Drummer Stu McKay, from West Swindon, was originally a member of the Swindon group Origin in 1996 before joining Xavier Hark in 1997. He then went on to be in a number of other bands including Unite and Toi Machine, which won a national competition in Leeds in 1998 and metal group Refract.



Starting in September 2002 he played drums in deathcore outfit Burning Skies until he departed in November 2004 "due to a few problems on the recent European tour". The band then hired Owen from Shaped By Fate as a session drummer for their tour.