EQ

EQ was a four-piece rock band performing and recording original music in North London between 1998 and 2001. EQ's style blended melodic rock soon to be popularised by the likes of Coldplay, with powerful driving basslines and jagged, dancey drum loops. The band was comprised of former schoolfriends Alex Smith (lead singer/guitars), Marcus Bonfanti (guitars/backing vocals), Jack Stevens (bass - replacing Kevin Wun in 1999) and Jack Daley (replacing Clifford Samuel on drums in 1999). Originally formed under the moniker Equilibrium, the band played their first show in September 1998 at the Kentish Town Bull and Gate, before progressing to more reputable London venues including The Barfly, Dublin Castle, The Verge and Islington Hope and Anchor. In 1999, the group came of age, finishing third in a Camden and Islington Battle of The Bands at a sold out Garage show, and eventually selling out their own gigs and the Electirc Ballroom and Underworld in their Camden stomping ground. Although very little recorded music has survived to this day, EQ received several positive write ups in local and national press in 2000, including a full page spread in the Daily Telegraph, calling the young group "The best new band in Britain" and noting their music as "funky, melodic and infectious." Recorded works currently available on bootleg CDs and tapes only include live favourites such as "Phone Call Away," "Burnt To Ash," "Look At Me," "Singing Rhapsody" and "Those Long Faces." Smith and Bonfanti later went on to record as Burn, a two piece blues-pop band, but the duo only played one live set, at the Dublin Castle in London in August, 2002. Burn recordings also remain, notably "Love Song 1" and "It's Good To Be Alive." Bonfanti has since gone on to play on chart hits including The Breakmakers' "Conscience" and Sandi Thom's number one single "I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker." He now tours full time with Thom.