Full Name: various
Birth Date: various
Birth Place: Perth, Australia

Pendulum are a drum and bass/rock group with the original members, Rob Swire, Gareth McGrillen and Paul Harding, from Perth, Australia. Paul Harding is a veteran DJ while Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen had an acclaimed rock band called Xygen but after hearing Konflict's "Messiah" at a rave they made the decision to produce drum and bass instead. In 2003 they relocated to the United Kingdom and are now one of the top drum and bass producers. While Hold Your Colour held true to this intent, they have since experimented with mixing rock influences back in, with the rock-heavy second album In Silico, and the third album, Immersion, being slightly less so. Their newer efforts also incorporate styles from other genres, such as dubstep, heavy metal and electro house. Pendulum are now better known for their energetic live shows, with live band setup and advanced visual displays and incorporating their rock background with drum and bass.

History

Pendulum formed in Perth, Australia and released their first song, "Vault", as the A side of the "Kingz of the Rollers EP" in 2003. After several other singles, including Spiral//Ulterior Motive and many tracks to be included in their forthcoming LP, they released their debut album, Hold Your Colour, in 2005. Their second album, In Silico, was released in May 2008. The second single from the album, "Propane Nightmares", was their biggest hit to date, peaking at #9 in the UK Singles Chart.

In 2008, Pendulum played at numerous European music festivals and undertook their first tour of North America. At the end of the year the band filmed a live DVD on December 4 and 5 2008, at the Brixton Academy, which was released in June 2009.They toured Europe again in 2009 where they first announced work on their third studio album. It was announced in December that Pendulum will be touring their new album, "Immersion", in May 2010. The release date of the album was announced to be "in May" during the live preview party at Matter, and has since been confirmed to be released on 24 May.

Pendulum previewed their upcoming album Immersion at the Ear Storm night at London’s Matter nightclub on Friday January 22. This was also streamed on their website. "Salt In The Wounds", a track from their new album, was Zane Lowe's Hottest Record In The World on BBC Radio 1 on 25 January 2010. It was, however, stated that it was a street-level release, and it was not an official single. On Zane Lowe's show, it was also announced that the first single from the new album would be called "Watercolour". "Watercolour" also received its first play on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show on 8 March 2010, and was his Single Of The Week for that week. The music video for "Watercolour" was released on 31 March, and it premiered on their MySpace page and the members are of their official website, The Other Side. A day later, on 1 April, another music video was released, this time for "Salt In The Wounds". The video is unique in that it is, according to the band's website, "...the world’s first 360º interactive music video." Viewers can move the camera around in the video. Six different letters are hidden throughout the video; once found, the viewer can enter them as a code and claim a free download of "Salt In The Wounds".

Musical style

The Pendulum sound is typically heavy beats accompanied by low, buzzing basslines, often played in unision with guitars and/or bass guitar, overlaid with synthesized leads. When Pendulum started out as producers in Australia, their sound was considerably more drum and bass-influenced than the work they are known for today. Over time, this led to a change of audience and listeners from underground to mainstream listeners. On their recently released third album Immersion, they have returned to the sound shown on Hold Your Colour whilst still retaining the more rock - based style of music used on In Silico and expanding into Dubstep and Electro House.

Pendulum's current musical style consists of a fusion of electronica and rock, with the inclusion of acoustic instruments. Songs such as "Propane Nightmares" and "Granite" continued to be synth-led, whilst others, such as "Showdown" and "The Tempest", were guitar-led. Gareth McGrillen stated in an interview on Channel 4 that they use 13 computers during the live performances, all of which are mixing up the sounds produced by the instruments in real time.

Signature tunes such as "Vault", "Back to You", "Voyager" and "Toxic Shock", which were released on labels such as Uprising Records, Renegade Hardware and Low Profile Records, have a darker, more amelodic air to them which is substantially absent from their later productions, which are generally leaning heavily towards a mainstream, dance-driven sound. Early work such as "Another Planet" however, seems to indicate an early affinity with a more global sound, similar to other Breakbeat Kaos artists such as DJ Fresh and Adam F. Their new track (at that time) "Ransom" was played at their Noisia set at WMC. Ransom was later dropped from the final mix of their latest album, Immersion.

The group has produced various remixes of other artists also; the most well-known being their remix of "Voodoo People", originally by The Prodigy. Pendulum have also remixed themselves and television theme songs, such as the ABC News' Television Theme in May of 2010. In 2006, their collaboration with the Freestylers - "Painkiller" - was remixed by NOISIA and released on Against the Grain Records. In 2008-2010, they covered songs including Led Zeppelin "Immigrant Song", Coldplay's "Violet Hill", Metallica's "Master of Puppets", Calvin Harris' "I'm Not Alone" and remixed Plan B's "Stay Too Long". Currently, only The Prodigy remix, Plan B remix and a BBC Radio 1 recording of the Violet Hill cover have been released to purchase, although a full studio version of the Master of Puppets remix does exist. Bassist Gareth McGrillen at Blue Oyster in 2007

Current members

From the official Pendulum website, the following people are full time members of Pendulum:

Rob Swire – vocals, synth (2002–present)

Peredur ap Gwynedd – guitar (2006–present)

Gareth McGrillen – bass guitar (2002–present)

Kevin Joseph Sawka – drums (2009–present)

Paul Harding (El Hornet) – DJ (2002–present)

Ben Mount (The Verse) – MC (2006–present)

Paul Harding was producer of Hold Your Colour, but is now more so a DJ for the band. Ben Mount did vocals on Immersion as well as helping to write two of the songs, and should be noted as such, but is otherwise simply the group's main MC. Rob Swire also performed most of the guitars on Hold Your Colour and bass guitar and percussion on In Silico and has played guitar on two tracks on Immersion.

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