Rest (band)
Encyclopedia
Rest are an instrumental rock group from Cork, Ireland. The group's sound has evolved over the course of their existence to incorporate elements of progressive rock
, tech-metal, post-rock, doom
, black metal
and math rock
. The groups sound is characterised by intricate harmonised riffs, complex drum patterns, unconventional song structures, a heavy emphasis on dynamics and alternating time signatures. As well as releasing one album and an EP on Limerick independent record label Out on a Limb Records
, the band has also toured Ireland and the United Kingdom, sharing stages with the likes of Isis
, Cult of Luna
, Oxbow
, Baroness
, Torche
, Zu
, Red Sparowes
and Explosions in the Sky
.
, in homage to Palm Desert rockers Kyuss
, a band whom the four-piece were greatly influenced by.
Early Wretch shows saw the group cover many Kyuss songs along with material by Alice in Chains
, Orange Goblin
, Black Sabbath
and System of a Down
. The group’s original material during this time also reflected their collective interest in stoner rock
, and unlike their current incarnation, also featured vocals, provided by guitarist Stephen Barry.
As the group continued to write more original material the direction their sound was taking moved away from its stoner rock roots towards a more expansive post-rock influence. The group decided to drop the vocals and focus solely on creating instrumental music. A demo, There's No Harm In Harmony, was the first indication of this new direction and was followed by some extensive gigging around Ireland, including shows with El Guapo
, Giddy Motors and The Redneck Manifesto
. The group also had their first official release in 2003 on Out On A Limb Records, a split Christmas single with Limerick rockers Giveamanakick
. Rest’s contribution to the release was an instrumental take on the classic, Walking in the Air
.
) in 2006, the EP was another stylistic departure from their debut record. Heavier and more complex in sound and structure, the two-track EP was to prove an indicator of the sound the band currently plays. In 2006 Limerick native Colm O’Shea was recruited on bass. That year the band was invited by Swedish post-metal outfit Cult of Luna
to support them on their UK tour. Operation: Impending Doom was released in January, with the title track later being used on a Kerrang Compilation album, New Breed, alongside a number of emerging British acts.
twice as well as headlining the inaugural Black Sun night at the Granary, an avant-garde event that champions noise-music, sound-art and experimental-improvisation. The band is currently writing material for their second LP, which they are hoping to complete during 2011. The material is a further development of the sound characterised on the Operation: Impending Doom EP. Material showcased during live performances has highlighted an increasing tendency to lean towards progressive rock and tech-metal influences. The group is also utilising more effects pedals as well as synthesizers in the new material.
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...
, tech-metal, post-rock, doom
Doom metal
Doom metal is an extreme form of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other metal genres...
, black metal
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
and math rock
Math rock
Math rock is a rhythmically complex guitar-based style of experimental rock that emerged in the 1980s and that was very influenced by progressive rock like King Crimson, Frank Zappa, Henry Cow - and 20th century composers such as Steve Reich and John Cage...
. The groups sound is characterised by intricate harmonised riffs, complex drum patterns, unconventional song structures, a heavy emphasis on dynamics and alternating time signatures. As well as releasing one album and an EP on Limerick independent record label Out on a Limb Records
Out On A Limb Records
Out On A Limb Records is an independent record label, based in Limerick, Ireland. The label was set up in the summer of 2003 with the release of Is it OK to be loud, Jesus?, the debut album from local band giveamanakick. It was set up by Albert Twomey and Richard Bourke, both of whom were involved...
, the band has also toured Ireland and the United Kingdom, sharing stages with the likes of 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...
, Cult of Luna
Cult of Luna
Cult of Luna is a Swedish post-metal band from Umeå. They formed from the remnants of a Umeå hardcore punk band called Eclipse in 1998. They slowly garnered critical appreciation and underground popularity with early releases Cult of Luna and The Beyond ; however, it is 2004's Salvation that can...
, Oxbow
Oxbow (band)
Oxbow is a long-lived Avant-Garde band out of San Francisco, California notable for a unique sound. Oxbow plays a blend of Noise rock, Avant-garde jazz, Musique concrète , and Blues, creating soundscapes caustic, or plangent, with overtones of paranoia, revulsion, exaltation.-Current line-up:*Dan...
, Baroness
Baroness (band)
Baroness is a band from Savannah, Georgia whose members grew up together in Lexington, Virginia.-Formative years:Baroness formed in mid-2003, founded by former members of the punk/metal band Johnny Welfare and the Paychecks...
, Torche
Torche
Torche is a band from Miami, Florida, whose sound is often described as stoner metal, or sludge metal.-Biography:The group was formed in 2004 by Steve Brooks , Juan Montoya , Jonathan Nuñez and Rick Smith Torche is a band from Miami, Florida, whose sound is often described as stoner metal, or...
, Zu
Zu (band)
- Biography :Hailing from Ostia, a town near Rome, Zu are an atypical trio made of drums, electric bass, baritone saxophone and electronics. Formed in Rome in 1997, they began as composers and players for theatre performances. The band is composed of three members: Luca Mai on baritone saxophone,...
, Red Sparowes
Red Sparowes
Red Sparowes is a Los Angeles post-rock band comprising current and former members of Isis, Halifax Pier, Angel Hair and Pleasure Forever. Their sound is characteristic of soundscape-influenced experimental rock, with an otherwise uncommon extensive use of a pedal steel guitar.-History:Red Sparowes...
and Explosions in the Sky
Explosions in the Sky
Explosions in the Sky is an American post-rock band from Texas. The band has garnered popularity beyond the post-rock scene for their elaborately developed guitar work, narratively styled instrumentals, what they refer to as "cathartic mini-symphonies," and their enthusiastic and emotional live shows...
.
