Cog are an

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

band that formed in 1998. Their debut album, '' The New Normal'', was nominated for

Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

's 2005

J Award The J Awards are an annual series of Australian music awards, established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth-focused radio station Triple J, and which also extend to sister stations, Triple J Unearthed and Double J. The award ...

. The band's music is influenced by

Tool A tool is an Physical object, object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many Tool use by animals, animals use simple tools, only human bei ...

,"Cog"
Lucius Borich/Suzanne Elliot, July 2004

Isis Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

Nina Simone Nina Simone ( ; born Eunice Kathleen Waymon; February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003) was an American singer, pianist, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and po ...

,"Music in Our Message"
Mark Neilson, ''The Drum Media'', 12 April 2005

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, he fused elements of reggae, ska and rocksteady and was renowned for his distinctive voca ...

Leftfield Leftfield are a British electronic music group formed in London in 1989, a duo of Neil Barnes and Paul Daley (the latter formerly of The Rivals and A Man Called Adam). The duo was influential in the evolution of electronic music in the 1990s ...

Deftones Deftones is an American alternative metal band formed in Sacramento, California in 1988. They were formed by frontman Chino Moreno, lead guitarist Stephen Carpenter and drummer Abe Cunningham, with bassist Chi Cheng and keyboardist and tu ...

and

Helmet A helmet is a form of protective gear worn to protect the head. More specifically, a helmet complements the skull in protecting the human brain. Ceremonial or symbolic helmets (e.g., a policeman's helmet in the United Kingdom) without protecti ...

History

Pre-1998

Flynn Gower and Lucius Borich (the son of renowned Australian blues guitarist

Kevin Borich Kevin Nicholas Borich (born 27 October 1948, Huapai, North Island, New Zealand) is a New Zealand-born Australian guitarist and singer-songwriter. He was the mainstay of the La De Da's, the leader of Kevin Borich Express, and a founding member of ...

) were friends at their Bondi

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

in the 1980s. Borich being a

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

, and Flynn being a

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

ist, they would occasionally jam. As their school careers finished, Borich formed the band

Juice Juice is a drink made from the extraction or Cold-pressed juice, pressing of the natural liquid contained in fruit and vegetables. It can also refer to liquids that are flavored with concentrate or other biological food sources, such as meat ...

while Flynn formed the five-piece

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

band The Hanging Tree, popular in the Sydney live circuit. In 1995, after the release of Juice's debut album, Borich left the band and joined The Hanging Tree. Shortly after the release of their debut, Borich left the band and the country, travelling to the United States to follow a career of session drumming. There Borich did session drumming for a large range of genres, writing songs on his guitar all the while. Flynn, in Sydney, wanted to form a band and contacted Lucius, eventually resulting in the formation of Cog.

Formation and early releases (1998–2003)

Initially, the band was to form in the United States, but Borich chose to travel home. He'd find a disappointed Flynn, who had already sold all his gear in preparation for the move. The drum, bass, and guitar parts for what would become the ''Just Visiting'' EPs were recorded shortly after, in 1998, with Borich assuming bass duties. The vocals would be recorded two years later. To fill out the bass in live shows, Flynn recruited his brother Luke, formerly of the Sydney band Tax. After they formed this legitimate lineup, they toured aggressively, clocking up thousands of kilometres of weekly driving between

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. Their first residency, at the ''Forrest Inn Hotel'' in the Sydney suburbs, was without a vocalist. They encouraged people to send them demos for the vocal job, but the band were so unimpressed with the demos that Flynn trained his voice to fill the vacancy. Their breakthrough gig was a Wednesday headlining slot at ''Excelsior Hotel'' in

Surry Hills Surry Hills is an Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), inner-east suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Surry Hills is immediately south-east of the Sydney central business district in the Local government in Australia, local gover ...

, where they packed out the club consistently for 4 months. They were recognised with a nomination for "best emerging live band in

NSW New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a state on the east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south, and South Australia to the west. Its coast borders the Coral and Tasman Seas to the east. T ...

" at the Australian Live Music Awards. In 2001, the band signed with underground label Little Samurai Records and prepared to release the ''Just Visiting Part One'' and '' Just Visiting Part Two'' EPs. The two EPs, despite the slight differences in style between them, were written and recorded at the same time. The band chose not to release the studio session as a full album so they would not lose their debut album virginity, and would get twice the publicity. They grabbed a breakthrough gig just before the release of ''Just Visiting Part One'', supporting System of a Down at the

Hordern Pavilion Hordern Pavilion (known locally as The Hordern) is a building located in Moore Park, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, on the grounds of the old Sydney Showground. Now known as a sports venue, dance party and music concert venue, the Hordern ...

. ''Just Visiting Part One'' was released in February 2002 and was still consistently appearing in the

ARIA In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompan ...

