Ethereal

The band

Ethereal are a five-piece band from Liverpool. They play symphonic gothic rock: orchestral arrangements and heavy guitars, with a classically trained singer out front.

The band started with singer Gwendolyn Niemeyer and composer and keyboard player Leigh, who met at secondary school in south Liverpool. Gwendolyn was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1989, and moved to Liverpool with her family in 1999. Leigh, born in 1987, was two years above her.

Their first piece of work together was a choral arrangement Leigh wrote for the school Christmas concert in 2003, with Gwendolyn singing the solo. They kept writing after he went on to study music at university, and by 2006 they had a set of demos that needed a band to play them.

Guitarist Daniel Keane answered a note Leigh had left in a music shop on Bold Street. Drummer Chris Molyneux and bassist Sam Whitfield joined early in 2007, and the five of them played their first gig at the Zanzibar on Seel Street that May.

Their debut album, Ethereal, was recorded in Liverpool over the winter of 2008 and released in March 2009. As well as its fourteen songs, it includes acoustic versions of The Last Prayer and Reason and an alternative version of Freedom.

History

1. 1999 Gwendolyn Niemeyer moves from West Chester, Pennsylvania, to Liverpool with her family.
2. 2003 Leigh and Gwendolyn work together for the first time, on a choral piece for their school's Christmas concert.
3. 2006 The first demos are recorded in a spare room in Wavertree, and four of them go online as The Silent You. Daniel Keane joins on guitar.
4. 2007 Chris Molyneux and Sam Whitfield complete the line-up. First gig at the Zanzibar, Liverpool, in May. The Fallen Skies EP follows in November.
5. 2008 Support slots around the north of England. The album is recorded over the winter.
6. 2009 Ethereal is released on 21 March, followed by the band's first headline tour of the UK and Europe.

Discography

• 2009 Ethereal Album
• 2007 Fallen Skies EP
• 2006 The Silent You Demo