Sigue Sigue Sputnik
Sigue Sigue Sputnik were a British new wave band formed in 1982 by former Generation X bassist Tony James. The band had three UK top 40 hit singles, including the songs "Love Missile F1-11" and "21st Century Boy"; the band was formed by Tony James, ex-bassist of the defunct Gen X, Neal X, who recruited singer Martin Degville. Degville was a clothes designer and supplied the band's wardrobe, YaYa, the store where he worked, became the band's base, their first gig was in Paris, supporting Johnny Thunders, with James' former Generation X colleague and drummer for Thunders, Mark Laff, on drums. Mick Jones of The Clash, worked with the band as live sound engineer, helped manipulate their sound, appeared with them when they opened for New Model Army. Fachna O'Kelly, manager of The Boomtown Rats who had provided much of the band's equipment, provided the band with the name Sigue Sigue Sputnik, as a supposed reference to a Russian street gang and meaning, in rough translation "burn, burn satellite".
The band's sound was, according to James, arrived at by accident, when he inadvertently mixed elements of film soundtracks with their demo track "Love Missile F1-11" while putting together a video compilation from his favourite films. Interest in the band increased in 1984 after James was interviewed by the NME, with several record companies sending representatives to their next performance at the Electric Cinema in London, they were invited to perform on The Tube; the band were signed by EMI, with the band themselves claiming in the press that they had signed for £1m, though in actual fact revealed to be £350,000. The band's first single, the Giorgio Moroder-produced "Love Missile F1-11", was released in February 1986, reached number 3 in the UK Singles Chart, number 2 in South Africa and was a major hit in several countries in Europe and Asia, its popularity was boosted by its inclusion in the John Hughes film Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The samples used in the single had not received copyright clearance, were replaced in the US version.
The follow-up, "21st Century Boy" reached number 20 in the UK and, despite negative reviews, the album that followed, Flaunt It, again with Moroder at the controls, went top ten in the UK, reached number 96 in the US. The album included paid commercials between tracks, James stated prior to its release that they would sell 20–30-second advertising slots for between $2,500 and $7,000, he explained this by saying "commercialism is rampant in society. Maybe we're a little more honest than some groups I could mention," and "our records sounded like adverts anyway". Advertisements that did sell were complemented by ironic spoof ads including one for the Sputnik corporation itself claiming that "Pleasure is our Business". A subsequent tour was characterised by poor ticket sales and crowd violence, it was two years before the band followed this up, subsequent releases fared less well. The Stock Aitken Waterman produced "Success" peaked at number 31 in late 1988 and the singles that followed peaked outside the top 40.
Second album Dress for Excess sold well in Brazil. The band split up in July 1989, with James joining The Sisters of Mercy that year. Chris Kavanagh went on to Big Audio Dynamite II joining Mick Jones. Mayhew formed Mayhem Deranged. Degville claimed to have spent the next few years travelling and making a couple of "specialist" porn films. A collection of early demo recordings from 1984 and 1985, along with three tracks from 1990, First Generation, was released in 1991. In 1995, James and X formed a new version of the band with John Green, their song "Cyberspace Party" was a major hit in Japan, an album, Sputnik: The Next Generation, was released there, selling 50,000 copies. In 1998, with Degville back on vocals and with Claudia Cujo on drums, the band started to perform again which resulted in the year 2000 release of Piratespace. In 2004, Degville left the band to pursue a solo career and has performed as Sputnik 2/ Sputnik 2 – The Future and Sigue Sigue Sputnik Electronic, self-releasing tracks under those and his own name over the years through www.sputnik2.com and other digital sites.
In 2016, a 12" vinyl version of a track called "Timex Kid" was released under the Sigue Sigue Sputnik Electronic name. Neal X is a key member of the Marc Almond band plus he went on to form his own band, The Montecristos which released its debut album "Born to Rock n' Roll" in 2015 following a successful crowd funding project. Tony James formed the group Carbon/Silicon with Mick Jones which has released a number of tracks digitally for free as well as selling music commercially, including the 2007 album release The Last Post. James claimed that he had chosen his bandmates for their looks, the band's slogan was "Fleece the World". James billed the band as "Hi-tech sex, designer violence, the fifth generation of rock'n' roll"; the themes and imagery in the band's songs were influenced by futuristic, dystopian or post-apocalyptic films such as A Clockwork Orange, The Terminator, Blade Runner and the Mad Max trilogy. Visually, their image included brightly coloured wigs; the band's music and inspiration mashed together a range of other pop culture influences and electronica influences including Suicide and the New York Dolls.
