Cog (band)
Encyclopedia
Cog are an Australia
n progressive rock
band that formed in 1998. Their debut album The New Normal
was nominated for Triple J
's 2005 J Award
. The band's music draws influences from Tool
, Isis
, Nina Simone
, Bob Marley
, Leftfield
, Deftones
and Helmet
. The band has gone on to be one of the most successful independent bands in Australia.
and Lucius Borich
(the son of renowned Australian blues guitarist Kevin Borich
) were friends at their Bondi high school
in the 1980s. Borich being a drummer
, and Flynn being a guitar
ist, they would occasionally jam. As their school careers finished, Borich formed the band Juice
while Flynn formed the 5 piece metal
band The Hanging Tree
, popular in the Sydney live circuit. In 1995, after the release of Juice's debut album, Borich left the band and joined The Hanging Tree. Shortly after the release of their debut, Borich left the band and the country, travelling to the United States to follow a career of session drumming. There, Borich did session drumming for a large range of genres, writing songs on his guitar all the while. Flynn, in Sydney, wanted to form a band and contacted Lucius, eventually resulting in the formation of Cog.
and Melbourne
.
Their first residency, at the Forrest Inn Hotel in the Sydney suburbs, was without a vocalist. They encouraged people to send them demos for the vocal job, but the band were so unimpressed with the demos that Flynn trained his voice to fill the vacancy. Their breakthrough gig was a Wednesday headlining slot at Excelsior Hotel in Surry Hills, where they packed out the club consistently for 4 months. They were recognised with a nomination for "best emerging live band in NSW
" at the Australian Live Music Awards. In 2001, the band signed with underground label Little Samurai Records and prepared to release the Just Visiting Part One and Just Visiting Part Two EPs.
The two EPs, despite the slight differences in style between them, were written and recorded at the same time. The band chose not to release the studio session as a full album so they would not lose their debut album virginity, and would get twice the publicity. They grabbed a breakthrough gig just before the release of Just Visiting Part One, supporting System of a Down
at the Hordern Pavilion
. Just Visiting Part One was released in February 2002 and was still consistently appearing in the ARIA
Top 20 Heavy Rock/Metal singles/EPs chart over 2 years after its release. In July, the song "Bondi" was added to Andrew Haug's Triple J 3 Hours of Power Compilation.
Just Visiting Part Two was released in October that same year and was also still appearing in the ARIA Top 20 Heavy Rock/Metal singles/EPs charts after two years. That year, Cog also won "best emerging live band in NSW" at the Australian Live Music Awards. After an extensive tour supporting the two EPs, including a slot at the Big Day Out
in 2003, Cog recorded a cover of "Open Up", a single released in 1993 by Leftfield
featuring John Lydon
. This song had been a live favourite for the previous year.
Shortly afterwards, Cog continued to write and demo for their debut album.
had already been demoed by late 2003, with some songs first performed live as far back as May 2002, Cog did not have the kind of financial backing needed to record their album as they desired. However, after months of limbo, Cog were signed by Aloha Management (Shihad
, Killing Heidi
) and subsequently, former Universal Music Australia head Paul Krige's label Difrnt Music.
During the later months of 2004, Cog recorded their debut album, The New Normal, in the small logging town of Weed, California
with producer
Sylvia Massy
(System of a Down and Tool
). Shortly afterwards, the band performed a short tour of the east coast and played at the inaugural Pyramid Rock Festival
. The album was released in Australia in April 2005, to a debut of #19 in the ARIA Charts
, and a #1 debut in the Australian Independent Recordings (AIR) album charts. The New Normal was one of the nominees for the 2005 Triple J J Award.
In support of the album, the band headlined a full Australian tour in April and May with supports from Karnivool
and In the Grey. During July they supported Shihad
on a tour of New Zealand
. During October they toured the country with supports from The Fumes, Grand Fatal, and Jakob
. They finished the year with appearances at Homebake
, the Pyramid Rock Festival
, and the Big Day Out
. Cog supported Australian rock group Grinspoon
at the Adelaide
race event Clipsal 500 and appeared at the Rock-It Festival
in Perth
on 19 March with Silverchair
, Grinspoon
, and Shihad amongst others. During March and April, the band toured the country in support of the final radio single from The New Normal, "Resonate".
