Who is the drummer for the band Superheist?
619884#2
Superheist were formed in Frankston, Victoria in 1993. The original line-up was Rod "Berger" McLeod on vocals, DW Norton on guitar, Sean "Seanheist" Pentecost on drums, Fetah Sabawi on keyboards and samples, and Adrian Sudborough on bass. The band was originally to be named Orgheist, which was inspired by the European grind core bands that they were influenced by at the time.
Superheist
619884#3
The name was soon altered to Superheist, Berger supplied the "Super" while Norton provided the "Heist". McLeod and Norton had met at Overport primary school in Frankston Victoria in 1980 and later attended Frankston High School together. Sean Pentecost was a mutual friend who worked at a local music store, Frankston Guitar Village, and had previously played with Norton, Mcleod and Sudborough in the alt rock band Big Pop Monsters. Superheist's first live performance was at the 21st Century Dance Club, Frankston supporting the Cosmic Psychos. In 1994 they issued a five-track extended play cassette, Apocalypse, which was recorded at Backbeach Studios in Rye, Victoria and later distributed by Warhead records, The band's style at this early stage was grindcore, in the Napalm Death mould and incorporated synth tones, samples and clean vocals mixed amongst the brutal blast beats and death growls. 
The band's focus was to push the boundaries of extreme metal whilst introducing pop and nu-wave inspired melodies and hook lines. The demo was met with rave reviews across the country and as the band began touring nationally they quickly gained a loyal and fanatic following. Later that year bassist Sudborough was replaced with Adam "Donut" Donath and the next year was spent touring the country with bands such as In:Extremis, Damaged and Beanflipper. Superheist were now a regular feature of the Melbourne grind scene and played at such venues as The GB and The Hell Club, the band were learning their craft and honing what would eventually become the foundation for a world class live show. In early December 1995 they appeared at the annual Metal for the Brain festival in Canberra, which raised funds for the National Brain Injury Foundation. This pivotal performance helped the band set themselves up for the next few years to come. They returned for the 1996 festival but by that time Seanheist had left the group due to his waining interest in playing extreme metal. Aaren "Suds" Suttil (1974–2006) of Dreadnaught replaced him on drums.
Superheist
619884#11
On 26 June 2016, Superheist announced their return on their Instagram page with a new album titled "Ghosts of the Social Dead", released on 28 October. It was also announced a few weeks later that former Electrik Dynamite drummer Benny Clark had joined as a replacement for original drummer, Pentecost, who could not commit to the bands reformation due to personal reasons.
Superheist
619884#17
Two days later Superheist announced via their Facebook page that John Sankey will be the new drummer for the upcoming tour, getting the biggest attention the band has ever received.
Superheist
619884#4
In September 1997 the band signed to Melbourne's Shock Records on its subsidiary label Cutthroat and released a five-track EP, Chrome Matrix .] This EP showed a shift from traditional grindcore to a more polished industrial style of death metal. More samples and clean vocals crept into the sound along with more emphasis on keyboards and loops. The band even experimented with re-mixes with the track "Platinum Matrix" The epic "Subhuman" showcased the versatility of McLeod's vocals and clever lyrics. The EP also housed two hidden tracks from the Apocalypse demo, Retarded Barbie and Perfect World. During the recording bassist Adam "Donut" Donath severed his thumb in an industrial accident and was not able to finish his parts. The remaining bass parts for the EP were completed by Norton, while Donut recovered still unsure of his ability to ever play the bass again. Local Melbourne artist Barney "Barnaby Butters" Hughes (deceased) joined the group temporarily to assist on bass guitar duties for several live shows.
More line-up problems plagued the band with drummer Aaren Suttil's commitments to Dreadnaught increasing, he chose to leave the band on good terms. In:Extremis drummer Adam Messenger filled in for the next run of live shows and recorded a number of studio tracks with the band including "Times Killing" and "Pocket Full Of Lies." These tracks appear on the band's 2004 release New Rare Live
In late 1998, After a meeting and an exchange of demos between Berger, DW and Seanheist at the Esplanade Hotel in St.Kilda, Seanheist rejoined the group. Excited by the new sound and the shift away from Grindcore/ Industrial death metal into a more nu-metal vein, songwriting continued, and the foundations were laid for what would eventually become the 8 Miles High EP and the birth of the classic Superheist bouncing metal sound. The post Chrome Matrix demos included early versions of Karma, Fluid and Syncin’ In. Chris Ainsworth (A friend of Back Beach Studios owner Mark Rachelle) temporarily took up keyboards and samples duties while Fetah Sabawi travelled overseas. Superheist then went on to play a series of shows up and down the east coast. With no release for well over a year the band struggled to maintain numbers at live shows. In 1998 Superheist announced bass guitarist Simon "Si" Durrant, from Adelaide-based industrial death metalers, In:Extremis would be the band's full-time replacement for the injured Donut who never regained his full playing ability.
