Voices Of Masada - Biography
This band's profile is 'invisible', meaning that it's much less prominent on the site - either because it's incomplete, or maybe doesn't entirely fit MS format.
Biography
Dec 2009
It's been a long break at the House of Masada - a year of relaxation and focusing on our
personal hobbies, but our return to performing, as main support for the Cruxshadows
at the Islington Academy has to have been one of our best shows ever. We were also pleased to be able to return to the stage with Sam Morrison - our excellent bassist for the Austrlia Tour and with our own personal lighting engineer to show our best sides, the place rocked to some propa Goff!
Jan 2009 onwards
After so much time, performing pretty much without break over the last six years and almost a hundred shows - travelling to places that we honestly never believed we would ever see - both Rob and I have decided to take a break from the band for a while. Rob is currently performing with Adoration and I'm doing lots of shooting (I compete in Archery)
Have no fear though - We'll be back in the near future with more new and exciting developments ;-)
December 2008
A couple more shows to end a crazy year of so many ups and downs. First off was the show in Breda, Netherlands and a great time seemed to be had by all - and it was great to welcome back Danny to play bass with us one more time. Nostalgic, but a lot of fun to get on stage with him one last time. ...and then back to London, Slimelight to end a busy year full of chaotics ups and downs, this time performing with Star Industry and The Hiram Key - once again the sound was exceptional and from start to finish everything ran smoothly.
November 2008
Voices of Masada return once again to Austria, this time to headline the friday night of the Blackout Festival in Dornbirn. On bass duties we enlisted the exceptional expertise Of John Sykes who travelled with us to Rock out the Austrians.
October 2008
The long awaited tour...
Well, Rob, Sam and I would just like to thank the promoters, organisers, fans and new-found friends for an absolutely amazing tour. In the end the tour changed slightly and we didn't get to play Newcastle due to the original venue being taken over, but the rest went ahead as expected. To travel to the other side of the world and get such a warm, friendly reception from so many people was beyond words and is something we will never forget. Brisbane especially set the perfect start to the tour with such a warm friendly reception from everyone there.
More importantly, Rob and I would like to give our deepest thanks to Sam for playing bass for us on the tour - and hopefully we get to do it again in the near future.
July-September 2008
A quiet few months on the Masada front - mostly just planning and final arrangements for the tour.
June 2008
Only two shows this month, but Voices of Masada return to London to play with Vendemmian, Cauda Pavonis and Rome Burns. An excellent show all round was had and we'd like to thank the promoters and other bands to helping to put together such a great event. There were numerous positive comments concerning the excellent sound that night - it looks like Slimelight have managed to solve their sound issues now. Next up was a performance at the Lumous Festival in Finland - where the sun honestly didn't set all night. A great time was had and the crowd very enthusiastic. This was the first time that Voices of Masada did not one but two encores as the crowd just couldn't get enough. We'd all like to thank Jyrki (Two Witches) for inviting us along - and all the guys who travelled up from Helsinki to see us play.
And in other, more sombre news, it is with great sadness that we announce that Danny, our bass player for six years, has decided to leave the band. His reasons are many and complex, but this departure is completely amicable and we wish him all the best in his future endeavours. His leaving statement is below:
Danny has left Voices of Masada due to irreconciliable differences with the other two members of the band. The split is however amicable and any gigs confirmed before his departure will be honoured by him, should the rest of the band need/want him to play. It's been a great 6 years but now it's time to move on - best of luck to both parties involved and thanks to everyone who has helped and supported Voices of Masada during this time
And as if that wasn't enough, Voices of Masada also take great pleasure in announcing our "Different Faces" Tour of Australia!!! This is due to happen in October and consists of the following shows:
Saturday 4th October - Brisbane (The Lovecats Club)
Sunday 5th October - Sydney (Under the Blue Moon Festival)
Wednesday 8th October - Newcastle (The Last Chance Hotel)
Thursday 9th October - Canberra (ANU Bar)
Friday 10th October - Melbourne (Roxanne Parlour)
Saturday 11th October - Adelaide (The Crown and Anchor)
More exciting developments within the House of Masada to follow in the near future - we'll let you know as things come along ;-)
April-May 2008
A few shows this time - our first visit to Spain (Madrid) performing with Vendemmian and The Eternal Fall - and a great big thank you for the promoters and fans who made the night and the show so a wonderful and then up in Merseyside with The Sisters of Murphy and Flight... and then back up north in Stockton on Tees to play at Persecution.
Unfortunately some more sombre news then as well - the promoter and venue owner at the Wirral show refused to pay us on the night - and three months down the line we are still awaiting payment for our performance there... our colleagues within the goth scene - bands, DJs and promoters - have been informed of this issue, so hopefully it gets resolved in the near future.
February-March 2008 - Still fairly quiet on the Masada front, only one gig in the last couple of months, at Sin in London, but we are working behind the scenes to more gigs and other things. Speaking of which, another couple of gigs have now been confirmed, and the band will return to Finland and will play Slimelight again, supporting Vendemmian and with Danny once again taking to the stage with both bands on the same night (see details on the news page). Apart from the live front, Voices of Masada feature on a newly released American compilation, which will be available for sale directly by the band in the next couple of weeks. More gigs are currently being finalised, more soon, as always, stay tuned?
January 2008 - A quiet month, due also to the cancellation of the our gig in Bedford, for reasons outside the band's control - nonetheless we wish to apologise to anyone who had made plans to attend. The promoters have stated their intention to rearrange the gig as soon as feasible, so watch this space. Also on the live front, our London gig at Sin, has been brought forward by a month and is now happening in March, see the News section for details. More gigs are currently being finalised, expect more confirmed dates soon, as always, stay tuned?
November-December 2007 - Another year over, and again it finished in style, with the band's last gigs in Bournemouth, Naples and triumphal homecoming at Slimelight, together with the excellent Elusive from Norway. The first few gigs have been confirmed for 2008 - see the news section for details - and as always, negotiations are ongoing for more gigs, both in the UK and abroad, so stay tuned. In other news, bassist Danny will have a bit of a busy time early next year, as old friends 90s stalwarts Vendemmian have decided to reform for a couple of gigs in Italy, Spain and Germany? and hired him as a session player on the bass. In fact, the Madrid gig will be a particularly busy evening for him as we have been booked to play as well, so Danny will be on stage with both bands on the same night!!! That's it for this year, thanks everyone for your continuing support, and see you all in 2008!
October 2007 - What a month! 3 excellent gigs: our first visit to Finland, a Dr Fell's Live special in Basingstoke with Nosferatu and The Ghost of Lemora, and to top it all off Voices of Masada's first participation to the Whitby Gothic Weekend. All three have been fantastic and special in their own way, and once more we'd like to thank the promoters involved and everyone who turned up to the concerts and helped making them so memorable for us. In other news, Steve Carey's fantastic remix of Looking Back (Stanton Hall remix, currently available to listen to on our myspace page) will be released on a new Strobelight sampler which will come out at the end of the year, more information soon. Also, on the compilations front, Walk Away will feature on an America compilation, together with many other fantastic European bands. More news soon on the releases and future gigs, stay tuned?
September 2007 - Only one gig this month, in Newcastle, which gave us the chance to catch up with the many other bands on the bill, and the confirmation or another visit to Italy in the autumn: this time in the south, in Naples (see news page for details), and of course the band are really looking forward to it. On the other hand, unfortunately the scheduled gig in Canterbury has been cancelled for reasons outside Voices of Masada's control; nonetheless, we wish to apologise to anyone who had made plans to come and see us, and we hope to rearrange it for the new year, keep checking for details. Stay tuned for further news, and hopefully see many of you at Whitby next month!
August 2007 - All quiet on the Masada front, although we can now announce that we'll play Slimelight, in London, once again in December with the excellent Elusive, all the way from Norway (see news page for details). Other gigs are almost confirmed, so expect further announcements of live activity soon?
Junly 2007 - Another relatively quiet month, at least on the surface. One gig only, in Wolverhapmpton at Hex in the City's 4th Birthday party, and it was great - big thanks to the promoters and audience, we're honoured to have had the chance to play at your celebration bash. Meantime a couple more gigs have been announced (see News page) and a few more are being negotiated; as always, watch this space for news and details?
June 2007 - A much needed quiet month, and we're not ashamed to say we've taken a bit of a break, something we hadn't had the chance to do in a long time. At the same time though, the booking of gigs for the next few months carries on, and we can announce a few more dates (see news page for details), including our first visit to Finland in October. More gigs are being negotiated and should be confirmed soon, as always, stay tuned for further news?
May 2007 - Voices of Masada played two more festivals, Dark City in Edinburgh and Gotham in London, and both gigs went really well, with great participation and response from the audience. Unfortunately though, the last scheduled gig before the summer, originally due to take place in York on Saturday 9th June, has now been postponed due to reasons beyond the band's control. Voices of Masada wish to apologise for the late notice, but we have only just been informed ourselves; apologies to all who were planning to attend. On a brighter note, the promoter has stated his intention to reschedule the gig in the next few months, as soon as the problems which led to the postponement are resolved, so stay tuned for further news and hopefully see you up in York before too long. As for the rest, the above means that currently the next scheduled gigs will take place in October, but fear not - though the live activity will be a lot less than in the last few months during the summer, and we hope to use this break to start putting down new material for the follow up to Another Day, we are in negotiations with a number of promoters, so expect other gigs to be announced soon. As always, stay tuned for further news?
