock with a dark undertow, the songs parade ambitious musicality without sacrificing their metal rooted energy.
"There are things in the music that everyone can relate to, like the singing is kind of angelic, but there's a lot of darkness in the lyrics and the contrast is part of what makes it interesting." says Graeme.
The burnished frieze of HALO's soundscape takes in Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Nine Inch Nails, Jimi Hendrix, the vocal harmonies of Simon & Garfunkel and the sheer rock force of Nirvana.
Four resonant boys, and one very bright circle of influence. Just watch them soar.
Halo have previously toured with Serafin
and Rachel Stamp.
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Latest News |
Sadly Halo posted the following official
announcement on their website on Saturday 18/09/04
We have made the decision to leave
behind all things Halo.
We would like to say thank you to everyone who has supported Halo
over the last few years. It has been good but now we have something
better. We feel that Halo has had it's day and that it is time to
move onwards & indeed upwards.
With the edition of Blake on the drums and the change in our
attitude towards our music, it's just not Halo anymore. We are a new
band. We will be playing as many gigs as we can to show exactly what
we are about these days. All new material... no Halo songs.
One of the best things about our last band was our fans, we feel
completely certain and more confident in this than anything we have
ever done in the past and we think that you need to make up your own
mind.
We are doing things our way. Its our band & our songs and we are
itching to let you hear them.
We have created a new monster. It screams bloody murder to the call
of
The Vega Method. |
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