MP3: Symposium / Killing Position & Wall Of Silence
Got that's an ugly picture. ahem. Bit of a classic band this time, or if not classic at least quite an important one for many British teenagers, well for about a year or 3 anyway. Symposium were ubiquitous with the Evening Session, and despite the hopelessly teenage outlook of the lyrics, they really weren't that bad and are still quite listenable even now.
The band (Ross Cummins - Voice, Wojtek Godzisz - Bass Guitar, Hagop Tchaparian - Guitar, William McGonagle - Guitar, Joe Birch - Drums) formed in a West London school in 1995 and by 1996 had signed to Infectious and released their debut single Drink The Sunshine. The band went on to tour a hell of a lot (and were a pretty great live band) and so gained a large (again mainly teenage) fanbase. They went on to release a mini album in 1997, called One Day At A Time, and their debut proper, On The Outside, was released in 1998. Despite a series of great summery rock/pop singles (including Fairwell To Twilight, The Answer To Why I Hate You, Fairweather Friend, Bury You and Blue) and one completely shite single (Average Man), their success didn't seem to translate to album sales, but that probably wasn't helped by the patchiness of the album itself.
I believe the band were dropped a year or so later, only to return for a comeback single, Killing Position, sometime in 1999. It was a change towards a heavier direction and I think it works pretty well, but by this time I think some of their audience had drifted off and so it didn't really do that well. That single as well as its b-side, Wall Of Silence, are available as mp3s below. A compilation of BBC sessions and live recordings, On The BBC, was released as a fairwell present for fans, and as far as I can tell from Amazon is the only one of their records still in print.
Most of the band members went on to form the rather average Hell Is For Heroes, who have a record or two out that are easily available. As for vocalist Ross he's apparently in a band called Papercuts, who i'd never heard of until I started writing this post. Anyway for some more info on Symposium including a full(ish) discography you can check out this fansite. Hope you like the songs.
Download: Killing Position - MP3 4.81mb (rapidshare)
Download: Wall Of Silence - MP3 2.86mb (rapidshare)
posted by Jamie Summers at 4:04 pm
8 Comments:
I liked average man and I though Hell is For Heroes were good so there :oP
I adored this song when it came out although seeing the band dubbed Symp-tallica' kinda sucked! One of those bands I think went all too quietly along with Midget, Bennet & Radish.
Colin Weston (DiS)
I remember they put out a press release saying they'd left their record company because Rupert Murdoch bought into it. Not sure anyone believed it though.
And they put out 'Killing Position' as a non-chart single, although how much difference that made I don't know. I preferred the early stuff anyway.
Symposium were great, Woijtek has a solo project now which from what i have heard is great.
I remember Bennet too, i have both their lps, MUMS GONE TO ICELAND! :)
'Killing Position' is fucking awesome. You can hear Wojtek's solo stuff at www.myspace.com/wojtekgodzisz
x
Wonderful and informative web site. I used information from that site its great. »
re-up mp3s please... anyone have Drink The Sunshine mp3???
I was never that keen on Killing Position, but I love everything they recorded before then. They had some excellent bsides.
Wojtek's solo stuff is great too.
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