Untitled - temple of lies

BIOGRAPHY
In 2006 Jon started a three piece rock band project with Justin Dobson
(Kline, Konfusion) and Gregg Hunt (Cherry Choke) called the ‘Dobson
Jazz Theory’ (DJZ). DJZ only ever played one gig at The Charlotte in
Leicester supporting stoner rock band ‘Joshia’. The name soon changed
to Anaconda and that name remained while the original members went
their separate ways musically.
Jon and ‘Stickmaster’ Barsby, both founder members of the Thrash
Metal band ‘Konfusion’, started to Jam again and quickly put together
new tunes using riffs and lyrics written by Jon for the previous Anaconda
line up. About six months later Simo (also from Konfusion) was back on
board welding the Tool of Ignorance.
Before long TOL were auditioning a series of vocalists, both male and
female but couldn’t quite find a match to Jon’s voice. This was followed
by a six month stint as a three piece including the first gig.
Si Shaw’s return from London and subsequent audition saw the line-up
finalised as he added the finishing touch. By this time the band name
was changed to Temple of Lies (TOL) after much deliberation and Jon
continued to write riffs and songs to the rapidly growing repertoire of
Temple of Lies.
The philosophy behind TOLs music is that pretty much anything goes,
with no boundaries. As long as it rocks with a real groove that’s all that
matters. The aim has always been to produce a diverse collection of
songs, all completely different and unique in their own way, with that
signature TOL sound and feel. The writing is very mature and all band
members play their part in this process with drive and enthusiasm.
Following the release of TOLs first and self financed album
‘Monumental’, they are busy expanding their coverage, playing support
and guest slots with bands such as Kerbgrinder, Mage,
Mentallica (Metallica tribute), Enraged (RATM tribute)…. and the list
goes on…
TOL also organise and promote their own headline shows,
private parties and festivals.
Guitar: Jon Scranney
Name: Jon Scranney AKA: The Riff Machine
Date of birth: 30th May 1974
Place of Birth: Leicester
Previous bands: Konfusion, Anaconda, South of Heaven – Slayer
Tribute UK
Musical influences: The influences list is endless but would have to
include Carcass, Entombed, Nihilist, Mastadon, Red Fang, Slayer,
Kyuss, Soungarden, Sabbath, Testament, Forbidden, early Metallica,
QOS, Clutch……………..
Other Interests: Kickboxing, Music Production, Horror movies and
Snowboarding
Amps:
Cabs:
Guitars:
Pedals:
Pics:
Mics:
Strings:
Engl
Marshall
Gibson, PRS
Digitec, Boss, Korg
Dunlop
Shure
Ernie Ball
Jon started playing guitar at 15 years old and soon began writing his
own music. Then the four piece metal band ‘Konfusion’ was born and at
16 Jon was recording his first studio demo. ‘Mothers Day’, as vocalist,
guitarist and song writer for the high energy thrash metal act. Further
demos were produced: ‘Weird Unlimited (1993)’ and ‘Fumbling and
Thrashing about (1995)’ both selling many copies at gigs all over the UK
including the band headlining at the Leicester Abbey Park Festival in ‘96.
Following major label interest in 1996 the album ‘Story from the
Armchair’ was recorded. Unfortunately due to rights issues it was never
released. Konfusion continued to play gigs and festivals and build a
strong following in the Midlands, playing gigs with Fudge Tunnel,
Lawnmower Deth, Cathode Nation, Godsend, Warpspasm,
Cairo Journal, Gomorrah, Blastcage, Blaggers ITA, Violation and many
more (sorry if we missed you off the list!!) before the band finally spilt
due to family commitments.
Jon, writing in collaboration with Paul “Woody” Woodfield (Konfusion,
Extreme Noise Terror, Mage) included ‘The Blister Sessions’ in 1999.
Konfusion reformed briefly in 2006 playing headline shows in Corby,
Leicester and occasional guest slots for Charity events. They also
completed a mini UK tour supporting South American band ‘Criminal’.
Jon has maintained his writing addiction throughout and continued to
produce music in different styles of Rock and Metal but also Dance
Music and Drum ‘n’ Bass. With album projects including Fisheye (2001),
Masters of Mayhem (2002), Pow White (2004) and BTK (2006).
