COLD HAND CHEMISTRY
COLD HAND CHEMISTRY
Genres: Female fronted metal, symphonic metal
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About COLD HAND CHEMISTRY
This South African band, based in the mother city, Cape Town, was started in 2006. In David Benzaquen’s garage, known then as the “jam room”, one huge musical adventure would start. David playing percussion and keyboards needed to explore his vast classical orchestration and Latin percussion skills and joined up Stuart Priede on guitar, Dean Jacobs on bass and Ryan Shuman on the drums. The experimental project soon realised they had a band and there was just one thing missing... a vocalist. Chantel Smit, amongst others, auditioned for the position and the band was immediately sold on her dynamic singing talents. Now the complete band, with their vocalist Chantel was ready to head for bigger things. David and Chantel’s writing chemistry immediately led to the birth of their first original composition, a song, called “I Will” and shortly, in its wake, a string of other songs followed. With the demand for the band to perform at gigs, the need for a name arose, a name that would not only describe them as an unit but also define the style and chemistry that had developed into their music. After weeks and many hilarious and amusing suggestions, by the various members, David wrote the 3 letters CHC on the white board and asked each member what they thought the letters stood for. Unanimously the three letters became Cold Hand Chemistry. In November 2006, the 5 piece band that was now rocking the suburb of Table View, from a garage, was officially recognised as Cold Hand Chemistry. In the early months of 2007, Stuart decided to leave the band and in need of a guitarist Cold Hand Chemistry placed an advert in the newspaper and this revealed the emerging talents of Donovan Laughton on the guitar. 2007 turned out to be an extremely busy year for the band, not only did Donovan have to integrate into the unit, but the band performed in over 50 gigs during this period. Amongst many other performances, Cold Hand Chemistry rocked the coast on tour with local band 12th Avenue in the “Rock and Roll Circus” and the “Africa Burns Festival”, which is the African version of the ever popular ‘Burning Man Festival’ held in the USA. The bands skills and popularity were now undeniably apparent to both the crowds and promoters. In 2008, at LMX studios in Cape Town, “Angel Suicide” was recorded. The single was released, amongst others, on UCT and MFM radio stations as well as on line. On the 6th of September at the Good Hope Centre in Cape Town, the bands played “Zimfest 2008” and towards the end of the year Cold Hand Chemistry were back in studio recording their debut album. At this point guitarist, Ameer Saban was recruited into the band in order to explore a possible new musical dynamic. This proved to be a short lived experiment, but extremely rewarding for the band. 2009 was a rollercoaster ride for the band: at the end of January, Ryan decided to end his adventure with Cold Hand Chemistry and left to soon be replaced by Robert Fick, freshly returned from the UK with his bombarding drumming style and tons of energy. This was the beginning of a new era and the band returned to the studio with new found confidence and energy. While working on their album the band decided that gigging was a way to break out of the strenuous recording process and decided to play the “The Eye of Rock Competition” hosted by “The Eye of Horus “in Durbanville along with “Magic Hour Productions” and the “Durex Ultimate Battle of the Bands” hosted by “Authentic Ideas”. These gigs proved to be very successful for the now, very tight and hard rocking Cold Hand Chemistry. November saw Ameer leaving the unit to pursue his solo career. With his departure, all plans to finish the production as well as the release of the album had to be delayed. However, what could have otherwise turned out to be a disappointing year metamorphosized Cold Hand Chemistry into a solid gigging unit with a musical style which is uniquely COLD HAND CHEMISTRY and together with producer/engineer Fernando Perdigao, with whom the band has now forged a solid musical relationship, they returned to the recording studio to complete the production of the long awaited album. 2010 started with a bang: not only was Cold Hand Chemistry still in the recording studio working on their album with Fernando, but the band was also approached by “Metal 4 Africa” to play on the metal stage at the “Ram Fest IV” which is held annually in Worcester. This was a legendary gig providing the band with even more exposure. “Ram Fest” was also sadly Dean’s farewell gig with Cold Hand Chemistry. Dean’s void was immediately filled by the highly skilled Geoff Gunn on bass. Geoff’s debut with the unit on the 29th of May at the “Bludjinn Fest” hosted by “Muzone” proved to be a monstrous performance and in true Cold Hand Chemistry tradition and style, the band “blew the roof right off the building”. Completion of the album is in progress and a single, "do you see me(hex)" was released 30 November 2011. Album release dates to be annouced!
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