, promoting a release of The New Normal there through extensive touring. However, this release was pushed back to 2007.
On 9 January, Cog began to record and write tracks for their second album, entitled Sharing Space
, at Weed, California, once again with Massy producing. They took a break from recording in June, bouncing back to Australia for the Boomerang Tour for a number of shows. The short tour run included Fremantle, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, where several new songs were premiered, including "Bird of Feather" (then titled "Double Triple") and "What If". Cog toured Australia more extensively in November 2007, in support of "What If?", the first single from the new album due April 2008. This tour marked Cog's first trip to North Queensland.
On 3 November, Cog released "What If", the first single from Sharing Space with the title track to the album as a b-side. On 12 November, this song debuted at #21 on the physical ARIA singles chart, the only new entry debuting higher being Alicia Keys
.
Sharing Space was released on the 12th if April 2008. In February, the band announced that they will be touring around Australia
in support of Sharing Space in May and June. They performed shows around the country with two New Zealand
bands, Kora
and Jakob
, as well as local Melbourne
prog-rock band Sleep Parade and Brisbane
's Melodyssey. Despite the conflict and difficulty of the recording process of Sharing Space, Borich described the album as "some of our best work".
In July 2008, Cog performed in England
for the first time at Shepherds Bush Empire
and GuilFest
with New Zealand
band Shihad
. The band also performed at the 2009 Big Day Out
, performing at all the Australian dates. They also expressed interest in releasing Sharing Space in Europe
.
In 2008, the band had the opportunity to re-release their 2002 EPs Just Visiting Part One and Just Visiting Part Two as a full album; Just Visiting
, with the intended track listing and the never previously heard original (long) version of Bondi. Lucius Borich
spent time at Studios 301 mastering the album so the recordings sounded their best. In June and July 2009, the band toured Australia with support from English band Oceansize
. The tour was the band's most successful headlining tour to date.
In 2010, the band released The Sound of Three: 12 Years With You, a CD/DVD containing a recording from the band's "Between Oceans" tour, and a documentary on this history of the band (on the DVD only), narrated by Ezekiel Ox
. The band will be touring the album in early June; Lucius Borich has hinted in several interviews that these may be the last ever shows Cog will play as a band.
Cog played what many had believed to be their last show at The Tivoli in Brisbane on Saturday 12 June 2010, thanking their various crew members one by one between songs. The band finished with "No Other Way", the opening track from their second album, Sharing Space. However, the band played four more shows - one at the Full Noise Festival in Townsville, one at a Sydney nightclub, and two smaller shows in the outer Melbourne suburbs of Frankston and Ferntree Gully. Their Sydney show on 22 December 2010 was Cog's last show as a band. Lucius Borich has since joined FloatingMe, a band featuring ex-members of Scary Mother and Jon Stockman of Karnivool
.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
band that formed in 1998. Their debut album The New Normal
The New Normal
The New Normal is an album released by Australian progressive rock band Cog in April, 2005. The album was produced in Weed, California by Sylvia Massy, who has worked with artists such as Tool and Spiderbait...
was nominated for Triple J
Triple J
triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
's 2005 J Award
J Award
The J Award is an award given by influential Australian youth radio station Triple J to Australian Album of the Year. It is judged by a panel of members of the music industry, led by Richard Kingsmill...
. The band's music draws influences from Tool
Tool (band)
Tool is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1990, the group's line-up has included drummer Danny Carey, guitarist Adam Jones, and vocalist Maynard James Keenan. Since 1995, Justin Chancellor has been the band's bassist, replacing their original bassist Paul D'Amour...
, Isis
Isis (band)
Isis was a Los Angeles, California-based post-metal band, founded in Boston, Massachusetts, with a career spanning from 1997 to 2010...
, Nina Simone
Nina Simone
Eunice Kathleen Waymon , better known by her stage name Nina Simone , was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music...