In 2006 Jon started a three piece rock band project with Justin Dobson
(Kline, Konfusion) and Gregg Hunt (Cherry Choke) called the ‘Dobson
Jazz Theory’ who only ever played one gig, at The Charlotte in Leicester.
The name soon changed to Anaconda and remained that way while the
original members went their separate ways musically.
Recently christened ‘The Riff Machine’ by musical colleagues Jon
continues to write music for the current TOL line-up that grew from
Anaconda.
Allstars and South of Heaven– Jon shreds guitar regularly at Leicester
Allstars shows, playing lead and rhythm guitar in covers acts with other
local musicians. Born from the Allstars shows Jon headed the
successful Slayer Tribute UK, South of Heaven, touring with headline
shows in major cities including London, Manchester and Liverpool.
Bass: Simon Mitchell
Name: Simon Mitchell: AKA: Sim, Simo
Date of birth: 21th August 1972
Place of Birth: Leicester
Previous bands: Ultra Vires, Konfusion
Musical influences: ELO, Queen, Metallica, Slayer, Nuclear Assault,
MOD, SOD, Sacred Reich, Lawnmower Deth, Disciples of Power, most
live music and various rap, some dance and more recently odd bits of
drum and bass. Favourite’s still Metal though! \m/
Other Interests: Cars, Motorbikes and Drifting, Kung Fu and Martial Arts.
Amps:
Rack FX:
Cab:
Basses:
Strings:
Pics:
Ampeg SVT4 Pro, Hartke Kilo
SansAmp RBI
Ampeg SVT810AV
Warwick: Infinity, Fortress
Rotosound
Dunlop
After being brought up listening to ELO and Queen, Simon was
introduced to heavier tunes by one of the foster kids living with his
family. Simon got into thrash late at 14, after some Americans he met
while camping lent him some Metallica to listen to on tape! Gigs and live
music rapidly followed including seeing Slayer at Rock City with
borrowed ID (just in-case) and later listening expanded to include rap,
some dance and more recently odd bits of mainstream drum and bass.
Sim’s first band was formed with friends and playing bass was the
natural choice as they already had a drummer and two guitarists. First
gig included the songs Cold Gin and Alright Now at a college review.
After various attempts to get a full band together, Ultra Vires was born
in Archways rehearsal rooms in Leicester and they wrote and recorded
original material as well as playing Metallica covers.
After a brief move away from Leicester, Sim returned to hear chance
mention of a high energy thrash metal band looking for a bassist, he
polished versions of Anesthesia Pulling Teeth and his cherry red
Rickenbacker 4001 and went down to do his stuff. After a scene
reminiscent to something from the good the bad and the ugly, and
blasting though the required list of covers and original material at the
audition, he fitted right into the vacancy with Konfusion.
Over the years with Konfusion, he recorded and released various demos
and EPs while gigging all over the Midlands and further afield, and
played at various music festivals including headlining the Stayfree Tent
at Leicester’s Abbey Park Festival in 1996. Simon contributed to the
writing of some of the lyrics and tunes over the years, and following
major label interest in 1996 the album ‘Story from the Armchair’ was
recorded. Unfortunately due to rights issues it was never released.
Konfusion continued to play gigs and festivals and build a strong
following in the Midlands, playing gigs with Fudge Tunnel, Lawnmower
Deth, Cathode Nation, Godsend, Warpspasm, Cairo Journal, Gomorrah,
Blastcage, Blaggers ITA, Violation and many more (sorry if we missed
you off the list!) before the band finally spilt due to family commitments.
Konfusion reformed briefly in 2006 playing headline shows in Corby,
Leicester and occasional guest slots for Charity events. They also
completed a mini UK tour supporting South American band ‘Criminal’.
Simon stayed close friends with the ex-Konfusion members. When the
call came to join Anakonda, which swiftly became Temple of Lies, he
was more than happy to dust off the Tool of Ignorance to play TOLs
new tunes.
Drums: James Sereda-Barsby
Name: James Sereda-Barsby
Date of birth: February 1974
Place of Birth: Warwickshire
Previous bands: Konfusion
Musical influences: Listening to Rock, Metal, Jazz and Jazz Fusion.