Tony James – space guitar, electric guitar, synth guitar, bass guitar, backing vocals Neal X – electric guitar, backing vocals Marti
Biffy Clyro
Biffy Clyro are a Scottish rock band that formed in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, composed of Simon Neil, James Johnston and Ben Johnston. Signed to 14th Floor Records, they have released seven studio albums, four of which reached the top five in the UK Albums Chart, with their sixth studio album, Opposites claiming their first UK number-one album. After their first three albums, the band expanded their following in 2007 with the release of their fourth, creating more mainstream songs with simpler rhythms and distancing themselves from the more unusual dissonant style, present in their previous three albums. Puzzle peaked at number 2 on the official UK album charts on 16 June 2007; the album went Gold in the UK, selling over 100,000 units, in 2012 went Platinum in the UK, having sold over 300,000 copies. The band released Only Revolutions in 2009 which reached No. 3 in the UK chart and went gold within days of its release in 2009, going platinum in 2010 and receiving a Mercury Music Prize nomination.
Only Revolutions included the UK hit singles "Mountains", "That Golden Rule" and "Many of Horror" all of which reached the UK Top Ten. The latter reached number eight on the UK Singles Chart after The X Factor 2010 winner, Matt Cardle covered the song, became the UK number one Christmas single for the year 2010. In 2011 the band was nominated for the Brit Awards for Best British Group. At the 2013 NME Awards, they received the award for Best British Band. On 25 August 2013 Biffy Clyro headlined the main stage at Reading Festival. Based on their album and single certifications, the band have sold in excess of 1,240,000 albums and 400,000 singles in the UK alone; as of 2016, in total, the band have spent 155 weeks in the top seventy-five of the UK Album Charts, with two of those weeks being at the top position at number one and seventy weeks within the main top forty of the albums charts. The band's singles have spent a total of seventy-nine weeks in the UK Singles Charts, with six weeks in the top ten and forty-two in the top forty.
The first incarnation of what would become Biffy Clyro was formed in 1995, when fifteen-year-old Ayr-based guitarist Simon Neil met another guitarist, 20-year-old Boyan Chowdury and the pair recruited Kilmarnock-born Ben Johnston. Soon brought in was Ben's twin brother, James Johnston, the four spent the next two years rehearsing and covering songs. On 31 January 1995, they played their first gig under the name "Skrewfish" as the support for a band called Pink Kross at the Key Youth Centre in East Kilbride, now known as Universal Connections East Kilbride. In 1997, guitarist Boyan left the band and moved to Liverpool and the resulting trio moved to Glasgow, where Neil went to the University of Glasgow, the Johnston twins went to Stow College, studying Electronics with Music and Audio Engineering, respectively. After playing gigs around Glasgow and receiving positive and enthusiastic reactions from audiences, the band were spotted by Dee Bahl, who soon became their manager. Bahl offered them a chance to release an independent single on Aereogramme's Babi Yaga record label: "Iname" was released on 28 June 1999, with Northsound Radio's Jim Gellatly giving the band their first radio play.
This first release led to the band being chosen by Stow College's Electric Honey record label to release a record: thekidswhopoptodaywillrocktomorrow was released on Nerosa on 13 June 2000, receiving airplay from BBC Radio Scotland DJ Vic Galloway. A few days prior to the release of thekidswhopoptodaywillrocktomorrow, the band were spotted at the Unsigned Bands stage at T in the Park 2000 by a Beggars Banquet representative, were signed to the independent Beggar's Banquet soon thereafter. On 9 April 2001, the unreleased "27" was released as a single. On 1 October 2001, a song from thekidswho... was re-recorded and released as a single, "Justboy". On 11 March, the band's debut album, Blackened Sky, was released to positive reviews, it was around this time that the band began touring extensively, including supporting Weezer on 20 March at the Barrowlands in Glasgow. On 15 July, the fourth single from the album, "Joy. Discovery. Invention", was released as a double A-side with a newly recorded song called "Toys, Toys, Toys, Toys".
In 2003, the band retreated to the Linford Manor recording studio in Great Linford, Milton Keynes, England, to record the follow-up to Blackened Sky. On 24 March, a new single was released called "The Ideal Height", followed by a further new single "Questions and Answers" on 26 May; the band's second album, The Vertigo of Bliss was released on 16 June, to positive reviews which focused on the more experimental style of the album in comparison to Blackened Sky, as well as the introduction of string sections. After touring relentlessly for The Vertigo of Bliss, the band retreated to Monnow Valley Studio in Monmouth, Wales to record a follow-up album; as with the previous album, two singles were released before the actual album: "Glitter and Trauma" and "My Recovery Injection" on 9 August and 20 September respectively. An additional digital download was released on 31 May, called "There's No Such Thing As A Jaggy Snake". On 4 October, the band's third album, Infinity Land was released, followed by the final single from the album, "Only One Word Comes To Mind", on 14 February 2005.