, Bob Marley
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...
, Leftfield
Leftfield
Leftfield are a British duo of electronica artists and record producers, namely Paul Daley and Neil Barnes, who formed in 1990 in London, England...
, Deftones
Deftones
Deftones are an American alternative metal band from Sacramento, California, founded in 1988. The band consists of Chino Moreno , Stephen Carpenter , Chi Cheng , Frank Delgado , and Abe Cunningham . Currently Sergio Vega is standing in on bass while Cheng recovers from a car accident...
and Helmet
Helmet (band)
Helmet is an alternative metal band from New York City formed in 1989. Founded by vocalist and lead guitarist Page Hamilton, Helmet has had numerous lineup changes, and Hamilton has been the only constant member....
. The band has gone on to be one of the most successful independent bands in Australia.
Pre-1998
Flynn GowerFlynn Gower
Flynn Gower is an Australian vocalist, composer and guitarist, best known as frontman of the rock band Cog. He was also a guitarist in now-defunct funk metal band The Hanging Tree.-Biography:...
and Lucius Borich
Lucius Borich
Lucius Borich is an Australian musician, best known as the current drummer for the band Cog, and previously the drummer in funk metal band Juice and in The Hanging Tree.-Biography:...
(the son of renowned Australian blues guitarist Kevin Borich
Kevin Borich
Kevin Nicholas Borich is a New Zealand-born Australian guitarist and singer-songwriter...
) were friends at their Bondi high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
in the 1980s. Borich being a drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
, and Flynn being a guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
ist, they would occasionally jam. As their school careers finished, Borich formed the band Juice
Juice (band)
-1991:*Amarnath Jones *Krishna Jones *David Kyle *Lucius Borich -1995:*Amarnath Jones *Krishna Jones *Ben Rosen *Lucius Borich -1996:*Amarnath Jones...
while Flynn formed the 5 piece metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
band The Hanging Tree
The Hanging Tree (band)
The Hanging Tree was an Australian stoner rock band of the mid to late 1990s.-History:Formed in the early 90s by Daniel Parkinson, The Hanging Tree suffered from the usual lack of a permanent drummer until former Juice member Lucius Borich moved in to the position and the band began to establish a...
, popular in the Sydney live circuit. In 1995, after the release of Juice's debut album, Borich left the band and joined The Hanging Tree. Shortly after the release of their debut, Borich left the band and the country, travelling to the United States to follow a career of session drumming. There, Borich did session drumming for a large range of genres, writing songs on his guitar all the while. Flynn, in Sydney, wanted to form a band and contacted Lucius, eventually resulting in the formation of Cog.
Formation and early releases (1998–2003)
Initially, the band was to form in the United States, but Borich chose to travel home. He'd find a disappointed Flynn, who had already sold all his gear in preparation for the move. The drum, bass, and guitar parts for what would become the Just Visiting EPs were recorded shortly after, in 1998, with Borich assuming bass duties. The vocals would be recorded two years later. To fill out the bass in live shows, Flynn recruited his brother Luke, formerly of the Sydney band Tax. After they formed this legitimate lineup, they toured aggressively, clocking up thousands of kilometres of weekly driving between SydneySydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
and Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
.
Their first residency, at the Forrest Inn Hotel in the Sydney suburbs, was without a vocalist. They encouraged people to send them demos for the vocal job, but the band were so unimpressed with the demos that Flynn trained his voice to fill the vacancy. Their breakthrough gig was a Wednesday headlining slot at Excelsior Hotel in Surry Hills, where they packed out the club consistently for 4 months. They were recognised with a nomination for "best emerging live band in NSW
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
" at the Australian Live Music Awards. In 2001, the band signed with underground label Little Samurai Records and prepared to release the Just Visiting Part One and Just Visiting Part Two EPs.