Influenced by so many great pro drummers James holds a particular
admiration for the following drummers:- Billy Cobham, Vinnie Coaulta,
Steve Gadd, Dave Weckl, Neil Peart, Gavin Harrison, Nicko McBrain, Abe
Cunningham, Danney Carrie.
Other Interests: Making own drums, Toilet Humour
Taking up the drums aged 12 James desired to play in a band and
during secondary school started his first group with friends mainly
playing covers of 80s rock and metal acts. After getting hooked on
heavy metal and thrash bands, James soon realised the direction he
wanted to go in.
James presently plays a vintage premier APK kit in black wrap finish based
around a 6 piece setup with an offset two up two down configuration.
Konfusion enjoyed local success with a strong fan base playing
Leicestershire and Northants venues and released a demo album,
however shortly after James decided to leave the band to go to
university.
Toms:
Kick drums: Snares:
Cymbals:
Sticks:
Hardware:
Heads:
Monitoring:
8”x8, 12”x11, 13”x12, 14”x14 Floor, 16”x16 Floor
20”x16, 22”x18
14”x5.5” Dixon hand hammered brass Artisan series snare.
DDrum 14”x7” black coated steel shell with shield lugs
Premier 14”x5.5” Chrome on aluminium 2000 series
14” Sabian Xs20 Medium Hi-Hats
16” Sabian Xs20 Medium Crash
18” Sabian Xs20 Medium Crash
20” Sabian AAX Rock Ride
14” Sabian AA China
20” Sabian AAX China
8” Sabian AAX Splash
8” Sabain AA Metal Splash
Millenium 5As – Maple
Millenium hardware, Millenium PD-222 Pro Series
double kick pedal, Vruk Drum Master pedal attachment’s
Snare – Remo Ambassador White coated,
Toms – Remo Ambassador Clear,
Kick Drum – Evans EMAD2 Clear
Phonics 6 channel mixer, T.bone EP 4 in ear monitors
An invite from fellow school friend Jon Scranney to join his band
‘Konfusion’ started a whole new journey into music and allowed
James to finally find the right outlet for the style of loud, fast,
aggressive music he was driven by.
In early 2008 James got back in touch with Jon and James became
the drumming power house for TOL. The pair started writing new
music together and jamming at James’s house.
It soon became apparent that the material was too good to just jam
as a hobby and soon enough Jon and James tracked down
Konfusion bass player Simon Mitchell to cement the early
forming of Temple of Lies.
Vocals: Si Shaw
Name: Simon Shaw AKA: Si
Date of birth: 20th October 1978
Place of Birth: Leicester
Previous bands: Naysayer, The Bus, The Kinells
Musical influences: Metallica, Black Sabbath, Mastodon, Red Fang,
System of a Down, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Queens of the Stone Age,
Them Crooked Vultures
Other Interests: Zombie Movies, Drinking too much beer
Simon’s first involvement with music was playing rhythm guitar and lead
vocals in the metal band Naysayer in his early teens. Other members
included Ross Hillard (Magic Number, The Orchard) on bass, Kris Karloff
(Kasabian, Black Onassis) on guitar and Paul Lacey (The Scribes) on
drums.
In his early 20′s Simon moved to London and started a recording studio
called Urban Digital with his oldest friend and musician Sam Goddard
(Nuke on Route, The Skuzzies, AOS3, Headjam). In this time they both
performed and wrote in several projects ranging from acoustic and
electric guitar based music to hard drum and bass with crossovers in
most genres in between. Simon also sang in the band The Bus with Matt
Klose of Crazy P(enis)
With an old schoolmate Simon Ali (The Tea Leaves), Simon started
recording and producing demos for the project that was eventually to
become The Kinells who performed all over the UK. The band also
included Dayle Smith (Move) on drums and Paul Staples (Orange
Boodle) on bass. Simon Shaw played harmonica and sang joint lead
vocals with Simon Ali, they both also played lead and rhythm guitar.
While in London Simon worked as a backline technician at the legendary
John Henry’s, specialist suppliers to the entertainment industry, who’s
list of clients is like a who’s who? including The Who!
Simon moved back to Leicester with his soon to be wife and heard of
a project with the working title Anaconda. After listening to demos and
hearing that the band were currently looking for a lead vocalist, he put
himself forward for auditions. He gelled with the band immediately, and
soon after Temple Of Lies was born.
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