8 Foot Sativa

Early Days (1998-2002) 8 Foot Sativa started when Brent Fox and Gary Smith meet at Massey High School in Auckland, New Zealand. They both enjoyed metal music and started jamming together. Peter 'Speed' Young from Kelston Boys' High School joined the band as the drummer. 'Fat' Dave was on the bass guitar. In this lineup they were a cover band who would play covers by Pantera, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Sepultura, Metallica and Slayer. 'Fat' Dave would often not turn up to practices, so Brent Fox moved from guitar to bass guitar. The band would meet their next vocalist Ari, at a music school they taught at where he was doing drums. Ari was the first vocalist to do original songs. He wrote the lyrics to the songs 'Fuel Set' , 'Kick it all Away' and 'Engine' . All of which would later end up on the Hate Made Me album. During this time the band meet Justin 'Jackhammer' Niessen at a mall. According to Gary Smith: "He used to sneak into the gigs and we'd sneak him beers". Ari disappeared, not to be seen by the band for a few years. Niessen then became the new vocalist. Niessen is famed by many 8 Foot Sativa fans, for occasionally performing his vocals to the point of collapsing. This happened once on NZ music show SPACE while performing 'Destined to be Dead'. NZMusician.com claims that these collapses were due to, "shortage of breath attributed to a lack of vocal training". Hate Made Me (2002) In 2002, 8 Foot Sativa released their debut album Hate Made Me, and the album has since received gold status within New Zealand[7] (To receive gold status in New Zealand the band must sell more than 7,500 copies). Shortly after the release of Hate Made Me, Young left the band reportedly citing 'musical differences'. He was replaced with Sinate drummer, Sam Sheppard. This album features what is probably 8 Foot Sativa's most well-known song, the eponymous "8 Foot Sativa", which is a staple at their live shows. It also appeared in an episode of Monster Garage. Season For Assault (2003) In 2003, 8 Foot Sativa released their second album Season for Assault. It is nearing gold status within New Zealand. The album features the songs "Chelsea Smile" - a particularly well known song - and "Season For Assault". Season For Assault sees 'Sativa lift their game to a whole new level with far more complex riffs and more insightful lyrics than on "Hate...". Niessen resigned from the band two weeks before they were set to fly to Sweden to record their third album (Breed The Pain). The band was only singer-less for two days. Sam Sheppard's brother, and fellow Sinate member, Matt Sheppard became 8 Foot Sativa's new vocalist. Breed The Pain (2005) With a new vocalist, 8 Foot Sativa released their third album Breed the Pain in 2005. It was recorded at Studio Underground in Sweden. New vocalist Matt Sheppard wrote or co-wrote six of the songs on the album, and his girlfriend did the art-work. Matt Sheppard and Sam Sheppard left 8 Foot Sativa after the Breed the Pain tour. They reformed their previous band, Sinate. They joined forces with 8 Foot Sativa's guitar technician Sean Parkinson and Antony "Colonel" Folwell from the band Reprobate. Justin 'Jackhammer' Niessen toured with the band temporarily from September 9 until September 17 playing a four concert tour around New Zealand. This tour also saw new-comers William Cleverdon, and Corey Friedlander join the band. Justin 'Jackhammer' Niessen and the band pulled out songs mainly from Hate Made Me and Season for Assault, the albums which Niessen was in the band for. Poison Of Ages (2007) Ben Read, from New Zealand Death metal band Ulcerate and formerly of premiere hardcore band Kill Me Quickly, joined the band as the new vocalist. 8 Foot Sativa, went over to Studio Underground in Sweden again to record their new album titled Poison of Ages. However Corey Friedlander had injured himself so could not do the drum work on the album. Steven Westerberg, the drummer from Carnal Forge, did the session work for this album. William Cleverdon left the band shortly after this album was recorded. In Mid 2006, William Cleverdon rejoined the band on second guitar. Corey Friedlander left due to personal reasons, and decided to primarily focus on his other band "Final Eve". Jamie Saint Merat, from Ben Read's other band Ulcerate, joined to replace Friedlander. In October 2006 Brent Fox, an 8 Foot Sativa original, decided to leave the band because he wasn't enjoying it anymore. This leaves 8 Foot Sativa with only one original member in the lineup, Gary Smith. Fox was replaced by Rom Lee. In January 2007 guitarist William Cleverdon went to a specialist about a nagging pain in his left wrist. The result was that one of his bones in his forearm was significantly shorter than the other one. This condition requires a lot of surgery and rehabilitation so Cleverdon had to leave the band. Christian Humphreys, a member of Rom Lee's other band, NewWayHome, replaced Cleverdon[8] The album was originally meant to be released on May 8, 2006, however it was postponed due to a breached contract. Ben Read stated on the official forums's that the album would not be released until the band could put together $20,000 NZD.[9] The album finally got released on May 21, 2007. The album features much heavier vocals than on previous 'Sativa works, with all or most of the lyrics written by Ben Read and Gary. As well as this, the music takes on a heavier note, sliding into the realms of blackened death metal at some points. 2009 Gary Smith returned from injury to rejoin the band. Jamie Saint Merat left the band to relocate with his other band Ulcerate. 8 Foot Sativa, still working on a new unnamed album, released a new single called Sleep Walkers. The video to this single is controversial as it follows a calf from the farm, to the freezing works showing it being killed, then chopped up by butchers, before being sold to a family in a supermarket. It does this in graphic detail. It also shows pigs, and chickens being held in cages. A message at the end of the video states "Thousands of animals were harmed in the making of this video."