April 2007 - Another triumphant gig at the fantastic - as always - Judgement Day 10, in Austria; once more everything about the event was perfect, that place is truly magical, a big thanks to the promoters, public and everyone working at the venue.
Apart from that, the big news this month is this: Voices of Masada can finally announce that they will perform at the Autumn Whitby Gothic Weekend 2007, on Friday 28th October!! More details later on or on the festival website, which should be updated soon. Finally, our old friend Steve Carey, of Adoration and NFD, has remixed Looking Back, and done a great job at that! Looking Back - Stanton Hall Remix will be released on some compilation at some point in the future, and will soon be available to listen to on this website and the band's MySpace. That's it for this month, stay tuned for further news!
March 2007 - A slightly quieter month, but not without a couple more gigs for Voices of Masada. The main news this month has got to be Ray's bike accident, which caused him a broken collar bone and elbow. That didn't stop him, however, from performing at London's Purple Turtle supporting American artist Voltaire, just a few days after the accident, and still doing a great job: hats off to him! In other news we have discounted weekend tickets (£20 instead of £38 - a bargain!) for Dark City, in Edinburgh next month, details on the merchandise page. Apart from that, as per usual, concerts keep being booked and negotiated, check the news section for details of the upcoming gigs and stay tuned for further news soon!
February 2007 - Another fantastic month of live activity for the band! Voices of Masada add three more countries to the list of those visited, with gigs in Lithuania, Norway and France - and all three of them were fantastic, a big thanks to all the promoters, other bands we shared the stage with and the audience, who was so enthusiastic at all gigs. A few weeks break now, but not long: at the end of March Voices of Masada will be back at Carnival of Souls, and shortly after at the fantastic Judgement Day festival in Austria, in his 10th year now (see news section for details). A couple more gigs have also been announced, and another couple will be soon... so stay tuned, more details soon!
January 2007- More reviews - all positive - are coming in, and more gigs are booked and announced. Next month will see us visit three different countries (none of which we've been before as a band) in three weeks, and more gigs abroad as well as in the UK will follow in the subsequent months, including our participation to a couple of festivals we cannot announce yet - keep watching this space, more details soon, meantime we look forward to meeting many of you at the already announced gigs, see you soon!
December 2006 - Another year ends, and Voices of Masada keep going stronger than ever! The album gigs in November/December all went marvellously well, and more have been announced for the new year, in the UK as well as abroad (see news page for details). A big thank you to all promoters, audience, and everyone else who helped make our gigs such a success, see you all soon! Finally for the moment, the band would like to wish everyone a merry Christmas and a happy 2007 to everyone, see you all in the new year, stay tuned?
November 2006 - Just a quick update in between gigs, to say thanks to all promoters and audience of the gigs over the last month, and that we are looking forward to seeing all of you who are going to make it to the December gigs. A few dates have been added for early 2007, namely our first visits to Norway and France and our return to The Carnival of Souls - see the news section for details and stay tuned for news, more gigs to be announced soon?
October 2006 -The wait is finally over: Voices of Masada's new album, Another Day, featuring 10 new tracks is out now on Strobelight Records. It will be distributed worldwide, for info about availability in the various countries and/or purchasing please visit the label website, http://www.strobelight-records.com, meanwhile, a series of release parties have been scheduled to take place all over Europe, check the News section for the full details. With the new album, the band is ready to hit the road again, we have lots of gigs planned for the next two months and the first confirmed dates are being announced for the new year, please check the news section for details. In other news, the website will soon be revamped and given a look more in line with the new album, more recent photos will be uploaded and snippets of the new songs will be added. As always, stay tuned for further news?
September 2006 - One last gig, at the excellent Dance of the Damned event, held in the atmospheric Clink Prison in London, and then the band take a well-deserved break from the live activity, which will resume at Halloween with the new album launch - meantime we had confirmation from Strobelight that 'Another Day' will be officially released on 20th October, so book your copy now! Following the release, a host of gigs have been booked (see the news section for all details), including our third visit to Italy, in December for a short tour (details TBA soon). More gigs are being booked at the moment, both in the UK and abroad, so keep visiting the website for further additions, and hopefully see you all on a stage near you in the next few months. As always, stay tuned for further news?
August 2006 - The wait is finally over: we can finally confirm that Voices of Masada have been signed by Austrian/German label Strobelight Records!!! You can check out their website here: http://www.strobelight-records.com. The band's new album, titled "Another Day" and featuring 10 tracks, is now completely recorded and mixed and will be released at the end of October 2006 - more precise details on the release date soon. Apart from the above, Voices of Masada played the Syphony in Black alldayer in Southampton, which was great, and wish to thank the promoter, the other bands and the audience for a what was a great day all round. On a less pleasant note, the other event we were scheduled to play at, the Festival of Shadows in London has been cancelled - this is nothing to do with the band but nonetheless we wish to apologise to all those who had already got tickets or made plans to attend. We have one more gig scheduled for September, also in London, then we'll take a break of little over a month from the live activity in order to prepare for the gigs to support the album. Finally, and on this note, more gigs have been confirmed, including our first ever visit to Northern Ireland, and others will be soon - please check the News section for details on scheduled gigs. Stay tuned?
July 2006 - It is now official: Voices of Masada are currently locked in a studio in Central London and in the process of recording the new album, titled 'Another Day'! The recording and mixing should be completed by the end of the Summer at the latest, with a view to release it in the late Autumn. At the same time, the band are in talks with a couple of labels and distributors; no deal has been finalised yet but things are rather promising, and hopefully there will be an announcement on the matter soon.
In other news, one more gig has now been booked for the Autumn, in London at Halloween, and more will be announced soon. Finally, our song Flight has been released on the German compilation Dark Awakenings Vol. 5, while the Libitina remix of Step Down - originally intended for release on a different compilation - has now come out on Strobelight record's New Dark Age Vol. 4. More news soon?
May/June 2006 - Back from the WGT in Leipzig, and what an amazing experience it was!! Voices of Masada performed to a packed Werk II, in front of over 1000 people who really showed their appreciation to the band's set - both during the gig and after, throughout the whole festival, with lots of people coming up to tell us how they had enjoyed our gig. Big thanks to everyone who came to the gig and to talk to us afterwards, this was certainly a gig we won't forget too soon!
Back in the UK, the band will take a short break from live activities (the next scheduled gig is in August), during which they hope to start recording the new album, now completely written and arranged. More gigs are expected for the Autumn, as well as hopefully more precise news on the release date of the album - stay tuned for further news?
April 2006 - The gig with NFD at Slimelight was another one to remember - excellent turnout and excellent shows by all the bands and audience response to all of them. In other news, the previously advertised gig in Hull has unfortunately had to be postponed due to circumstances unforeseen at the time of booking it, which would have prevented the band from performing that night. Voices of Masada wish to apologise to the promoter and everyone who had made plans to attend. The good news, however, is that we have rescheduled the gig for later on in the year, on the 2nd of November: see the news section for details. As for other things, May will now be spent perfecting the songs and getting ready for Leipzig, where the band hopes to be able to catch up with many friends and fans from everywhere. See you next month?
March 2006 - One gig only this month, in Brighton, and another one announced for April: Voices of Masada will play on home ground again, with their first London gig of 2006, as guest at NFD's launch party for their new single 'Light my Way'. Apart from that, we know now that our show at the WGT in Leipzig will take place at Werk II on the Saturday, 3rd June. More details will be published as we get them ourselves. Finally for this month, the album is now almost complete and soon the band will be in a position to start the recording. Stay tuned?
February 2006 - The band go back on the road for the first time this year, with gigs in Edinburgh and Hartlepool. Both went well and especially the Edinburgh one will be remembered for the excellent reaction of the audience and hospitality of the promoters - thanks a lot guy, see you soon! Apart from that, the big news this month is this: Voices of Masada have been booked to perform at the world-famous Wave-Gotik Treffen festival in Leipzig, Germany, held on the weekend from the 2nd to the 5th of June!! Stay tuned for further announcements on the exact day, time and stage we'll play, meantime have a look at their website (in the news section) for information and to see who else is playing. Also, more gigs are being negotiated and should be announced shortly, further updates soon.
December 2005/January 2006 - The first few gigs of the new year are announced, and the band, among other, will play Scotland for the first time at the end of February. Unfortunately though, on the other hand, the Cambridge gig has now been cancelled for reasons beyond our control. At the same time as the live activity the songs for the new album are being written and demoed - we are steadily moving forward on this respect and we should soon be able to give more precise details on the forthcoming work, stay tuned?
Finally, for now, the band now has a myspace account.
