Perth, Australia · drum and bass · electronic rock

Pendulum

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Australian drum-and-bass played by an actual rock band — the live show is louder and more physical than the records suggest.

Pendulum formed in Perth, Western Australia, in 2002, when Rob Swire, Gareth McGrillen and Paul Harding, who DJed locally as El Hornet, began working together after meeting at a producers' night. Swire and McGrillen had played in rock and metal bands, and Harding had drummed in a punk band before turning to drum and bass DJing in the late 1990s.

Their first track, 'Vault', appeared in 2003 and found more response among UK drum and bass fans than at home, prompting a move to London. Breakbeat Kaos signed the group, releasing their debut album, Hold Your Colour, in 2005, which charted in Britain and Australia and went gold in Australia.

By 2006 the trio had grown into a sextet, adding Ben Mount as MC, guitarist Peredur ap Gwynedd and drummer Paul Kodish, with McGrillen moving to bass guitar. The expanded lineup applied rock production values and Swire's sung vocals to drum and bass, producing a dense, heavily compressed sound that reached beyond the genre's usual audience.

Second album In Silico, released in 2008, pushed further into rock territory, reaching number 2 in the UK and number 9 in Australia. Later records moved still further toward electronic rock, performed live with drums, bass and guitar rather than from decks.

The band went on hiatus in 2012 while Swire and McGrillen focused on their electro house duo Knife Party, before reforming in 2015. They have since released a remix album, The Reworks, the EPs Elemental and Anima, and a fourth studio album, Inertia, in 2025.

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drum and basselectronic rock