NiCad (band)

NiCad is an international rock band based in the Netherlands. The five members come from five different countries: Japan, Israel, Chile, United States and Germany.

Name

The name NiCad is an acronym made up from the countries from where the members come from written in their native languages: Nippon (Japan), Israel, Chile, America (United States) and Deutschland (Germany).NiCad is also the copyrighted name for the nickel-cadmium battery (commonly abbreviated NiCd due to copyright reasons).

Band members

*Satoshi Shiraishi (Japan): electric guitar, bass, voice and electronics.
*Gilad Woltsovitch (Israel): drums, voice and electronics.
*Roberto Garretón (Chile): electric guitar and bass.
*Kyle Dukes (USA): lead voice, acoustic guitar and electronics.
*Josef Rebbe (Germany): keyboards.

Musical style

It is hard to classify NiCad's style due to the different cultural backgrounds of the band members, but it could be said that it has aspects of indie rock, progressive rock and blues. One distinctive characteristic is the use of live electronics in their recordings, but mainly in the live performances, including the utilization of self made hardware instruments that control custom made software processing.

History of the band

The NiCad members met in The Hague, Netherlands in 2002, where they went to study Sonology at the Institute of Sonology in the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. There they learned computer programming, DSP, and sound composition, elements that later on they included as important component of their music.The band was formed two years later, in the boreal summer of 2004, when they made a self produced recording named "Juice". Shortly after their first gig, around the beginning of 2005, they captured the attention of the The Hague's local scene, and were appointed to perform in the 2005's edition of the Europe's biggest open air free pop festival .On February 2006, They released their first full album under the Dutch Independent label Dying Giraffe Recordings, tittled "Every Day I Grow". This album made a big impact on the local scene.They have toured extensively through the Netherlands and Benelux. In May 2007 they made their first tour to Israel, experience that they repeated on year later on April 2008 due to the success of the first tour. They performed in the most important venues of Tel-aviv, Jerusalem, Beersheba, Haifa, and in some small towns and kibbutz. They also brought recordings of The Hague's local bands that were broadcasted on Israelis local radio station. They made a strong musical/friendship connection with the Israeli band Side, from Beersheba, and they collaborated together in the organization of their European tour in the late 2007.On May 2008, they toured on south Germany (Freiburg, Saarbrüken, Landau), together with the German duo Werle & Stankowsky, and France (Paris, Bordeaux, Lyon and Lille) with the Dutch band Mucho Maestro.On May 2008, NiCad won the GPZH (great prize of south Holland), an important music competition.On the 4th of July, they released their second album, an EP tittled "The Hill", which is one of the nominated for the best recordings of 2008 by the local magazine 3voor12.They are appointed to perform in the most important concert hall of The Hague, the Dr. Anton Philipszaal, as part of the acts for the TodaysArt festival, a two days event for contemporary art that takes place on the city center of The Hague.

Discography

;"Juice": demo album, 2005.;"Balance and fairness": compilation album made by Dying Giraffe Recordings, 2005.;" [http://www.dyinggiraffe-recordings.com/music.php?p=nicad%20-%20Everyday%20I%20grow Everyday I Grow] ": debut album was released on february of 2006 under the label Dying Giraffe Recordings.;"Watch your neck": compilation album made by Dying Giraffe Recordings to celebrate the label's third anniversary, 2007.;"The Hill": Dying Giraffe Recordings, EP 2008.

External links

* [http://www.nicad.org/ NiCad's web site]
* [http://dyinggiraffe-recordings.com/ Dying Giraffe Recordings]
* [http://www.myspace.com/nicadmusic NiCad on MySpace]