Cog (band)

Cog is an Australian progressive rock band formed in 1998, and as one of the leaders of Australia's heavy rock scene, are known for their uniquely progressive style, differing from the more conventional nature of their counterparts. The band draws influence from such bands as Tool, Isis, karnivool_(band) Oceansize, Radiohead and Helmet.

History

Flynn Gower and Lucius Borich (the son of renowned Australian rock guitarist Kevin Borich) were friends at high school in the 1980s. Borich being a drummer, and Flynn being a guitarist, they would occasionally jam. As their school careers finished Lucius went to form the band Juice while Flynn formed the 5 piece funk metal band The Hanging Tree, popular in the Sydney live circuit. In 1995, after the release of Juice's debut album, Lucius left the band and joined The Hanging Tree. Shortly after the release of their debut, Lucius left the band and the country, travelling to USA to follow a career of session drumming. There, Lucius did session drumming for a large range of genres all the while writing songs on his guitar. Flynn, in Sydney, wanted to form a band and contacted Lucius, eventually resulting in the formation of Cog.

Initially, the band was to form in the US, but Lucius chose to travel home finding a disappointed Flynn, who had already sold all his gear in preparation for the move. The drum, bass and guitar parts for what would become the Just Visiting EPs were recorded shortly after in 1998 with Lucius assuming bass duties, vocals recorded two years later. To fill out the bass in live shows, Flynn recruited his brother Luke, formerly of the Sydney band "Tax". After they formed this legitimate lineup, they toured aggressively, clocking up thousands of kilometres of weekly driving, between Sydney and Melbourne.

Their first residency, at a pub in the Sydney suburbs was without a vocalist. They encouraged people to send them demos for the vocals job, however the band were so unimpressed with the demos that Flynn trained his voice to fill the vacancy. Their breakthrough gig was a Wednesday headlining slot at Excelsior Hotel in Surry Hills, where they packed out the club consistently for 4 months. They were recognised with a nomination for "best emerging live band in NSW" at the Australian Live Music awards. In November of 2000 they released a demo called Pseudo EP. On it would be three songs that would be re-released as part of the Just Visiting Part One EP, and "Bondi RFHK" an alternate version of a fourth song to appear on the aforementioned Just Visiting Part One EP. In 2001, the band signed with underground label Little Samurai Records and prepared to release the Just Visiting Part One and Just Visiting Part Two EPs.

The two EPs, despite the slight differences in style between them, were written and recorded at the same time. The band chose not to release the studio session as a full album so they would not lose their debut album virginity, and would get twice the publicity. They grabbed a breakthrough gig, just before the release of Just Visiting Part One, supporting System of a Down at the Hordern Pavillion. Just Visiting Part One was released in February 2002 and was still consistently appearing in the ARIA Top 20 Heavy Rock/Metal singles/EPs chart over 2 years after its release. In July, the song "Bondi" was added to Andrew Haug's Triple J 3 Hours of Power Compilation. Just Visiting Part Two was released in October that same year and was also still appearing in the ARIA Top 20 Heavy Rock/Metal singles/EPs charts after two years. That year, Cog also won, not merely nominated for "best emerging live band in NSW" at the Australian Live Music Awards. After an extensive tour supporting the two EPs, including a slot at the Big Day Out in 2003, Cog headed for the studio to record their latest project, their first full legth album.