The two EPs, despite the slight differences in style between them, were written and recorded at the same time. The band chose not to release the studio session as a full album so they would not lose their debut album virginity, and would get twice the publicity. They grabbed a breakthrough gig just before the release of Just Visiting Part One, supporting System of a Down
System of a Down
System of a Down, also known by the acronym SOAD and often shortened to System, is a rock band from Southern California. The band was formed in 1994. It consists of Serj Tankian , Daron Malakian , Shavo Odadjian and John Dolmayan...
at the Hordern Pavilion
Hordern Pavilion
The Hordern Pavilion is a building located in Moore Park, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, on the grounds of the old Sydney Showground. "The Hordern", as it is affectionally known by Sydneysiders, has been an architecturally and socially significant Sydney landmark since its construction in 1924...
. Just Visiting Part One was released in February 2002 and was still consistently appearing in the ARIA
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...
Top 20 Heavy Rock/Metal singles/EPs chart over 2 years after its release. In July, the song "Bondi" was added to Andrew Haug's Triple J 3 Hours of Power Compilation.
Just Visiting Part Two was released in October that same year and was also still appearing in the ARIA Top 20 Heavy Rock/Metal singles/EPs charts after two years. That year, Cog also won "best emerging live band in NSW" at the Australian Live Music Awards. After an extensive tour supporting the two EPs, including a slot at the Big Day Out
Big Day Out
The Big Day Out is an annual music festival held in several cities in Australia and New Zealand in late January. It started in Sydney in 1992, spread to Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth by 1993, with the Gold Coast and Auckland joining in 1994...
in 2003, Cog recorded a cover of "Open Up", a single released in 1993 by Leftfield
Leftfield
Leftfield are a British duo of electronica artists and record producers, namely Paul Daley and Neil Barnes, who formed in 1990 in London, England...
featuring John Lydon
John Lydon
John Joseph Lydon , also known by the former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a singer-songwriter and television presenter, best known as the lead singer of punk rock band the Sex Pistols from 1975 until 1978, and again for various revivals during the 1990s and 2000s...
. This song had been a live favourite for the previous year.
Shortly afterwards, Cog continued to write and demo for their debut album.
The New Normal (2004–2006)
While the vast majority of the material for The New NormalThe New Normal
The New Normal is an album released by Australian progressive rock band Cog in April, 2005. The album was produced in Weed, California by Sylvia Massy, who has worked with artists such as Tool and Spiderbait...
had already been demoed by late 2003, with some songs first performed live as far back as May 2002, Cog did not have the kind of financial backing needed to record their album as they desired. However, after months of limbo, Cog were signed by Aloha Management (Shihad
Shihad
Shihad is a New Zealand hard/alternative rock band, currently based in Melbourne, Australia. During Shihad's recording career, they have produced four number-one studio albums and three top-ten singles in their home country of New Zealand....
, Killing Heidi
Killing Heidi
Killing Heidi were an Australian rock band from Violet Town, Victoria. The band, which has been on hiatus since 2006, are best known for their multi-platinum album Reflector, released in 2000.-Early years :...
) and subsequently, former Universal Music Australia head Paul Krige's label Difrnt Music.
During the later months of 2004, Cog recorded their debut album, The New Normal, in the small logging town of Weed, California
Weed, California
Weed is a city located in Siskiyou County, California. As of the 2010 Census, the town had a total population of 2,967, down from 2,979 at the 2000 census. There are several unincorporated communities adjacent to, or just outside Weed proper. These include Edgewood, Carrick, Lake Shastina, Rancho...
with producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
Sylvia Massy
Sylvia Massy
Sylvia Massy is an entrepreneur, record producer, and studio engineer in the United States. Massy is perhaps best recognized for her work on 1993's Undertow, the full-length double platinum-selling debut for Los Angeles rock band Tool.-History:...
(System of a Down and Tool
Tool (band)
Tool is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1990, the group's line-up has included drummer Danny Carey, guitarist Adam Jones, and vocalist Maynard James Keenan. Since 1995, Justin Chancellor has been the band's bassist, replacing their original bassist Paul D'Amour...
). Shortly afterwards, the band performed a short tour of the east coast and played at the inaugural Pyramid Rock Festival
Pyramid Rock Festival
The Pyramid Rock Festival is a New Year's Eve camp-out rock music festival at Pyramid Rock, Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia.Beginning in 2004, it runs over two nights with two stages - the Main Stage, and the Pharaoh's Annex...
