Southpacific was a space rock

Space rock

Space rock is a subgenre of rock music; the term originally referred to a group of early, mostly British, 1970s progressive and psychedelic rock bands such as Hawkwind and Pink Floyd, characterised by slow, lengthy instrumental passages dominated by electric organs, synthesizers, experimental...

 band with prominent dream pop

Dream pop

Dream pop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid-1980s, when bands like The Passions, Dif Juz, Lowlife and A.R. Kane began fusing post-punk and ethereal experiments with bittersweet pop melodies into dreamy, sensual soundscapes. The term was almost...

/post-rock

Post-rock

Post-rock is a subgenre of rock music characterized by the influence and use of instruments commonly associated with rock, but using rhythms and "guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures" not traditionally found in rock...

 leanings, originally based in Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

.

History

Its members were multi-instrumentalists Joachim Toelke (primarily electric guitar), Graeme Fleming (primarily drums/percussion), and Phil Stewart-Bowes (primarily bass guitar). The trio formed in 1997, began playing live in 1998, and went on to release two recordings on the Turnbuckle

Turnbuckle

A turnbuckle, stretching screw or bottlescrew is a device for adjusting the tension or length of ropes, cables, tie rods, and other tensioning systems. It normally consists of two threaded eyelets, one screwed into each end of a small metal frame, one with a left-hand thread and the other with a...

 label. (The label was also home to noise rock

Noise rock

Noise rock describes a style of post-punk rock music that became prominent in the 1980s. Noise rock makes use of the traditional instrumentation and iconography of rock, but incorporates atonality and especially dissonance, and also frequently discards usual songwriting conventions.-Style:Noise...

ers Bailter Space

Bailter Space

Bailter Space is an atmospheric noise rock band that formed in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1987 as Nelsh Bailter Space; they had previously recorded as The Gordons. Its members are Alister Parker , John Halvorsen , Brent McLachlan...

). Their self-titled 1998 EP/mini album (also known as 33) was supposedly recorded in a ski chalet

Chalet

A chalet , also called Swiss chalet, is a type of building or house, native to the Alpine region, made of wood, with a heavy, gently sloping roof with wide, well-supported eaves set at right angles to the front of the house.-Definition and origin:...

. Southpacific soon relocated to the more musically-fertile community of Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

. Full-length album Constance was recorded in early to mid 1999, and made it to stores in early 2000.

Music

Southpacific's guitar-oriented music was generally psychedelic in nature and filled with reverb

Reverberation

Reverberation is the persistence of sound in a particular space after the original sound is removed. A reverberation, or reverb, is created when a sound is produced in an enclosed space causing a large number of echoes to build up and then slowly decay as the sound is absorbed by the walls and air...

, yet at times contained sheets of noise and heavy drumming. Their music was highly recording studio

Recording studio

A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...

-intensive, using many layers of guitar tracks and subtle samples

Sampling (music)

In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...

 to create a dense overall sound. This drew the band comparisons to Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...

, early Verve

The Verve

The Verve were an English rock band formed in 1989 in Wigan by lead vocalist Richard Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bassist Simon Jones, and drummer Peter Salisbury. Guitarist and keyboardist Simon Tong later became a member. Beginning with a psychedelic sound indebted to shoegazing and space...

, Slowdive

Slowdive

Slowdive were an English shoegaze band that formed in 1989. The band formed in Reading, Berkshire and primarily consisted of Nick Chaplin , Rachel Goswell , Neil Halstead , and Christian Savill...

, Mogwai

Mogwai

The word mogwai is the transliteration of the Cantonese word 魔怪 meaning "monster", "evil spirit", "devil" or "demon".-Mogwai/Mogui in Chinese culture:...

, and My Bloody Valentine. However, only one of the band's songs ("Built To Last") had vocals, making the band favorites of post-rock and ambient music aficionados. The band never released any singles.

Touring

They performed at the 1999 Canadian Music Week Festival

Canadian Music Week

Canadian Music Week is an industry conference and music festival held over four days in various venues throughout Toronto, Ontario, Canada.-History:...

, and embarked on a cross-Canada tour with indie rock

Indie rock

Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...

ers Tristan Psionic

Tristan Psionic

Tristan Psionic was a Canadian indie rock band.Formed in the early 1990s in Hamilton, Ontario, the band consisted of vocalist Sandy McIntosh, guitarist Mark Milne, bassist Gary "Wool" McMaster and drummer Tim Potocic...

 and Crooked Fingers

Crooked Fingers

Crooked Fingers is a North Carolina band led by former Archers of Loaf lead singer Eric Bachmann. The band was previously based in Seattle, Washington and Atlanta, Georgia before moving to Denver. The band released albums on WARM Records and Merge Records before going completely independent in 2008...

 between April and May 2000. The band's last performance was on August 26, 2000, with shoegaze

Shoegazing

Shoegazing is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged from the United Kingdom in the late 1980s. It lasted there until the mid 1990s, with a critical zenith reached in 1990 and 1991...

 band SIANspheric

Sianspheric

SIANspheric , is a shoegaze/dream pop-oriented rock band from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They formed in 1994, and signed with the then-fledgling record label Sonic Unyon. The following year, Somnium, their debut album, was released...

.

Post-breakup

After disbanding, Toelke focused on an experimental recording project entitled Frihavn, although only a few song excerpts have surfaced on the Internet. Turnbuckle Records soon folded, leaving the band's albums both out of print. Fleming and Stewart-Bowes are both currently residing in Toronto, while Toelke has been living in Europe since 2003.

EP/ Mini-album

• 33 - self-released on 15 August 1998; promo release (green cover) on Turnbuckle, 1999; re-pressed (purple cover) in 2000

External links

• Official Southpacific web site
• "Here Come The Waves" Eye Weekly coverage of the CMW showcase
• Southpacific at eMusic