Tortilla Army is a British

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock Music genre, genre and subculture that emerged during the in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington, particularly in Seattle and Music of Olympia, Washington, O ...

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 that was formed by singer/guitarist Jim Noble and bassist Sy Morton in

Whitstable Whitstable () is a town on the north coast of Kent, England, at the convergence of the The Swale, Swale and the Greater Thames Estuary, north of Canterbury and west of Herne Bay, Kent, Herne Bay. The town, formerly known as Whitstable-on-Se ...

, Kent in 1998. Tortilla Army went through a succession of members until establishing the four current members, being mainstays Jim Noble and Sy Morton. Drummer Mik Gaffney joined the band in 2003 and lead guitarist Joe Coomes joined the band in 2006.

History

The band established itself as part of the pub/club music scene in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, drawing inspiration from 90's

bands like

Nirvana Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...

Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. One of the key bands in the grunge, grunge movement of the early 1990s, Pearl Jam has outsold and outlasted many of its contemporaries from the early 1990s, ...

and

Alice in Chains Alice in Chains (often abbreviated as AiC) is an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1987. Since 2006, the band's lineup has comprised vocalist/guitarists Jerry Cantrell and William DuVall, bassist Mike Inez, and drummer Sean Kinney. Voca ...

among others. The original line-up consisting of singer/guitarist Jim Noble, bassist Sy Morton, drummer Chris Jones and percussionist Colin Lovatt honed their sound with hours of practice, adding the unique (at the time) element of live percussion to their sound and live shows. They released their debut album entitled ''A New Journey'' independently in 2002. Drummers come and drummers go, and that's exactly what happened in 2003. Out went founder member Chris Jones in comes Mik Gaffney. Mik immediately put his stamp on the band's sound and style (in fact one of their first song writing sessions yielded fans favorite ''"Broken"''). The new four-piece continued to develop their sound until Colin Lovatt decided to quit the band to continue his life in Australia. Colin has since returned to the UK, and is playing percussion for Get Ape. So Tortilla Army reverted to a trio format, something all three members were comfortable with. After some interest from minor record companies Tortilla Army unexpectedly chose to remain unsigned. Tortilla Army found unexpected local success with ''"Broken"'', the band's lead track from their second album of the same name, 2004's ''Broken''. It wasn't until during a string of dates with U.S. act

Moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

(where they acquired the use of Moth's touring guitarist for a show) did the band feel that a little extra depth was needed. A second guitarist was added in shape of Joe Coomes, the band finally had the perfect line up. Never before did Tortilla Army have such a full sound and the right balance of the right people. Subsequently, Tortilla Army began a small nationwide tour with Swedish heavy metal/

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

band

Freak Kitchen Freak Kitchen is a Swedish rock band from Gothenburg, formed in 1992. History and musical style Freak Kitchen's style of music is influenced by many genres besides traditional heavy metal, ranging from jazz to pop. The band described their th ...

in 2006 bringing along their

sound with great live performances. After four years Tortilla Army released their much anticipated third album 2008's ''Finally''. The album was the first to feature recordings from guitarist Joe Coomes whose input included shredding riffs and blistering guitar solos on top of the seasoned tightness of the original trio of Jim Noble, Sy Morton and Mik Gaffney. This seemed that Tortilla Army were onto a winner with their new direction in sound. Tortilla Army has come a very long way from the initial steps in the backroom of the East Kent public house in

, Kent (spiritual home) to where they are now, and things continue to move forward. With the release of their new EP ''One for the Living'' in April 2010, an ever increasing presence on Facebook, Twitter and

Myspace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

, dates with U.S. band's

& Fizzgig and upcoming tours with the Mighty

in 2010 being put together as we speak, the band are going from strength to strength striding forward. In Feb 2013, it was decided that it was time to call time on Tortilla Army. The band played their last ever gig on Friday 10 May 2013 to a packed Earls in Maidstone. Mik is concentrating on his role in Oi!/punk legends The Last Resort (who just released their latest album 'This Is My England' on Randale Records), whilst Sy has joined Kelly's Heroes on a full-time basis. Sy, Jim and Mik still get together to play random gigs when schedules allow. Jim & Joe also have put together a new act called NE Fingoes, together with drums from the Fool Fighters' Tony Chapman, this new outfit takes pop songs and re covers them in Rock goo!

