Twelve Foot Ninja

Twelve Foot Ninja is an Australian heavy metal band from Melbourne, Victoria, that released their debut album Silent Machine in 2012. The band consists of Kin (vocals), Russ (drums), Stevic (lead guitar), and Rohan (rhythm guitar). They won Best New Talent at the 2014 Revolver Golden Gods Awards (America's only hard rock music awards)[1] as well as two listener-voted awards from SiriusXM's Liquid Metal the year before. The band broke a world record for the most amount crowdfunded for a music video.[2] Their first headline tour of Europe in April 2017 sold out five of the seven UK shows.

Twelve Foot Ninja
Twelve Foot Ninja live at Euroblast Festival 2017
Background information
OriginMelbourne, Australia
Genres
Years active2008–present
LabelsVolkanik
Websitewww.twelvefootninja.com
Members
  • Nik "Kin Etik" Barker
  • Shane "Russ" Russell
  • Steve "Stevic" Mackay
  • Rohan Hayes
Past members
  • Damon McKinnon

History

Early years (2008–11)

Prior to the launch of their album debut, the band had released two EPs. The first, New Dawn, released in 2008, resulted in the band earning a Triple J Unearthed number 1 with the track "Dark Passenger", various support slots, and an appearance at Sydney's Come Together Festival.

Their second EP, Smoke Bomb, was released in November 2010. Produced by the band’s guitarist Steve "Stevic" Mackay in his Melbourne home studio, the EP was mixed by local producer/engineer Hadyn Buxton (Trial Kennedy, Jonesez, Blueline Medic, Dukes of Windsor, Felix Riebl) and mastered by Howie Weinberg (Deftones, Nirvana, Jeff Buckley) at Masterdisk, New York City. Guest musicians on the release include Bär McKinnon (Mr. Bungle) on Saxophone and Ollie McGill (Cat Empire) on Keyboards.

Silent Machine (2012–15)

Their debut album, Silent Machine, was released in November 2012.[3] The album's first official single "Mother Sky" was released on 24 August and the video was premiered on Triple J's Home & Hosed blog.[4] The second single "Coming for You" was released on 2 November 2012.

Each song from the debut album came with a comic, created by Keith Draws (UK), inspired by the lyrics and based on the original fable of Twelve Foot Ninja (co-written by Steve "Stevic" Mackay).[5] The story follows a sole ninja's mission to restore balance in a world headed toward a self-inflicted apocalypse [6] All the individual comics were later combined into a 72-page bound comic book.

In early 2013, Twelve Foot Ninja embarked on their first headline tour of Australia and sold out every capital city.[7]

The band successfully completed a crowdfunding campaign on Australian site Pozible in May 2013 for a music video "Ain't That A Bitch" [8] about a fantastic revenge story on an internet troll.

In October–November 2013, Twelve Foot Ninja toured Europe and North America for the first time. Their first show in London at the Camden Barfly sold out 3 weeks in advance and they also played Euroblast in Cologne, selling the most merchandise after the headliners Meshuggah. Their US/Canada tour in 2013 was opening for progressive metal band Periphery.

In May 2014 Twelve Foot Ninja returned to North America for their first headline tour. They also played AEG festivals Rock on the Range, Carolina Rebellion, Welcome To Rockville, Rocklahoma. They were also invited to showcase at Michele Clark's revered radio conference in San Diego Sunset Sessions Rock.

In July 2014, single 'Coming For You' was serviced to US Active Rock radio and reached number 45 on the Active Rock chart.[9] The video of "Coming for You" has reached over 4.1 million views on YouTube and their total channel views reached over 10 million.[10] The band toured the US again from October to December 2014 in support of In This Moment.

