Down I Go are an experimental hardcore band from London. Their music combines complex song structure and rhythmic patterns with both melodic and screaming vocals, as well as frequently marrying these features with orchestral instrumentation including brass and string sections. All their major releases have been written around specific individual themes, in release order: dinosaurs, environmental and man-made disasters, fictional robots, historical tyrants, Greek mythology and Icelandic folklore. Notable fans include musicians Tom Vek, Tim Elsenburg of Sweet Billy Pilgrim, who said their music exemplified "...the imagination gone mad, in a really, really good way", and Jamie Lenman, who described them as "...the best band ever to come out of this tiny island"
Band history
The band was formed in 2005 by Pete Fraser, Ben Standage and Alan Booth as an experimental project. They began playing shows with live bassist Marek Bereza and self-released their first album This Is Dinocore in 2006, burning copies onto CDRs and selling them in paper wallets at the venues. Standage and Fraser had played trombone and saxophone respectively in UK ska band Jesse James, talents which they would bring to bear on future Down I Go releases. After signing with UK label Undergroovethe band released their second record This Is Disastercore in 2006, receiving favourable coverage in print and online, followed by a mini-cd EP, This Is Robocore in 2007. Returning from a tour of Ireland with Dublin band BATS, they set to work on their third long-player, Tyrant, which was released on Undergroove in 2008. A pay-what-you-want compilation of demos and non-album tracks entitled Witness The Shitness was uploaded by the band to Bandcamp in 2010, and the following year the EP Gods was released on 10" vinyl by US label Shelsmusic to critical acclaim. Towards the end of 2011, with Standage and Booth having relocated to Chicago and Toronto respectively, the band decided to officially split, reuniting for a farewell single, "We Live In Different Countries". After a break of three years, the band were invited to an artistic residency at Fljótstunga farm in Iceland by one of the proprietors for the purposes of creating a new album. A Kickstarter campaign was begun to cover the cost of flights and ended on 16 July 2014, having raised £4,596, over 30% more than their required goal. The resultant album You're Lucky God, That I Cannot Reach You is based around Iceland's history and folklore, and was released in 2015 on the Holy Roarrecord label.
Related projects
Sammy Davis Jr Jr Around the same time that Gods was produced, the three band members began work on a separate musical project, intended to be softer and more melodic than Down I Go, entitled Sammy Davis Jr Jr. The recordings were completed in 2014 with guest vocals from Jamie Lenman, director Adam Powell, and BATS singer Rupert Morris. The three track digital-only EP was included as a pledge incentive for the band's Kickstarter campaign, and will be released in tandem with the new album.
