KnifeLadder have been in existence since 1997 but the evolution to produce their Organic Industrial sound began well before. Jonh Murphy and Andrew Trails had been playing regularly on the the same bills of Industrial acts in Australia and on one occasion played together in a performance act called "My Father Of Serpents". They stayed in touch and agreed that when both in London to renew their partnership and begin work on something new and intense. This occurred in 1997 and the beginning of KnifeLadder had been formed... Hunter Barr and Andrew Trails had already established themselves in Industrial acts in London with Infant Skull Surgery and Autogeddon, respectively, and were both great admirers of each others work. Now fate seemed to intervene as both their bands split at the same time allowing Hunter and Andrew to begin their work creating a new electronic sound in mid 1996... Just before the return to the UK for Jonh Murphy... So it was late 1996 when John Murphy returned to London and renewed his acquaintance with Andrew Trails, affirming their promise to work together on their project to be known as KnifeLadder. Creating their own samples and cyclic rhythms, together with drums and various percussion. Shortly after Hunter was drafted in to add an extra dimension and depth using picked and bowed bass to an already terrifying electronic/percussive experience. Hunter would later prove to be invaluable with his skills of production and post-production using the recording studio more as an instrument in creating the KnifeLadder sound... Their first live performance was at The Bull and Gate in North London at the end of October 1997, unleashing their new organic industrial sound which became known as VOODOO INDUSTRIAL POWER ELECTRONICS. As is still true today they performed an exciting improvised set around a series of loops and sound scapes backed up with tribal, voodoo beats and rumbling feedback bass, creating a wall of dark, dense sound... It wasn't until late 1999 when they began work on their debut album. But due to the fact that Jonh Murphy had to return to Australia regularly, progress was slow. It was decided that what had already been recorded should be released to gauge a reaction from the UK, and the rest of Europe. "Split" was released by C.A.P.P of Greece which featured tracks from and KnifeLadder and Shining Vril (John Murphy's own ongoing solo project). It was received very well and one thing became clear - An album was demanded. So any time that became available was dedicated to recording their performances in a bid to capture the power of their live shows. In December 2000, Hunter Barr and Andrew Trails opened Retina II Studios which comprised a 24 track recording studio and a single rehearsal room. This was due to the fact that other studios and engineers had difficulty capturing KnifeLadder's unique sound and performance. This proved to be highly inspirational for KnifeLadder and other acts who now had a place to rehearse in privacy, unquestioned, with a chance to experiment and with the knowledge there was someone who knew what sound they wanted to create and were able to provide. This also gave KnifeLadder the chance to put the finishing touches to their recordings which they couldn't achieve elsewhere. In early 2001, Operative Records was co-founded by KnifeLadder and other like minded musicians. An attempt to gather other acts from London to spread the word that the London Experimental scene was still alive and very much improving. "First" (OP001) was released in the spring of 2001 which was a compilation featuring tracks by KnifeLadder, Shining Vril and AntiValium (Hunter Barr and Andrew Trails' experimental noise act). Later that summer KnifeLadder traveled to Germany to perform at the Leipzig festival and were well received, selling out of their limited edition EP "Leipzig Limited" (Operative Record's fourth release - OP004)... July of 2002 and KnifeLadder's debut full length album to be entitled "Organic Traces" (OP006) was completed. An awesome 60 minutes of experimental industrial music that terrifies and transfixes any listener... So this is now the beginning... With more KnifeLadder recordings about to begin and performance to play... A new sound is born... VOODOO INDUSTRIAL POWER ELECTRONICS Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.