Symposium

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Symposium were a punk pop band from England. They were active from 1994-2000 and were known for their chaotic, energetic live shows. The name 'Symposium' originally refers to a drinking party (the Greek verb sympotein means "to drink together") and is taken from the book by Plato.

History

The band formed whilst still at school in Shepherds Bush, London, in 1994. The line up was: Ross Cummins (vocalist), Hagop Tchaparian (guitarist), Joe Birch (drummer), William McGonagle (guitarist), and Wojtek Godzisz (bassist).

The band had a selection of up tempo, cheerful, punk pop songs, which together with their young average age of eighteen, bought them to the attention of Korda Marshall who signed them to Infectious Records in 1996.

Debut single "Drink the Sunshine" in 1996 was followed by support from NME, who placed them on the "Bratbus Tour" (an annual tour of four hotly-tipped bands) which would visit universities in the UK. In March 1996, the band's concerts had been noted by Everett True, who put them on the cover of Melody Maker, proclaiming them to be the "best live band in Britain".^{[citation needed]} The band released a #25 UK hit single, "Farewell to Twilight". They also performed the song on the popular Friday night talk show, TFI Friday. This was followed by a headlining tour which generated good reviews.

They released a mini album One Day At a Time which was charcterised as being a collection of their fast, punky songs, or 'crowd favourites'. Stating in NME that they "just wanted to get them [the songs] out there", the release alluded to the fact that their actual (full-length) debut album would be released at a later date. This was illustrated by the fact that one of the four singles they had released up until this point, "The Answer To Why I Hate You", a more downbeat and introspective song, was absent from the mini-album, and would indeed appear on their first full-length album On The Outside. Having signed a deal with Infectious Records which gave them autonomy over such decisions, the band's somewhat confused chronology of releases may have impacted the momentum gained by the success of the "Farewell to Twilight" single, which gained a UK chart position that they would never subsequently surpass. Arguably, the band's two best songs were the uptempo "Fizzy" and "Disappear", but both were to effectively be buried as 'album-tracks' (the latter, even, a hidden track).

"Fairweather Friend" was the band's most popularly known song, having had proper single release with video, and led to a Top of the Pops performance, where the audience invaded the stage. In 1997 the band supported a number of popular American bands, including The Red Hot Chili Peppers at Wembley Arena, The Foo Fighters,The Deftones and No Doubt at Brixton Academy, where Cummins stage antics caused him to dislocate his leg. The following year the band toured the United States on the 'Warp Tour' with Bad Religion, NOFX and Rancid.^[1]

Their debut full-length album, On The Outside was released in 1998. By the end of 1999 the band had left Infectious Records. After Supporting Metallica at the Milton Keynes Bowl in 1999, Symposium released their effort, the "Killing Position" EP. By early 2000 the band had developed musical differences and broke up.

McGonagle and Birch formed the post-hardcore band Hell Is for Heroes, whilst Cummins eventually resurfaced in 2004 with Paper Cuts. The band's primary songwriter Wojtek Godzisz went solo and signed to Tigertrap Records in 2006.

Hagop Tchaparian went on to work with the band Hot Chip, all the way from doing tiny shows to becoming a global phenomenon. He is a consultant to the music industry, and has been rumored to record under the moniker of The Letter G working with Four Tet and members of Hot Chip.

Discography

^[2]

Singles

References

External links

• Hell Is For Heroes
• Paper Cuts
• Wojtek Godzisz
• The Letter G