The History

 

Martin and Richard (Lead and Rhythm guitar respectively) both became interested in playing guitar at around the same time. A new music shop opened in their hometown of Orpington and the shop owner would often demonstrate his guitar playing skills when they were at the shop. Before this they had never seen a guitarist in person that was able to produce the kind of sounds that they had heard on tracks from the like of Iron Maiden. This was incredibly inspiring for them and was one of the main reasons they began learning electric guitar.

 

They had been playing guitar for a few months when they met Michael (Drums) at their parents' Martial Arts school which he had recently joined. After hearing about the brothers’ musical interests, Michael mentioned that he had also been taking drum lessons and that he would soon have a drum kit. Very soon afterwards, jam sessions became a regular event and the idea of forming a band became more serious.

 

While listening back to their home recordings it soon became apparent that the band needed a bass player. A college friend of Martin’s owned a bass guitar and showed an interest in joining a band so they met together for a few jams. He wasn’t with the band very long as organising a regular meeting time with him was difficult and eventually stopped altogether.

 

A few months later the band (which at the time still had no name) heard that another member Jayson (Bass Guitar) of their Martial Arts school, had some guitar playing ability and that his dad owned a bass guitar. The band approached him and asked whether or not he would be interested in taking up bass guitar and joining the band. He agreed.

 

Between them they started to produce some basic material, but it got to a point that if they were to progress any further they would need a competent singer. Michael mentioned that he knew a girl who could sing, so the band invited her to a few rehearsals however their musical styles clashed and it became apparent that she wasn’t right for the band.

 

Still on the search for a singer, Jayson mentioned that his sister (Leigh) played the piano and had just started taking singing lessons. Unfortunately she was shy and not confident in her vocal ability so the search continued.

 

They auditioned numerous singers but none could deliver what the band required for the type of songs they had written and they decided that they would rather have no singer than one that was not perfect.

A year and a half had passed since Leigh had auditioned for the band and in that time she had enrolled and studied in a theatre school. Here she had received professional tuition so her voice had grown in ability, strength and confidence.

 

The band had heard about her apparent improvement and came up with the idea of performing a covers gig for their local Martial Arts School were they invited Leigh to sing with them so that they could test her vocal ability. 

 

After a great performance and much discussion between Richard and Martin they decided to ask Leigh to sing for them full time.

 

Another year had passed and the band had worked hard to create the sound you hear today. Happy with their new sound they agreed on a band name and ‘Training Icarus’ was born.

 

 

 

 

Update: The line up of Training Icarus has now changed. Michael has left the band and Richard has taken the helm of the drums and is doing an amazing job of it.