Pendulum (drum and bass band)
Pendulum is an Australian electronic rock band founded in 2002.[2] Pendulum originally formed in the city of Perth, Western Australia, by Rob Swire, Gareth McGrillen and Paul "El Hornet" Harding. The band was later expanded to include members Ben Mount, Peredur ap Gwynedd and KJ Sawka. The group is notable for its distinctive sound, mixing electronic music with hard rock and covering a wide range of genres.
Pendulum
- 2002 – present
- Rob Swire
- Gareth McGrillen
- Paul "El Hornet" Harding
- Peredur ap Gwynedd
- KJ Sawka
Their debut studio album, Hold Your Colour, was released in 2005 to positive critical reception. While Hold Your Colour was mostly of the drum & bass genre, the succeeding albums In Silico and Immersion saw experimentation of other genres such as industrial rock and electronic rock.
In August 2013, Swire announced that a new album may be released in 2014,[3] although Swire and McGrillen later confessed on their Reddit AMA that they had become disillusioned with Pendulum and have no interest at present in producing any new material.[4] Despite this, on 20 March 2016, Pendulum reunited to perform at the Ultra Music Festival in Miami, Florida, marking their official return as a live act.[5] Soon after this, the band released the remix album The Reworks in 2018. The band have since released the EPs Elemental (2021) and Anima (2023).
Controversy[edit]
In 2006, Pendulum's old label Breakbeat Kaos released an album containing a 2-year-old Pendulum DJ mix without their permission, resulting in group member Rob Swire later denouncing the album on public Internet forum Dogs on Acid.[79] This issue has since been resolved; DJ Fresh is included on the list of acknowledgements in the Immersion booklet, and Pendulum has since worked with Breakbeat Kaos again, on the vinyl release of the singles "Witchcraft" and "The Island".[80]
Electronic musician Goldie has criticised Pendulum's single "Granite" for being what he calls a "shit single", and accused the band of not acknowledging the drum & bass scene from which they came.[81] For the band's part, in an interview with The Times, Swire cited "Goldie making concept albums about space and his mum"[82] (in the words of The Times reporter) as one of the reasons why he was not initially keen on the genre; he claims to have been more into "breakbeat, straight up house and hardcore" before Gareth McGrillen, who is Pendulum's bassist and was Swire's bandmate in Xygen, introduced him to "more electronic" areas of the genre.[83] This issue has since been resolved as well, according to Gareth McGrillen in an interview in The Age.[84]
Awards[edit]
AIR Awards[edit]
The Australian Independent Record Awards (commonly known informally as AIR Awards) is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector.
