Who are the Pantrans?Bio+pics.
PANDA TRANSPORT- THE OFFICIAL HUBBA BUBBA – JULY 2009
BIO- “A mixed race baby is hot”
She is Kathy Compton and she is a Leo. He is Thierry Holweck and he is
insane. They are Panda Transport and they fight like brother and sister. She
wanted to be a pussycat, a witch or an astronaut, he, alone in a boat or a
sheperd in the Alps. She became a chanteuse and writer of jazz and pop, he,
a punk electro-experimental musician and virtual faders master. Polar opposites, but drawn together by a lust to become better acquainted with the unknown. Their meeting was not pre-ordained in a world where cultures fight to guard themselves from foreign ideas, but every good person knows that a mixed race baby is hot!
PanTrans is a by-product of the global village, creating music where jazz
phrasing, coupled with engaging melodies is set within a soundscape of
harmony and fleeting sounds; astral lounge. Their passion for Voyaging remains central to their bi-continental lifestyle, most compositions being
created on the road in Europe or The States, in yurts and ancient silk factories, utilizing a dilapidated laptop with it’s organs busting out!
The product is a bit more natural sunlight than well- placed studio lighting. It is human music for human people. Kat and Ti’s open and varying tastes in musical styles are what dictate The Panda Transport sound- a mélange of electronic and natural instrumentation utilizing vocal harmonies, theremin, flute, vocoder, wooden and wired guitars, handmade percussion, synths and a trolley full of toys and light!
Hard and Brazen facts; a casual Timeline-
Panda Transport was conceived in September of 2006 after meeting and making friends with each other via the Information Super Highway, pen pal style,
when work began in earnest to record material for the debut album:
November 2006- Philippe Petit, Bip-Hop Records label manager, and member of
Strings of Consciousness (CCI/Mute Records) requests that the duo create a remix for his upcoming release, Deviasonist.
February 2007- Their re-conception of Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us
Apart is released on a Play It Again Sam Records compilation and reaches mass audiences peaking at #5 on French national radio, France Inter.
At this time, The band travel both extensively in Europe with members of Add N to X and in the U.S., supporting Girl Talk. Between March and June 2007, they
play 25 shows Europe and the States.
May 2007- The song Paint by Numbers is play listed on SR, National Swedish radio.
It also appears on Agoon-agoon compilation featuring the Dirty
Princess (Gigolo Records), Pureape (Alpine Chic Records), and Risqué
(Substream Records), among others.
Dutch techno producer Bart Thissen (Wolfskuil Records) does a
remix of Paint by Numbers.
April 2008- the debut record Plush Mechanique is released on Alpine
Chic records.
June 2008- Their video Back to School is featured on the DVD La BIO De
Lyon distributed by National French magazine Les InRocks and the
city of Lyon.
Additional videos Transmission and Paint By Numbers (all created and
executed by Holweck) begin to go into rotation and are broadcasted on major French Television Network TF1 and German/French Arts and Culture channel ARTE.
In July 2008 the band does a U.S. East-Coast tour
August 2008- Pantrans snags great press in NME “…wonderous music!!!!!!!! They were so good, so sweet, so darn good. I’m still smiling…really!” quote from Culture Clash Record Store Live In Store- Performance
February 2009- The song Transmission is selected and featured on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy (#513 “Beat Your Heart Out”). Sales of the single and of the album climb and the band feels very happy. New shoes are not only shoe-gazed at but actually purchased.
In Winter 2009 PanTrans tours U.S. and is interviewed for French Channel TLM
March 2009- they compose and are featured (under the name of Severin24 featuring Kathy Compton) in UK’s The Wire magazine sampler dedicated to collaborations with Philippe Petit featuring Lydia Lunch, Bela Emerson, Fanny Cosi Tutti, Ddamage, and String of Consciousness among others.
April 2009- Video Transmission enters the German Video Charts at number 3 on C-Tube
At this time Transmission charts at number 25 for top 50 songs in Magazine C-ville
In May 2009 the video Faith wins the European Electronica festival Nuits Sonores Audience and jury concours award for creativity.
Currently the duo is getting set to release the EP Monorail and will be
Defending it both in Europe and in The States in late 2009 and 2010.
.