. The album was released in Australia in April 2005, to a debut of #19 in the ARIA Charts
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...
, and a #1 debut in the Australian Independent Recordings (AIR) album charts. The New Normal was one of the nominees for the 2005 Triple J J Award.
In support of the album, the band headlined a full Australian tour in April and May with supports from Karnivool
Karnivool
Karnivool are an Australian progressive rock band formed in Perth in 1997. The group currently consists of Ian Kenny on vocals, Drew Goddard and Mark Hosking on guitar, Jon Stockman on bass guitar, and Steve Judd on drums. Karnivool emerged from a band Kenny and Goddard formed during high school...
and In the Grey. During July they supported Shihad
Shihad
Shihad is a New Zealand hard/alternative rock band, currently based in Melbourne, Australia. During Shihad's recording career, they have produced four number-one studio albums and three top-ten singles in their home country of New Zealand....
on a tour of 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...
. During October they toured the country with supports from The Fumes, Grand Fatal, and Jakob
Jakob (band)
Jakob is a New Zealand post-rock band, based in the Hawkes Bay city of Napier. The band consists of guitarist Jeff Boyle; bassist Maurice Beckett; and drummer Jason Johnston...
. They finished the year with appearances at Homebake
Homebake
Homebake is an annual Australian rock festival, featuring an all-Australian lineup . The festival was first held on 4 January 1996 at Belongil Fields in Byron Bay, on the far north coast of New South Wales...
, the Pyramid Rock Festival
Pyramid Rock Festival
The Pyramid Rock Festival is a New Year's Eve camp-out rock music festival at Pyramid Rock, Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia.Beginning in 2004, it runs over two nights with two stages - the Main Stage, and the Pharaoh's Annex...
, and the Big Day Out
Big Day Out
The Big Day Out is an annual music festival held in several cities in Australia and New Zealand in late January. It started in Sydney in 1992, spread to Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth by 1993, with the Gold Coast and Auckland joining in 1994...
. Cog supported Australian rock group Grinspoon
Grinspoon
Grinspoon are an Australian rock band from Lismore, New South Wales formed in 1995 and fronted by Phil Jamieson on vocals and guitar with Pat Davern on guitar, Joe Hansen on bass guitar and Kristian Hopes on drums. Also in 1995, they won the Triple J-sponsored Unearthed competition for Lismore,...
at the Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
race event Clipsal 500 and appeared at the Rock-It Festival
Rock-It
Rock-It is an Australian music festival held at the Arena Joondalup in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. The festival was first held in 1999, and mainly features modern rock music...
in Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
on 19 March with Silverchair
Silverchair
Silverchair were an Australian rock band, which formed in 1992 as Innocent Criminals in Merewether, Newcastle with the line-up of Ben Gillies on drums, Chris Joannou on bass guitar and Daniel Johns on vocals and guitars. The group got their big break in mid-1994 when they won a national demo...
, Grinspoon
Grinspoon
Grinspoon are an Australian rock band from Lismore, New South Wales formed in 1995 and fronted by Phil Jamieson on vocals and guitar with Pat Davern on guitar, Joe Hansen on bass guitar and Kristian Hopes on drums. Also in 1995, they won the Triple J-sponsored Unearthed competition for Lismore,...
, and Shihad amongst others. During March and April, the band toured the country in support of the final radio single from The New Normal, "Resonate".
Sharing Space (2007–present)
Cog, from June 2006 onwards, planned to spend a portion of the year in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, promoting a release of The New Normal there through extensive touring. However, this release was pushed back to 2007.
On 9 January, Cog began to record and write tracks for their second album, entitled Sharing Space
Sharing Space
Sharing Space is the second full-length album by Australian progressive rock band Cog, released on 12 April 2008. The album debuted at number 2 on the Australian Music Charts. The album was produced in Weed, California by Sylvia Massy, who produced their first album, The New Normal and has worked...
