Both hailing from the North of England, Jack Townley (Guitar) and Sam Hart (Drums) came together through work and a mutual interest in anything musically heavy. Early jam sessions, starting in August 2013, involved Jack taking up bass guitar duties while Sam took up the drums. Neither of them had much proficiency in their instruments and it was this approach that brought more focus to writing a catchy riff that would eventually turn out to be Attack Of The Altaica. While the sessions were going well, there was a long way to go before the pair would be ‘gig ready’, however after a chance meeting with Trippy Wicked front man Peter Holland the band would start to pick up steam, with Jack moving to a more natural role on the guitar and Pete picking up the bass. Before long the riffs, melodies and eventually songs of Theia were formed. The addition of Riley MacIntyre, initially as sitar player, brought yet another dimension to the sound and also a fresh approach to the writing structure the band had been focused on. By late June 2014 the band had booked to record their first EP Theia.
Spending two days at Sam Thredder’s (Slabdragger) Cro’s Nest Studio, seven tracks were recorded in total, ready for mixing before being sent to James Plotkin a few weeks later for mastering. Soon after uploading the finished tracks to Soundcloud, Mike Vitali contacted the band and negotiated the signing to Magnetic Eye records. This launched Theia into the world on vinyl, CD and digital formats while gaining enough traction to help secure a week long European tour with friends Bright Curse, which saw performances in France, Switzerland, Belgium, and Germany.
Following on from the success of their first EP, the studio time was booked and recording for the first long play, self-titled, album was booked and commenced in August 2015. Recorded over two weeks at The Church Studios, in Crouch End, London, the album took on a much more rounded and melodic sound, helped in no small part by the wide range of equipment available and Riley taking up the role of producer. This meant the dropping of the sitar gimmick, but in the long run that turned in the bands favour as the release, scheduled for April 2016, was met with a warm and glowing reception by fans and critics alike.
Moving forward into 2017 there are plans in the works to return to mainland Europe, armed with tracks from the latest release, as well as a few new numbers. The band have also been commissioned to write a track to accompany a scene in the widely anticipated and ambitious The Planet Of Doom feature length animation, with recording set to happen sometime late August / early September. If you would like to find out more about Elephant Tree then please don’t hesitate to send us a message/e-mail, or even better, come to one of our gigs and have a chat. We’re usually the ones propping up the bar…