November 2005 - Voices of Masada return to play London for the first time since the summer and after America, the venue is the famous Camden Underworld and fellow goth rockers The Ghost of Lemora, Italian outfit Bloody Mary and French act Undercover Slut complete the line-up - the night is simply a success: the turnout is impressive and all the bands go down really well. This occasion also marked the last gig of this very busy year (and 50th overall of the band), in the next couple of months the band will be busy writing and perfecting new material, to be recorded and released sometimes in 2006. Despair not, however, Voices of Masada will be back live soon, the first gig of the new year has now been announced (see news section) and more will follow shortly. Meanwhile, a remix of Step Down has been made by Jamie of Libitina (thanks mate!) and will appear on Vol 2 of The Nomadism compilation, published by the Italian label of the same name (and which already featured Vathek on Vol. 1, which came out in September) alongside such other names as Fields of the Nephilim, Ikon, and The Mission - the release is scheduled for the spring, more details soon. That's it then, see you all in the new year!
October 2005 - A much quieter month, in fact probably the quietest in a quite a while. Only one gig, in Bristol with Cauda Pavonis (thanks to them for organising a successful and well-attended event), but don't you worry - we are working behind the scenes, both on the album, with new material being written and perfected, and on the live front, with gigs being currently negotiated for the first part of next year, both in the UK and abroad. Meanwhile, as you may have noticed, we have added a feature on the Merchandise page, which now allows you to buy online and pay through PayPal. Stay tuned for further news!
September 2005 - The month begins with the LGV All-dayer at Reading University, but the main news of the month is the North American tour: Voices of Masada finally fly out to the US on the 13th September, for a week-long tour that takes them to 6 gigs in as many different cities, spanning from the East Coast to the Mid West, and into Canada - travelling through 2 countries, 10 states and one federal district in the process - and culminating with a memorable gig at New York's legendary GBGB's. The band would like to thank all promoters, venues and their staff, everyone who put us up or helped in any other way, as well as everyone who came to the gigs, bought our stuff, told us they liked our set - this was really a fantastic experience for all of us, something we'll remember in years to come and we'll certainly do everything we can to come back! ?On the flip side, I'm afraid we all liked OUR weather best (what's with all that heat in the middle of September?), and we also struggled to fully come to terms with that thing that you have to add taxes on top of the price advertised for everything you buy, but surely that didn't take anything from how much we enjoyed the tour.
And upon return on home soil, the month concludes with the Jacqui Brereton Appeal Charity Alldayer in Birkenhead, together with Killing Miranda, Rome Burns and 616 Abortions, among others: an appreciated return to playing in front of more familiar audiences. A couple more gigs are scheduled for the next couple of months, and a few more will be announced shortly, but activities on the live front on the whole are going to diminish slightly in the near future, as we want to devote some time to writing the material for the new album. We'll keep you posted on both studio and live news.
August 2005 - one gig only this month, in Weston-Super-Mare supporting the excellent NFD: great turnout, audience participation and venue, top marks to promoter Mark, who the overwhelming majority of promoters in this country and elsewhere should take lessons from on how to organise gigs and treat bands properly! Keep up the good work mate, and see you soon! In other news, next London gig now announced (see News page) and more new song is now complete and may be played during the band's forthcoming US tour. Nothing more to say, other than we've been carefully preparing the trip across the pond and everything is now in place and ready to go: September will be pretty much completely dedicated to live activities, with the aforesaid US tour and 2 All-Dayers in the UK on either side of it - we'll tell you all about it when we're back
July 2005 - while preparations for the upcoming US tour in September continue, the band plays one more gig, in Cardiff with support from Zeitgeist Zero. A couple more gigs are confirmed for August and September, keep checking the news page for details, more gigs expected to be announced soon. Apart from the live activities, Voices of Masada are also writing new songs: a third song, Looking Back is now complete and has already been played live, and 2 more are almost finished, more details soon!
June 2005 - 2 more gigs this month: the first one at the Phoenix in Plymouth, a long journey down but one that proved 100% worth making - excellent response and between the promoters and the audience we met some truly great people; thanks a lot and see you next time guys! After that, it's back on home turf again, as Voices of Masada are back at Slimelight, in London, performing together with Nosferatu, Screaming Banshee Aircrew and Lupine, on a night of great goff tunes and more than satisfactory turnout and reaction by the audience. Also, the show gave the band the chance to present a new song live for the first time, which seems to have gone down quite well with the public.
As for the rest... in the last few months we have been saying that there would be "news" soon... now we are finally in a position to announce said news publically: Voices of Masada are going on tour in the US in September, from the 14th to the 20th to be precise!!!! Check the news page for details of the tour and other gigs confirmed nationally, and once more: more gigs currently being negotiated, both in the UK and abroad, so stay tuned!
May 2005 - The pace slows down a bit after the hectic past two months, but only just: Voices of Masada return to perform in front of their home crowd, at New Dark Age III, in Shoreditch, London, once more together with Devilish Presley and All Gone Dead, as well as the Spanish act Quidam. This was the first opportunity for the London following of the band to see them in action as a 3-piece, and despite Danny breaking a string on the last song of the set (at least the timing of the accident was right!) the test can be safely considered to have been passed: all comments received where very positive and the whole audience seemed to enjoy the show a lot.
The other gig of the month was in Bournemouth, at the excellent Black Machine supporting the fantastic Mist of Avalon from Sweden: check them out if you have a chance, these guys really rock!
Finally for this month, apart from the continuing live activities the band are pleased to announce to currently being in the process of writing and finalising some new songs, and hopefully one or two will be presented live fairly soon. More news on this and other fronts soon...
April 2005 - What a month! After spending the first two weeks working hard to rearrange the songs to make them suitable for the band's newly acquired 3-piece status, Voices of Masada are off to Turin, in Italy (incidentally, bassist Danny's birthplace) where they experience one of their best weekends as a band to date and play a storming set in front of an enthusiastic audience. And though it may have seemed that things could not get much better, the following weekend proved to be even more of a success: the band perform at the internationally renown Judgement Day festival, in Austria, where they are extremely well received and have a fantastic time throughout the whole festival, with promoters, DJ, the other bands playing and the public. The month finishes in style much closer to home, with a gig in Cambridge with long term "stage-mates" Devilish Presley and local lads Rome Burns, plus the latest new London based goth/deathrock band All Gone Dead - here too, despite the gig being midweek, audience participation and response can be considered more than satisfactory. All is left to do now is thanking all people who made this possible: too many of them to name them all but, to use a cliché phrase, you know who you are!! Thanks a lot to all promoters, DJs, venue staff, bands we shared the stage with and all the people who attended the events - you're all jointly responsible for possibly the best month in the history of the band to date, best of luck for the future, see you all again soon hopefully, and on to the next chapter now!!
March 2005 - The first of the gigs announced last month takes place: the Beyond the Veil festival in Leeds, at Easter - and the band would like to thank the organisers, GoG promotions for an excellent event which ran smoothly under every aspect and presented the large and enthusiastic audience with a diverse line-up made by excellent bands, all of whom (including us, if we can be a bit un-modest) did a great show and was received really well by the public.
The other news of the month is that as a result of irreconcilable personal differences between Eddie and other individuals within the band, Eddie has decided not to continue working with Voices of Masada and departed on entirely amicable terms and none of the gigs scheduled for the near future is going to be affected: Voices of Masada will continue ad a 3-piece starting from the next gig, In Turin in April.
Finally, we are still working on more gigs for the summer and autumn; expect more announcements soon.
February 2005 - Voices of Masada go back to Barrow-in-Furness, where they played a memorable gig almost a year before. The show goes down really well this year too, and one more time there'll be lots of good memories connected with the Cumbrian town. Other than that, several important gigs are now confirmed: among others, the band will play the Beyond the Veil III festival in Leeds on Easter weekend and then will fly to Turin, in Italy, mid-April and to Austria - to play the excellent Judgement Day festival - the following week. And this is not the end yet, more gigs, national as well as international, are being negotiated and hopefully will be announced soon, listen out for news?
January 2005 - The first gigs of the new years are getting confirmed, and more will be on their way shortly. Meanwhile the band plays The Haygate, in Telford, to a good audience. A particular mention goes to our promoters and hosts, Saxon Promotions, who have offered us a great hospitality - thanks, see ya soon!
December 2004 - One more gig, in Westgate-on-Sea, Kent, with our friends Rome Burns, and then the band finally take a deserved break, after a long year of hard but very rewarding work, which has taken Voices of Masada on the stages of the whole country and seen the debuto album finally come out. Happy festivities and see you all in 2005.
November 2004 - Now the album's out it's time to promote it, and so (apart from the expect flurry of activities to arrange things on the distribution, promotional and other similar fronts), Voices of Masada are back on the road again: Northampton first, with Venus Fly Trap, and then back to Sheffield, where the band performed a memorable gig last January. This time is just as good - although unfortunately we were forced to perform as a 3-piece due to Eddie ending up in hosptial with a broken collar bone after a competition. we were still well received by the audience. Also playing on the night are Dyonisus, The Faces of Sarah and Killing Miranda, for an all-round good night of top quality music entertainment.
