Canvas Bio

Andy and John are brothers they began the band when they were still at school in 1996 as three-piece called Schmuck with Dan on drums, Andy ( then 15) on guitar and John on bass and vocals.



Previously a straightedge band they remain vegan. They came to notice in early 1997 playing a lot of DIY metal/hardcore shows with bands like IRON MONKEY, VOORHEES and HARD TO SWALLOW. Canvas stood out for their extended noise jams and their ability to turn these cold dark squats into the very depths of hell.



John often ripping his flesh open in time to the barrage - blood noise and violence became the Canvas experience.



Word of this amazing new band spread throughout the UK as well as into Europe - al though they didn't play much outside their native Leeds they did get shows in the hotbed of 90s metal hardcore - Belgium while their reputation in Holland and Germany is immense.



Still through a remarkable series of delays the only available recorded material was their demo tape recorded in the famous Bradford In-a-City Studios - home to Doom, Anathema and hundreds more UK noisemetalhardcore bands.



They recorded more tracks at Andy Sneaps' (Earth Crisis, Machine Head etc) Backstage Studios and still no release.



At this point emerging UK hardcore metal label Household Name Records stepped in and agreed to release the long delayed recordings as a compilation CD in September 1998 to coincide with UK tour with Italain noisecore heroes ONE FINE DAY



The reaction was everything that we had expected and rave revies in UK national metal magazines like Terrorizer led to a track from the CD appearing on a cover mounted Terrorizer CD in November 1998 bringing them to a much wider audience



The self titled compilation reached the ears of EJ from Prosthetic Records in Los Angeles and these are the nine tracks released at the beginning of January 2000.



In 1999 Canvas took to the road for more shows with Iron Monkey, Withdrawn(uk), Earth Crisis, Converge, As Friends Rust and many more also headlining the essential underground hardcore festivals - EvilFest99 in London, Goodlife's New Year's Eve and MidSommer Festivals in Belgium. They have been in the studio writing the first full -length since August which will be 70 minutes of extraordinary diverse musical violence.