Saxon Shore is an American post-rock band consisting of members from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Brooklyn, New York. The group has thus far released four albums on Burnt Toast Vinyl: one packaged as an EP (Luck Will Not Save Us...) and three as full-lengths, although all (with the exception of The Exquisite Death of...) have only featured anywhere from five to seven songs.

According to the website, the band is in the process of writing and recording the follow-up to The Exquisite Death.

Saxon Shore's overall sound has been compared to Caspian, The Samuel Jackson Five, Boards of Canada, God is an Astronaut, and labelmates Yndi Halda.

History

Saxon Shore formed in 2001 as the joint project of guitarist Matthew Doty and drummer Josh Tillman. The two wrote several songs that, in time, were recorded for the duo's debut album Be a Bright Blue, released on Doty's very own imprint, Broken Factory Records. Tillman's brother Zach was recruited for bass duties during the studio process and found himself being a full-fledged member.

After a host of tours across the United States (in which the band recruited three separate bassists), Doty moved to Seattle and later exchanged four-tracks with Josh Tillman, who was living in upstate New York at the time. Studio time reserved in Atlanta eventually blossomed into their next effort, Four Months of Darkness. Traveling musician Matt Stone contributing on guitar and like Zach before him, joined, making the group a four-piece. The album marked a change in Saxon Shore's sound from the light indie pop of Be a Bright Blue to the more melodic Four Months.

Members

Current members

• Matt Doty – Electric guitar, keyboards, programming
• Matt Stone – Electric guitar, keyboards
• Oliver Chapoy – Guitar, keyboards, programming
• Steve Roessner – drums
• Will Stichter – Bass guitar

Former members

• Josh Tillman – Drums (2001–2004)
• Zach Tillman – Bass guitar (2002–2004)

Touring members

• Justin Saxby – Bass guitar (summer 2003)
• Bethany Olson – Keyboards (winter 2003)
• Joel Votaw – Bass guitar (spring-summer 2003)
• Erin Berkey – Keyboards, bells (summer 2002)
• Jesse Pierce – Bass guitar (winter 2002)

Discography

• 2002: Be a Bright Blue – full-length (Broken Factory Records)
• 2003: Four Months of Darkness – full-length (Burnt Toast Vinyl)
• 2005: Be a Bright Blue (Digipak re-release) – full-length (Burnt Toast Vinyl)
• 2005: Luck Will Not Save Us From a Jackpot of Nothing – EP (Burnt Toast Vinyl)
• 2005: The Exquisite Death of Saxon Shore – full-length/LP (Burnt Toast Vinyl)
• 2008: It Doesn't Matter – full-length/LP (Forthcoming - No Label As Yet)

Interesting facts

Side projects

Stone and Stichter, together with Will's brother Mike and friend Stephen Hoffmann, have released two ambient/downtempo albums on Burnt Toast Vinyl under the name of Soporus. Doty and Chapoy are currently making plans to put out music as Brightest Feathers, having already remixed songs by Caroline and Faunts. Lastly, General is the moniker which drummer Roessner performs under; the song "Men (They Get Pregnant)" was originally by his previous band, The Downtown Screamers.

Trivia

• The band has many ties to "Christian" artists such as Pedro the Lion and Denison Witmer, and even played a set during Cornerstone in 2002.
• Original drummer Josh recorded drums for Christian metal/hardcore band Demon Hunter's self-titled debut and for a little while worked as a publicist at Tooth and Nail Records.
• The founding lineup first put out the band's releases through their own imprint, Broken Factory Records, whose catalog included Goat Explosion and Stately English.
• Doty worked at Jade Tree Records.

References

External links

• Official website of Saxon Shore
• Saxon Shore on MySpace
• Saxon Shore on PureVolume
• Saxon Shore on Blogger (last updated in 2003)