Brain Slaves are a band from Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, formerly called The Coshercot Honeys. They are acclaimed for their unique sound, which combines neo-psychedelia

Neo-psychedelia

Neo-psychedelia is music that emulates or is heavily influenced by the psychedelic music of the 1960s. It began to be revived among British post-punk bands of the later 1970s and early 1980s and was taken up by groups including bands of the Paisley Underground and Madchester scenes, as well as...

 with garage rock

Garage rock

Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...

, pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 hooks, and syncopated grooves.

History

After forming in late 2005 through The Coshercot Honeys performed shows throughout Auckland, and following some personnel changes in 2006 (the addition of second guitar and a new keyboardist, though still without a bass guitar), the band began to gain wider attention with high energy live shows and more experimental song writing. Reviewer Joanna Hunkin compared them with Franz Ferdinand

Franz Ferdinand (band)

Franz Ferdinand are a Scottish post-punk revival band formed in Glasgow in 2002. The band is composed of Alex Kapranos , Bob Hardy , Nick McCarthy , and Paul Thomson .The band first experienced chart success when their second single, "Take Me Out", reached #3 in...

.

In April 2007 the song "We're All Lions" was played on Auckland student radio station 95bfm and other student radio throughout the country. The song rose to #1 on the 95bFM Top Ten chart and was nominated for three b.Net

B.net

bNet is a network of current and former student radio radio stations in New Zealand. The network co-ordinates national advertising sales and shares ideas and programming between the member stations...

 awards including "Best Song" and "Best Pop Song".http://www.bnet.co.nz To follow up the single they released an E.P. of the same name distributed by Rhythm Method, which rose to #18 in the Independent New Zealand Charts. They released a video to accompany the single shot by Trophy Wife Productions http://www.myspace.com/trophywifecollective. In 2008 the band played a number of support slots including The Veils

The Veils

The Veils are a London based Indie/Alternative rock band fronted by lead singer and songwriter Finn Andrews. They are known for their chaotic and highly cathartic live performances and Finn's often scarily possessed stage presence. Head of Rough Trade Records Geoff Travis has referred to Finn as "A...

, Matt Costa

Matt Costa

Matthew Albert Costa is a singer-songwriter from Huntington Beach, California.He has five independent releases: two self-recorded EPs, and three full-length CDs released via Brushfire Records.-Life:...

 and a national tour with Collapsing Cities. They also played alongside The Mint Chicks

The Mint Chicks

The Mint Chicks were an experimental noise rock/power pop group originally from Auckland, New Zealand, who relocated to Portland, Oregon, USA in 2007...

 and The Checks (band)

The Checks (band)

The Checks are a New Zealand rock band formed in 2002 that are well known for their brand of blues-driven and high-energy rock, similar to contemporaries such as The Hives and fellow New Zealanders The Datsuns, and are at the forefront of the North Shore/Devonport sound, along with Brain Slaves,...

 at Vodafone Homegrown on the Wellington Waterfront.

The band played at the Rhythm and Vines festival on 30 December 2008 alongside Franz Ferdinand

Franz Ferdinand (band)

Franz Ferdinand are a Scottish post-punk revival band formed in Glasgow in 2002. The band is composed of Alex Kapranos , Bob Hardy , Nick McCarthy , and Paul Thomson .The band first experienced chart success when their second single, "Take Me Out", reached #3 in...

, Late of the Pier

Late of the Pier

Late of the Pier are a four-piece dance-punk band from Castle Donington, England, currently signed to Phantasy. Their debut album Fantasy Black Channel was released on 11 August 2008 by Parlophone produced by Erol Alkan.- History :...

, Santogold, and Public Enemy, and played again at the Vodafone Homegrown festival in March 2009.http://www.homegrown.net.nz/page/43-Line-Up+Nokia-Indie-Rock-Stage

Name change

On 12 November 2008, New Zealand indie music website Cheese on Toast revealed the band had officially changed their name to Brain Slaves.http://www.cheeseontoast.co.nz/index2.html This was confirmed on the band's myspace page. Brain Slaves explained they had been thinking about a name change for some time. About the same time a this occurred, new material in the form of small song snippets and videos appeared on Myspace and Youtube.

Breakup

On 10 February 2010, the Brain Slaves officially revealed that they had broken up, saying "The five of us have been the tightest crew, but we feel now that it is time to cut loose and experience life as individuals, not as five parts of one personality. The news was broken by a blogger on Isaaclikes.com, although the Brain Slaves asked him to withhold this information. They went on to say "Brainslaves were a band, but always will be five silly f***ers who love music and mayhem." They will release a free download pack with all their songs, the two music videos they made, and other footage.