Friday 15 November 2013

Isurus  -  The Early Years Part 1

It all began back in the year 2000 when I (Thomas Drew) met David Bonney (Guitarist) in Cambridgeshire, England. We both grew up in the same small village in Cambridgeshire called Linton. We were aged 16 (me) and 18 at the time and had both developed a very strong passion for music in general but more specifically, 1970's progressive rock and 1980/90's thrash metal. Bands such as King Crimson, Yes, Pantera, Metallica, Rush, Rage Against the Machine, Slayer, Machine Head, etc, were the bands that we had become obsessed with. 

We had both been fans of similar music prior to meeting and had both been playing our respective instruments for a number of years prior to that point. One evening, after meeting through a mutual friend, we decided to have a jam session in my bedroom in which I had my drum kit set up. We had an instant musical connection and we made some very rough recordings of those first jam sessions. We still have those recordings and, despite the terrible recording quality and general playing technique, I can still hear what we knew was worth pursuing at the time.

We both also had a clear goal of dedicating our lives to creating the best music possible. We were young but there was never any doubt in our minds about what we intended to do. We wanted to make amazing music and spread it to as many people as possible.

We then began down what would turn out to be a very difficult road aimed at finding like minding musicians wherever we could. At the time we named the band 'Spectre' and went through a number of different band members that did not work out for 1 reason or another. We were also spending a lot of time learning how to record our songs properly as well as playing and promoting local gigs. 

After spending 5 years in Cambridgeshire struggling to find band members that fit the project and had the same level of obsessive and motivated drive to make the best music possible, we decided that we would be more at home in London attending music college. 

In 2005, we packed our bags and moved to London to attend music college. I went to Drum Tech music school and Dave attended the Guitar Institute. We were now full time music students living in London and continuing to push forward with the band which was still called Spectre at this point. We had been through 7 different bass players and 2 different singers by this point, all of which we left in Cambridgeshire. Spectre had become a drum and guitar only band and we agreed to never allow anyone into the band as a member unless they were exactly what we were looking for. 

The search for the full line up was not yet over, not by a long shot.

Continued in Part 2.

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