Biography Wikipedia
Wikipedia:
Rolo Tomassi are a British mathcore band from Sheffield, England. Their name is taken from the fictional character in the film L.A. Confidential. The band released their debut album, Hysterics, on 22 September 2008 through Hassle Records.
History
Early years and the Egg! label (2005-2008)
The band formed in 2005. Not long after forming, the band had written some songs and immediately began to perform at local venues/pubs to small crowds. At this time, the band released some of their first material on to a 3 Track Demo CD which they could sell at the shows they were performing at. The demo CD-R was released under James Spence's (keyboardist/vocalist) independent label which he named "Mayday!". There are 8 releases under this label. After a split EP with Mirror! Mirror! (limited to 333 copies and released through Speedowax) the band signed to Holy Roar Records and released a self-titled EP featuring re-recorded songs from previous demos and EPs along with new songs.
Hysterics and Cosmology (2008-2011)
In June 2008, Rolo Tomassi were given a spot at Download Festival. The band was featured in the February 2009 edition of Rock Sound, with singer Eva Spence appearing on the cover along with The Bronx and Fucked Up as part of the magazine's Shred Yr Face 2 tour. The band played the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas in March 2009. On 29 June James Spence revealed that recording of the follow-up album to Hysterics would commence during the summer of 2009. The band also performed at Underage Festival and Sonisphere during August 2009. On 14 August 2009 it was announced that Rolo Tomassi will be playing the Australian music festival Soundwave in 2010 alongside bands Faith No More, Meshuggah, Alexisonfire and Jane's Addiction. They played sideshows in Melbourne and Sydney as a support act to Jane's Addiction. They also supported HORSE the Band on the UK leg of the 2008 Earth Tour and are featured extensively on their DVD.
Towards the end of October 2009, the band flew to LA to record their second album. Artwork for their second album is, like Hysterics, designed by Simon Moody. Recording finished on 31 October and the album is due for release in March 2010. In early February 2010, it was announced their second album would be titled Cosmology and was due for release on 19 April 2010. In interviews, the band revealed they were working with American DJ/producer Diplo. The album has since been pushed back to 24 May. On release, Cosmology debuted at number 183 on the UK album chart.
The band played on the Ronnie James Dio Stage at Download Festival and played on the NME/Radio 1 tent at Reading and Leeds in August 2010. In the band's blog in June 2010 it was written that there may eventually be a Discography styled release in the future which will allows people to hear all of the bands material released before the Rolo Tomassi EP. On 7 August 2010 they played at the Hevy Music Festival near Folkestone, England. Throughout October and November 2010 Rolo Tomassi supported The Dillinger Escape Plan on their UK tour. On 19 December 2010, the band planned to conclude the year with one free show at the Bloomsbury Ballroom in London and was to be filmed to be released as part of a documentary and live recording release from the band. However, the show was cancelled due to the ill health of Eva Spence and so a new UK Tour was announced for May.
On 18 April 2011, Rolo Tomassi released "Eternal Youth" which is an anthology of rare and non-album material including acoustic versions, remixes of their own work by various artists and a cover of Throats. Eternal Youth was released on Destination Moon records; Rolo Tomassi's newly formed own record label. This release was accompanied by a short list of tour dates across the UK in May 2011, these dates were confirmed to be the only tour date Rolo Tomassi would do in 2011. On 8 July 2011, Rolo Tomassi headlined the Red Bull Bedroom Jam Stage at Sonisphere. Rolo Tomassi has expressed interest in working with Anthony Gonzalez or Kurt Ballou respectively of M83 and Converge as producers for the third album. As of July James Spence has stated that the third album has not progressed far enough for them to search for producers. James Spence also has stated that they, as of July have at least two songs created, with a lyrical concept that surfaces as focuses on self reflection.
Third studio album (2012 - Present)
In an interview with Kerrang!, Eva Spence confirmed that the band are self-producing their third full-length with Hysterics producer Jason Sanderson. Regarding the sound of the album, she stated that it will be "more direct and heavier", but also noted that the band "will never shy away from being experimental". A May release date was initially projected. In early February 2012 Rolo Tomassi announced the release of a new single: Old Mystics. The single was uploaded to the band's Facebook profile to stream for free. They plan to release the single on 26 March. The band announced a few days after releasing Old Mystics for streaming that it will most likely not appear on the new album and will just be a stand alone single. Along side the announcement of Old Mystics the band also announced that they have two brand new members following the departure of members Joseph Thorpe and Joe Nicholson. The band replaced both with Chris Cayford, current vocalist/former guitarist of No Coast, and Nathan Fairweather who plays in Brontide. Eva Spence stated in an interview that Joe Nicholson wanted to pursue taking a chemistry degree at University, while Joe Thorpe's departure was more to do with personal differences.
Rolo Tomassi completed their first tour of the year as the main support for Architects on a 14 date tour. They have also stated that they are entering the studio to record their third album in June, with a October release date expected.
Musical style
Their music has been difficult to classify simply because of the band's resistance to being identified with one single genre. They typically have been acknowledged as being mathcore, jazzcore and experimental rock with their use of jazz breakdowns and swapping chaotically between explosive mathcore, calm atmospheric experimental music and acid-jazz. They have been identified as "falling somewhere between grindcore, progressive and alternative rock" and have been described as "progressive hardcore". Their music is also noted for sharing traits with Nintendocore for the use of 8-bit synthesizers and in terms of chaos and sound. The compilation album Eternal Youth by the band gave insight into their musical development since their inception in 2005 with their demos onto their latest b-side releases with Hassle records.
Eva Spence's vocal style was acknowledged by Michael Wilson of the BBC as bi-polar; swapping between "fragile lullabies to blood-curdling scowls".
Their influences are said to range through screamo, classical, jazz and progressive rock. The Dillinger Escape Plan, The Mars Volta, Blood Brothers, Converge, King Crimson and jazz saxophonist John Coltrane are all considered influences on Rolo Tomassi's work. Rolo Tomassi have noted how The Dillinger Escape Plan are a huge influence on the band, with Edward Dutton in a interview saying that "they’re one of the few stock bands that you can draw from one of the five of us". The fractured structure of their songs are considered to be heavily influenced by the The Mars Volta. Ryan Bird of Rocksound cites At The Drive-in's album Relationship of Command as an influence on Rolo Tomassi's work. Saying: "Opening the mainstream's mind toward fiercely confrontational, independent rock, it was unthought-of that a band like Rolo Tomassi could be successful pre-ROC [sic]."