Still afloat

Things have gone quiet after a good month where we played Germany again and then did what was supposed to be a weekender with Almost Home. It ended up just being two shows with them (and Through Solace playing as a four-piece like in Germany), but was still a really nice weekend, they are good guys and a solid band, and their new full-length "Closure" is really exceptional. Anyway, we played Birmingham, it was quiet but always good to see Davey and Karoline who want us to play at their wedding! And also some of our old friends Dougle and co from Scotland, he has been a friend to this band for about three years now, a real good guy.

After going home on Saturday, where I watched some films and what not, we went out on Sunday with minimal gear, in Rohan's girlfriend's tiny car, all the way to play in Chatham, Kent. It was an incredible gig we felt. The set was fun enough but the whole drive there and back was filled with good times. The Canadian band Means has always been special to us and we listened to their CDs all the way. As the sky darkened their lyrics really took me in, and related to our drives and our travelling. Aside from that, it's worth saying the show was great, the promoter really nice to us and we saw our great friends from Still Dreaming. They are so friendly it blows me away. They have a new demo and want to play shows with us. I saw some other bands too but didn't catch all of their names and don't have a flyer to hand. Lonewolves were awesome. I had heard their name before but they played not long before us and were really dark and intense, and a four piece as well!

We don't have any shows now, and that suits us fine because we're writing a batch of new songs. Since our last album came out we've toured more than ever before and although we tried to write, haven't really made much progress. I expect that to change now and for us to line up something new to release next year. On the live front we are looking at booking a number of weekenders and tours but probably won't be doing anything major for the rest of 2009. You can still talk to us on myspace, twitter etc and we still have all our merch for sale. Until next time, bye.

Luke Nicholas

We are the restless, we are known by what we seek- Means.

Fill-in Guitarist wanted

Hey everyone

We're looking to recruit a fill-in guitarist, able to practice in South Wales a couple of times per month, preferably with good gear and their own transport. We would like someone to be available for tours that our regular guitarist can't attend.

If you can help us email throughsolace[at]yahoo[dot]co[dot]uk

Thanks!

Clocking in with a Winter update

Winter is upon us, and there are a few things to talk about in the world of Through Solace.

You can now follow us on twitter, @throughsolace, for regular updates.

News is as follows-

* Last week we were flown out to play at Metalfest in Germany, an annual show, this year headlined by Becoming The Archetype. Was a great show and really good time, catching up with a number of our German friends like Raffi and Tobe. It was also great fun hanging out with Mike from For Today, there are some cool pics of the show on myspace somewhere. The journey back to Wales wasn't so good, our flights got delayed and then cancelled, causing all manner of problems, but that's what happens sometimes!

* Rob has returned to University so will not be able to play every single show from now on. But, he is still part of the writing process and we will get fill-ins for tours he can't make. The songwriting is going great and we are hoping to maybe put out another EP or online release next year before we venture into doing a second full-length. Still, no firm decisions have been made yet, let's see how it goes.

* We played a last minute local show the other day with a great Welsh band The Death of Her Money, search them up on myspace. Good to see a number of our friends show up. We gave our regular set an exercise, but also played a new as yet untitled song for the first time ever. It seemed to go down well.

* Our next shows are a mini-tour/weekender with the melodic hardcore band Almost Home from northern England (Derby I think), an incredible band who really impressed us when we played with them before. Their record 'Closure' is out, now, hit up their myspace and buy it. The shows are:

20th November- Birmingham @ Wagon and Horses

21st November- TBC

22nd November- Chatham @ Tap N Tin "Mugfest" with Lavotchkin, Feed the Rhino and others

This will be our first time on the road since the It Prevails tour back in August.

* We have been gifted an opportunity to return to the USA next year. We are currently considering it, but it would only be a short trip rather than a full tour. Watch this space!

If anyone is coming out in November, that would be great!

Summer drawing to an end

This blog has predictably fallen quiet again, but this is what we have been doing since the beginning of August.

We toured for almost the whole month alongside It Prevails, playing 21 shows in the UK and Belgium.

You can read all about it on our myspace and also see photos, although it's been pretty hard to track them all down (can't even find a 'crew shot'!). The tour itself was an incredible experience, the longest and best tour we have yet done. We met some amazing new bands like Heart In Hand, Directions, Dellamorte, Campus and countless others, and a load of awesome people who stepped up to help us out. The tour wasn't without its challenges as there were some close calls with the law (ha!) and our bass player missing the first few dates necessitating us to play as a four-piece in front of one of our biggest ever audiences. It's all part of the Through Solace luck. A few weeks later and we've finished the tour successfully with an appearance at Summerfest in Belgium with Misery Signals. We also played at the Greenbelt Festival in Cheltenham after tour ended, our third appearance there and it was great as usual to see familiar faces including our friends in Conduit.

Soon after tour ended it became clear that we would not be able to complete our scheduled tour alongside Many Things Untold and Heart In Hand. Unfortunately we have had to pull out of that tour due to work commitments. We are lucky in that we are able to tour and have jobs, but the timing was simply too close to the It Prevails tour for it to work. Our agent Gavin is working on other ideas for the rest of the year so stay tuned for that.

Next up is a trip to Germany at the end of October to play at 'Metalfest' (yet another one?!). Becoming The Archetype is headlining. We have always done really well out there so we are pleased, the fest is flying us over and then we jump in the van of our friends in Never Back Down who will drive us to a post-festival show in the Netherlands, at Utrecht. Cross another country off the list!