On 16 February, the band performed a cover of Franz Ferdinand's "Take
Recording studio
A recording studio is a specialized facility for sound recording and audio production of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enough to record a single singer-guitarist, to a large building with space for a full orchestra of 100 or more musicians. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician or audio engineer to achieve optimum acoustic properties. Recording studios may be used to record singers, instrumental musicians, voice-over artists for advertisements or dialogue replacement in film, television, or animation, foley, or to record their accompanying musical soundtracks; the typical recording studio consists of a room called the "studio" or "live room" equipped with microphones and mic stands, where instrumentalists and vocalists perform. The engineers and producers listen to the live music and the recorded "tracks" on high-quality monitor speakers or headphones.
There will be smaller rooms called "isolation booths" to accommodate loud instruments such as drums or electric guitar amplifiers and speakers, to keep these sounds from being audible to the microphones that are capturing the sounds from other instruments or voices, or to provide "drier" rooms for recording vocals or quieter acoustic instruments such as an acoustic guitar a or fiddle. Major recording studios have a range of large and hard-to-transport instruments and music equipment in the studio, such as a grand piano, Hammond organ, electric piano. Recording studios consist of three or more rooms: The "live room" of the studio where the vocalists sing and instrumentalists play their instruments, with their singing and playing picked up by microphones and, for electric and electronic instruments, by connecting the instruments' outputs or DI unit outputs to the mixing board. Isolation booths are small sound-insulated rooms with doors, designed for instrumentalists. Vocal booths are designed rooms for singers.
In both types of rooms, there are windows so the performers can see other band members and the audio engineer/record producer, as singers and musicians give or receive visual cues. This equipment may make noise. Recording studios are designed around the principles of room acoustics to create a set of spaces with the acoustical properties required for recording sound with precision and accuracy; this will consist of both room treatment and soundproofing to prevent sound from leaving the property. A recording studio has to be soundproofed on its outer shell as well, to prevent noises from the surrounding streets and roads from being picked up by microphones. A recording studio may include additional rooms, such as a vocal booth—a small room designed for voice recording, as well as one or more extra isolation booths for loud guitar stacks and extra control rooms. Though sound isolation is a key goal, the musicians, audio engineers and record producers still need to be able to see each other, to see cue gestures and conducting by a bandleader.
As such, the "live room", isolation booths, vocal booths and control room have windows. Equipment found in a recording studio includes: A large professional-grade mixing console Additional small mixing consoles with 4, 8 or 16 channels, for adding more channels A large number of preamplifiers for microphones, such as the Neve 1272 and Neve 3104 Multitrack recorder Computers A wide selection of microphones. Studios have Neuman Tube mics, AKG tube mics, RCA ribbon mics, a number of Shure SM 57 and SM 58 mics. A large number of DI unit boxes Two or more record players Syncs A wide variety of microphone stands (boom stands, straigh
The Vertigo of Bliss
The Vertigo of Bliss is the second studio album by Scottish rock band Biffy Clyro. Produced with the band by Chris Sheldon, it was released by Beggars Banquet Records on 16 June 2003; the album reached number 48 on the UK Albums Chart, spawned four singles. A deluxe remastered edition was released in 2012, which featured, in addition to the original 13 album tracks, a number of B-sides from the album's singles; the album cover for The Vertigo of Bliss was designed by comic book artist Milo Manara. Despite raising some controversy, the artwork was praised by music magazine ShortList who named it in their list of "The 50 Coolest Album Covers Ever", explaining that the "erotic and controversial" cover "only endeared more to the small but loyal fanbase they were beginning to cultivate". Critical reception to Biffy Clyro's second album was positive. Writing for newspaper The Guardian, Betty Clarke awarded the album four out of five stars, calling it "inventive and sublime". Praising singles "Questions and Answers" and "Eradicate the Doubt" in particular, Clarke praised the band for "juggling anger with adoration as they take indie sensitivity and embolden it with blistering rock fury", said that the album "crackles with certainty".
All lyrics written by Simon Neil.