History
Founded in 1999 while still in secondary school by guitarists Stephen Barry and Graham Lynch, drummer Johnny Lynch and bassist Mark Power, the group originally went under the name WretchWretch (album)
Wretch is the first full-length album by Kyuss. It was released in September 1991, on Dali Records. Previously calling themselves Sons of Kyuss, they shortened their name prior to releasing this....
, in homage to Palm Desert rockers Kyuss
Kyuss
Kyuss is a rock band, originally from Palm Desert, California. After forming in the late 1980s and releasing an EP under the name Sons of Kyuss in 1990, the band shortened its name to Kyuss. Over the next five years the band released four full-length albums, and one last split EP in 1997 with...
, a band whom the four-piece were greatly influenced by.
Early Wretch shows saw the group cover many Kyuss songs along with material by Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1987 by guitarist and songwriter Jerry Cantrell and original lead vocalist Layne Staley. The initial lineup was rounded out by drummer Sean Kinney, and bassist Mike Starr...
, Orange Goblin
Orange Goblin
Orange Goblin are a stoner metal band from the United Kingdom that formed in 1995. The band's lineup currently consists of singer Ben Ward, guitarist Joe Hoare, bassist Martyn Millard, and drummer Chris Turner.-History:...
, Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
and 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...
. The group’s original material during this time also reflected their collective interest in stoner rock
Stoner rock
Stoner rock or stoner metal is a subgenre of heavy metal, combining elements of psychedelic rock, blues rock, traditional heavy metal and doom metal. Stoner rock is typically slow-to-mid tempo and features a bass-heavy sound, melodic vocals, and 'retro' production...
, and unlike their current incarnation, also featured vocals, provided by guitarist Stephen Barry.
As the group continued to write more original material the direction their sound was taking moved away from its stoner rock roots towards a more expansive post-rock influence. The group decided to drop the vocals and focus solely on creating instrumental music. A demo, There's No Harm In Harmony, was the first indication of this new direction and was followed by some extensive gigging around Ireland, including shows with El Guapo
Supersystem
Supersystem was a band from Washington, D.C. described as a mix of rock, punk, pop and dance music. Originally El Guapo, the group changed their name because of potential legal issues, a new drummer, and general dislike of the original name...
, Giddy Motors and The Redneck Manifesto
The Redneck Manifesto (band)
The Redneck Manifesto are an instrumental rock band from Dublin, Ireland. Its members are Mervyn Craig , Richard Egan , Niall Byrne , Matthew Bolger and Neil O'Connor .-History:...
. The group also had their first official release in 2003 on Out On A Limb Records, a split Christmas single with Limerick rockers Giveamanakick
Giveamanakick
Giveamanakick—typeset as giveamanakick and abbreviated as GAMAK— were an Irish rock music duo from Limerick. The two band members were Stephen Ryan , the vocalist and guitarist, and Keith Lawler , the drummer.Giveamanakick performed regularly in Ireland, toured the United Kingdom with...
. Rest’s contribution to the release was an instrumental take on the classic, Walking in the Air
Walking in the Air
"Walking in the Air" is a song written by Howard Blake for the 1982 animated film of Raymond Briggs' 1978 children's book The Snowman. In the film the song was performed by St Paul's Cathedral choirboy Peter Auty...
.
Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame
The group’s debut album, Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame, was released by Limerick independent label Out On A Limb Records in 2004. Recorded in West Cork over the course of a week, the album showcased the groups diverging musical interests. As well as the increasingly prevalent influence of post-rock, the group also stretched out into electronica, post-metal, math-rock and post-punk territory. The album also featured vocals by Cork singer-songwriter Annette Buckley on a number of tracks as well as a four piece string section. The group would later return the favour to Buckley by playing on two tracks on her album The Ever Changing Colours of the Sea.Operation: Impending Doom
As the group prepared to begin writing the follow-up to their debut album, bassist Mark Power took the decision to leave the group. The remaining trio continued without a bassist while putting together the material that would become the Operation: Impending Doom EP. Recorded with Ciaran O’Shea (CycleflyCyclefly
Cyclefly were an alternative rock band from Cork, Ireland.Once the band were signed to their label for their first two albums they became increasingly frustrated by the confines of being a 'signed act'...
) in 2006, the EP was another stylistic departure from their debut record. Heavier and more complex in sound and structure, the two-track EP was to prove an indicator of the sound the band currently plays. In 2006 Limerick native Colm O’Shea was recruited on bass. That year the band was invited by Swedish post-metal outfit Cult of Luna
Cult of Luna
Cult of Luna is a Swedish post-metal band from Umeå. They formed from the remnants of a Umeå hardcore punk band called Eclipse in 1998. They slowly garnered critical appreciation and underground popularity with early releases Cult of Luna and The Beyond ; however, it is 2004's Salvation that can...
to support them on their UK tour. Operation: Impending Doom was released in January, with the title track later being used on a Kerrang Compilation album, New Breed, alongside a number of emerging British acts.
Currently
The group’s number of live appearances has declined in the last number of years. They have however appeared on the line-up of the Cork Jazz FestivalCork Jazz Festival
The Cork Jazz Festival is an annual music festival held in Cork City, Ireland in late October every year since 1978.The festival is Ireland's biggest jazz event and attracts hundreds of musicians and thousands of music fans to the city each year....
twice as well as headlining the inaugural Black Sun night at the Granary, an avant-garde event that champions noise-music, sound-art and experimental-improvisation. The band is currently writing material for their second LP, which they are hoping to complete during 2011. The material is a further development of the sound characterised on the Operation: Impending Doom EP. Material showcased during live performances has highlighted an increasing tendency to lean towards progressive rock and tech-metal influences. The group is also utilising more effects pedals as well as synthesizers in the new material.