8 Foot Sativa

Biography :

8 Foot Sativa is a New Zealand-based metal band formed in 1998. Their most famous single is their self titled song, "8 Foot Sativa", which was number one on M2's top 12 list for 12 weeks, and stayed on the chart for seven months. (M2 was a New Zealand late night Music Show.) The band has toured and released albums internationally, and have played alongside artists such as Soulfly, Korn, Slipknot, System of a Down, Children of Bodom, Disturbed, Motörhead, Pungent Stench, Shihad and Corrosion of Conformity.

8 Foot Sativa have had many line-up changes with four in 2006, and one in 2007, claiming they've had "the line-up changes from hell".


History :

Early days (1998-2002)

8 Foot Sativa started when Brent Fox and Gary Smith meet at Massey High School in Auckland, New Zealand. They both enjoyed metal music and started jamming together. Peter 'Speed' Young from Kelston Boys' High School joined the band as the drummer. 'Fat' Dave was on the bass guitar. In this lineup they were a cover band who would play covers by Pantera, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Sepultura, Metallica and Slayer.

'Fat' Dave would often not turn up to practices, so Brent Fox moved from guitar to bass guitar. The band would meet their next vocalist Ari, at a music school they taught at where he was doing drums. Ari was the first vocalist to do original songs. He wrote the lyrics to the songs 'Fuel Set' , 'Kick it all Away' and 'Engine' . All of which would later end up on the Hate Made Me album.

During this time the band meet Justin 'Jackhammer' Niessen at a mall. According to Gary Smith: "He used to sneak into the gigs and we'd sneak him beers". Ari disappeared, not to be seen by the band for a few years. Niessen then became the new vocalist.

Niessen is famed by many 8 Foot Sativa fans, for occasionally performing his vocals to the point of collapsing. This happened once on NZ music show SPACE while performing 'Destined to be Dead'. NZMusician.com claims that these collapses were due to, "shortage of breath attributed to a lack of vocal training".

Hate Made Me (2002)

In 2002, 8 Foot Sativa released their debut album Hate Made Me, and the album has since received gold status within New Zealand (To receive gold status in New Zealand the band must sell more than 7,500 copies). Shortly after the release of Hate Made Me, Young left the band reportedly citing 'musical differences'. He was replaced with Sinate drummer, Sam Sheppard.

This album features what is probably 8 Foot Sativa's most well-known song, the eponymous "8 Foot Sativa", which is a staple at their live shows. It also appeared in an episode of Monster Garage.

Season For Assault (2003)

In 2003, 8 Foot Sativa released their second album Season for Assault. It is nearing gold status within New Zealand. The album features the songs "Chelsea Smile" - a particularly well known song - and "Season For Assault".

Season For Assault sees 'Sativa lift their game to a whole new level with far more complex riffs and more insightful lyrics than on "Hate...".

Niessen resigned from the band two weeks before they were set to fly to Sweden to record their third album (Breed The Pain). The band was only singer-less for two days. Sam Sheppard's brother, and fellow Sinate member, Matt Sheppard became 8 Foot Sativa's new vocalist.

Breed The Pain (2005)

With a new vocalist, 8 Foot Sativa released their third album Breed the Pain in 2005. It was recorded at Studio Underground in Sweden. New vocalist Matt Sheppard wrote or co-wrote six of the songs on the album, and his girlfriend did the art-work.

Matt Sheppard and Sam Sheppard left 8 Foot Sativa after the Breed the Pain tour. They reformed their previous band, Sinate. They joined forces with 8 Foot Sativa's guitar technician Sean Parkinson and Antony "Colonel" Folwell from the band Reprobate.

Justin 'Jackhammer' Niessen toured with the band temporarily from September 9 until September 17 playing a four concert tour around New Zealand. This tour also saw new-comers William Cleverdon, and Corey Friedlander join the band. Justin 'Jackhammer' Niessen and the band pulled out songs mainly from Hate Made Me and Season for Assault, the albums which Niessen was in the band for.

Poison Of Ages (2007)

Ben Read, from New Zealand Death metal band Ulcerate and formerly of premiere hardcore band Kill Me Quickly, joined the band as the new vocalist. 8 Foot Sativa, went over to Studio Underground in Sweden again to record their new album titled Poison of Ages. However Corey Friedlander had injured himself so could not do the drum work on the album. Steven Westerberg, the drummer from Carnal Forge, did the session work for this album. William Cleverdon left the band shortly after this album was recorded.

In Mid 2006, William Cleverdon rejoined the band on second guitar. Corey Friedlander left due to personal reasons, and decided to primarily focus on his other band "Final Eve". Jamie Saint Merat, from Ben Read's other band Ulcerate, joined to replace Friedlander.

In October 2006 Brent Fox, an 8 Foot Sativa original, decided to leave the band because he wasn't enjoying it anymore. This leaves 8 Foot Sativa with only one original member in the lineup, Gary Smith. Fox was replaced by Rom Smith.

In January 2007 guitarist William Cleverdon went to a specialist about a nagging pain in his left wrist. The result was that one of his bones in his forearm was significantly shorter than the other one. This condition requires a lot of surgery and rehabilitation so Cleverdon had to leave the band. Christian Humphreys, a member of Rom's other band, New Way Home, replaced Cleverdon

The album was originally meant to be released on May 8, 2006, however it was postponed due to a breached contract. Ben Read stated on the official forums's that the album would not be released until the band could put together $20,000 NZD. The album finally got released on May 21, 2007.

