MESH (Synthpop/EBM)

Origin: Bristol, England
Genre(s): Synthpop, EBM, Industrial, Futurepop, Darkwave
Years active: 1992–Current

WEBSITE: http://www.mesh.co.uk/
FANCLUB: http://www.mesh-fanclub.de/

Members:
Mark Hockings
Richard Silverthorn

Former member:
Neil Taylor

Mesh is a band from Bristol, England whose music could be described as a blend of synth pop and darkwave. Earlier tracks had more of an industrial edge than recent releases.

Mesh began through a chance meeting when Mark Hockings saw a poster in the canteen of the factory he was working in, promoting a gig by a local band at the Bristol Bridge Inn, a then long-standing venue for bands in the Bristol area. Mark was a keyboard player in another band at the time, but this poster looked interesting. It all started from there. Richard played/programmed keyboards in the band, and after a brief conversation after the gig, they arranged to meet at Richards home to try out some material. The first track, "Waste Of Time" might have been, and was pretty rough, but it was a good first attempt, and it was obvious there was some kind of chemistry here.

Richard Silverthorn had been in a band previously with Neil Taylor, and asked if he would like to join what then became "mesh". Coincidentally, Neil had designed the poster which had attracted Mark to the Bristol Bridge Inn. Mark had taken on the singing and lyric writing at this point, mainly because there was nobody else, whilst all three took on the task of writing and programming the music.

Everything was being written at Richards Mum's house, and apart from a change of room, this is still the case today - these rooms were to become Urban Studios, a self contained production unit where mesh are now able to record, mix and master all of their work.

Demo tapes were produced and sent out, but it wasn't until the then - 'new' magazine Future Music picked up three of the first tracks mesh had written, "Hurt", "Headstone" and "Crisis" and put them on their cover mounted CD, that the interest in the band really started.

They were approached by a number of labels, some major, but there seemed either to be some clash of 'direction' or vision, or else the interest was brief or the contacts were lost. As a result the band formed their own label - Tolerance Records - and released their first CD-EP "Fragile" with the money they had made from gigging and selling tapes.

Memento Materia approached the band after being sent a tape by (now very good friends) the Body Project, an electronic music promotion company from Sweden. Mesh were signed soon after and their first "Fragile" EP was re-released under their new label.

"In This Place Forever", mesh's first full length album received excellent reviews and helped put them on the map far outselling the bands expectations. The first single "You Didn't Want Me" taken from the album is still being played in clubs all over the world, and sounds as good as ever having achieved near "classic" status.

Around this time the band attracted interest from America. This saw the release of the "Fragile" singles EP and of a repackaged full length version of the "Fragile" album and the singles "You Didn’t Want Me" and "Trust You". Sadly the business relationship did not deliver although a few copies of "In This Place Forever" made it into US Stores. American interest in mesh continued to grow however – largely through word of mouth and the internet – and in 2000 Metropolis Records distributed the album "The Point At Which it Falls Apart".

During this time Germany was rapidly becoming the band’s biggest market and tours, together with the release of the "Fragmente" compilation album which contained tracks from the bands earlier releases, drew mesh to the attention of an increasing number of fans.

1999 saw the release of "The Point At Which It Falls Apart", certainly the best work that the band had produced to date. It is a rich and emotional album, and shows the threesome taking their music to a new level. Die-hard fans loved it - the uninitiated wanted it and to share the news of their discovery. It continued the upward trend in sales reflecting mesh’s ever increasing audience and fan base.

Singles and more tours followed. "People Like Me", "It Scares Me" and "Not Prepared" showed that the band had the potential to reach people via the Clubs and Radio and saw them regularly appearing in the top 5 of the Deutsche Alternative Chart (DAC).

At the end of 1999 filming took place in Hamburg for the bands first live video and CD eventually released early in 2000 as "On This Tour Forever". The accompanying "Live Singles EP" took the band to the top of the DAC chart.

Many fans had been asking to hear the band's earliest recordings, some of which had been available on cassettes sold at gigs, but others had remained in the mesh archives. The band's own label Tolerance Records was resurrected and the album "Original 91-93" released via the mesh information service and web-site containing many early and previously unreleased recordings.

All this success wasn't going unnoticed and during 2000 the band signed a new publishing deal with Warner Chappell in Germany and at the end of the year signed a major record deal with Orbit Records based in Hamburg. This deal meant it was time to say goodbye to the day jobs and to finally be able to focus all energy on mesh. Most importantly it was a deal with a label that both supported the band’s creative freedom and had the resources to make sure that more people were given the chance to hear mesh.

The first release on Orbit was the release of the "Waves" single as a joint project with Orbit artist "Mark'Oh". The single saw the band enter the official German Charts and drew them to the attention of a new audience.

In 2001 the band began work on their next album which was to become "Who Watches Over Me?" and which was released in 2002 through Home Records (the new name of Orbit) and Sony/Columbia. The album was a milestone in the bands development and together with the singles "Leave You Nothing" and "Friends Like These" (a chart entry in the German mainstream singles chart as well as a number one in the Deutsche Alternative Charts) helped the band reach a new audience.

Successful tours of Germany and headline festival spots throughout Europe followed. A combination of touring, re-assessing and record company changes slowed progress on the follow up album but March 2006 finally sees the release of the band’s latest album "We Collide".



For the band this is their proudest achievement to date. Taking their trademark sound and focusing on the song-writing, melodies and production that combines their electronic roots with their love of guitars and 'real' instruments has helped them stand out once more. Calling on the experience of Gareth Jones (Depeche Mode, Futureheads, Embrace) for the final mixing has helped the band achieve their vision.

New distribution deals in several countries combined, a major publishing deal in the USA plus touring will help the band reach ever more people over the coming months.

On September 13th, 2006 Neil Taylor announced that he was leaving the band to pursue other interests, saying "15 years is a long time and for me the time has come to move on and I need to give some headspace to other things in life".[1]. Hockings and Silverthorn have unequivocally stated their desire to continue making music as Mesh.

Mesh has recruited keyboardist Geoff Pinckney to act as a replacement for Taylor during their live performances.

They have also remixed the Apoptygma Berzerk song 'Mourn', for their 2006 covers album 'Sonic Diary'.



Discography:

LPs:

* June 1996 In This Place Forever
* September 1997 Fragile - extended
* April 1998 Fragmente
* February 1999 The Point At Which It Falls Apart
* November 1999 Not Prepared - Dance (Vinyl)
* April 2000 Original 91-93
* April 2000 Live Singles
* May 2000 On This Tour Forever
* April 2002 Who Watches Over Me?
* September 2002 Fragmente 2 (Double CD)
* March 2006 We Collide

EPs:

* August 1994 Fragile EP
* June 1997 You Didn't Want Me (MCD)
* September 1997 Fragile - The Mixes
* April 1998 Trust You (MCD)
* January 1999 People Like Me (With This Gun) (MCD)
* May 1999 It Scares Me (MCD)
* October 1999 Not Prepared (MCD)
* November 2000 Waves (Mesh and Mark'Oh) (MCD)
* February 2003 Friends Like These (MCD)
* February 2006 Crash (MCD)
* August 2006 My Hands Are Tied/Petrified (MCD)

Videos:

* November 1999 Not Prepared (Video)
* May 2000 On This Tour Forever (Video)
* November 2007 The World's A Big Place (We Collide Tour) (DVD)