Top 20 Heavy Rock/Metal singles/EPs chart over 2 years after its release. In July, the song "Bondi" was added to Andrew Haug's Triple J 3 Hours of Power Compilation. ''Just Visiting Part Two'' was released in October that same year and was also still appearing in the ARIA Top 20 Heavy Rock/Metal singles/EPs charts after two years. That year, Cog also won "best emerging live band in NSW" at the Australian Live Music Awards. After an extensive tour supporting the two EPs, including a slot at the

Big Day Out The Big Day Out (BDO) was an annual music festival that was held in five Australian cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast, Adelaide, and Perth, as well as Auckland, New Zealand. The festival was held during summer, typi ...

in 2003, Cog recorded a cover of "Open Up", a single released in 1993 by

featuring

John Lydon John Joseph Lydon ( ; born 31 January 1956), also known by his former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a British-born singer, songwriter, author, and television personality. He was the lead vocalist of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols, which was ...

. This song had been a live favourite for the previous year. Shortly afterwards, Cog continued to write and demo for their debut album.

''The New Normal'' (2004–2006)

While the vast majority of the material for '' The New Normal'' had already been demoed by late 2003, with some songs first performed live as far back as May 2002, Cog did not have the kind of financial backing needed to record their album as they desired. However, after months of limbo, Cog were signed by Aloha Management (

Shihad Shihad were a Rock music, rock band formed in Wellington, New Zealand, in 1988. The band consisted of founders Tom Larkin (musician), Tom Larkin (drums, backing vocals, samplers), Phil Knight (lead guitar, synthesiser, backing vocals) and Jon To ...

Killing Heidi Killing Heidi are an Australian rock band, formed in Violet Town, Victoria in 1996, initially as a folk-pop duo by siblings Ella and Jesse Hooper. The band has released three studio albums: '' Reflector'' (March 2000), which reached No.&nb ...

) and subsequently, former Universal Music Australia head Paul Krige's label Difrnt Music. During the later months of 2004, Cog recorded their debut album, ''The New Normal'', in the small logging town of

Weed, California Weed is a city in Siskiyou County, California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 Census, the city had a total population of 2,862, down from 2,967 in 2010. There are several unincorporated communities adjacent to, or just ...

with producer

Sylvia Massy Sylvia Lenore Massy is an American record producer, mixer, and engineer. Her first major breakthrough occurred with 1993's ''Undertow (Tool album), Undertow'', the full-length triple platinum-selling debut for Los Angeles alternative metal band ...

( System of a Down and

). Shortly afterwards, the band performed a short tour of the east coast and played at the inaugural Pyramid Rock Festival. The album was released in Australia in April 2005, to a debut of No. 19 in the

ARIA Charts The ARIA Charts are the main Australian record chart, music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA beca ...

, and a No. 1 debut in the ''Australian Independent Recordings'' (AIR) album charts. ''The New Normal'' was one of the nominees for the 2005 Triple J J Award. In support of the album, the band headlined a full Australian tour in April and May with supports from

Karnivool Karnivool is an Australian progressive rock/progressive metal, metal band formed in Perth in 1998. The group consists of Ian Kenny on vocals, Drew Goddard and Mark Hosking on guitar, Jon Stockman on bass, and Steve Judd on drums. Karnivool emerg ...

and In the Grey. During July they supported

on a tour of

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. During October they toured the country with supports from The Fumes, Grand Fatal, and Jakob. They finished the year with appearances at

Homebake Homebake was an annual Australian rock festival, featuring an all-Australian lineup (with the occasional artist from New Zealand). The festival was first held on 3 January 1996 at Belongil Fields in Byron Bay, on the far north coast of New Sou ...

, the Pyramid Rock Festival, and the

. Cog supported Australian rock group

Grinspoon Grinspoon are an Australian rock band from Lismore, New South Wales, which formed in 1995 by Pat Davern on guitar, Joe Hansen on bass guitar, Kristian Hopes on drums and frontman Phil Jamieson on vocals and guitar. Also in that year, Grinspoon ...

at the

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

race event

Clipsal 500 The Adelaide 500, officially the BP Adelaide Grand Final, is an annual motor racing event for Supercars held on the streets of the east end of Adelaide, South Australia between 1999 and 2020 and again from 2022. The event uses a shortened form ...

and appeared at the Rock-It Festival in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

on 19 March with

Silverchair Silverchair was an Australian Rock music, rock band, which formed in 1992 as Innocent Criminals in Newcastle, New South Wales, with Daniel Johns on vocals and guitars, Ben Gillies on drums, and Chris Joannou on bass guitar. The group got thei ...

, and Shihad amongst others. During March and April, the band toured the country in support of the final radio single from ''The New Normal'', "Resonate".

