FLEISCH (styled in all caps) is an Industrial Metal band from the UK that started as a solo project for singer/guitarist Jonathan Blunsdon from his bedroom in Upper Heyford,

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

. The early music was heavily influenced by German bands Rammstein and Eisbrecher.

History

Jonathan Blunsdon formed a line-up with Ruby Alexia on Bass and Connal Bower on drums, schoolmates from Towcester Rock School in Northamptonshire. In 2013, FLEISCH self-released an album called ''Strange Feelings'', which the band didn't like, and removed from the internet in 2014. The band does not consider this to be their first album. FLEISCH released the album ''MINE'' in January 2017 through independent label Casket Music. With this album FLEISCH started to gain more attention as they played in the UK, Belgium and Germany to promote the release. Two music videos were recorded to promote the album. These were for songs "Russian Roulette" and "Holy". FLEISCH self-released the EP ''Control'' in July 2018 on all streaming services with a video for Control also uploaded to YouTube. For the next two years, the band continued to play extensively up and down the UK, playing over 30 shows in the year. FLEISCH self-released the EP ''British'' in December 2019 on all streaming services with a video also uploaded to YouTube. The video was filmed at one of their shows at MK11,

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...

. It is currently the most watched video that the band has released. Ruby Alexia left the band in 2020 and was replaced by Martin Davey. He played his first show with FLEISCH on in October 2021 in London. During the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020, Jonathan set about writing a new album in his studio. A new single called "Kingdom Crying" released on 31 December 2021 with an accompanying music video. The second single to be released was title track "The Kite" which was released on 21 January 2022. The album, ''The Kite'' was released in March 2022, it was written and recorded by Jonathan Blunsdon and mastered by Ben Farestvedt. Throughout 2022 & 2023, they continued to play gigs and festivals throughout the UK. Since March 2023, FLEISCH have been campaigning to represent the UK at the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

. They released the singles "Fuel" on 27 October and "FIREFLY" on 1 December 2023. Both songs were mastered by Ben Farestvedt at Damage Audio in Bedford, with the latter being the single the band had wished to be considered for Eurovision 2024.{{Cite web , last=Rick , date=2023-06-06 , title=Zara Larsson, Fleisch, Elsie Bay: Diese Acts bekunden schon jetzt Interesse am ESC 2024 , url=https://esc-kompakt.de/zara-larsson-fleisch-elsie-bay-diese-acts-bekunden-schon-jetzt-interesse-am-esc-2024/ , access-date=2024-02-02 , website=ESC kompakt , language=de-DE

Members

Current members

* Jonathan Blunsdon (2012–present) - Guitar, vocals * Connal Bower (2012 –present) - Drums * Martin Davey (2021–present) - Bass, backing vocals

Former members

* Ruby Alexia (2012-2020)

Discography

Extended plays

* ''Control'' (2018) * ''British'' (2019)

Studio albums

* ''Strange Feelings'' (2013) * ''MINE'' (2017) * ''The Kite'' (2022)

Singles

* ''Kingdom Crying'' (2021) * ''The Kite'' (2022) * ''Fuel'' (2023) * ''FIREFLY'' (2023)

References

Musical groups from Oxfordshire English heavy metal musical groups