October 2004 - The long wait is finally over!!! Albeit with a small but annoying delay on the scheduled date, Voices of Masada's debut album is finally released at the end of the month!! Needless to say everyone in the Masada camp is well pleased about it, and we can only hope you will all be as pleased with the result as we are. Before that, the band plays at The Carnival of Souls in Derby to a packed house and enthusiastic audience, with the likes of Two Witches, Screaming Banshee Aircrew and Scary Bitches, among others. The following weekend sees a repeat performance (with the same response from the audience) on home ground, in London, together with Spain's Quidam and Germany's Bats in the Belfry.
September 2004 - one gig only this month, in Dudley supported by the excellent Tin Omen, but quite a good one, in a very nice venue and in front of a fairly numerous and interested audience. Anyway the main news this month is: our debut album "Four Corners" is finally going to be released in October!! The album will be distributed by Strobelight Records in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and by Resurrection Records in the UK and the rest of the world, and it will be officially released sometime soon....
August 2004 - Two more gigs: Portsmouth (with Undying Legacy) and Stoke on Trent (with 9XDead), but the main news is that the mastering and all the graphic work for the album are now complete and promos have been sent to a number of selected labels in the UK and Germany, with whom we are currently in talks - expect news about the long-awaited release of the album soon! Finally, our scheduled gig in Barrow-in-Furness, originally booked for Sat 2nd October, has now been put back to a later date (probably at the beginning of the new year), to make sure we have the album out by the time we go back there - the new date will be announced soon, stay tuned for further info.
And don't forget to chech out the latest edition of Kaleidoscope! inside, along with the usual snackiness you'll find a two page interview of us.
July 2004 - The band are back on the road for a few more gigs, at the excellent Insanitorium in Colchester (with Manuskript), The Verge in London (With Attrition and Excession) and Winchester (with Razor Blade Kisses). Great to see all who made it to the gigs and thanks to all promoters and staff at the venues, see you next time!
June 2004 - This month all activities on the live front are suspended as the band needs to concentrate on all the non-musical aspects of the album: artwork, distribution, pressing etc., well be back on stage in July, when we also hope to be able to communicate an official release date for the album. What we can tell you for now is that it will be called Four Corners and it features 8 songs, stay tuned for further info!
May 2004 - the month opens with the second, excellent, gig abroad for the band in Cardiff with Midnight Configuration! Then after steady work with the mixing May ends with the possibly the biggest live event Voices of Masada have taken part in yet: Gotham, at Londons Mean Fiddler. Despite clashing with the WGT in Leipzig, the all-dayer is well attended and lots of people from all over the UK are present, as well as a few from mainland Europe. Needless to say, the band goes down a treat, post-gig comments (also reflected in the amount of EPs sold) are all positive, and if this wasnt enough Voices of Masada are able to announce what many people have been waiting to hear for a while: the album is now completely recorded and mixed!
April 2004 - The recording of the album is progressing steadily, and meanwhile the band finds the time for 3 more live gigs: in Chelmsford with Libitina, at Londons legendary Slimelight club with American goth rockers The Last Dance, and in Reading with our good friends Devilish Presley. Yet another positive month for Voices of Masada.
March 2004 - We have recently received news that Zillo has published an interview on us, in their February issue. This will only be available in German, and whilst we have not as of yet printed it here, we can tell you that Ray is now internationally recognised as a "charismatic frontman whose voice makes your heart swoon.(TM)" Also, that Danny is hailed once again as being a modern-day Lou Reed, and that Eddie and Rob are now regarded as "True guitar Gods(TM)"
In other news: We have seen that the EP prelude has been referred to in several places as "a must have item," and so we are following it up with our album. This is due for release at some point during the summer and mp3 tasters will be appearing on the downloads page in the near future. By popular demand we are putting the songs Vathek, Days of November and Shine among others. We can also confirm alternative versions of some of the songs from the EP will also be featured.
As for the live front, the only gig this month was at the Railwaymens Club in Barrow-in-Furness, up in Cumbria, but it was well worth it to our surprise we discovered a small but dynamic scene in this small distant town. The enthusiasm shown by the audience was very appreciated. The band look forward to a return visit in October.
Feb 2004 - It has been noticed that we are playing fewer gigs throughout February and March. Inside sources (drunken babbling) claim the band have booked studio time to record their debut album, and yes various band members have been sighted in Kent. When asked bassist Danny allegedly replied "gotta finish putting down the bass lines on tape, I have no time for your unfounded rumours".... stay tuned for further details...
Jan 2004 - Sheffield, The Casbah, with 3ulogy. The new year starts over pretty much from where the old one had left off, i.e. with the band on the stage. Sheffield, the Casbah, supported by Rotherham electro-act 3ulogy. Although it's a dreary January Thursday night the venue is packed with an enthusiastic audience; big thanks to the guys of Gloominati for putting us on, and if you wanna know more just read the review of the event:
Read review
after that, it's back on home turf again, as Voices of Masada return to play Upstairs at the Garage, together with The Faces of Sarah, Brother Orchid, Surefire and Automation. The loyal Masada fans turn up in droves and although they occupy the middle slot on the night pull the largest audience by far. Another excellent night, thanks to everyone who came and contributed to making it special, big hi to The Faces of Sarah who also played an excellent set - see you next time lads. The month ends with the confirmation of the line-up for this year's Gotham, and we are on the bill - see you all there!!
Dec 2003 - Bristol, The Full Moon, with Cauda Pavonis. Another good performance, where the band showcase their new song "Shine" live for the first time. Decent turnout too, although the audience appears a bit quiet at times. The following weekend Voices of Masada make their debut outside the UK, with a gig in Italy and more precisely in Prato (Florence) together with the Italian act Ordeal by Fire. As if this wasn't good enough the gig in itself goes down wonderfully and the Italian audience shows its appreciation in no uncertain terms. On coming back from to London, the band then plays at the legendary goth club Gossips, in a special one-off return of the Malice Underground club. Good sound and good turnout once again. To top up an excellent month, Voices of Masada agree a distribution deal with Resurrection Records for their debut E.P. Prelude, as well as appear at the Nightbreed Christmas Party in Nottingham, together with Lupine.
Nov 2003 - Pity for Monsters III, with Libitina at the Betsey Trotwood in Farringdon. This was a brilliant gig! although the venue is a tad on small size, it more than makes up for it with superb sound and a skilled sound engineering team that bring out the best in a band. Libitina were up first, playing some classics and introducing their new album before Voices of Masada get their turn. I'll let the review of the gig speak for us:
Read review
Oct 2003 - Rock City, with Killing Miranda, Midnight Configuration, Punish Yourself, Pro Jekt, Jesus Fix and The Ghost of Lemora. A blinding gig, if I do say so myself. The band starts the evening with a bang (eddie's amp blew up on the last song!), and finally gets to play the new song 'Days of November'. Unfortunately, the gig suffered from a lack of advertising, and what should have been a packed venue ended up being less that half full. Hopefully it works out better next time we're there, nonetheless, Voices of Masada wish to thank the promoters and all staff at Rock City for what was a great day for us. See you next time! Oh, and Punish Yourself were actually quite good, and very bright - coverd in multi-coloured paint no less!
September 2003 - The Garage, Highbury and Islington with Faces of Sarah, Corrision and Rome Burns. Voices of Masada play a storming set to a large, enthusiastic crowd and positive comments are received all round.
September 2003 The White Lion, Folkestone, with Einsteifen and Surgery without Research. Well, the venue was troubled with sound problems, but despite this we manged to play toa fantsic audience and were well received, many thnaks to all those who came and those who helped out.
July 2003 - Voices of Masada have their first official gig at The Verge in Kentish Town. As part of the 'Gothic Summer', We perform in front of a paying audience for the very first time. This is what people have said about us:
Read review
May 2003 - On May 31st Voices of Masada finally hit the stage, playing a storming secret underground gig somewhere in North London. Audience reaction was excellent and the band had a great time too. Stay tuned, more gigs to be announced shortly.
Voices of Masada proudly announce the release of the debut E.P. "Prelude" - 3 tracks of classic gothic rock sounds, available from mid-May in every decent record shop (Resurrection Records, London; Sound Pollution, Stockholm, Spiral Archive, Northampton) or failing that from the band themselves.
April 2003 - The band finally goes into the studio and records a first 3-track CD, to be released in May and titled Prelude, and in fact constituting a prelude to the quartets first album, already written and scheduled to be recorded in the winter and released shortly afterwards. Between now and then Voices of Masada will start playing live; a few gigs have already been lined-up, some are being negotiated and more will hopefully come during the summer.
2002 - Voices of Masada form in the late spring, when the long-running musical partnership between Eddie Martin (formerly of Revolution by Night) and Rob Leydon finally takes the shape of a real band when they are joined by bass-player Danny Tartaglia. Following the split of his former band Burning Gates, Danny is available for new musical collaborations and actively looking for a suitable band, and is promptly contacted by old friend Eddie, who offers him to take part in his project. The newly-formed trio thus begins practicing and writing material together, but it's not until after the summer that the line-up is finally complete: to free Eddie from singing duties and allow him to concentrate more on his beloved guitar, the band decide to audition for a singer, resulting in the recruitment of Raymon Shah in October. Now the line-up is complete, and Voices of Masada spend the following autumn and winter months putting the finishing touches to existing songs and writing more material
Source: http://www.voices-of-masada.co.uk/
It's been a long break at the House of Masada - a year of relaxation and focusing on our
personal hobbies, but our return to performing, as main support for the Cruxshadows
at the Islington Academy has to have been one of our best shows ever. We were also pleased to be able to return to the stage with Sam Morrison - our excellent bassist for the Austrlia Tour and with our own personal lighting engineer to show our best sides, the place rocked to some propa Goff!