''Sharing Space'' (2007–2010)

Cog, from June 2006"Cog and the Corporate Cock"
, Danica Davis
FasterLouder.com.au
, 13 April 2006. onwards, planned to spend a portion of the year in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, promoting a release of ''The New Normal'' there through extensive touring. However, this release was pushed back to 2007. On 9 January, Cog began to record and write tracks for their second album, entitled '' Sharing Space'', at Weed, California, once again with

producing. They took a break from recording in June, bouncing back to Australia for the ''Boomerang Tour'' for a number of shows. The short tour run included Fremantle, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, where several new songs were premiered, including "Bird of Feather" (then titled "Double Triple") and "What If". Cog toured Australia more extensively in November 2007, in support of "What If?", the first single from the new album due April 2008. This tour marked Cog's first trip to North Queensland. On 3 November, Cog released "What If", the first single from ''Sharing Space'' with the title track to the album as a b-side. On 12 November, this song debuted at No. 21 on the physical ARIA singles chart, the only new entry debuting higher being

Alicia Keys Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer and songwriter. A classically trained pianist, Keys began composing songs at the age of 12 and was signed by Columbia Records at 15. After d ...

. ''Sharing Space'' was released on 12 April 2008. In February, the band announced that they will be touring around

in support of Sharing Space in May and June. They performed shows around the country with two

bands, Kora and Jakob, as well as local

prog-rock band Sleep Parade and

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

's Melodyssey. Despite the conflict and difficulty of the recording process of ''Sharing Space'', Borich commented on the process saying "You can’t really put a timeframe on creating art...sometimes you have to struggle through in order to come up with the goods musically. Otherwise it’s not going to have any validity or longevity". In July 2008, Cog performed in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

for the first time at

Shepherd's Bush Empire Shepherd's Bush Empire (currently known as O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the BBC Television Theatre) is a music venue in Shepherd's Bush, West London, run by the Academy Music Group. It was original ...

and GuilFest with

band

.GuilFest 2008 Line-up
6 July 2008. They also expressed interest in releasing ''Sharing Space'' in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. In 2008, the band had the opportunity to re-release their 2002 EPs '' Just Visiting Part One'' and '' Just Visiting Part Two'' as a full album; '' Just Visiting'', with the intended track listing and the never previously heard original (long) version of ''Bondi''. Lucius Borich spent time at ''Studios 301'' mastering the album so the recordings sounded their best. In June and July 2009, the band toured Australia with support from British-based band

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 (b ...

. The tour was the band's most successful headlining tour to date. The band at the 2009

, performing at all the Australian dates. In 2010, the band released ''The Sound of Three: 12 Years With You'', a CD/DVD produced by Lucius Borich. Containing a recording from the band's "Between Oceans" tour, and a documentary on this history of the band (on the DVD only). The band toured the album in early June; Lucius Borich had hinted in several interviews that these might have been the last shows Cog would play as a band. Cog played what many had believed to be their last show at The Tivoli in Brisbane on Saturday 12 June 2010, thanking their various crew members one by one between songs. The band finished with "No Other Way", the opening track from their second album, ''Sharing Space''. However, the band played four more shows - one at the Full Noise Festival in

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

, one at a Sydney nightclub, and two smaller shows in the outer Melbourne suburbs of Frankston and Ferntree Gully. Their Sydney show on 22 December 2010 was Cog's last show until they reform six years later.

Hiatus (2011–2016)

Lucius Borich soon joined Floating Me, a band featuring ex-members of Scary Mother and Jon Stockman of

. Floating Me released their debut self-titled album in 2011. Flynn and Luke Gower went on to form The Occupants in 2012. Their first single, "I've Been Thinking", was released in April 2013. It was followed by an EP in 2014.

Reunion and ''The Middle'' (2016–present)

In late January 2016, the official Cog Facebook page was updated for the first time in nearly three years with new photos. In the weeks that followed, the band put up entire photo albums of previously unseen photos taken on tours from over the years. This subsequently lead to speculation regarding the band getting back together. The following month, it was confirmed that Cog would reunite for a run of headlining shows in July 2016. Throughout 2017, Cog have been working on new material, posting regular updates to the band's Instagram account of the album's progress. The band's single "The Middle" was released in 2018, making it their first new music in ten years. They have since released two more singles titled "Altered States" and "Drawn Together", the latter being the focus of the upcoming 2019 Drawn Together Tour.

Controversy

In 2021, Cog stirred controversy when frontman Flynn Gower shared posts of anti-vaccination rhetoric and conspiracies surrounding COVID-19 on social media, while also publicly voicing his support for the anti-lockdown protests in New South Wales.

Discography

Studio albums

Compilations

EPs

Singles

Video albums

Awards

J Award

The

J Awards The J Awards are an annual series of Australian music awards, established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth-focused radio station Triple J, and which also extend to sister stations, Triple J Unearthed and Double J. The awar ...

are an annual series of Australian music awards that were established by the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

's youth-focused radio station

. They commenced in 2005. , - ,

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, ''The New Normal'' , Australian Album of the Year , , - ,

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, ''Sharing Space'' , Australian Album of the Year ,

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cog Australian alternative rock groups New South Wales musical groups Musical groups established in 1998 Australian progressive metal musical groups Superball Music artists