Sunk Loto

Inspired by American bands like Faith No More and the Deftones, the band that became Sunk Loto was formed in March 1997 after a chance meeting between guitarist Luke MacDonald and singer Jason Brown at a Gold Coast Brisbane music store. Luke was trying out one of the guitars when Jason came up and suggested they get together for a jam, Jason bringing along his younger brother Dane on drums. Bassist Sean Van Gennip came into the picture shortly after. Luke met Sean at Coombabah High School, Sean had already seen the band and would have given anything to join. The boys hit it off straight away, and the line-up was complete under the name Messiah.

A year later, after winning the Queensland High School Rock Awards from 72 other bands Messiah caught the attention of Sony Records. There was just one problem. A London band already had claim to the name Messiah. They would need to come up with something else if they wanted to use the same name internationally as at home. Sick of thinking of names Luke and Jason looked up "Messiah" in the dictionary and found the meaning "Liberators Of The Oppressed - LOTO. Sad at having to sink the name they started out with they added a prefix and became Sunk Loto. When they signed to Sony in April 1999 the band members were all still teenagers - Dane, the youngest at 13 and in his first year of high school, while Sean was the eldest at 17.

Under their new name they recorded their first release, the five track Society Anxiety EP, containing 'Vinegar Stroke'. A year later, a six week stint at studios in Sydney produced the well-received debut album, 'Big Picture Lies'. Most of the songs had already been tested out on stage.

'Big Picture Lies' made its impact, but Sunk Loto themselves were never really happy with it. They'd been rushed. They knew the songs could have been better if they'd had more time. It was three years before they committed themselves to a second album, time spent developing an ever heavier sound, time spent writing better songs, time interrupted by personal stuff, like the death of a friend. When they were ready they were really ready. Recording 'Between Birth And Death' itself took just a month, but all the hard work had already been done. The songs lash out at all the frustrations and anger that comes with life, with room to acknowledge the romance found along the way.

A third album was planned for end of 2007 release but the band broke up. Brothers, Dane Brown and Jason Brown and replacement bass player Rob Kaay met in May 2007 and decided to work together on a new project without Luke McDonald. The three wrote many songs, five days a week over a six month period and tentatively titled the band The Flood The Flood.

In December 2007 Sunk Loto announced they would reunite for one show only at the Hard Rock Hotel on the Gold Coast on 14th December,

Related artists
Grinspoon
Jebediah
Silverchair
Testeagles