Alchemist
Band members
- Current line-up
- Adam Agius (vocals, guitar, keyboards)
- Rodney Holder (drums)
- John Bray (bass)
- Roy Torkington (guitar)
- Former members
- Nick Wall (samples) 2003 - 2008
- Andrew Meredith (guitar) 1989 - 1992
- James Preece (bass) 1989 - 1991
- Andrew Hall (drums) 1987 - 1989
- Scott Chivers (bass) 1987 - 1989
- Murray Neill (vocal) 1987 - 1989
- Nick Paddon-Row (drums) 1987
Website
Formed
Canberra, ACT, 1987
Band information
Pinching ingredients for their musical potions from just about every form of contemporary rock music, over the course of almost two decades Canberra's Alchemist have established themselves as a singularly unique entity in Australian music circles. Alchemist’s music has at various times combined elements of death, black, progressive thrash, psychedelia, surf, electronica and even sprinklings of stoner grind to produce a style that is distinctly unclassifiable into a particular genre, an awe-inspiring display of inventiveness and brilliance which has continued to ensure popularity and progression. Endless touring and consistently diverse, interesting and essential album releases have all contributed to the band's success, not to mention international supports too numerous to mention.
The band was formed by Adam Agius in 1987 and after an early demo of primitive death metal with a line-up also including Murray Neill (vocals), Scott Chivers (bass) and Nick Paddon-Row (drums), the group slowly began to work into a more complete form with the addition of Holder, guitarist Andrew Meredith and bass player James Preece in 1989. It was this line-up that recorded Alchemist’s second demo in 1990, a recording that hinted at the eclectic sound the band would later develop. The next year Preece was replaced by Bray who joined the band from fellow Canberra metal act Exceed. Another demo was recorded and the band began to receive interest from overseas quarters, The Netherlands in particular. In early 1992, Meredith made way for former Mortuary and Synapse guitarist Torkington and the line-up has remained as such ever since.
Austrian label Lethal released the album Jar of Kingdom in 1993. The music was wildly experimental and eclectic, rooted in death metal but encompassing Zappa-like jazz-style arrangements, Pink Floyd-inspired trippy sections, surf grind and psychedelia but the sound quality of the recording was lousy. The album was eventually re-worked in 1999 with some parts completely re-recorded, and the ’91 demo tracks were also added as a bonus.
Through its metal offshoot label Thrust, Shock released Lunasphere in 1995 and its heightened production and further songwriting development resulted in more interest in Alchemist. The band began a rigourous touring schedule that has continued to the present. In 1996 Alchemist toured nationally with ambient noise act Deathless and appeared at the Sydney Big Day Out. That year too, Armoured Angel’s Joel Green handed over responsibility for the organising of Metal for the Brain to Holder. Alchemist is the only band to have played at every Metal for the Brain event since the festival began in 1991.
1997 saw the release of Spiritech, the recording pinnacle of the band’s career to that point and an album that remains a firm favourite with fans to this day. Spiritech was the ultimate definition of the Alchemist musical style up to that time, bookended by two sprawling tracks, “Chinese Whispers” and “Fragments”, that epitomised the band’s ability to push musical boundaries. By this time, Alchemist was recognised as one of Australia’s most popular and important metal bands.
By 1999, Alchemist had outgrown its association with Shock Records and began to look for other label options. A tour with Entombed was then followed by a tour with Pitchshifter and the "Eve of the War" EP and the ’99 re-release of Jar of Kingdom completed their contractual obligations to Shock while they worked on a new album that was prefaced by a contribution to the double compilation CD Under the Southern Cross in mid-1999.
Sydney label Chatterbox Records released Organasm in early 2000 to a rapturous response; the band’s music steering gently away from its death metal roots and becoming more organic and progressive in nature. The album release was followed by a huge national tour with Cryogenic and labelmates Psi.Kore dubbed World War Three that spanned three months and most centres on the east coast. Organasm was issued in the US by Relapse and in Europe by Dutch label Displeased.
After Metal for the Brain 2000, Alchemist shut themselves away to record their next album, finally emerging in May 2003 with Austral Alien, a further definition of the previous release’s direction. Just before the album’s release, Alchemist played their first live shows in eighteen months on a sold-out national tour with Opeth. Several of Austral Alien’s tracks received moderate airplay on the national youth radio network Triple J. Late in 2003, the album was released worldwide on Relapse. By now, Alchemist was well-respected internationally as an excellent and innovative band; late in 2004 they finally got to prove this in person when they were one of the major attractions at the Power Prog Europe festival in the Netherlands in October, a show that was followed by an extensive tour supporting Cult of Luna and several headlining performances with Textures. Since the release of Austral Alien, Alchemist's live line-up has been enhanced by sampler Nick Wall.
Embryonics is a double CD compilation featuring tracks from the first three albums and early demos. Alchemist began recording a new album in July 2006. Entitled Tripsis, it was issued in October 2007. The release was followed by a short European tour that included a headlinging spot at the ProgPower festival. Tripsis was voted the #4 metal release of 2007 by Full Metal Racket listeners in December 2007.
In mid-2008 Alchemist toured Europe once more, appearing at the Graspop Metal Meeting in Belgium in late June; Wall was dismissed from the band during the tour. On their return to Australia, Alchemist toured nationally with Meshuggah and started work on the follow-up to Tripsis. In November 2009 Alchemist won Best Regional Band at the Australian Metal Awards.
Work began on a new EP in January 2010 but since at least May that year Alchemist has been on an indefinite hiatus. Guitarist Roy Torkington has since been working on instrumental music under the name Tranquilistics and singer Adam Agius is recording material under the name The Levitation Hex with Mark Palfreyman from Alarum.
Discography
Albums:
| 1993 | Jar of Kingdom | Lethal | |
| 1995 | Lunasphere | Thrust | |
| 1997 | Spiritech | Thrust | |
| 1999 | Jar of Kingdom Re-Release 99 | Thrust | |
| 2000 | Organasm | Chatterbox | |
| 2003 | Austral Alien | Chatterbox | |
| 2005 | Embryonics | Chatterbox | |
| 2007 | Tripsis | Chatterbox |
EPs:
| 1998 | Eve of the War | Thrust |
Compilation tracks:
| Year | Track Title | Album Title | Label | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | "Escapism" | Redrum | Roadrunner | |
| 1994 | "Black Metal" | The Promoters of the Third World War: A Tribute to Venom | Tribute | |
| 1996 | "Garden of Eroticism" | This is Twelve | ABC/EMI | |
| 1999 | "Austral Spectrum" | Under the Southern Cross | Chatterbox | |
| 2000 | "Escape From the Black Hole" | Full Metal Racket | ABC/EMI | |
| 2000 | "Surreality" | Radio Rock Vol. 1 | Columbia | |
| 2000 | "Tide In, Mind Out" | Route 666, Volume 2 | Shock | |
| 2001 | "Warring Tribes" | Metal for the Brain 2001 | Metal for the Brain/Chatterbox | |
| 2005 | "Solar Burn" | Metal for the Brain 2005 | Faultline/Gorilla | |
| 2007 | "Tongues and Knives" | A Blaze in the Southern Skies | Prime Cuts |