The album features much heavier vocals than on previous 'Sativa works, with all or most of the lyrics written by Ben Read and Gary Smith. As well as this, the music takes on a heavier note, sliding into the realms of blackened death metal at some points.

2009

Gary Smith returned from injury to rejoin the band. Jamie Saint Merat left the band to relocate with his other band Ulcerate.

8 Foot Sativa, still working on a new unnamed album, released a new single called SleepWalkers. The video to this single is controversial as it follows a calf from the farm, to the freezing works showing it being killed, then chopped up by butchers, before being sold to a family in a supermarket. It does this in graphical disturbing way. It also shows pigs, and chickens being held in cages. A message at the end of the video states "Thousands of animals were harmed in the making of this video."

In July 2009, the band lost Romilly Smith on bass and gained Steve Boag of In Dread Response. Before heading to the studio to record the new still unnamed album. 8 Foot Sativa are to travel New Zealand performing final shows before the studio, joined by In Dread Response, New Way Home, Bloodletting, The Rest Is Silence.., and other various local acts across New Zealand

2010

8 Foot Sativa goes on hiatus for a period of indefinite time.

Taken from 8 Foot Sativa's myspace, written by Ben Read:

"This news may come as a bit of a shock, but there have been some huge changes over the last month. As most of you know, Gary has been struggling with an ongoing injury for quite some time that has made it difficult for him to play and tour. This has come to a head with a decision by Gary to put 8 Foot Sativa on hiatus for as long as it takes for him to recover. This has been a tremendously difficult decision for him to make, and we all support him 100%. However, the remaining 4 members (Corey, Christian, Steve and I) don't want to stop making music. So we have decided to form a new band and carry on without Gary. Again, this was not an easy decision to make, but a necessary one as we all really want to be playing music as much as we can.

So to sum up, Gary and 8 Foot Sativa are going on an extended break, with the rest of us leaving to start a new band called The Mark of Man, which have just signed to Deadboy Records. We have our self titled debut CD coming out mid year, so stay tuned.

Thanks so much for all the support throughout the years. It is appreciated more than you will ever know. Please continue to support 8 Foot Sativa in whatever carnation it re-emerges and, please take the time to check out The Mark of Man!"


Band Members :

Early lineup #1

* Russel - Vocals
* Gary Smith - Guitar
* Brent Fox - Guitar
* Fat Dave - Bass Guitar
* Tim - drums

Early Line-Up #2

* Ari - Vocals
* Gary Smith - Guitar
* Brent Fox - Bass Guitar
* Peter 'Speed' Young - Drums

2002

Hate Made Me

* Justin 'Jackhammer' Niessen - Vocals
* Gary Smith - Guitar
* Brent Fox - Bass Guitar
* Peter 'Speed' Young - Drums

2003-2004

Season For Assault

* Justin 'Jackhammer' Niessen - Vocals
* Gary Smith - Guitar
* Brent Fox - Bass Guitar
* Sam Sheppard - Drums

2005

Breed The Pain

* Matt Sheppard - Vocals
* Gary Smith - Guitar
* Brent Fox - Bass Guitar
* Sam Sheppard - Drums

September 2005

* Justin 'Jackhammer' Niessen - Vocals
* Gary Smith - Guitar
* William Cleverdon - Guitar
* Brent Fox - Bass Guitar
* Corey Friedlander - Drums

Late 2005
* Ben Read - Vocals
* Gary Smith - Guitar
* William Cleverdon - Guitar
* Brent Fox - Bass Guitar
* Corey Friedlander - Drums

2006

Poison Of Ages

* Ben Read - Vocals
* Gary Smith - Guitar
* William Cleverdon - Guitar
* Brent Fox - Bass Guitar
* Steven Westerberg - Drums

Mid 2006

* Ben Read - Vocals
* Gary Smith - Guitar
* Brent Fox - Bass Guitar
* Corey Friedlander - Drums

Late 2006

* Ben Read - Vocals
* Gary Smith - Guitar
* William Cleverdon - Guitar
* Brent Fox - Bass Guitar
* Jamie Saint Merat - Drums

Late 2006 - Early 2007

* Ben Read - Vocals
* Gary Smith - Guitar
* William Cleverdon - Guitar
* Romilly Smith - Bass Guitar
* Jamie Saint Merat - Drums

2007- Early 2009

* Ben Read - Vocals
* Gary Smith - Guitar
* Christian Humphreys - Guitar
* Romilly Smith - Bass Guitar
* Jamie Saint Merat - Drums

Early 2009 - July 2009

* Ben Read - Vocals
* Gary Smith - Guitar
* Christian Humphreys - Guitar
* Romilly Smith - Bass Guitar
* Corey Friedlander - Drums

Current Members :

* ? - Vocals
* Gary Smith - Guitar
* ? - Guitar
* ? - Bass Guitar
* ? - Drums


Discography :

Studio Albums :

* 8 Foot Sativa - Hate Made Me (2002)
* 8 Foot Sativa - Season for Assault (2003)
* 8 Foot Sativa - Breed the Pain (2005)
* 8 Foot Sativa - Poison of Ages (2007)
* 8 Foot Sativa - Sleepwalkers (Single) (2009)