, at Weed, California, once again with Massy producing. They took a break from recording in June, bouncing back to Australia for the Boomerang Tour for a number of shows. The short tour run included Fremantle, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, where several new songs were premiered, including "Bird of Feather" (then titled "Double Triple") and "What If". Cog toured Australia more extensively in November 2007, in support of "What If?", the first single from the new album due April 2008. This tour marked Cog's first trip to North Queensland.
On 3 November, Cog released "What If", the first single from Sharing Space with the title track to the album as a b-side. On 12 November, this song debuted at #21 on the physical ARIA singles chart, the only new entry debuting higher being Alicia Keys
Alicia Keys
Alicia Augello Cook , better known by her stage name Alicia Keys, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and occasional actress. She was raised by a single mother in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan in New York City. At age seven, Keys began playing the piano...
.
Sharing Space was released on the 12th if April 2008. In February, the band announced that they will be touring around Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in support of Sharing Space in May and June. They performed shows around the country with two 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...
bands, Kora
Kora (band)
Kora is a New Zealand five-piece music group, which consists of four brothers from the Kora family. The band, which originally began in Whakatane, New Zealand fuses elements of reggae, rock, dub, roots, funk, and more recently space funk and dub step elements.-Early years: 1991–2002:Kora brothers...
and Jakob
Jakob (band)
Jakob is a New Zealand post-rock band, based in the Hawkes Bay city of Napier. The band consists of guitarist Jeff Boyle; bassist Maurice Beckett; and drummer Jason Johnston...
, as well as local Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
prog-rock band Sleep Parade and Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
's Melodyssey. Despite the conflict and difficulty of the recording process of Sharing Space, Borich described the album as "some of our best work".
In July 2008, Cog performed in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
for the first time at Shepherds Bush Empire
Shepherds Bush Empire
The O2 Shepherds Bush Empire is a music venue in Shepherd's Bush, London, England, run by the Academy Music Group. It was built in 1903, as a music hall, and in 1953 became the BBC Television Theatre...
and GuilFest
GuilFest
GuilFest, formerly the Guildford Festival of Folk and Blues is a music festival held in Stoke Park, Guildford, England each July. The festival, like the larger Glastonbury Festival, features a range of genres including rock, folk, blues, and in recent years pop...
with 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...
band Shihad
Shihad
Shihad is a New Zealand hard/alternative rock band, currently based in Melbourne, Australia. During Shihad's recording career, they have produced four number-one studio albums and three top-ten singles in their home country of New Zealand....
. The band also performed at the 2009 Big Day Out
Big Day Out
The Big Day Out is an annual music festival held in several cities in Australia and New Zealand in late January. It started in Sydney in 1992, spread to Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth by 1993, with the Gold Coast and Auckland joining in 1994...
, performing at all the Australian dates. They also expressed interest in releasing Sharing Space in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
In 2008, the band had the opportunity to re-release their 2002 EPs Just Visiting Part One and Just Visiting Part Two as a full album; Just Visiting
Just Visiting (Cog album)
Just Visiting is a full-length album by Australian progressive rock band Cog, released on 16th August, 2008. The album is a compilation rerelease of the 2002 EPs Just Visiting Part One and Just Visiting Part Two as a full album with the intended track listing and with the original long version of...
, with the intended track listing and the never previously heard original (long) version of Bondi. Lucius Borich
Lucius Borich
Lucius Borich is an Australian musician, best known as the current drummer for the band Cog, and previously the drummer in funk metal band Juice and in The Hanging Tree.-Biography:...
spent time at Studios 301 mastering the album so the recordings sounded their best. In June and July 2009, the band toured Australia with support from English band Oceansize
Oceansize
Oceansize were a British rock band, formed in Manchester, England on 19th October 1998. The band consisted of Mike Vennart , Steve Durose , Richard "Gambler" Ingram , Mark Heron and Jon Ellis for the majority of its career, with Steve Hodson replacing Ellis on bass in 2006...
. The tour was the band's most successful headlining tour to date.
