Biography
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Years Active
1994 – 2001 (7 years)
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Founded In
Birmingham, West Midlands, England, United Kingdom
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Members
- Mark Cancellara
- Michael Johnston
- Mike "Billy" Bainbridge
Plone are Mike 'Billy' Bainbridge, Mark Cancellara and Michael Johnston, all playing keyboards, vocoders and fx.
Formed in Birmingham, UK in late 1994 when Mark & Mike started to buy old analogue keyboards and fx and began to rehearse making huge soundscapes. Mike was living with Billy (who was in another band at the time) who bought himself a keyboard and joined the band.
The band started gigging as support to local bands such as Pram & Broadcast. In 1997 the band were approached by Wurlitzer Jukebox which released the single 'Press a Key'. On the strength of this the band were signed to Warp, and in September 1998 they released the single 'Plock'. This was tipped as one of the singles of the year by NME, Melody Maker, Dazed & Confused etc.
An album 'For Beginner Piano' was released in September 1999 to wide spread critical acclaim of the band's then pioneering 'timeless electronic melodies' and was a breath of fresh air in what had become an incredibly stale and studious IDM scene.
Rob Mitchell (who had originally signed the band to Warp) was diagnosed with cancer in 2001 and the band rushed to deliver their second album, Rob died in the September of that year and the band were dropped by the label he'd founded shortly afterwards and the band dissolved. The album is still awaiting official release.
Billy went on to play keyboards with Broadcast (on the Ha Ha Sound tour) and is now a member of Seeland with Tim Felton (now also ex-Broadcast) and have released a single 'Wander/Pherox' on Duophonic in 2005.
Mike Johnston went on to form Mike In Mono and is also 'Clive 2' in ZX Spectrum Orchestra and a member of Modified Toy Orchestra. Mark is currently DJ-ing with Matt from Pram for Silver Dollar, a reggae club in Birmingham.
In 2019 the label Ghost Box announced that Bainbridge and Johnston were reuniting to produce more music as Plone, that would be released on their label. They released their third (second officially released) studio album, Puzzlewood, in April 2020.
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