 Formed
in late 1993 by Rob Mayes, Springloader was principally
a vehicle for Mayes' own compositions, predominantly
melodic based indie rock, combining the pop of
Mayes previous outing in Throw, coupled with the
heavy leanings of Dolphin, and a new darker extended
edge, Mayes shifting to guitar.
Mayes collaborated with drummer David Toland as an instrumental 2 piece originally
with the pair developing a power pop sound progressing and following on from
the sound of Mayes previous musical outings Dolphin and Throw.
Mayes had spent the last year working on the Avalanche project and associated ventures, and this leading to a heavier guitar sound.
After a couple of months Mayes invited singer / guitarist Micheal Oakley to
join the group on vocals. Oakley had been a regular attender at Throw and Dolphin
gigs and came to Mayes' attention through his own songwriting outing Field,
which featured Chè Rogers on bass. Field were almost a tribute band
to Mayes' own band Throw, the band being big fans of Throw's music and stylistically
similar.
Rogers and Oakley were a regular feature on the local pop gothic scene and
had been in a number of musical outings together that made waves in those circles,
notably CR Eye, and Elder Sign, both bands developing a following at various
successful indie all-age concerts the band self-promoted and arranged.
Oakley brought Rogers into the band
and within a month Springloader had arranged their debut
performance on February 5th, out of town at Wellington's
Bar Bodega with fellow Christchurchers Atomic Blossom.
This event hinted at problems which would later see the band split with Toland
due to his unreliable nature, as Toland missed the plane to Wellington and
had to fly on a later one, narrowly making the gig. The band followed this with a support
slot for Auckland's The Nixons in Christchurch and the
band hitting further problems with Toland, who went missing
the night before the concert leaving the band to arrive
at the concert alone. Toland later arrived and played
the show. Wounds healed, the band arranged a local
show at the Dux de Lux, Toland once again going missing
during the bands pre-show rehearsal and arriving again
just before the show. Band relations were heavily strained
by this stage but the band agreed to embark on a South
Island tour to Dunedin and Invercargill. The band once
again hit trouble with Toland arriving minutes before
the band were due to start playing.
Toland was also playing in the support act, the fledgling Future Stupid, the
band's first live performance. The band played their show in Invercargill
successfully before a stressful return to Christchurch
and a final blow-out before Toland and Springloader parted
company. The band did 2 recording sessions with
the original line-up. The first in January and the other
in April, recording a total of 14 songs. One track "Now
I Know" was included on the Good
Things compilation. The others have not yet appeared
on official release but will be available at some stage. In September 1994 Mayes enlisted new
drummer Andrew Kerr, and the band recorded a New Zealand
On Air funded video for the track "One More Thing". Mayes continued to work on the band's
music till the band performed one last time in April
at the Dolphin album release party.
Mayes left for London in October of 1995 to concentrate on his work with Dolphin. Their soon to be released album "Just Like Falling"
features 9 slices of densely layered guitar textures.
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