In 2010, the band released The Sound of Three: 12 Years With You, a CD/DVD containing a recording from the band's "Between Oceans" tour, and a documentary on this history of the band (on the DVD only), narrated by Ezekiel Ox
Ezekiel Ox
Ezekiel Ox is an Australian entertainer and political activist. He is currently the singer for The Ox and the Fury, a band featuring Lucius Borich from the band Cog, as well as Full Scale Revolution, Smash Nova and Over-Reactor. He was previously the singer of Mammal...
. The band will be touring the album in early June; Lucius Borich has hinted in several interviews that these may be the last ever shows Cog will play as a band.
Cog played what many had believed to be their last show at The Tivoli in Brisbane on Saturday 12 June 2010, thanking their various crew members one by one between songs. The band finished with "No Other Way", the opening track from their second album, Sharing Space. However, the band played four more shows - one at the Full Noise Festival in Townsville, one at a Sydney nightclub, and two smaller shows in the outer Melbourne suburbs of Frankston and Ferntree Gully. Their Sydney show on 22 December 2010 was Cog's last show as a band. Lucius Borich has since joined FloatingMe, a band featuring ex-members of Scary Mother and Jon Stockman of Karnivool
Karnivool
Karnivool are an Australian progressive rock band formed in Perth in 1997. The group currently consists of Ian Kenny on vocals, Drew Goddard and Mark Hosking on guitar, Jon Stockman on bass guitar, and Steve Judd on drums. Karnivool emerged from a band Kenny and Goddard formed during high school...
.
Albums
- Just VisitingJust Visiting (Cog album)Just Visiting is a full-length album by Australian progressive rock band Cog, released on 16th August, 2008. The album is a compilation rerelease of the 2002 EPs Just Visiting Part One and Just Visiting Part Two as a full album with the intended track listing and with the original long version of...
(Destra CorporationDestra Corporationdestra Corporation Limited was an independent Australian owned media and entertainment company based in Richmond, Victoria founded by Domenic Carosa....
, 2002) - The New NormalThe New NormalThe New Normal is an album released by Australian progressive rock band Cog in April, 2005. The album was produced in Weed, California by Sylvia Massy, who has worked with artists such as Tool and Spiderbait...
(Difrnt Music/MGM DistributionMGM DistributionMGM Distribution is the largest independent distributor of Australian music and music related merchandise and was established in April 1998 by Sebastian Chase....
, 2005) AUSARIA ChartsThe ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...
#19 - Sharing SpaceSharing SpaceSharing Space is the second full-length album by Australian progressive rock band Cog, released on 12 April 2008. The album debuted at number 2 on the Australian Music Charts. The album was produced in Weed, California by Sylvia Massy, who produced their first album, The New Normal and has worked...
(Difrnt Music/Universal Music, 2008) AUSARIA ChartsThe ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...
#2 Gold
Singles and EPs
- Pseudo (2000)
- Just Visiting Part One (Little Samurai/MGM DistributionMGM DistributionMGM Distribution is the largest independent distributor of Australian music and music related merchandise and was established in April 1998 by Sebastian Chase....
, 2002) - Just Visiting Part Two (Little Samurai/MGM DistributionMGM DistributionMGM Distribution is the largest independent distributor of Australian music and music related merchandise and was established in April 1998 by Sebastian Chase....
, 2002) - Open Up (Little Samurai/MGM DistributionMGM DistributionMGM Distribution is the largest independent distributor of Australian music and music related merchandise and was established in April 1998 by Sebastian Chase....
, 2003) - "Run" (Diffrnt Music/MGM DistributionMGM DistributionMGM Distribution is the largest independent distributor of Australian music and music related merchandise and was established in April 1998 by Sebastian Chase....
, 2005) - "Resonate"
- "Real Life"
- "What If" (2007) AUSARIA ChartsThe ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...
#45 - "Bird of Feather" (2008)
Music Videos
- "Paris, Texas" (2002)
- "Open Up" (2003)
- "My Enemy" (2005)
- "Run" (2005)
- "What If" (2007)
- "Bird of Feather" (2008)
- "Are You Interested?" (2008)
Official
News
- Cog A Well-Oiled Machine by Adam Hine, 6 June 2009