Pendulum

Pendulum are proof that drum and bass doesn’t have to stay confined to a club. Formed in Perth, Western Australia back in 2002 by Rob Swire, Gareth McGrillen, and Paul “El Hornet” Harding, the trio started out as DJs before deciding to build something bigger — a full live band that could take D&B’s speed and energy and slam it together with rock and metal instrumentation. After relocating to London in 2003, that vision started clicking with UK audiences fast.

Their 2005 debut album, Hold Your Colour, went gold in Australia and put them on the radar as more than just another drum and bass act. By 2006 the lineup had grown to include guitarist Peredur ap Gwynedd, MC Ben Mount, and drummer Paul Kodish, rounding out the live-band sound that became their signature. In Silico followed in 2008 and landed at number 2 on the UK charts, leaning even harder into the rock side of their sound.

Then came Immersion in 2010, the album that turned Pendulum into a genuine festival headliner. “Watercolour” hit number 4 on the UK Singles Chart and became the kind of anthem that got them onto lineups like Glastonbury and Download — massive stages that most drum and bass acts never sniff. Drummer KJ Sawka had joined the fold by then, cementing the band’s reputation as one of the most powerful live acts in electronic music.

2012 brought a pause. Swire and McGrillen shifted focus to their side project Knife Party, and Pendulum’s live shows went quiet for a few years. Reunion gigs popped up in 2015 and 2016, and by 2017 the band was officially back, launching their own label, Earstorm, to control their own output going forward.

The comeback wasn’t just a nostalgia lap. New material started surfacing in 2020, and Pendulum kept building from there with the Elemental EP in 2021 and Anima in 2023. That momentum led to their fourth studio album, Inertia, which dropped in August 2025 — a full decade-plus after their last one, proving the band still has plenty to say. For a group that helped define what drum and bass could sound like on a festival main stage, Pendulum’s return has been less about reliving the past and more about picking up right where the energy left off.