Style and influences

Tortilla Army's music has been described by fans and critics as

. The band has cited being influenced by bands such as

Kings X King's X is an American rock band formed in Springfield, Missouri, in 1979. They were first called the Edge and later became Sneak Preview before settling on its current name in 1985. The band's current lineup has remained intact for more than ...

and

Pantera Pantera () is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Arlington, Texas in 1981 by the Abbott brothers (guitarist Dimebag Darrell and drummer Vinnie Paul), and currently composed of vocalist Phil Anselmo, bassist Rex Brown, an ...

. These bands inspire Tortilla Army's "catchy vocals, aggressive riffs and melodies" according to band member Sy Morton. The band themselves consider their music as genre free, with Morton going on to state that "We’re simply a rock band with grunge and metal influences, and I’ve said that from Day One". Tortilla Army have been praised in the local press for the band's efforts in their synchronised and melodic song structures. When asked on their views on their looks, members of the band have stated that they would not change their sound or image for a commercial approach; Mortan commented that, "We're more interested in what our music sounds like and entertaining the local crowds than selling out or selling our fans short".

Members

Current members

* Jim Noble – Lead Vocals and

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 ...

(1998–2013 * Sy Morton –

Bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

and Vocals (1998–2013 * Mik Gaffney – Drums (2003–2013 * Joe Websper –

Lead Guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

(2006–2013

Previous members

* Chris Jones – Drums (1998–2003) * Colin Lovatt –

Percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

(1999–2004) * Martin Wisbey –

(2005–2006)

Timeline

ImageSize = width:1000 height:250 PlotArea = left:110 bottom:120 top:0 right:30 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1998 till:10/05/2013 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Colors = id:percussion value:brightgreen legend:Percussion id:bass;vocals value:purple legend:Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals id:drums value:yellow legend:Drums id:rhythm;vocals value:red legend:Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar id:guitar;vocals value:brightblue legend:Lead Guitar id:lines value:black legend:Albums Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:2 ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1998 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1999 LineData = at:07/25/2002 color:black layer:back at:07/27/2004 color:black layer:back at:03/03/2005 color:black layer:back at:05/25/2008 color:black layer:back at:04/04/2010 color:black layer:back BarData = bar:Noble text:"Jim Noble" bar:Morton text:"Sy Morton" bar:Gaffney text:"Mik Gaffney" bar:Jones text:"Chris Jones" bar:Lovatt text:"Colin Lovatt" bar:Coomes text:"Joe Websper" bar:Wisbey text:"Martin Wisbey" PlotData= width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Noble from:01/01/1998 till:end color:rhythm;vocals bar:Morton from:01/01/1998 till:end color:bass;vocals bar:Jones from:01/01/1998 till:03/01/2003 color:drums bar:Lovatt from:01/01/1998 till:04/01/2004 color:percussion bar:Gaffney from:03/23/2003 till:end color:drums bar:Wisbey from:01/20/2005 till:05/27/2006 color:guitar;vocals bar:Coomes from:07/02/2006 till:end color:guitar;vocals

Discography

Studio albums

* ''A New Journey'' (Independent Release, 2002) * ''Broken'' (Independent Release, 2004) * Live From The Muddy Banks Of The Medway (Independent release 2005) * ''Finally'' (Independent Release, 2008) * ''One For The Living'' (Independent Release, 2010)

Compilation albums

* ''Archive'' (Independent Release, 2005)

References

{{Reflist, 2

External links

tortillaarmy.com

facebook.com/tortilla-army

myspace.com/tortilla-army

twitter.com/tortilla-army

mrgig.com/tortilla-army
English heavy metal musical groups Grunge musical groups Musical groups established in 1998