Music Style Street Punk

Musical Influences Face to Face, Green Day

Similar Artists Oxymoron

Artist History The original Rotunda line-up was formed towards the end 1996 in Birmingham, by Louis vocals, Hawkman guitar, Dave bass and Steve drums. The reason we chose the name Rotunda was because we wanted to show that were proud to be Brummies, in that the Rotunda is a big landmark building in the middle of Birmingham. A couple of weeks after forming, Louis' old guitarist from former band Depth Charge Pikey joined us, because basically we were going nowhere fast with the original idea of creating a mass of noise. Pikey's style and influence set us off in a punk direction. Louis and Pikey wrote a few songs together, then Pikey started writing most of the songs himself. Soon after Hawkman left and our five piece became a four. At the beginning of 1997, we decided that the time was right to start gigging and also to do a demo. We got a bit of money together and did a very basic low budget demo in March and released 100 copies of it on tape. Five songs were on the demo Red Sky, Punk Rocker In Love, Message To A Girl, Neutron Bomb and High Speed Junky. This was a very basic demo which is impossible to get copies of these days. Just after we did this demo, we got our first gig supporting Fat wreck's Snuff with a band called Burnside at the Q Club in Birmingham. This was pretty nerve-racking because Louis and Pike hadnt performed in front of an audience for years, and Dave and Steve had never played in front of an audience at all. We managed to struggle through it though (despite having a sound problem). We sold a few of our tapes at that gig (and our mates decided to give a load away as well). After that gig, we just started doing loads of gigs locally at places like the Flapper & Firkin, The Foundry, The Old Railway, The City Tavern to name a few. We then were fortunate to have played with bands like The Queers, No Fun At All, Goober Patrol, Bouncing Souls and Vice Squad. We were supposed to play with the misfits (it went wrong on the night, don't ask what happened!!). In 1998 we decided to do a four track EP on our own label (cant shine shit records) and so we invested quite a bit of money in recording at the Magic Garden in Wolverhampton. When we came out of the session and listened to the result, we were really impressed. It just goes to show that you get what you pay for because the mix is just brilliant. Even though we spent twice as much as on our first demo, the results were ten times better. That CD is still available for 2. Shortly after we advertised for another guitarist in Jason. His ability to learn the songs and his persistence in finding a perfect sound every time impressed us and gave us the sound we had been searching for. Late in 2000 we recorded another 7 tracks in the studio. 1 of these was specifically for a Conflict tribute album (Barricades And Broken Dreams) available from Blackfish Records. After gigging to promote this new effort we sent "the Tribe" to epitaph's Demo-lition site, where it was highly voted on and received praise internationally from people we hadn't heard of. In April of 2001 Jason's enthusiasm was seemingly waning, and we parted our ways. Realising the need for a second guitarist for the Rotunda Thunder sound, we recruited Matt from soon to split up Birmingham thrash punk band Sick Puppy. His involvement released new life into the band and brought a newer younger audience, and the Rotas were back doing gigs with the new line-up within 2 months. After extensive gigging throughout the next 6 months, we started to write a few new songs. most ideas were dropped but Pikey and Matt came together to write Outta Time, proving that the bands song writing capabilities were still there. In the summer of 2002 we recorded a 4 song CD featuring Outta Time, Die Die, Punk Rocker in Love and a cover of Soft Cell's Bedsitter. this CD also featured vocals from Emma (Louis's now fiance) and added a bit of dynamic to the hard-core onslaught. The next few months proved a difficult phase for the band as differences and problems emerged regarding a potential line up change. Regrettably this would inevitably lead to Louis and Emma walking out of rehearsal, and effectively the band (On another note they plan to wed in December 2003, we wish them the best of luck and happiness!). The remaining 4 piece then had a big discussion on what to do over a few beers, and it was decided that we would soldier on! Matt was encouraged to take on the vocal role as he had previous experience as a front band with his old band Sick Puppy. And so for the next 6 months Rotunda sank it obscurity and controversy whilst re-shaping their sound and style. The debut of the new line-up occurred in Late April in Leicester in a crammed club and bar. Since then Rotunda have looked to expand beyond their realms and play to audiences everywhere. With new songs, new sound, relinquished attitude and a new CD EP, who knows whets next.....?!

Group Members Louis-Vocals Pike-Guitar+Vox Matt-Guitar+Vox Dave-Bass Steve-Drums

Albums My Only Weapon EP, Punk Rock Casualties LP (in press)

Location Birmingham, West Midlands - United Kingdom

Copyright notice. All material on MP3.com is protected by copyright law and by international treaties. You may download this material and make reasonable number of copies of this material only for your own personal use. You may not otherwise reproduce, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, or create derivative works of this material, unless authorized by the appropriate copyright owner(s).