Sunk Loto

Band Members

• Final Line-Up
  • Dane Brown (drums)
  • Jason Brown (vocals)
  • Luke McDonald (guitar)
  • Robkaay (bass)

• Former Members
  • Sean Van Gennip (bass) (1997 - 2006)

Website

sunkloto.com

Formed

Gold Coast, QLD, 1997

Band Information

Sunk Loto was at one point possibly one of the highest-profile acts represented on this site. Attached to the Sony label and regulars at the various festivals around the country, Sunk Loto even had a track ("Lift") included on a Korn single. The band was formed by McDonald and the Browns in 1997 when Dane Brown was only 11 years old and the others were 14. At this time the band was called Messiah and Jason Brown was playing rhythm guitar. After their original bass player left, Jason took up bass for a short time until Van Gennip joined the fold. A self-titled EP was recorded under the Messiah name and the band was included on the 1998 Vans Warped tour. This brought them to the attention of Sony who signed them to satellite label Epic and the band name was changed to Sunk Loto.

Following this Sunk Loto began to grow in stature; their songs got medium-rotation airplay and appeared on an endless stream of compilations and the band featured heavily at festival events and high-profile tours. In 2001 Sunk Loto played nationally with the Big Day Out and toured with Linkin Park. Their naming as the proposed featured headliner at Metal for the Brain in 2001 caused considerable uproar however, particularly from many who thought the idea would compromise the integrity of the festival, but for unknown reasons the band decided not to play the show.

Their first album showed them to be little more than a watered down Slipknot or Korn clone and they were touted early as the next silverchair, though this was mostly label hype because of the members' ages as it was always unlikely that Sunk Loto would match the impact that band had nor the popularity it commanded. Such a high level of expectation placed considerable pressure on the young band however and at the end of 2001, Sunk Loto virtually disappeared for almost two years.

In late 2003 Sunk Loto returned with a significantly modern heavy metalcore style. The band featured at the Livid festival in October and soon after the second album appeared. Between Birth and Death showed a band that had considerably matured since their debut but the group never really recovered from the stigma of their early success. Their newer style never really caught on and after a tour of the US Sunk Loto began to slip from view. Van Gennip was replaced by ex-Full Scale bassist Robkaay in 2006 however by mid-2007 the group had acrimoniously self-destructed. Robkaay and the Dane brothers were apparently starting a new band together but almost immediately the bassist seemed to distance himself both from this project and Sunk Loto altogether. Finally in October 2007 the band made an announcement that it had reformed to play a show on the Gold Coast in mid-December.

Discography

Album:

	2001	Big Picture Lies	Epic
	2003	Between Birth and Death	Epic

Singles:

	2000	Make You Feel	Epic
	2003	Everything Everyway	Epic

EPs:

	1998	Messiah (as Messiah)	self release
	1999	Society Anxiety	Epic
	2000	Sunken Eyes	Epic