Superheist
35039576#1
In 2012, Sankey joined Howard Jones (ex-Killswitch Engage, Blood Has Been Shed) and Francesco Artusato (All Shall Perish) in Devil You Know, now known as Light the Torch. In June 2016 it was announced that Sankey was no longer part of the band, for reasons unspecified and was replaced by former Trivium drummer Nick Augusto. In February 2017, Sankey joined Australian nu metal band Superheist as their new drummer.
John Sankey (drummer)
619884#5
The beginning of 1998 Fetah returned to Australia and the band began recording tracks for their debut album, which eventually became the eight-track EP, "8 Miles High". They band had already released the single Two-Faced (Check Your Head Up) in 1998 and followed it up with a second 4 track single "Karma" in early 1999/ The group went on to perform on the Vans Warped Tour, and then supported Fear Factory on their tour of Australia's east coast. In June 1999 Superheist toured nationally backing Sepultura, Late that year after a heavy touring schedule Bassist Si Durrant went berserk in a hotel room in Brisbane causing hundreds of dollars worth of damage. The band was chased out of town by the Queensland Police and subsequently Durrant mutually left the band and returned to Adelaide where he joined a short-lived project, Screwface:13. He was replaced in August by Melbourne session bass player Drew Dedman (ex Iconklast), who had met DW (by this time a well known studio producer) while recording bass tracks for Toecutter's "Lost Culture" at Back Beach Recording studio. A brief East Coast and South Australian tour followed with varying degrees of success. With the band's sound changing quiet dramatically, some fans struggled to connect with the new direction. Returning to Melbourne, the band filmed their first music video for the third single Have Your Way. Although never officlally released, the Have Your Way single was distributed by Shock as promotion for the later release of 8 Miles High and has become highly sought after by collectors.
In October 1999, Superheist recorded a cover of Walls by the Flowers at the ABC studios in South Melbourne. This track was featured by national radio station Triple J as part of Aus music month in November. A regional Victorian support with the Screaming Jets, a return to Canberra for Metal for the Brain on the 28th and a handful of local and East coast shows. The band finally got its first taste of a big summer festival stage by getting an early spot on Falls Festival, New Year's Eve. This performance allowed the band to showcase their new sound to a much larger audience and won the hearts of many with blistering live show. At Shock Records, Shagpile label was discontinued and Superheist had neither the budget nor time to record new tracks with Dedman for a full studio album, so 8 Miles High was cut down to 8 tracks and released as an EP on 24 January. Although featured on the artwork and credited as bass player, all the bass tracks on 8 Miles High were played by either Si Durrant or DW Norton. The EP's opening track "Pulse" received airplay on national radio network, Triple J. It was later included on a various artists' compilation album, Full Metal Racket. In January 2000, Dedman finally joined as a full-time member. With Dedman's highly skilled bass playing, the band's rhythm section had never sounded better and the stage was set for Superheist to take things to the next level. 
8 Miles High had made a significant impact on the Australian alternative charts, Pulse, Two-Faced, Karma and Have You Way were receiving significant airplay. This led to a main support slot with Grinspoon on their Australian tour in February. This tour effective broke the band on a national level. As a result of the success of the tour and 8 Miles High, the band was approached by Gregg Donovan of Step2 artist management (Grinspoon, Airbourne) who offered them a management contract. "Pulse" was shelved in favour of a remixed, rereleased version of 2 faced. The band shot a film clip for the new version of the tune which was filmed in Melbourne and the song was re-released to radio as a promo single by Shock records. The CD sleeve featured a new band logo more in the style of US nu-metal band Limp Bizkit. This was done without the band's permission and was promptly removed from circulation after complaints from the band. Superheist's relationship with Shock Records was often tested with the label making numerous ill-fated decisions without consulting the band.
Superheist
619884#8
Following the hugely successful Big Day Out festival in January 2002, the group began work on their second album, "Identical Remote Controlled Reactions" (September 2002). Recorded at Melbourne's Sing Sing Studios and co-produced by dw Norton and Adam Rhodes (The Dirty Three), the album peaked at No. 20 on the national ARIA Chart.
The lead single, "7 Years", had appeared in May 2002, which peaked at No. 29 – the group's highest charting single. It was followed in August by a semi-acoustic rock ballad, "A Dignified Rage", which peaked at No. 50. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2002, Norton and Rhodes were nominated for Engineer of the Year for "A Dignified Rage".
