1. ist History ist was formed in March 2001, the original line-up consisting of Kenton Hall, Jack Bomb, Detroit Robbins and Mark "Flash" Haynes. The original line-up toured extensively throughout the UK following the releases of The Adult Tree EP in 2001 and the album Freudian Corduroy in 2003. The year 2004 saw setbacks for ist. Lead guitarist and contributing lyricist Jack Bomb left the band to form Vitriol I.D. in August, and in October bassist Detroit Robbins died. The remaining members chose to move forward adding bassist John McCourt. In September 2005, Brett Richardson (guitars and bassoon) joined ist, following guest appearances on their second album. ist's second album, King Martha, was released in August 2005. It features Kenton Hall, Mark "Flash" Haynes, John McCourt, with Brett Richardson and Paul Swannell, as well as a group of contributing artists including Kevin Hewick, The Have Nots, The Swinging Laurels, and former member Jack Bomb. The album features a wide array of horns, as well as string sections and a bassoon in addition to traditional rock instruments such as guitar, bass and drums. In 2006, ist released the single "The Wreck of the Eddie Fitzpatrick/I am Jesus (And You're Not)" in direct response to a conversation with performer, songwriter and presenter Tom Robinson. In 2008, Kenton Hall from ist was one of the co-writers of Chris Difford's Christmas single for BBC1's The One Show, "Let's Not Fight This Christmas". Songs co-written by Hall have also appeared on releases from other artists, including the song "Grace" on Madelaine Hart's "LAA" EP, released on the Creative Commons label modifythevan. He is currently working on songs with a number of other artists, including Chaz Jankel. In August 2009, ist will be releasing Toothpick Bridge, produced by Jay "Burzootie" Burnett, a member of the original engineering team at Def Jam, who has previously produced artists as diverse as Bert Jansch and Kylie Minogue as well as being responsible for Ministry of Sound mix compilations such as Euphoria. The Swinging Laurels, (Gaz Birtles, John Barrow and Dean Sargent) once again provide brass, along with Jay Lyndsay, and they are also joined by renowned pedal steel player Melvin Duffy and vocalist Dorie Jackson, amongst others. The album will be preceded by the single Pep Talk on August 10th. Public response In 2006 songwriter Kenton Hall received a nomination for MOJO Magazine/Bavaria's Music of Substance Award in 2005, alongside fellow Leicester songwriter, Kevin Hewick,, ist have received positive respsonse in Russian where the album King Martha reached no. 1 on the Russian legal music download site http://www.yanga.ru in June 2006, with debut album Freudian Corduroy occupying the number two spot. Discography 2001 The Adult Tree EP (Pink Box Records) 2003 Freudian Corduroy (Pink Box Records/The Orchard) 2005 King Martha (Pink Box Records/The Orchard) 2006 The Wreck of the Eddie Fitzpatrick/I am Jesus (And You're Not) (Pink Box Records) 2009 Toothpick Bridge (Monkey Basket Records) External links http://www.istianity.co.uk/home.htm http://www.myspace.com/ist 3 other bands have also used variations on the name. 2. IST (이스트) A Korean instrumental/pop/alternative/ballad trio. Discography: Vol. 1 - Holiday (2003) Vol. 2 - Out of Forest (2006) . 3. IST (Improvising String Trio) IST was the improv trio of Rhodri Davies (harp), Simon H. Fell (double bass) and Mark Wastell (cello). This group formed in 1995 and released several albums on small labels such as SIWA, Bruce's Fingers and Confront. They were active until 2002, but the recording of what they feel to be their best concert wasn't released until the end of 2006. IST can be compared to The Sealed Knot (Davies and Wastell in a trio with German percussionist Burkhard Beins). They were a key group in what has been dubbed by some 'The New London Silence', a term that designates a loose scene of musicians who pay a lot of attention to the microscopic level of sound. Although mainly concerned with improvisation, they have been known to play compositions by Phil Durrant, Simon Fell, and others. External links http://perso.orange.fr/brucesfingers/publicity/ist/ist.html http://www.paristransatlantic.com/magazine/interviews/davies.html 4. iST There is actually a 4th band called iST as well, they're from Canada and play a gothic stoner metal thing with Neil Young's sister Astrid Young on bass and vocals.