Skunk Anansie
Skunk Anansie are a British rock band whose members include Skin, Cass and Mark Richardson. Skunk Anansie formed on 12 February 1994, disbanded in 2001 and reformed in 2009; the name "Skunk Anansie" is taken from Akann folk tales of Anansi the spider-man of Ghana, with "Skunk" added to "make the name nastier". They have released six studio albums: Paranoid & Sunburnt, Post Orgasmic Chill, Black Traffic and Anarchytecture, they are grouped as part of a Britrock movement, running alongside Britpop. The band, in 2004, was named as one of the most successful UK chart acts between 1952 and 2003 by the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums, with a total of 142 weeks on both the singles and album charts ranking them at No. 491. When the book first published this annual top 500 list in 2000, it only involved weeks spent on the singles chart until 2004's 17th edition; the group played its first gig at London's Splash club in March 1994. In 1995 they were voted Best New British Band by the readers of Kerrang! magazine.
At the award ceremony that year drummer Mark Richardson met the band who were looking for a permanent replacement for Robbie France, so an audition was set up and the band was reformed. Soon after that, two of their songs, "Feed" and "Selling Jesus", appeared on the soundtrack of the film Strange Days in 1995. "Selling Jesus" became Skunk Anansie's controversial second song to receive radio play, following their first radio release "Little Baby Swastikkka". After hearing this song, radio personality Howard Stern claimed that the band would become a huge hit. Success continued for the band and they were voted Kerrang!'s Best British Live Act in 1996. In 1997 they were nominated for Best Live Best Group at the MTV Europe Music Awards; the group played its first gig at London's Splash club in March 1994, subsequently taking six weeks to record its debut album, Paranoid & Sunburnt, with producer Sylvia Massy at a "haunted house" outside the city. The band's first single, "Selling Jesus," was featured on the soundtrack of the film Strange Days.
Both albums were released under One Little Indian Records. After switching to the Virgin label in 1998, their third album, Post Orgasmic Chill, was released in 1999. In 1996 the band played a set at Bracknell during a record label event. Throughout the 1990s, the group toured globally with such bands as U2, Feeder, Lenny Kravitz, Bad Religion, Rollins Band, Therapy?, Killing Joke, Sevendust, Oomph!, Staind, Powerman 5000, Veruca Salt, Marion and A Perfect Circle. After their split in 2001, Skin embarked on a solo career, her debut solo album Fleshwounds, co-written with longtime songwriting partner Len Arran was released in September 2003 and Fake Chemical State was released in March 2006. She has provided vocals for a number of other acts' songs. Ace released a low-key album, Still Hungry, under the name Ace Sounds, which featured many collaborations including Shingai Shoniwa from Noisettes and Skye from Morcheeba, he joined a band called "Inner Mantra". Ace is a tutor at the Brighton Institute of Modern Music In 2002 Cass recorded the album Scars with Gary Moore, played bass and performed backing vocals.
Cass played various instruments on Skin's first solo album. When not recording it is thought that he concentrates on photography. Mark recorded sessions for various artists including Skin before joining Feeder after the death of their original drummer, Jon Lee. Mark has been tutoring at the Brighton Institute with bandmate Ace. Mark Richardson confirmed reports that the band was reforming in an interview with Drummer Magazine, said that the band planned to release a "best of" compilation as well as new material. Ace set up an official page for the band on MySpace. On 2 and 3 April 2009, two shows took place at the Monto Water Rats in London, under the alias SCAM and sold out in 20 minutes; the band began their "Greatest Hits" tour on Friday, 9 October 2009 at the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels, with other dates across Europe. It was their first actual tour in eight years. A "greatest hits" album and Trashes, was released 2 November 2009, it is a 15-track career-embracing album and includes three brand new tracks: "Because of You", "Tear the Place Up" and "Squander".
A best-of remixes companion album was released digitally. On 3 July 2009, the music video for "Tear the Place Up" was presented on MySpace, before on 10 August 2009, a new video for "Because of You" was presented on Kerrang.com. It was released 14 September 2009 in the UK and was the first single to be released from Smashes and Trashes; the single was a top 10 hit in Italy, before its follow-up "Squander" was a top 75 success in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. Their fifth album Wonderlustre was released internationally on 13 September 2010, preceded by the first single "My Ugly Boy", released in the UK on 16 August 2010 and in Europe July/August; the video for "My Ugly Boy" was presented on Kerrang.com on 23 July 2010. Wonderlustre reached number one on the Italian albums chart on 1 October 2010 and placed in the top 10 in charts all over Europe including in Germany, the Netherlands and Poland. In May 2010 they were a supporting act for Rammstein, during two concerts in Berlin; the second single from Wonderlustre, "Over the Love" was released internationally in November
Paradise Lost (band)
Paradise Lost are a gothic metal band that formed in 1988 in Halifax and are considered by some to be one of the pioneers of the death-doom genre and of the gothic metal genre. Paradise Lost has proven to be an influential band, with Jonas Renkse of Katatonia saying that his band started off "as Paradise Lost fanboys", their line-up has remained stable for such a long-standing heavy metal band, consisting of singer Nick Holmes, guitarists Greg Mackintosh and Aaron Aedy, bassist Steve Edmondson. Holmes and Mackintosh are the principal composers, with all of the band's songs credited to them. During the years, the band has only changed drummers. After their formation in 1988, Paradise Lost released three cassette demos, Paradise Lost, Frozen Illusion, Plains of Desolation, before being signed to Peaceville Records in 1989, they recorded Lost Paradise, at Academy Music Studio in December of that year. The album was released in February 1990. In November 1990, Paradise Lost returned to Academy Music Studio to record their second album, released in March 1991.
