magicrays

It all started basically at the end of 89. Wlad & Raph bought their first instruments together and decided to form a band. Then Greg joined in 91 and together with their drummer Yann, they did a few gigs, opening for bands such as Noir Désir or New Model Army, to then record their first album in 93 under a very teenage name Minds of contradiction. Two years later, they sort of needed to experience new things and changed their name to Magicrays, adding some new members, a string section, keyboard, trumpet and flute and recorded an EP. They experienced gigs with 9 musicians on stageand opened for Katerinewith a one gig temporary drummer as Yann left the band just a week before. Joël took on the drums and in 99 they went off to studio recordings for the first album Granted under the name of Magicrays, followed by a EP Gawky with the label Its time to. In 2000, they decided to play only with the string section, Marie and Esther, and toured a lot in Switzerland before taking a more rock direction with only four members left on the liststill there they are! For the intimate album Take me home they wanted to record in a special and vibrant place so they chose an old mansion in a remote location in the Swiss mountains. This album was also the move to a new label, Gentlemen records, together with Fig joining the band as fifth member. Magicrays first steps out of Switzerland date back to January 2001 with Raph touring solo in Germany, opening for Favez acoustic tour, before experiencing the European adventure with the band at the famous Eurosonic Festival up north of the Netherlands in 2003, jumping that year from cold weather to hot Paleo Festival. Time to go back to recordings again and they contacted John Parish who accepted to work with them on the album On the shoreline far away in Wavelab Studio (Calexico, Giant Sand) in sunny Tucson, AZ. What an experience that was, also sleeping and playing at the famous hotel Congress. On the shoreline came out in Spring 2004, and gave the opportunity for the band to tour around Europe before working on new material for their fourth album and also on parallel projects. Raphelson for Raph, Twenty box stories for Fig and Paramotion for Joël.

Check their website for more info www.magicrays.com

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