Twelve Foot Ninja
| Twelve Foot Ninja | |
|---|---|
 Twelve Foot Ninja at the Euroblast Festival 2017 |
|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Progressive Metal , Progressive Rock , Alternative Metal , Alternative Rock , Dub , Jazz Fusion |
| founding | 2007 |
| Website | www.twelvefootninja.com |
| Founding members | |
| Steve "Stevic" Mackay | |
| Shane "Russ" Russell | |
| Current occupation | |
| Nick Barker aka "Kinetik" (since 2008) | |
Electric guitar, vocals |
Rohan Hayes (since 2012) |
Electric guitar |
Steve "Stevic" Mackay |
| Damon McKinnon (since 2008) | |
Drums |
Shane "Russ" Russell |
Twelve Foot Ninja (occasionally also 12 Foot Ninja ) is a band from Melbourne , Australia , which mixes progressive metal with elements of various musical styles. It is considered part of the Djent movement.
The band's name is derived from the story of a ninja who can grow up to twelve feet (approx. 365 cm) tall at will. The story is an integral part of the band's lyrics .
history
Foundation and publication of the first two EPs (2007–2011)
In 2007 the guitarist Steve Mackay, who had already been on stage alongside artists like Delta Goodrem , decided to found his own band, which corresponded more to his musical ideas. As a result, he contacted a friend, the drummer Shane Russell, with whom he formed the band Twelve Foot Ninja. After the singer Nick Barker with the stage name Kinetik became aware of the band over the Internet and had listened to some demo recordings of the band on their Myspace page, he got in touch with Mackay and Russ and sent them some recordings of his singing. After the two had viewed the material, they accepted Barker as a full member of the band. When looking for a bass player, the band invited auditioners, where they found Damon McKinnon as a suitable musician to cast the bass.
Even before the band made their first appearance, they released their first EP with New Dawn in October 2008 . This was followed by the first concerts, including as the opening act for Mammal, as well as first festival appearances. Two years later, in November 2010, the band released their second EP under the name Smoke Bomb on their own after the financial means for a full studio album were not available. At the same time the band went on tour across Australia . In addition, the band appeared in late July 2011 as the support act for Periphery and TesseracT at a concert in Melbourne.
Release of the debut album Silent Machine (2012)
In March 2013 the band toured Australia with Circles and Jericco . Another tour followed between May and June alongside Dead Letter Circus and Fair to Midland . In November 2012 the band released their debut album, Silent Machine , which entered the Australian ARIA charts at number 53 and tells the story of the assassin Kiyoshi, who lives in a parallel world ruled by four tyrants. Kiyoshi is chosen to bring peace and balance back into the world, which is why he is endowed with the ability to use his twelve feet as desired. The story was written by Steve Mackay and his girlfriend Fiona Permezel and was based on the book The Prophecies of Celestine by James Redfield . The album was the result of an advertising campaign called "Project 12" with which the band hoped to increase their fan base. For twelve weeks, a new song from the album with a matching comic was published every week , which was drawn by the artist Keith Draws.
At the end of 2012, Rohan Hayes, who had learned to play the guitar with the same guitar teacher as Steve Mackay, joined the band. Hayes, who was a fan of the band himself before joining, became aware of the fact that the band was now complete after he had uploaded instrumental cover versions of the band's songs to the video platform YouTube . Since Hayes could also sing on the side, what the band knew, since Rohan had already performed with his previous band at the side of Twelve Foot Ninja, they asked him to join the band in order to support them musically during their live performances.
Latest developments (since 2013)
In early April 2013, the band called on the crowdfunding platform Pozible to donate money for a planned music video. 500 supporters took part in the month-long fundraising campaign and donated over AU $ 52,000 to the end, which even exceeded the planned budget of AU $ 45,000. Members of the band Periphery , voice actor Liam O'Brien and erotic model Madison Rhys will appear in the video . With the video, the band wants to set an example against the trolling that is common on the Internet , from which the band and musicians friends are suffering.
In July 2013, the band was seen as the opening act for Fear Factory . Between August and October the band toured Australia one more time. This was followed by a first tour through Europe with Skyharbor and Ever Forthright , on which the band performed at the Euroblast Festival in Cologne , among others .
In August and September 2016, the band toured with the up-and-coming new formation Acolyte (also from Melbourne) in the opening act through their home country.
style
Although the band has a professional drummer in Shane Russel, they use digital drum programs from Toontrack , to which Steve Mackay has been under contract since early 2011, for their recordings . On the first two EPs the band used the EZ Drummer with Shane Russell playing on an electronic drum kit , while on Silent Machine 2 real cymbals and hi-hats were used in addition to the Superior Drummer . Live, however, Russel plays on real drums.
Discography
Albums
| year | Title music label |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
 AU
|
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| 2012 | Silent Machine Volkanik Music |
- |
First published: November 13, 2012
|
| 2016 | Outlier Volkanik Music |
AU6 (1 week) AU |
First published: August 26, 2016
|
EPs
- 2008: New Dawn (self-distribution)
- 2010: Smoke Bomb (self-distribution)
Singles
- 2012: Mother Sky (Volkanik Music)
- 2012: Coming for You (Volkanik Music)
Web links
- Official website (English)
- Chart sources: AU
Individual evidence
- ↑ Interview with Kinetik from Twelve Foot Ninja on theuproaraustralia.blogspot.com; Retrieved August 15, 2013.
- ↑ a b Interview with Kinetik from Twelve Foot Ninja on theaureview.com; Retrieved August 15, 2013.
- ↑ Interview with Kinetik from Twelve Foot Ninja ( memento of the original from November 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on myamn.com.au; Retrieved August 15, 2013.
- ↑ a b Interview with Kinetik from Twelve Foot Ninja ( Memento of the original from February 11, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on amhnetwork.com; Retrieved August 15, 2013.
- ↑ Twelve Foot Ninja Smoke Bomb Tour 2010 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on messandnoise.com; accessed on August 16, 2013.
- ↑ Live review of the concert by Periphery, TesseracT and Twelve Foot Ninja at the Hifi in Melbourne on lifemusicmedia.com; accessed on August 16, 2013.
- ↑ Twelve Foot Ninja, Jerrico, Circles Announce Tour on beat.com.au; accessed on August 16, 2013.
- ↑ Dead Letter Circus Tickets & Info on oztix.com.au; accessed on August 16, 2013.
- ↑ Interview with Twelve Foot Ninja ( Memento of the original from January 28, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the59thsound.com; accessed on August 16, 2013.
- ↑ Interview with Kinetik from Twelve Foot Ninja on pushtofire.wordpress.com; accessed on August 16, 2013.
- ↑ Interview with Steve Mackay from Twelve Foot Ninja on musicfeeds.com.au; Retrieved August 15, 2013.
- ↑ Interview with Steve Mackay from Twelve Foot Ninja on skullsnbones.com; Retrieved August 15, 2013.
- ↑ Interview with Steve Mackay from Twelve Foot Ninja on metalinsider.net; accessed on August 16, 2013.
- ↑ Twelve Foot Ninja score Fear Factory support on metalobsession.net; accessed on August 16, 2013.
- ↑ 'Shuriken' music video, to tour Australia in September on got-djent.com; accessed on August 16, 2013.
- ↑ Twelve Foot Ninja, Skyharbor, Ever Forthright to tour Europe on got-djent.com; accessed on August 16, 2013.
- ^ Twelve Foot Ninja Tour Supports Announced. In: Killyourstereo.com. Retrieved March 24, 2017 .
- ↑ Interview with Steve Mackay on brokensticksmusic.blogspot.com; Retrieved August 15, 2013.