Jan 2009 onwards
After so much time, performing pretty much without break over the last six years and almost a hundred shows - travelling to places that we honestly never believed we would ever see - both Rob and I have decided to take a break from the band for a while. Rob is currently performing with Adoration and I'm doing lots of shooting (I compete in Archery)
Have no fear though - We'll be back in the near future with more new and exciting developments ;-)
December 2008
A couple more shows to end a crazy year of so many ups and downs. First off was the show in Breda, Netherlands and a great time seemed to be had by all - and it was great to welcome back Danny to play bass with us one more time. Nostalgic, but a lot of fun to get on stage with him one last time. ...and then back to London, Slimelight to end a busy year full of chaotics ups and downs, this time performing with Star Industry and The Hiram Key - once again the sound was exceptional and from start to finish everything ran smoothly.
November 2008
Voices of Masada return once again to Austria, this time to headline the friday night of the Blackout Festival in Dornbirn. On bass duties we enlisted the exceptional expertise Of John Sykes who travelled with us to Rock out the Austrians.
October 2008
The long awaited tour...
Well, Rob, Sam and I would just like to thank the promoters, organisers, fans and new-found friends for an absolutely amazing tour. In the end the tour changed slightly and we didn't get to play Newcastle due to the original venue being taken over, but the rest went ahead as expected. To travel to the other side of the world and get such a warm, friendly reception from so many people was beyond words and is something we will never forget. Brisbane especially set the perfect start to the tour with such a warm friendly reception from everyone there.
More importantly, Rob and I would like to give our deepest thanks to Sam for playing bass for us on the tour - and hopefully we get to do it again in the near future.
July-September 2008
A quiet few months on the Masada front - mostly just planning and final arrangements for the tour.
June 2008
Only two shows this month, but Voices of Masada return to London to play with Vendemmian, Cauda Pavonis and Rome Burns. An excellent show all round was had and we'd like to thank the promoters and other bands to helping to put together such a great event. There were numerous positive comments concerning the excellent sound that night - it looks like Slimelight have managed to solve their sound issues now. Next up was a performance at the Lumous Festival in Finland - where the sun honestly didn't set all night. A great time was had and the crowd very enthusiastic. This was the first time that Voices of Masada did not one but two encores as the crowd just couldn't get enough. We'd all like to thank Jyrki (Two Witches) for inviting us along - and all the guys who travelled up from Helsinki to see us play.
And in other, more sombre news, it is with great sadness that we announce that Danny, our bass player for six years, has decided to leave the band. His reasons are many and complex, but this departure is completely amicable and we wish him all the best in his future endeavours. His leaving statement is below:
Danny has left Voices of Masada due to irreconciliable differences with the other two members of the band. The split is however amicable and any gigs confirmed before his departure will be honoured by him, should the rest of the band need/want him to play. It's been a great 6 years but now it's time to move on - best of luck to both parties involved and thanks to everyone who has helped and supported Voices of Masada during this time
And as if that wasn't enough, Voices of Masada also take great pleasure in announcing our "Different Faces" Tour of Australia!!! This is due to happen in October and consists of the following shows:
Saturday 4th October - Brisbane (The Lovecats Club)
Sunday 5th October - Sydney (Under the Blue Moon Festival)
Wednesday 8th October - Newcastle (The Last Chance Hotel)
Thursday 9th October - Canberra (ANU Bar)
Friday 10th October - Melbourne (Roxanne Parlour)
Saturday 11th October - Adelaide (The Crown and Anchor)
More exciting developments within the House of Masada to follow in the near future - we'll let you know as things come along ;-)
April-May 2008
A few shows this time - our first visit to Spain (Madrid) performing with Vendemmian and The Eternal Fall - and a great big thank you for the promoters and fans who made the night and the show so a wonderful and then up in Merseyside with The Sisters of Murphy and Flight... and then back up north in Stockton on Tees to play at Persecution.
Unfortunately some more sombre news then as well - the promoter and venue owner at the Wirral show refused to pay us on the night - and three months down the line we are still awaiting payment for our performance there... our colleagues within the goth scene - bands, DJs and promoters - have been informed of this issue, so hopefully it gets resolved in the near future.
February-March 2008 - Still fairly quiet on the Masada front, only one gig in the last couple of months, at Sin in London, but we are working behind the scenes to more gigs and other things. Speaking of which, another couple of gigs have now been confirmed, and the band will return to Finland and will play Slimelight again, supporting Vendemmian and with Danny once again taking to the stage with both bands on the same night (see details on the news page). Apart from the live front, Voices of Masada feature on a newly released American compilation, which will be available for sale directly by the band in the next couple of weeks. More gigs are currently being finalised, more soon, as always, stay tuned?
January 2008 - A quiet month, due also to the cancellation of the our gig in Bedford, for reasons outside the band's control - nonetheless we wish to apologise to anyone who had made plans to attend. The promoters have stated their intention to rearrange the gig as soon as feasible, so watch this space. Also on the live front, our London gig at Sin, has been brought forward by a month and is now happening in March, see the News section for details. More gigs are currently being finalised, expect more confirmed dates soon, as always, stay tuned?
November-December 2007 - Another year over, and again it finished in style, with the band's last gigs in Bournemouth, Naples and triumphal homecoming at Slimelight, together with the excellent Elusive from Norway. The first few gigs have been confirmed for 2008 - see the news section for details - and as always, negotiations are ongoing for more gigs, both in the UK and abroad, so stay tuned. In other news, bassist Danny will have a bit of a busy time early next year, as old friends 90s stalwarts Vendemmian have decided to reform for a couple of gigs in Italy, Spain and Germany? and hired him as a session player on the bass. In fact, the Madrid gig will be a particularly busy evening for him as we have been booked to play as well, so Danny will be on stage with both bands on the same night!!! That's it for this year, thanks everyone for your continuing support, and see you all in 2008!
October 2007 - What a month! 3 excellent gigs: our first visit to Finland, a Dr Fell's Live special in Basingstoke with Nosferatu and The Ghost of Lemora, and to top it all off Voices of Masada's first participation to the Whitby Gothic Weekend. All three have been fantastic and special in their own way, and once more we'd like to thank the promoters involved and everyone who turned up to the concerts and helped making them so memorable for us. In other news, Steve Carey's fantastic remix of Looking Back (Stanton Hall remix, currently available to listen to on our myspace page) will be released on a new Strobelight sampler which will come out at the end of the year, more information soon. Also, on the compilations front, Walk Away will feature on an America compilation, together with many other fantastic European bands. More news soon on the releases and future gigs, stay tuned?
September 2007 - Only one gig this month, in Newcastle, which gave us the chance to catch up with the many other bands on the bill, and the confirmation or another visit to Italy in the autumn: this time in the south, in Naples (see news page for details), and of course the band are really looking forward to it. On the other hand, unfortunately the scheduled gig in Canterbury has been cancelled for reasons outside Voices of Masada's control; nonetheless, we wish to apologise to anyone who had made plans to come and see us, and we hope to rearrange it for the new year, keep checking for details. Stay tuned for further news, and hopefully see many of you at Whitby next month!
August 2007 - All quiet on the Masada front, although we can now announce that we'll play Slimelight, in London, once again in December with the excellent Elusive, all the way from Norway (see news page for details). Other gigs are almost confirmed, so expect further announcements of live activity soon?
Junly 2007 - Another relatively quiet month, at least on the surface. One gig only, in Wolverhapmpton at Hex in the City's 4th Birthday party, and it was great - big thanks to the promoters and audience, we're honoured to have had the chance to play at your celebration bash. Meantime a couple more gigs have been announced (see News page) and a few more are being negotiated; as always, watch this space for news and details?
June 2007 - A much needed quiet month, and we're not ashamed to say we've taken a bit of a break, something we hadn't had the chance to do in a long time. At the same time though, the booking of gigs for the next few months carries on, and we can announce a few more dates (see news page for details), including our first visit to Finland in October. More gigs are being negotiated and should be confirmed soon, as always, stay tuned for further news?
May 2007 - Voices of Masada played two more festivals, Dark City in Edinburgh and Gotham in London, and both gigs went really well, with great participation and response from the audience. Unfortunately though, the last scheduled gig before the summer, originally due to take place in York on Saturday 9th June, has now been postponed due to reasons beyond the band's control. Voices of Masada wish to apologise for the late notice, but we have only just been informed ourselves; apologies to all who were planning to attend. On a brighter note, the promoter has stated his intention to reschedule the gig in the next few months, as soon as the problems which led to the postponement are resolved, so stay tuned for further news and hopefully see you up in York before too long. As for the rest, the above means that currently the next scheduled gigs will take place in October, but fear not - though the live activity will be a lot less than in the last few months during the summer, and we hope to use this break to start putting down new material for the follow up to Another Day, we are in negotiations with a number of promoters, so expect other gigs to be announced soon. As always, stay tuned for further news?