The band began to move away from the death/doom sound of their previous releases by adding keyboards and female vocal accompaniments. Paradise Lost left Peaceville and were signed to the Music for Nations label and released Shades of God in July 1992; the band's musical approach continued to evolve with this album as evidenced by the addition of quieter passages in the song's compositions, the softening of vocalist Nick Holmes's death grunt, Gregor Mackintosh's incorporation of acoustic guitar to his sound. The album contained the song "As I Die" released as a single/EP. In summer 1993, the band recorded their fourth album, released in September of the same year; the band continued to develop their sound away from their doom roots and more towards the dynamics and sound of "As I Die" from their previous album. On Icon, Nick Holmes abandoned his death grunt and starting using a "James Hetfield-style bark." It was after this album, in December 1994, that original member Matthew Archer quit and was replaced by drummer Lee Morris.
The band entered the studio in January 1995 to record their fifth and most successful album, Draconian Times, released in June 1995. Mackintosh says about Draconian Times, "that it's the album by which everything else we do gets judged. Rightly so, as it’s the backbone of our career and sound." The album charted in the Top 20 album chart in a number of countries including the Germany. Following the success of Draconian Times, after four years of continuous touring, the band began to get bored with their signature sound and started to experiment with Depeche Mode-esque synth-pop and electronica; this new direction shaped their next album One Second, released in 1997, was most epitomised by the lead single, Say Just Words. The album was one of the band's most successful releases in Northern Europe, cracking the German and Finnish top ten charts; the band moved to EMI Electrola in Germany for its next album, released in 1999, on which they continued to experiment with new sounds, appearing to shed their metal roots.
While this album continued to alienate their traditional fanbase in places like the UK, it was their highest charting album in Germany, entering at number 4 on the Album Chart. On the next album, 2001's Believe in Nothing, Paradise Lost continued this synth direction, but adding rock elements to the music, forcibly by EMI at the time. Due to the loss of creativity control, Mackintosh said that the album "doesn't exist for him." In May 2002, the band signed to GUN Records, on the album that followed, Symbol of Life, the metallic roots of the band began to resurface. The album included guest musicians Devin Townsend, Jamie Muhoberac, Lee Dorrian. In March 2004, Lee Morris was replaced by Jeff Singer. Paradise Lost released their tenth, eponymous album in 2005 on GUN Records; the eleventh album, In Requiem, was released in the spring of 2007 on Century Media. The full-length was preceded by a single, "The Enemy" and on the single, Singer was listed as a permanent band member. In a recent video interview and Holmes revealed that Singer had auditioned for the band when Archer left, but they chose Morris instead because Singer "had a pink drumkit."In November 2007, Century Media released the DVD Over The Madness, which documents the impact Paradise Lost has had on gothic metal and provides insight into the mindset and workings of Paradise Lost.
Disc 2 includes rehearsal footage, plus backstage and memorabilia sections. On 13 August 2008, drummer Jeff Singer announced his departure from the band on the Paradise Lost official website, he wanted to be with his family, had an upcoming job, the then-upcoming South American tour would interfere with that. As a result, Paradise Lost had to cancel the South American tour dates. Soon after, on 28 August 2008, the Paradise Lost official website announced that the cancelled South American tour has been reconfirmed and that Mark Heron from Oceansize would take over on drums. At the beginning of 2009, Paradise Lost recorded an album with producer Jens Bogren in Fascination Street Studios in Örebro, Sweden. At the time there was no full-time replacement for Jeff Singer and drums were played by Swedish drummer Peter Damin. On 16 March 2009, when recording for the album was finished, the band recruited Adrian Erlandsson as a full-time drummer for the band. On 18 June 2009, Paradise Lost ann
