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biography |
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Toby (vocals & guitar) Dave (vocals & bass) and Andy (vocals & percussion) have been writing music together since 1998 and played their first gigs together as 'The Glorious Amber Life'. Millzy joined on lead guitar in the spring of 2002 and 'Sound Sanctuary' was born. Their experience of playing out was usually turning up at parties, being given an acoustic guitar and playing in kitchens, bedrooms and gardens. Being based in Kent (Sevenoaks, Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge) there were few venues and they knew that they'd have to go to London. So in 2002 they played at 'The Rock Garden', 'Sound', 'The Kings Head', 'The Hope and Anchor' and 'W14', promoting a solo album (The Sound Sanctuary) that Toby had recorded at The Old Barn studio in the small village of Hildenborough. Anyone who's been to these venues will know how it works - loads of people from Kent would catch a train to support them but their music would not reach fresh ears. However the album itself showed Toby's song writing skills and help came from the strangest of places including Lynn Parsons who played several tracks on her night time Radio 2 show. By the end of 2002 the band began writing together in Millzy's parents' (still not quite finished) house in Sevenoaks with a new confidence. It was then that producers Andy & Guy (Bombay Monkey) asked them if they'd like to work together at their soon to be finished studio 'Lo-Tek' based in the Ashdown Forest (Winnie the Pooh country). Bombay Monkey's experience was in electronica, dance, hip hop and Super Mario Karting. The duo had already made tracks for Ministry of Sound, DJ 1st Rate, and their own band Bombay Monkey but loved the acoustic side of Sound Sanctuary. Between 2003 and 2004 the collaboration produced two demo CDRs which were played out at some of London's best acoustic music venues in the summer of 2004, before they returned to the studio to begin work on their debut release. 2005 saw the release of the Contact EP and the band returned to the cream of these venues to promote the record with the introduction of drums and samples to the live experience. Contact earnt plays by Nick Luscombe on XFM, received some positive online reviews, and was distributed by Pinnalce to online and high street music stores nationwide including HMV, Virgin, Tesco, WHSmiths, Amazon.co.uk and Play.com. In early 2006 the record also became available as a digital download on popular download stores such as iTunes, Napster, eMusic and Rhapsody. After once again returning to the studio with their trusty producers (Bombay Monkey), Sound Sanctuary finally emerged with their debut album 'Dust' in 2007. 'Broken Signs', the first single from the album went on general release that summer and the band teamed up with Khaki Productions to make an excellent lo-fi music video to accompany the single. Most recently Sound Sanctuary have joined forces with Coffee Artists (their booking agent) who are currently booking and promoting a series of UK tours for the band for 2008. 'Dust' is now available to download exclusively at friendlytribe.co.uk and on CD at their live shows. Sound Sanctuary will be on tour across the UK throughout 2008 and appearing at many of this summers more 'kitsch' music festivals. |
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