Outlier (2016–present)

In November 2015, Twelve Foot Ninja announced they were working on their second album for release late 2016. At that time they leaked an early track from the studio called "One Hand Killing".[11] A few weeks later they released a video clip for the same track. The band also started a PledgeMusic campaign to help raise funds for the making of the new album and to start advance pre-orders.[12] When talking to Loudwire vocalist Kin said "It has its roots in the ‘Silent Machine’ album but we’re kind of experimenting with a few different things. There’s more emphasis on songs and the actual songwriting as opposed to just riffs".[13] On 19 July 2016, Twelve Foot Ninja announced the title and release date of their second album, Outlier, released on 26 August 2016.[14] On 5 September 2016, OUTLIER debuted at #1 on the Australian 100% Independent Album chart,[15] #2 on the ARIA Australian Artist Chart, and #6 on the overall ARIA chart. In the US, Outlier debuted at #15 on Billboard's Alternative Rock chart and #3 on Billboard's Heatseeker chart.

The band were personally selected by Disturbed to be their support act on the 2016 Australian tour.

In April-May 2017, Twelve Foot Ninja toured Europe for the first time as a headliner. They sold out 5 of their 7 shows in the UK with strong numbers and some sold out shows in Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Spain, and Italy.

On July 2017, Twelve Foot Ninja announced their Monsoon Tour of Europe, India, and Nepal, book-ending the tour with headlining shows at Euroblast Festival in Cologne and Silence Festival in Kathmandu.

Members

Current

Past
  • Damon McKinnon – bass (2008–2019)

Discography

Studio Albums

EPs
  • New Dawn (2008)
  • Smoke Bomb (2010)

Singles
Australia
  • "Dark Passenger" (2009)
  • "Clarion" (2010)
  • "Mother Sky" (2012)
  • "Coming for You" (2012)
  • "Shuriken" (2012)
  • "One Hand Killing" (2015)
  • "Invincible" (2016)
  • "Sick" (2016)
  • Stuck With You (2020)- Huey Lewis & The News cover
UK
  • "Invincible" (2016)
  • Stuck With You (2020)- Huey Lewis & The News cover
US
  • "Coming for You" (July 2014)
  • "Invincible" (2016)
  • Stuck With You (2020)- Huey Lewis & The News cover

Awards and nominations

AIR Awards

The Australian Independent Record Awards (commonly known informally as AIR Awards) is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector.

Year Nominee / work Award Result
AIR Awards of 2017[17][18] Outlier Best Independent Hard Rock, Heavey or Punk Album Nominated

ARIA Music Awards

The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music.

Year Nominee / work Award Result
ARIA Music Awards of 2017 Outlier ARIA Award for Best Hard Rock or Heavy Metal Album Nominated

References
  1. "Metal Insider - 2014 Winners of Golden Gods Awards". Metal Insider. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  3. H., Kane. "Journalist". Kill Your Stereo. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  4. Alessio, Dom. "DJ". Abc.net.au. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  5. Rockbewithyou, Maythe. "Author". May The Rock Be With You. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  6. Lothian, Claire. "Owner". Aftergigguide.wordpress.com. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  7. "Twelve Foot Ninja to Play Manning Bar". Thebrag.com. 19 July 2013. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  8. Luzar, Harles. "Twelve Foot Ninja's Pozible-Crowdfunded, Over The Top & NSFW Music Video". Croufun Insider. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
  9. "Twelve Foot Ninja Archives". Hardrockdaddy.com. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  10. "Twelve Foot Ninja - YouTube". YouTube. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  11. "VIDEO: Twelve Foot Ninja - One Hand Killing". Deadpress.com. 19 November 2015. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  13. "Twelve Foot Ninja Reveal Influences for Upcoming Album". Loudwire.com. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  14. "TWELVE FOOT NINJA ADD +10 INVINCIBILITY WITH SINGLE AND 'OUTLIER' ALBUM RELEASE – 26 AUGUST 2016". Musicinjection.com.au. 19 July 2016. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  15. "Features". Air.org.au. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  16. "the AU interview: Kin Etik of Twelve Foot Ninja (Melbourne) | the AU review". the AU review. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  17. "A.B Original dominates 2017 AIR Awards nominations". theindustryobserver. 31 May 2017. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  18. "History Wins". Australian Independent Record Labels Association. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
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