Number of shows i’ve seen through my lens: 3 shows
Photographed in (years): 2017 & 2018
Venues: Oosterpoort, Groningen
Festivals: Stone Rock Festival, Zwarte Cross Festival
Band members:
Jimmy O.
Guitar / vocals 2011 – present
Mikey Sorbello
Drums 2011 – present
Band history:
Jimmy O and Mikey Sorbello are both from Australia but live in London, England and that is were they met. Jimmy and Mikey meet in late January / early February 2011 at a jam and the two become instant friends. Two days are they first meet the two play there first concert at the 100 club in London. The two friends start writing music together and play as many shows as they can in their hometown London. In August 2011 they have writing five songs that they think are good enough to release and go into the studio to record them. Two months are the recording in the Miloco Studios in London, the self titled EP “The Graveltones” is digitally release on the band’s website and through iTunes.
In February 2012, a year after the first met, The Graveltones play a tour through their land of origin Australia. Later that year, on May 21, the band release their first single “I Want Your Love“. “I Want Your Love” is a new song that wasn’t on the self titled EP release a year before. The single was only released as a free download from the band’s official website. In August The Graveltones start their first European tour playing as many shows as they can.
The start of 2013 was spent on recording The Graveltones’ first album in the Monnow Valley Studios in London. The album will be released later that year but first the band goes on an UK tour supporting The Temperance Movement in September. In October 2013 the album “Don’t Wait Down” is released under their own label Lagoon Dog Records and distributed by RSK Entertainment. The album was well received by critics and Jimmy and Mikey spent the rest of 2013 and the beginning of 2014 playing a lot of shows in the UK promoting the album.
After releasing their debut album the year before, The Graveltones spent the whole of 2014 on the road through Europe promoting the album. By now the band played as a headline act in England, Germany and other European countries. In the summer of 2014 Jimmy and Mikey played every festival they could including the Download Festival. After the festival they continued to tour and announced toward the end of the year that they started writing songs for their second album. In January 2015 pictures of the band in the Orgone Studios in London appeared on their Facebook page with producer Jamie Gomez. Jimmy, Mikey and Jamie took their time recording the album and the result was a great album.
Mikey Sorbello live 2017
The album “Love Lies Dying” was released in June 2015 and was met with great reviews from critics and fans. The rest of the year 2015 the band spent touring through Europe to promote the album.
Since the 2015 release of “Love Lies Dying” The Graveltones haven’t released any new material. They continue to tour as much as they can through Europe with a lot of success but no new recordings are released. The band makes more money playing live then releasing a new album on their own label. Jimmy and Mikey are not looking for a hit single but just want to make their money playing music and that’s what they are doing.
I saw the band many times live over the years and they are a great live band.