IRCR introduced new vocalist Joey Biro in bold fashion. The sound was generally heavier than "The Prize Recruit" but showed a maturity in the songwriting and playing. Biro's emotive vocal style lending to a more epic version of Superheist's bouncing heavy rock riff style. In July 2003 the band went to America for a second time with the hope of recapturing the interest lost after 11 September. The band played solid shows at the Viper Room and the Roxy and several showcases but failed to get that elusive major International record deal they had come so close to only a year earlier. The dejected members returned to Australia. At this point something clearly changed within the band. After a run of not so successful east coast tours and spot shows late in the year, Superheist was dropped by Step2 Artist management and internal chaos was rife amongst the band. After almost 2 years of solid touring, back to back albums and a lead vocalist change the cracks were starting to appear. The band played all major rock festivals late in 2002 and finished the year with a disastrous New Year's Eve show in Hastings, Victoria. Bassist Drew Dedman, feeling disillusioned after a tumultuous few months, quit the band that night and returned home to North coast NSW refusing to speak to the band for the first few months of 2003. Nevertheless, the band continued to write and record demos for the third album without a bass player, Norton recorded the bass on the demos during this time. In 2003 (add date) Superheist were asked to play the Crusty Demons of Dirt Nine Lives Tour, after some lengthy discussion the band was able to persuade Dedman to return to Melbourne and rejoin the band for the tour and begin writing and rehearsing again. On 8 August 2003, the band recorded a live set a The Corner Hotel in Richmond, Victoria that was set to be released as their first live album. This gig would later be released as disc 2 of New, rare, Live. Superheist were initially billed to appear at Metal for the Brain on 20 December, however, in October they cancelled their appearance. The band's final tour was in North Queensland during December, the demoing of the new album was taking a long time, failure to get new management on board, inconsistent performances and tensions between Norton and Biro flared to breaking point in the final month of touring. Superheist returned to Melbourne, Biro went AWOL and was eventually fired from the band in January. More demoing was done in early 2004 but to no avail. In February 2004 Norton announced that Superheist had disbanded.
During their career Superheist had achieved significant chart success with four singles appearing in the Top 50 and both of its studio albums entering the Top 20. Superheist was seen as a trail blazer for heavy music in Australia. Taking heavy down tuned guitars to the mainstream masses.
Superheist
619884#7
In late October 2001 Superheist embarked on their first US tour. With US management duties taken up by Gary Avila or Bigtime Management Paparoach the band based themselves in West Hollywood. Their first live show was a showcase at SIR Studios in Hollywood in front of a packed room full of record company executives and journalists. Superheist had come to America with a huge hype, and the industry was out in force to see what the buzz was all about. The band played a tight and energetic set. The onlookers suitably impressed. Over the next few weeks a bidding war began for the signature of the band and a US record deal. With commitments back in Australia, the band left America a flew home on 5 September 2001. On 11 September 2001 a devastating terrorist attack on New York's twin towers effectively all negotiations and communication with perspective record labels was lost until February 2002. By then all the interest in signing Superheist was gone. This was a defining moment for Supeheist. The band felt they had missed their calling. Unrest set in amongst some members. Even still, song writing continued. Norton moving the sound away from "rap rock" to a more straight rock metal sound. This did not sit well with vocalist Berger. Further strain on the relationship occurred as Berger distanced himself from the band. In a board meeting set up by management Berger stated he would "only play the big shows and the band would be dropped by the record company should he decide to leave". In mid-November Superheist was set to hit the road with the launch of the Channel V Music Bus. The night before the tour was to begin, the band was played a warm-up show at an all ages event at Berwick youth centre. Mcleod claimed to be unwell on the night and refused to go on stage, the event was sold out and Superheist refused set to cancel the show at the last minute. The band desperately looked for a fill in vocalist. They first approached Wes from Another Race and then finally Joey Biro from one of the earlier supports, From the Inside, not only did Joey know all the Superheist songs, delivered an amazing performance that shocked the crowd and the band. Berger refuse to go on the Channel V Music Bus tour so Superheist invited Joey Biro to be his replacement for the shows. The next few days Biro stayed on with the band and launched the channel V music bus through regional Victoria and NSW. With live national TV broadcasts revealing a fill in singer and shocking fans across the country. During the chaotic week, played out on national television, it became clear to the rest of the band that McLeod no longer shared the commitment and enthusiasm and the band no longer trusted him as their lead singer. He was given a final ultimatum and after consultation with management and record label was fired from the band and replaced by Biro that same week. In 2002 Superheist was to play every major festival in Australia including a main stage slot on the coveted BIG DAY OUT. The shows were a huge success with Biro winning over the fans with his heartfelt performances and powerful voice.
Superheist
1034057#4
Alchemist began recording "Spiritech" in late 1996. After enduring a problematic recording process, the band handed production over to D.W. Norton, the guitarist with Melbourne band Superheist and the part-owner of Back Beach Studios in Rye, Victoria. "Spiritech" introduced more electronic elements as well as tribal rhythms and heavy sampling into the band's "oeuvre" and opened with the sprawling nine-minute "Chinese Whispers", which remains a particular favorite for group and fans alike.
Alchemist (band)