April 2007 - Another triumphant gig at the fantastic - as always - Judgement Day 10, in Austria; once more everything about the event was perfect, that place is truly magical, a big thanks to the promoters, public and everyone working at the venue.
Apart from that, the big news this month is this: Voices of Masada can finally announce that they will perform at the Autumn Whitby Gothic Weekend 2007, on Friday 28th October!! More details later on or on the festival website, which should be updated soon. Finally, our old friend Steve Carey, of Adoration and NFD, has remixed Looking Back, and done a great job at that! Looking Back - Stanton Hall Remix will be released on some compilation at some point in the future, and will soon be available to listen to on this website and the band's MySpace. That's it for this month, stay tuned for further news!
March 2007 - A slightly quieter month, but not without a couple more gigs for Voices of Masada. The main news this month has got to be Ray's bike accident, which caused him a broken collar bone and elbow. That didn't stop him, however, from performing at London's Purple Turtle supporting American artist Voltaire, just a few days after the accident, and still doing a great job: hats off to him! In other news we have discounted weekend tickets (£20 instead of £38 - a bargain!) for Dark City, in Edinburgh next month, details on the merchandise page. Apart from that, as per usual, concerts keep being booked and negotiated, check the news section for details of the upcoming gigs and stay tuned for further news soon!
February 2007 - Another fantastic month of live activity for the band! Voices of Masada add three more countries to the list of those visited, with gigs in Lithuania, Norway and France - and all three of them were fantastic, a big thanks to all the promoters, other bands we shared the stage with and the audience, who was so enthusiastic at all gigs. A few weeks break now, but not long: at the end of March Voices of Masada will be back at Carnival of Souls, and shortly after at the fantastic Judgement Day festival in Austria, in his 10th year now (see news section for details). A couple more gigs have also been announced, and another couple will be soon... so stay tuned, more details soon!
January 2007- More reviews - all positive - are coming in, and more gigs are booked and announced. Next month will see us visit three different countries (none of which we've been before as a band) in three weeks, and more gigs abroad as well as in the UK will follow in the subsequent months, including our participation to a couple of festivals we cannot announce yet - keep watching this space, more details soon, meantime we look forward to meeting many of you at the already announced gigs, see you soon!
December 2006 - Another year ends, and Voices of Masada keep going stronger than ever! The album gigs in November/December all went marvellously well, and more have been announced for the new year, in the UK as well as abroad (see news page for details). A big thank you to all promoters, audience, and everyone else who helped make our gigs such a success, see you all soon! Finally for the moment, the band would like to wish everyone a merry Christmas and a happy 2007 to everyone, see you all in the new year, stay tuned?
November 2006 - Just a quick update in between gigs, to say thanks to all promoters and audience of the gigs over the last month, and that we are looking forward to seeing all of you who are going to make it to the December gigs. A few dates have been added for early 2007, namely our first visits to Norway and France and our return to The Carnival of Souls - see the news section for details and stay tuned for news, more gigs to be announced soon?
October 2006 -The wait is finally over: Voices of Masada's new album, Another Day, featuring 10 new tracks is out now on Strobelight Records. It will be distributed worldwide, for info about availability in the various countries and/or purchasing please visit the label website, http://www.strobelight-records.com, meanwhile, a series of release parties have been scheduled to take place all over Europe, check the News section for the full details. With the new album, the band is ready to hit the road again, we have lots of gigs planned for the next two months and the first confirmed dates are being announced for the new year, please check the news section for details. In other news, the website will soon be revamped and given a look more in line with the new album, more recent photos will be uploaded and snippets of the new songs will be added. As always, stay tuned for further news?
September 2006 - One last gig, at the excellent Dance of the Damned event, held in the atmospheric Clink Prison in London, and then the band take a well-deserved break from the live activity, which will resume at Halloween with the new album launch - meantime we had confirmation from Strobelight that 'Another Day' will be officially released on 20th October, so book your copy now! Following the release, a host of gigs have been booked (see the news section for all details), including our third visit to Italy, in December for a short tour (details TBA soon). More gigs are being booked at the moment, both in the UK and abroad, so keep visiting the website for further additions, and hopefully see you all on a stage near you in the next few months. As always, stay tuned for further news?
August 2006 - The wait is finally over: we can finally confirm that Voices of Masada have been signed by Austrian/German label Strobelight Records!!! You can check out their website here: http://www.strobelight-records.com. The band's new album, titled "Another Day" and featuring 10 tracks, is now completely recorded and mixed and will be released at the end of October 2006 - more precise details on the release date soon. Apart from the above, Voices of Masada played the Syphony in Black alldayer in Southampton, which was great, and wish to thank the promoter, the other bands and the audience for a what was a great day all round. On a less pleasant note, the other event we were scheduled to play at, the Festival of Shadows in London has been cancelled - this is nothing to do with the band but nonetheless we wish to apologise to all those who had already got tickets or made plans to attend. We have one more gig scheduled for September, also in London, then we'll take a break of little over a month from the live activity in order to prepare for the gigs to support the album. Finally, and on this note, more gigs have been confirmed, including our first ever visit to Northern Ireland, and others will be soon - please check the News section for details on scheduled gigs. Stay tuned?
July 2006 - It is now official: Voices of Masada are currently locked in a studio in Central London and in the process of recording the new album, titled 'Another Day'! The recording and mixing should be completed by the end of the Summer at the latest, with a view to release it in the late Autumn. At the same time, the band are in talks with a couple of labels and distributors; no deal has been finalised yet but things are rather promising, and hopefully there will be an announcement on the matter soon.
In other news, one more gig has now been booked for the Autumn, in London at Halloween, and more will be announced soon. Finally, our song Flight has been released on the German compilation Dark Awakenings Vol. 5, while the Libitina remix of Step Down - originally intended for release on a different compilation - has now come out on Strobelight record's New Dark Age Vol. 4. More news soon?
May/June 2006 - Back from the WGT in Leipzig, and what an amazing experience it was!! Voices of Masada performed to a packed Werk II, in front of over 1000 people who really showed their appreciation to the band's set - both during the gig and after, throughout the whole festival, with lots of people coming up to tell us how they had enjoyed our gig. Big thanks to everyone who came to the gig and to talk to us afterwards, this was certainly a gig we won't forget too soon!
Back in the UK, the band will take a short break from live activities (the next scheduled gig is in August), during which they hope to start recording the new album, now completely written and arranged. More gigs are expected for the Autumn, as well as hopefully more precise news on the release date of the album - stay tuned for further news?
April 2006 - The gig with NFD at Slimelight was another one to remember - excellent turnout and excellent shows by all the bands and audience response to all of them. In other news, the previously advertised gig in Hull has unfortunately had to be postponed due to circumstances unforeseen at the time of booking it, which would have prevented the band from performing that night. Voices of Masada wish to apologise to the promoter and everyone who had made plans to attend. The good news, however, is that we have rescheduled the gig for later on in the year, on the 2nd of November: see the news section for details. As for other things, May will now be spent perfecting the songs and getting ready for Leipzig, where the band hopes to be able to catch up with many friends and fans from everywhere. See you next month?
March 2006 - One gig only this month, in Brighton, and another one announced for April: Voices of Masada will play on home ground again, with their first London gig of 2006, as guest at NFD's launch party for their new single 'Light my Way'. Apart from that, we know now that our show at the WGT in Leipzig will take place at Werk II on the Saturday, 3rd June. More details will be published as we get them ourselves. Finally for this month, the album is now almost complete and soon the band will be in a position to start the recording. Stay tuned?
February 2006 - The band go back on the road for the first time this year, with gigs in Edinburgh and Hartlepool. Both went well and especially the Edinburgh one will be remembered for the excellent reaction of the audience and hospitality of the promoters - thanks a lot guy, see you soon! Apart from that, the big news this month is this: Voices of Masada have been booked to perform at the world-famous Wave-Gotik Treffen festival in Leipzig, Germany, held on the weekend from the 2nd to the 5th of June!! Stay tuned for further announcements on the exact day, time and stage we'll play, meantime have a look at their website (in the news section) for information and to see who else is playing. Also, more gigs are being negotiated and should be announced shortly, further updates soon.
December 2005/January 2006 - The first few gigs of the new year are announced, and the band, among other, will play Scotland for the first time at the end of February. Unfortunately though, on the other hand, the Cambridge gig has now been cancelled for reasons beyond our control. At the same time as the live activity the songs for the new album are being written and demoed - we are steadily moving forward on this respect and we should soon be able to give more precise details on the forthcoming work, stay tuned?
Finally, for now, the band now has a myspace account.
