Sunk Loto were an Australian nu metal band from Gold Coast, Queensland formed in 1997. The band's members were vocalist Jason Brown, guitarist Luke McDonald, bass player Sean Van Gennip, and drummer Dane Brown. Sunk Loto released two studio albums, Big Picture Lies and Between Birth and Death, both reached the ARIA Albums Chart top 50. The group disbanded in December 2007.
History
1997-1999: Formation & ''Society Anxiety''
Sunk Loto formed as a heavy metal band from Gold Coast, Queensland in March 1997 by Dane Brown on drums, his brother Jason Brown on lead vocals, Luke McDonald on guitar and Sean Van Gennip on bass guitar. Originally named Messiah, brothers Dane and Jason Brown met Luke McDonald at a local music store, Jason brought his younger brother to practice sessions and McDonald's school mate, Sean Van Gennip, completed the line-up. A year later they changed their name due to another band of the same name: Jason explained "we looked up Messiah in the dictionary and the meaning was 'liberator of the oppressed" so we took the first letter of each word to form LOTO and SUNK was added to the name symbolising the sinking of name Messiah." In April 1999 the group signed with Epic Records when Dane was 13 and the band's oldest member, Sean Van Gennip, was 17. In November that year, they released a five-track extended play, Society Anxiety, which was produced by Paul McKercherThe band performed at a range of festivals including Hombake promoting the highly successful EP and then commenced writing for their debut full length album.
2000-2007: ''Big Picture Lies'' & ''Between Birth and Death''
For six weeks in 2000 Sunk Loto recorded their debut album, Big Picture Lies, with McKercher again as producer, in Sydney. The band travelled to New York studio RPM to mix the album with renowned producer Micael Barbiero It was issued on 13 October and peaked at number 30 on the ARIA Albums Chart. The album's lead single, "Make You Feel", peaked at No. 33 on the ARIA Singles Chart and was followed in December by "Sunken Eyes", which reached the top 100. Sunk Loto joined the Big Day Out tour in 2001, and also toured extensively for the following 2 years. On 17 November 2003 they issued their second album, Between Birth and Death, a significantly darker and heavier effort with Phil McKellar producing this time around. It peaked at number 48 on the ARIA Albums Chart, No. 13 on the ARIA Australasian Artists and No. 4 on the ARIA Heavy Rock & Metal chart. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2004, Phil McKellar was nominated for ARIA Award for Engineer of the Year for his work on Between Birth and Death. In 2006 Sean Van Gennip departed the band due to creative differences. He was replaced by Rob Kaay. The band finished a short Australian tour at the end of 2006 and planned to finish writing and recording their third studio album. McDonald had wanted to "take their sound down an even darker path." Dane, Jason and Kaay and decided to work on a new project without McDonald due to irreparable creative and personal reasons. Sunk Loto played their final sold out show on the Gold Coast on 14 December 2007.
2008-present: The Flood
The Brown brothers and Kaay wrote songs, five days a week over a six-month period and formed a new band: The Flood. Some of the tracks from this period can be heard on Kaay's Soundcloud page. Jason and Dane Brown later created Electric Horse with ex-members of fellow Gold Coast band, Lump. They issued an EP, Translations, and a studio album, Venomous.
