Artist
pendulum
illustrator
Philippines
pendulum is a musician from Philippines. Their discography on Gatefold includes 8 records.
8
Albums tracked
27
In collections
—
Since
Biography
There are likely more than 7 artists behind the name "Pendulum": 1. Pendulum is a drum and bass-influenced electronic rock group from Perth, Australia, who relocated to the UK in 2003. The group (2002) comprises Rob Swire (vocals/synth/producer), Gareth McGrillen (bass guitar/producer/DJ), Perry ap Gwynedd (guitar), Paul 'El Hornet' Harding (DJ), KJ Sawka (drums) and Ben 'The Verse' Mount (MC). The band was in a hiatus from 2012 until 2020 (in that time El Hornet and Mc Verse performed DJ sets using the alias).
The Arc of pendulum
The pivots — what forced pendulum to reinvent.
The Breakbeat Kaos Years
Moving from Australia to the UK put them right under the wing of DJ Fresh and Adam F. They spent this era refining the 'Pendulum sound'—that hyper-compressed, high-octane snare and rolling bassline that felt more like a machine gun than a groove. It culminated in Hold Your Colour, an album that combined plastic-sounding synths with liquid funk sensibilities and basically forced the entire drum and bass genre to pick a side.
The Arena Rock Pivot
The shift for In Silico wasn't subtle; Swire started singing lead and they brought in a full-time drummer to transition into a live band. They swapped the complex breakbeats for straight rock rhythms and massive distorted guitar riffs, aiming directly at the Download Festival crowd rather than the Fabric basement. This was the moment they became a pop-adjacent powerhouse, losing the respect of the 'headz' but gaining a massive global audience that didn't care about tempo snobbery.
Influences
- The Prodigy — Rob Swire has cited Liam Howlett as the primary reason he realized dance music could have the energy of a punk show. You hear it in the distorted lead synths and the aggressive, maximalist production style that prioritizes impact over subtlety.
- Konflict — The track 'Messiah' is the specific record Swire credits with changing his life and steering him toward drum and bass. Its cold, tech-step precision provided the foundation for Pendulum’s early work on the 31 Records label.
- Metallica — Before the synths, Swire and McGrillen were metalheads, and they never really lost the desire for the big riff. The song structures on Immersion borrow more from thrash metal dynamics than they do from traditional house or techno.
- Bad Company UK — The group's 'The Nine' was a staple in their early sets and heavily informed the dark, driving bass energy of their debut single 'Vault.' They chased that specific UK tech-step grit before adding their own stadium-sized polish.
- Led Zeppelin — They’ve openly discussed the influence of John Bonham’s drum sound on their approach to recording live kits. They wanted that massive, room-filling acoustic weight to anchor their electronic elements, especially on the later records.
Discography
Their records — most-collected first.
Around the web
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