Right now we are working on new material in a slow process taking in new ideas and influences. Expect our music in the future to continue to mature, be more diverse and hopefully you will enjoy it!

Tour Poster

Hello August!

We are on the verge of August, and it still isn't summer yet here in Wales. I guess we are not going to have one this year!

It's all good though, because next week we will be embarking on the biggest tour of our career so far, doing 3 weeks with It Prevails. They are a band from Portland, Oregon and surrounds in the USA, surprisingly influential for a group that only has 2 records out. Their influence can be heard on tonnes of contemporary bands and when we asked them last year to come over this summer they gave a straight up 'let's do it'. It's a real one-off for them because they aren't able to do long tours anymore, and the UK wasn't even on their radar until we made it happen for those guys. They are super nice dudes and are well reputed for their live performances.

Fast forward 6 months and we have booked our own tour with them, taking in about 16 UK shows and a very short 3 date run in Belgium alongside an incredible post-hardcore band called Campus. The UK shows are a good spread, and also include some nice spots at Metalfest in London, and Metalfest in Glasgow. Which is funny, considering neither of us are metal bands. Through Solace in particular usually gets a pretty blank reaction from the metal kids, but saying that we have done really well in the past at metal shows. We will also be playing an all dayer in Wrexham (north Wales represent!) called 'A Day of Chaos' which will be headlined by Your Demise.

The tour will end in style, playing at 'Summerfest' in Belgium alongside cool bands like Misery Signals and The Number 12 Looks Like You. It's our first time playing with Mis Sigs so we're happy about that.

In any case, flights and work permits have all been finalised and we will see everyone at the first date in Kent, on August 7th.

Some lucky people will be treated to a DIY practice room show in Kent on the 6th as well- 30 people in a tiny room- it's going to rule.

I'll finish this blog post by asking everyone to come out and see us on tour! There are shows all over the place, all cheap door entry.

Reviews of The World On Standby

A load of reviews of our full-length "The World On Standby" are circulating around the internet and in the press. Happily, we can say most of them are good and we are really grateful!

We do need all feedback, good and bad though, so if you want to let us know what you think of the album drop us a line.

Here's a selection of what people have been saying about the record-


Praise for 'The World On Standby'
"The focal point of this album lies with melodic, emotional hardcore which also has a slight metallic edge. There are very few modern hardcore records like this which set a band aside from the pack at the beginning of their career, and on which everything musically works together and in which nothing could have been done better." All Schools

"Cardiff melodic hardcore band Through Solace, show signs of pure excellence on their debut album. Tracks like We Were So Sincere, Almost and Taylor are good enough to make anyone think this band were selling thousands. Tides 2 which is probably the best song in this genre since Misery Signal's World and Dreams. The band's genre is toxicated with fashion, but this band are their own, as long as they don't let their foot off the pedal. Their next album could be unbelievable, and a time for their Welsh peers to step aside." Defiance Zine

"The World On Standby has a sound typical of Strike First Records...powerful, raw, brutal. In all this, the style of the group manages to make inroads among the avalanche of sound, to distinguish Through Solace from their peers." Beehave

" Displaying a sound somewhat reminiscent of Beloved, this album is a well formatted formula of melody and metallic hardcore. The track of all tracks is “Taylor”. Through Solace really demonstrate their talents on this particular ensemble and the lyrics definitely exhibit the positive message they always try to display. Discussing the problems in life and learning how to cope with them, Through Solace make it clear that they are on this planet to play music with optimistic significance.
The World on Standby is certainly a fine start for these guys and hopefully they will move on to bigger and better things."Decoy Music

"Taking influences from bands such as Underoath and Shai Halud and their own unique sound, Through Solace has constructed a CD that fans of the hardcore genre will not want to miss. Brutal in its delivery yet full of inspirational themes and lyrics, this is one heck of a disc."
Pure Grain Audio

"The 12 tracks of 'The World On Standby' send us back to the golden era when Poison the Well took their first steps and then Hopesfall gave life to the masterpiece 'The Satellite Years', which this album revisits in a modern way. Whoever is fed up of the normal and monotonous parts of this genre will find a nice surprise with the freshness of this album." Sound Magazine

"Through Solace have worked long and hard to get to where they are today. The first five tracks are all of a similar hardcore style with sparse inserts of gang shouts and clear vocals. Luke stated "The song "Taylor" is about making the most of the chances in your life, in memory of a number of friends who have died at a young age. It then seems like they are more willing to showcase their more technical song structures of melodic and metallic hardcore. My favourite song is “Landmark” with its atmospheric instrumental start, range of vocal styles and tempo shifts. This is a solid effort." The Metal Resource

Praise for 'The Stand'

"As with other UK bands, Through Solace have taken the crunch and sweaty browed aspects of hardcore and twinned them with a sense of melody that, while never touching, say, Devil Sold His Soul's sense of aural majesty, comes pretty close in terms of it's depth, composition and energy." Terrorizer Magazine

"The Stand points the Welsh five-piece out as sure-fire potential stars of the future. Rarely, if ever do bands of Through Solace's emerging stature sound so powerful and effortlessly crushing, yet The Stand sounds absolutely colossal." Rock Midgets

"This release still shows off all the things great about Through Solace, that hardcore speed, passion and intensity; but it's now been coupled with an added ability to incorporate melody and much more metallic edge. Plus the guitarwork has really come alive in the midst of their trademark crunchingly thick and chunky brutality." Cross Rhythms