Jason Mendonça

Jason Mendonça (born 1971) is a British multi-instrumentalist an componer.

He is best kent as the vocalist an guitarist o the Breetish progressive blackened daith metal baund Akercocke, awtho he haes reached notoriety oothrou the experimental electronic muivement o the 1990s anaa.

Early life

Mendonca wis born o an Englis mither an a Portuguese faither in the wast Lunnon suburb o Wast Drayton an educatit in Hillingdon. The youngest o fower childer, he wis raised in a hoose whaur muisic wis aye being played. Either bi his sister on the piano or his aulder siblins listenin tae baunds such as Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones an the Sex Pistols as well as a collection o classical muisic records that the family awned.

He haed piano lessons frae the age o 5 an at primary schuil began playing B flat Cornet. He later played cornet frae age 7 an then Baritone Euphonium wi the Yiewsley an West Drayton Silver Band.

At the age o 10, he acquired a three quarter size Spaninyie guitar frae his Uncle an attemptit a few basic chords. Suin efter startin secondary school at age 11, awready keenly interestit in baunds such as Rush, Iron Maiden, Motorhead an Black Sabbath he wis introduced tae the muisic o Jimi Hendrix by a schuil friend. This wis the turnin point at which Mendonca realised he must obtain an electric guitar.

Allegedly savin up £4.50 a week frae a Seturday job, he accumulatit sufficient funds tae buy a guitar frae the aulder brither o a classmate.

Meetin wi David Gray

In 1987 some schuil friends wur tryin tae stairt a baund an advertised for a drummer in Guitarist magazine. Gray answered the advert an the ensemble began playin covers as a three piece. Gray thocht they needit a seicont guitarist an Mendonca wis introduced tae the fauld. The oreeginators o this schuil days project faded away as Mendonca and Gray began tae splore mair aggressive influences such as early Bathory, Venom, Celtic Frost, Possessed an Voivod.

These experimentations led tae the formulation o numerous proto-projects wi numerous collaborators till approximately 1989.

Salem Orchid

In 89, Mendonca an Gray teamed up wi guitarist Stephen Wood an bassist Dan Temple tae form wha wad be ane o mony varied line-up configurations o Salem Orchid.

Their efforts culminated in the 1991 recordin o the "Sempiternal Suffering" demo. This recordin wad later catch the attention o Nihil frae Cacophonous Records (who wad later sign Cradle of Filth) who expressed an interest in signin the baund. Wird o this reached a umwhile guitarist Jeff Godwin (who haed inventit the baund's moniker) who threatened legal action if Cacophonous signed the baund as Salem Orchid. Frightened bi the threat o litigation, the record label directit their interest elsewhaur.

By 1992, frustratit bi the sonic restrictions o bass, drums an guitar but athoot the skills tae employ a broader palette o instrumentation, Mendonca left Salem Orchid. In addition tae emergin airtistic differences, this split wis an aa motivatit bi a fallin oot atween Mendonca an drummer Gray when a female sangster wis introduced tae the line-up.

The electronic years

Disassociatin hissel frae the concept o "baund", Mendonca re-locatit tae North Lunnon an began promotin experimental techno pairties wi twa close friends. It wis durin this time that he wis befriendit bi Grant Wilson-Claridge o Rephlex Records. Wilson-Claridge gave Mendonca access tae his impressive studio. This affordit Mendonca the opportunity tae experiment wi sampling an sequencin technologies. As his audio ingineerin skills developed he became fascinatit bi the science o psychoacoustics an began creatin soonds through experimentation. Shunnin pre-set sounds an settins frae senthesisers, his objective wis tae make soonds that haed niver been heard afore.

Akercocke is born

In 1996, Mendonca an Gray crossed paths again an promptly buried the hatchet that haed in pairt led them ceasin tae collaborate. They began discussin ideas for a muisical project that wad be o mutual interest. Agreein that the essence o seminal baunds such as Voivod an Killing Joke wis that they put their awn spin on rock muisic tae create an oreeginal soond, they wur inspired tae attempt the same. The project wis even gien a name, lang afore the pair returned tae their instruments: Akercocke wis born. Takin the name frae Robert Nye's beuk "Faust" the baund hae gone on tae hae a career that haes taken them maist o the way aroond the warld an includit 5 successful studio albums.

Present day

Mendonca lives an wirks in Berkshire, Soothren Ingland wi his family.

References

• "Akercocke official website". Retrieved 21 December 2007.
• "Jason Mendonca on IMDb".