November 2005 - Voices of Masada return to play London for the first time since the summer and after America, the venue is the famous Camden Underworld and fellow goth rockers The Ghost of Lemora, Italian outfit Bloody Mary and French act Undercover Slut complete the line-up - the night is simply a success: the turnout is impressive and all the bands go down really well. This occasion also marked the last gig of this very busy year (and 50th overall of the band), in the next couple of months the band will be busy writing and perfecting new material, to be recorded and released sometimes in 2006. Despair not, however, Voices of Masada will be back live soon, the first gig of the new year has now been announced (see news section) and more will follow shortly. Meanwhile, a remix of Step Down has been made by Jamie of Libitina (thanks mate!) and will appear on Vol 2 of The Nomadism compilation, published by the Italian label of the same name (and which already featured Vathek on Vol. 1, which came out in September) alongside such other names as Fields of the Nephilim, Ikon, and The Mission - the release is scheduled for the spring, more details soon. That's it then, see you all in the new year!
October 2005 - A much quieter month, in fact probably the quietest in a quite a while. Only one gig, in Bristol with Cauda Pavonis (thanks to them for organising a successful and well-attended event), but don't you worry - we are working behind the scenes, both on the album, with new material being written and perfected, and on the live front, with gigs being currently negotiated for the first part of next year, both in the UK and abroad. Meanwhile, as you may have noticed, we have added a feature on the Merchandise page, which now allows you to buy online and pay through PayPal. Stay tuned for further news!
September 2005 - The month begins with the LGV All-dayer at Reading University, but the main news of the month is the North American tour: Voices of Masada finally fly out to the US on the 13th September, for a week-long tour that takes them to 6 gigs in as many different cities, spanning from the East Coast to the Mid West, and into Canada - travelling through 2 countries, 10 states and one federal district in the process - and culminating with a memorable gig at New York's legendary GBGB's. The band would like to thank all promoters, venues and their staff, everyone who put us up or helped in any other way, as well as everyone who came to the gigs, bought our stuff, told us they liked our set - this was really a fantastic experience for all of us, something we'll remember in years to come and we'll certainly do everything we can to come back! ?On the flip side, I'm afraid we all liked OUR weather best (what's with all that heat in the middle of September?), and we also struggled to fully come to terms with that thing that you have to add taxes on top of the price advertised for everything you buy, but surely that didn't take anything from how much we enjoyed the tour.
And upon return on home soil, the month concludes with the Jacqui Brereton Appeal Charity Alldayer in Birkenhead, together with Killing Miranda, Rome Burns and 616 Abortions, among others: an appreciated return to playing in front of more familiar audiences. A couple more gigs are scheduled for the next couple of months, and a few more will be announced shortly, but activities on the live front on the whole are going to diminish slightly in the near future, as we want to devote some time to writing the material for the new album. We'll keep you posted on both studio and live news.
August 2005 - one gig only this month, in Weston-Super-Mare supporting the excellent NFD: great turnout, audience participation and venue, top marks to promoter Mark, who the overwhelming majority of promoters in this country and elsewhere should take lessons from on how to organise gigs and treat bands properly! Keep up the good work mate, and see you soon! In other news, next London gig now announced (see News page) and more new song is now complete and may be played during the band's forthcoming US tour. Nothing more to say, other than we've been carefully preparing the trip across the pond and everything is now in place and ready to go: September will be pretty much completely dedicated to live activities, with the aforesaid US tour and 2 All-Dayers in the UK on either side of it - we'll tell you all about it when we're back
July 2005 - while preparations for the upcoming US tour in September continue, the band plays one more gig, in Cardiff with support from Zeitgeist Zero. A couple more gigs are confirmed for August and September, keep checking the news page for details, more gigs expected to be announced soon. Apart from the live activities, Voices of Masada are also writing new songs: a third song, Looking Back is now complete and has already been played live, and 2 more are almost finished, more details soon!
June 2005 - 2 more gigs this month: the first one at the Phoenix in Plymouth, a long journey down but one that proved 100% worth making - excellent response and between the promoters and the audience we met some truly great people; thanks a lot and see you next time guys! After that, it's back on home turf again, as Voices of Masada are back at Slimelight, in London, performing together with Nosferatu, Screaming Banshee Aircrew and Lupine, on a night of great goff tunes and more than satisfactory turnout and reaction by the audience. Also, the show gave the band the chance to present a new song live for the first time, which seems to have gone down quite well with the public.
As for the rest... in the last few months we have been saying that there would be "news" soon... now we are finally in a position to announce said news publically: Voices of Masada are going on tour in the US in September, from the 14th to the 20th to be precise!!!! Check the news page for details of the tour and other gigs confirmed nationally, and once more: more gigs currently being negotiated, both in the UK and abroad, so stay tuned!
May 2005 - The pace slows down a bit after the hectic past two months, but only just: Voices of Masada return to perform in front of their home crowd, at New Dark Age III, in Shoreditch, London, once more together with Devilish Presley and All Gone Dead, as well as the Spanish act Quidam. This was the first opportunity for the London following of the band to see them in action as a 3-piece, and despite Danny breaking a string on the last song of the set (at least the timing of the accident was right!) the test can be safely considered to have been passed: all comments received where very positive and the whole audience seemed to enjoy the show a lot.
The other gig of the month was in Bournemouth, at the excellent Black Machine supporting the fantastic Mist of Avalon from Sweden: check them out if you have a chance, these guys really rock!
Finally for this month, apart from the continuing live activities the band are pleased to announce to currently being in the process of writing and finalising some new songs, and hopefully one or two will be presented live fairly soon. More news on this and other fronts soon...
April 2005 - What a month! After spending the first two weeks working hard to rearrange the songs to make them suitable for the band's newly acquired 3-piece status, Voices of Masada are off to Turin, in Italy (incidentally, bassist Danny's birthplace) where they experience one of their best weekends as a band to date and play a storming set in front of an enthusiastic audience. And though it may have seemed that things could not get much better, the following weekend proved to be even more of a success: the band perform at the internationally renown Judgement Day festival, in Austria, where they are extremely well received and have a fantastic time throughout the whole festival, with promoters, DJ, the other bands playing and the public. The month finishes in style much closer to home, with a gig in Cambridge with long term "stage-mates" Devilish Presley and local lads Rome Burns, plus the latest new London based goth/deathrock band All Gone Dead - here too, despite the gig being midweek, audience participation and response can be considered more than satisfactory. All is left to do now is thanking all people who made this possible: too many of them to name them all but, to use a cliché phrase, you know who you are!! Thanks a lot to all promoters, DJs, venue staff, bands we shared the stage with and all the people who attended the events - you're all jointly responsible for possibly the best month in the history of the band to date, best of luck for the future, see you all again soon hopefully, and on to the next chapter now!!
March 2005 - The first of the gigs announced last month takes place: the Beyond the Veil festival in Leeds, at Easter - and the band would like to thank the organisers, GoG promotions for an excellent event which ran smoothly under every aspect and presented the large and enthusiastic audience with a diverse line-up made by excellent bands, all of whom (including us, if we can be a bit un-modest) did a great show and was received really well by the public.
The other news of the month is that as a result of irreconcilable personal differences between Eddie and other individuals within the band, Eddie has decided not to continue working with Voices of Masada and departed on entirely amicable terms and none of the gigs scheduled for the near future is going to be affected: Voices of Masada will continue ad a 3-piece starting from the next gig, In Turin in April.
Finally, we are still working on more gigs for the summer and autumn; expect more announcements soon.
February 2005 - Voices of Masada go back to Barrow-in-Furness, where they played a memorable gig almost a year before. The show goes down really well this year too, and one more time there'll be lots of good memories connected with the Cumbrian town. Other than that, several important gigs are now confirmed: among others, the band will play the Beyond the Veil III festival in Leeds on Easter weekend and then will fly to Turin, in Italy, mid-April and to Austria - to play the excellent Judgement Day festival - the following week. And this is not the end yet, more gigs, national as well as international, are being negotiated and hopefully will be announced soon, listen out for news?
January 2005 - The first gigs of the new years are getting confirmed, and more will be on their way shortly. Meanwhile the band plays The Haygate, in Telford, to a good audience. A particular mention goes to our promoters and hosts, Saxon Promotions, who have offered us a great hospitality - thanks, see ya soon!
December 2004 - One more gig, in Westgate-on-Sea, Kent, with our friends Rome Burns, and then the band finally take a deserved break, after a long year of hard but very rewarding work, which has taken Voices of Masada on the stages of the whole country and seen the debuto album finally come out. Happy festivities and see you all in 2005.
November 2004 - Now the album's out it's time to promote it, and so (apart from the expect flurry of activities to arrange things on the distribution, promotional and other similar fronts), Voices of Masada are back on the road again: Northampton first, with Venus Fly Trap, and then back to Sheffield, where the band performed a memorable gig last January. This time is just as good - although unfortunately we were forced to perform as a 3-piece due to Eddie ending up in hosptial with a broken collar bone after a competition. we were still well received by the audience. Also playing on the night are Dyonisus, The Faces of Sarah and Killing Miranda, for an all-round good night of top quality music entertainment.
