Syphon Online...

History :

It all began in Summer 1995. Two eleven year olds named Steven Gillies and Jacqueline Stevenson immersed themselves in the vast universe of American comics. Two years pass, it's now December 1997. While reading through the latest "Gen 13 Interactive" comic Steven and Jacqueline saw an advertisement for Metallica's "RELoad" album. On the strength that this album had been advertised in his favorite comic, Steven bought "RELoad". This was the turning point in his life. Jacqueline was also immensely impressed by the music and soon both were buying old albums and becoming accustomed to heavier styles of music... O.K., enough with the third person narrative. It's making my brain hurt! Okay, Steven here! So me and Jacqueline got heavily into the mighty Metallica. This obviously causes problems with the kids of our age, especially in a world dominated by Kappa - wearing bigots, and opinionated adults. It was just after Christmas, that my first urges to make this kind of music manifested. I had never been interested in making Oasis or Blur-esque songs and had never had a real interest in music. It was actually Jacqueline who mentioned that she had been in a band with her two cousins, Chris and Suzie. This was a very low key, poorly-equipped affair that involved pots, an acoustic guitar, three chords and Jacqueline singing Meatloaf and Alice Coopers "Poison". I suggested that we start up a band. This was the beginning. "Burnout" The first incarnation of the band was formed in January 1998 under the name of

"Burnout".

The line-up featured Suzie and my friend Alan Parker on guitar, and Jacqueline and myself on vocals. Chris wouldn't come up often enough, as he lived about 25 miles south in a town called Irvine. Jacqueline announced that her friend Katriona Lusk could play drums. Months passed. We didn't have formal band practices as we had no rehearsal facilities and no bassist. Slowly Chris and big-cousin Suzie stopped visiting us frequently. Jacqueline and I continued to write songs, four in total, only two of which are still in existence today.

"Threnody"

Summer 1998. Situation wasn't any better. Still no practice facilities, still no bass player and, effectively no drummer! I desperately wanted to make something of this band, now named "Threnody". Jacqueline's interest seemed to be fading. Understandable, considering it had been almost a year since the band was originally thought of. And so it went on, in limbo. Finally things imploded. A petty argument and a trip to Glasgow ended that incarnation of "Threnody" and, more importantly, my eleven-year friendship with Jacqueline. My current musical influence was Nirvana, and songs like "Lithium", "On A Plain" and, of course, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" kept a glimmer of hope alive. Over a year passed. It was now October 1999 and for the last month myself, Alan and Katriona had been going to a local church on Fridays. This was were Kat's drum sessions took place. A friend named Shona Cocksedge also came along. Shona said that she would really love to play in a band and as Alan and myself had all but forgotten about "Threnody", we were delighted to learn that Shona's ideal instrument would be the one that we needed all the time - Bass Guitar! So Shona got a bass about eight weeks before Christmas we have our first practice session. Alan was playing his new electric guitar, Kat was playing the little beats she knew, Shona playing the bass lines to Nirvana's "Come As You Are" and "Smells Like Teen Spirit", and me, sitting around feeling inadequate. This was when he walked in. A friend for about six months, Andrew Pudsey was the sixteen year old basketball ace that Shona and Kat had known for years. He thought it was cool that we had a band. Alan was on the small stage, playing a broken version of Hendrix' "Voodoo Chile". Andrew, or Pudsey as he is better known as asked if he could have a shot of Alan's guitar. I sat and watched with little interest, in a daydream of being in Soundgarden. I was woken up in a big way. A perfect, clear and solo-inclusive rendition was effortlessly produced. As I watched Pudsey's fingers fly across the fret-board I hoped that he was free to be in a band. "Threnody" had found it's defining factor. We had an edge. Three weeks later, Andrew Pudsey was our official lead guitarist. The next problem was the drummer situation. Katriona showed a lack of of enthusiasm and an inability for drumming. The arrival of Pudsey's friend Chris Petrie, also referred to by surname, helped a lot. Petrie could play well, ironically he was taught by Pudsey. How talented can one man be? Unfortunately, his attendance became sporadic and we once more faced the problem of having no drummer. Our second savior was Sean Campbell, third-year in my school. I didn't know Sean but his cool, skate-punk style made me more confident he would fit in. He has!

"Backlash"

It was now May 2000. Now under the name of Backlash due to the discovery of a Dutch Doom band named "Threnody". Another name change, as Backlash was... a kinda crap name. We decided to change the name once more, to....

"Syphon"

Under the new, unanimous name of "Syphon", things were going pretty good. Alan Parker had "left" us (sadly...NOT!) and has been duly replaced by Kenny Armstrong. The bands current line-up was as follows : Andy Pudsey on lead guitar, Shona Cocksedge on bass guitar, Sean Campbell on drums, Kenny Armstrong on rhythm guitar and Steven Gillies on vocals and occasionally guitar. Well, problems, again, with our ever changing line up. Shona decided that the life of a budding rock star wasn't for her, and left the ranks. She was replaced by Mat Taylor, a friend from school. Kenny also realized that, with school and the fact he lived a bit of a distance from us, he didn't have the time to be a Syphonite.

It was now March 2001. We thought we had everything sorted, line up wise. However, this was not the case. Matthew had to leave the band for personal reasons, so we drafted in a friend, Martin Coyle.

By mid summer, we decided that our sound might need a bit of extra oomph, so to speak. We decided to try another guitarist, and we decided upon a certain individual who went by the name of Jim Loughlin, bassist in local Ska Punk oiks Skarsoles. This decision shocked many people, due to Jim's change not only in genre, but also in instrument. Well, we thought we'd try him out.

End of the summer, and not long after a triumphant sold out show at local club 204, Martin quit, again for personal reasons. ANOTHER lineup change, then. How Spinal Tap? Anyways, in stepped bassist Kris Woods, ex Influent and bassist in local NuMetallers Indispose.On with writing new material. It was at this point we recorded our first demo, the Eugenesis EP mk1, at local studio Riff Rooms.

Not long after Kris' arrival, Jim decided that he couldn't possibly maintain his role in Skarsoles, local Punk group The Peoples Alibi, Syph0N AND his new emo band, so he left to pursue his career in other musical directions.

So this brings us to the present. Things were quiet on the Syph0N front for a while, but it was only for us to write some new material, which we showcased at another sold out 204 gig, in January 2002. Things are moving ahead, slowly but surely, at the moment, with a new demo on the cards due to be recorded at anytime. Each Syphonite also has another musical outlet. Details and links will be posted in the near future.