Search
Top » Bands and Artists » M » Mogwai » Biographies
Biography: Mogwai
"I think a lot of people make 'art-rock' but forget to actually rock... they're too busy 'arting'. We're a rock'n'roll band that avoids cliches. We don't have choruses. Art forms have to progress." - Stuart Lesley Braithwaite.
Mogwai was formed in Glasgow in 1996 by long time friends Stuart Braithwaite (guitars/vox), Dominic Aitchison (guitar) and Martin Bulloch (drums). John Cummings was soon drafted in as an additional guitarist. Their aim was simply "to make some serious guitar music".
Brendan O'Hare, formerly of the excellent Telstar Ponies, joined the band temporarily in 1997 and helped make their debut LP "Mogwai Young Team". He also toured with them extensively that summer. Brendan left the band at the end of 1997 due to his commitments to his other projects, Macrocosmica and Fiend.
After touring with the band in the summer of 1998, Barry Burns was asked to join Mogwai as a full-time member. The "multi-instumentalist" helped record the band's second full length album, "Come On Die Young".
Mogwai are at the forefront of the growing "post-rock" scene. Nearly all of their songs are instrumentals, and they manage to convey themes and emotions through the simple use of melody and extreme dynamics. Mogwai are unlike any other band around - truly rock for the 21st century.