October 2004 - The long wait is finally over!!! Albeit with a small but annoying delay on the scheduled date, Voices of Masada's debut album is finally released at the end of the month!! Needless to say everyone in the Masada camp is well pleased about it, and we can only hope you will all be as pleased with the result as we are. Before that, the band plays at The Carnival of Souls in Derby to a packed house and enthusiastic audience, with the likes of Two Witches, Screaming Banshee Aircrew and Scary Bitches, among others. The following weekend sees a repeat performance (with the same response from the audience) on home ground, in London, together with Spain's Quidam and Germany's Bats in the Belfry.
September 2004 - one gig only this month, in Dudley supported by the excellent Tin Omen, but quite a good one, in a very nice venue and in front of a fairly numerous and interested audience. Anyway the main news this month is: our debut album "Four Corners" is finally going to be released in October!! The album will be distributed by Strobelight Records in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and by Resurrection Records in the UK and the rest of the world, and it will be officially released sometime soon....
August 2004 - Two more gigs: Portsmouth (with Undying Legacy) and Stoke on Trent (with 9XDead), but the main news is that the mastering and all the graphic work for the album are now complete and promos have been sent to a number of selected labels in the UK and Germany, with whom we are currently in talks - expect news about the long-awaited release of the album soon! Finally, our scheduled gig in Barrow-in-Furness, originally booked for Sat 2nd October, has now been put back to a later date (probably at the beginning of the new year), to make sure we have the album out by the time we go back there - the new date will be announced soon, stay tuned for further info.
And don't forget to chech out the latest edition of Kaleidoscope! inside, along with the usual snackiness you'll find a two page interview of us.
July 2004 - The band are back on the road for a few more gigs, at the excellent Insanitorium in Colchester (with Manuskript), The Verge in London (With Attrition and Excession) and Winchester (with Razor Blade Kisses). Great to see all who made it to the gigs and thanks to all promoters and staff at the venues, see you next time!
June 2004 - This month all activities on the live front are suspended as the band needs to concentrate on all the non-musical aspects of the album: artwork, distribution, pressing etc., well be back on stage in July, when we also hope to be able to communicate an official release date for the album. What we can tell you for now is that it will be called Four Corners and it features 8 songs, stay tuned for further info!
May 2004 - the month opens with the second, excellent, gig abroad for the band in Cardiff with Midnight Configuration! Then after steady work with the mixing May ends with the possibly the biggest live event Voices of Masada have taken part in yet: Gotham, at Londons Mean Fiddler. Despite clashing with the WGT in Leipzig, the all-dayer is well attended and lots of people from all over the UK are present, as well as a few from mainland Europe. Needless to say, the band goes down a treat, post-gig comments (also reflected in the amount of EPs sold) are all positive, and if this wasnt enough Voices of Masada are able to announce what many people have been waiting to hear for a while: the album is now completely recorded and mixed!
April 2004 - The recording of the album is progressing steadily, and meanwhile the band finds the time for 3 more live gigs: in Chelmsford with Libitina, at Londons legendary Slimelight club with American goth rockers The Last Dance, and in Reading with our good friends Devilish Presley. Yet another positive month for Voices of Masada.
March 2004 - We have recently received news that Zillo has published an interview on us, in their February issue. This will only be available in German, and whilst we have not as of yet printed it here, we can tell you that Ray is now internationally recognised as a "charismatic frontman whose voice makes your heart swoon.(TM)" Also, that Danny is hailed once again as being a modern-day Lou Reed, and that Eddie and Rob are now regarded as "True guitar Gods(TM)"
In other news: We have seen that the EP prelude has been referred to in several places as "a must have item," and so we are following it up with our album. This is due for release at some point during the summer and mp3 tasters will be appearing on the downloads page in the near future. By popular demand we are putting the songs Vathek, Days of November and Shine among others. We can also confirm alternative versions of some of the songs from the EP will also be featured.
As for the live front, the only gig this month was at the Railwaymens Club in Barrow-in-Furness, up in Cumbria, but it was well worth it to our surprise we discovered a small but dynamic scene in this small distant town. The enthusiasm shown by the audience was very appreciated. The band look forward to a return visit in October.
Feb 2004 - It has been noticed that we are playing fewer gigs throughout February and March. Inside sources (drunken babbling) claim the band have booked studio time to record their debut album, and yes various band members have been sighted in Kent. When asked bassist Danny allegedly replied "gotta finish putting down the bass lines on tape, I have no time for your unfounded rumours".... stay tuned for further details...
Jan 2004 - Sheffield, The Casbah, with 3ulogy. The new year starts over pretty much from where the old one had left off, i.e. with the band on the stage. Sheffield, the Casbah, supported by Rotherham electro-act 3ulogy. Although it's a dreary January Thursday night the venue is packed with an enthusiastic audience; big thanks to the guys of Gloominati for putting us on, and if you wanna know more just read the review of the event:
Read review
after that, it's back on home turf again, as Voices of Masada return to play Upstairs at the Garage, together with The Faces of Sarah, Brother Orchid, Surefire and Automation. The loyal Masada fans turn up in droves and although they occupy the middle slot on the night pull the largest audience by far. Another excellent night, thanks to everyone who came and contributed to making it special, big hi to The Faces of Sarah who also played an excellent set - see you next time lads. The month ends with the confirmation of the line-up for this year's Gotham, and we are on the bill - see you all there!!
Dec 2003 - Bristol, The Full Moon, with Cauda Pavonis. Another good performance, where the band showcase their new song "Shine" live for the first time. Decent turnout too, although the audience appears a bit quiet at times. The following weekend Voices of Masada make their debut outside the UK, with a gig in Italy and more precisely in Prato (Florence) together with the Italian act Ordeal by Fire. As if this wasn't good enough the gig in itself goes down wonderfully and the Italian audience shows its appreciation in no uncertain terms. On coming back from to London, the band then plays at the legendary goth club Gossips, in a special one-off return of the Malice Underground club. Good sound and good turnout once again. To top up an excellent month, Voices of Masada agree a distribution deal with Resurrection Records for their debut E.P. Prelude, as well as appear at the Nightbreed Christmas Party in Nottingham, together with Lupine.
Nov 2003 - Pity for Monsters III, with Libitina at the Betsey Trotwood in Farringdon. This was a brilliant gig! although the venue is a tad on small size, it more than makes up for it with superb sound and a skilled sound engineering team that bring out the best in a band. Libitina were up first, playing some classics and introducing their new album before Voices of Masada get their turn. I'll let the review of the gig speak for us:
Read review
Oct 2003 - Rock City, with Killing Miranda, Midnight Configuration, Punish Yourself, Pro Jekt, Jesus Fix and The Ghost of Lemora. A blinding gig, if I do say so myself. The band starts the evening with a bang (eddie's amp blew up on the last song!), and finally gets to play the new song 'Days of November'. Unfortunately, the gig suffered from a lack of advertising, and what should have been a packed venue ended up being less that half full. Hopefully it works out better next time we're there, nonetheless, Voices of Masada wish to thank the promoters and all staff at Rock City for what was a great day for us. See you next time! Oh, and Punish Yourself were actually quite good, and very bright - coverd in multi-coloured paint no less!
September 2003 - The Garage, Highbury and Islington with Faces of Sarah, Corrision and Rome Burns. Voices of Masada play a storming set to a large, enthusiastic crowd and positive comments are received all round.
September 2003 The White Lion, Folkestone, with Einsteifen and Surgery without Research. Well, the venue was troubled with sound problems, but despite this we manged to play toa fantsic audience and were well received, many thnaks to all those who came and those who helped out.
July 2003 - Voices of Masada have their first official gig at The Verge in Kentish Town. As part of the 'Gothic Summer', We perform in front of a paying audience for the very first time. This is what people have said about us:
Read review
May 2003 - On May 31st Voices of Masada finally hit the stage, playing a storming secret underground gig somewhere in North London. Audience reaction was excellent and the band had a great time too. Stay tuned, more gigs to be announced shortly.
Voices of Masada proudly announce the release of the debut E.P. "Prelude" - 3 tracks of classic gothic rock sounds, available from mid-May in every decent record shop (Resurrection Records, London; Sound Pollution, Stockholm, Spiral Archive, Northampton) or failing that from the band themselves.
April 2003 - The band finally goes into the studio and records a first 3-track CD, to be released in May and titled Prelude, and in fact constituting a prelude to the quartets first album, already written and scheduled to be recorded in the winter and released shortly afterwards. Between now and then Voices of Masada will start playing live; a few gigs have already been lined-up, some are being negotiated and more will hopefully come during the summer.
2002 - Voices of Masada form in the late spring, when the long-running musical partnership between Eddie Martin (formerly of Revolution by Night) and Rob Leydon finally takes the shape of a real band when they are joined by bass-player Danny Tartaglia. Following the split of his former band Burning Gates, Danny is available for new musical collaborations and actively looking for a suitable band, and is promptly contacted by old friend Eddie, who offers him to take part in his project. The newly-formed trio thus begins practicing and writing material together, but it's not until after the summer that the line-up is finally complete: to free Eddie from singing duties and allow him to concentrate more on his beloved guitar, the band decide to audition for a singer, resulting in the recruitment of Raymon Shah in October. Now the line-up is complete, and Voices of Masada spend the following autumn and winter months putting the finishing touches to existing songs and writing more material
Source: http://www.voices-of-masada.co.uk/