Oceansize

Oceansize were an English rock band from Manchester, formed in 1998. The band consisted of Mike Vennart (vocals, guitar), Steve Durose (guitar, backing vocals), Richard "Gambler" Ingram (guitar, keyboards), Mark Heron (drums) and Jon Ellis (bass guitar) for the majority of its career, with Steve Hodson replacing Ellis on bass guitar in 2006.

The band released four studio albums, in addition to a number of minor EPs and singles, and can be categorized variously as progressive rock, post-rock, alternative rock, new prog and space rock, experimental rock an others. They also have significant influences and show aspects from other genres such as math rock, indie rock, and shoegaze . Following a twelve-year career, Oceansize announced their split in February 2011, with the members moving on to different projects.

History

Formation and early years (1998–2000)

The band members met each other while attending music college in Salford, where the various members performed in a range of different musical acts very stylistically different from the band they would go on to create. "[The bands were] pretty terrible," said Mike Vennart. "We were in a grunge band. When I met Steve I asked him to be the new guitarist. I wanted to be experimental and unusual and still write pop songs. We were terrible at it. We didn't go anywhere for a while. When we got a new rhythm section, we re-thought what we were doing and got better. We had more vision. Although we don't all like the same music and have different tastes, we can see clearly where our music needs the most work."