Cubanate

Last updated

Cubanate
Infest 2018 Bands Cubanate (30484994458).jpg
Cubanate in 2018
Background information
Origin London, England
Genres
Years active
  • 1992–2003
  • 2010–2011
  • 2016–present
Labels
Spinoffs
  • C-Tec
  • Be My Enemy
  • Ashtrayhead
  • K-Nitrate
  • Audio War
  • MC Lord of the Files
Members
Past members
  • Reza Udhin
  • Vince McAley
  • Julian Beeston
  • Shep Ashton
  • Darren Bennett
  • Roddy Stone
  • David Bianchi
  • Steve Etheridge
  • Graham Rayner

Cubanate are an English industrial band from London, England, founded in 1992 by Marc Heal and Graham Rayner with Phil Barry and Steve Etheridge. The group became well known for their combination of electro-industrial with distorted heavy metal guitars and techno percussion (later incorporating breakbeats).

Contents

History

Initial career

Graham Rayner originally used the name Cubanate for various one-off shows in the UK during the early 1990s. By 1992 however, the band's lineup became solidified with Marc Heal, Phil Barry, and Steve Etheridge joining Rayner. They released a demo cassette in the summer of 1992, titled UK 92. It featured six songs which eventually found their way to the band's full-length album. [1] Cubanate played their first UK tour in November 1992 supporting leftfield UK techno duo Sheep on Drugs. The group signed to Berlin's Dynamica Records shortly afterwards. The band's debut album, Antimatter , saw a UK release in 1993. After the release of the album's lead single, "Body Burn", Rayner and Etheridge departed from the band in order to form K-Nitrate. [2] The pair were replaced by Julian Beeston (former Nitzer Ebb drummer).

In early 1994, the band released the Metal EP which featured two new songs ("Angeldust" and "Metal") plus a few Antimatter remixes. In May of that year, the Metal EP was Single of the Week in Melody Maker magazine. Later that year, Cubanate received media attention when they were weirdly paired with Carcass for what turned out to be a notoriously violent UK tour ending in death threats to Heal. There was also an on-air confrontation on the Radio One Rock Show with Bruce Dickinson. [3] In 1995, Antimatter was belatedly released in the US with an altered tracklisting.

The second album Cyberia (1995) spawned the hit single "Oxyacetylene". The album peaked at No. 3 on the CMJ RPM Chart in the U.S. [4] For live work around the Cyberia tour the band hired Shep Ashton on guitar and Darren Bennett on keyboards. After 1996, Ashton and Bennett were replaced by Roddy Stone (currently fronting UK metal act Viking Skull) and David Bianchi (who later went on to become manager of rock bands The Enemy and Boy Kill Boy).

The third album, Barbarossa (1996) continued the crossover format, and despite being name-checked as influences by bands such as The Prodigy, [5] the group decided a change was clearly needed.

Signed in the United States to Wax Trax! Recordings for the act's fourth and final official full-length album to date, Interference (1998) was a departure from Cubanate's earlier techno experiments with a strong drum and bass influence that alienated some of their traditionalist fans but was heralded as revelatory by others. [6] The album was co-produced by Rhys Fulber.

Early 2000s hiatus

In 2004, a torrent appeared on the Internet with nine leaked demo tracks recorded by Heal in 2000 titled Search Engine. Featuring such tracks as "Razor Edge", "Superstructure", and "Drowning Hands" [7] the material had been abandoned by Heal in 2000.

In October 2010, the band announced that they were recording again and would be releasing new material in 2011. A new track titled "We Are Crowd" was released on Alfa-Matrix's compilation EBM1.

In a posting on his Facebook page dated 13 September 2011, Cubanate founder Marc Heal stated: "Marc here. I should have posted this a while back, but I wanted to let everyone know that I have decided conclusively not to do another Cubanate album. It was a real blast getting back into studio with Phil – and he came up with some brilliant music. But I'm doing something different with my life now and I've come to the conclusion to leave it. Thanks for all your support, I really appreciate it. I'll keep posting. M". [8]

Both Heal and Barry have released solo work since that announcement.

Reunion

On 24 September 2016, Cubanate reformed to play the Cold Waves Festival (an annual industrial music festival held in Chicago, Illinois, United States) with members Marc Heal, Phil Barry and Vince McAley (variously from Dead on TV, GoFight and Die Warzau). The festival lineup included The Cocks (ex-Revolting Cocks members: Richard 23, Luc van Acker, Chris Connelly & Paul Barker), <PIG>, 16Volt, Dead When I Found Her, Bloody Knives, and Kanga, many of whom had previously collaborated with Heal in projects such as Pigface and C-Tec. [9] [10] [ non-primary source needed ]

On 5 May 2017, Cubanate released a compilation album titled Brutalism via Armalyte Industries, featuring 14 remastered songs from Cubanate's first three albums.

On 8 May 2019, Cubanate announced the upcoming release of Kolossus, their first new material since 1998. Kolossus was released on 7 June 2019.

Musical style and legacy

Cubanate has been described often as electro-industrial. [11] AllMusic wrote that the band "have explored the hybrid style created by mixing industrial music with the high-speed rhythms of techno". [12] The band also has included elements of industrial metal in some songs, with vocals similar to the vocals of Lemmy Kilmister of heavy metal band Motörhead.

During their heyday, Cubanate's fusion of techno and rock stirred both controversy and influence, with their impact continuing to echo in the present. As one of the rare UK bands labeled 'Industrial' to break into the mainstream, they frequently appeared in a wide range of publications, from Kerrangg! to Melody Maker, where they earned multiple "Single of the Week" honors in each. They also featured on MTV's Headbanger's Ball and shared the stage with notable acts like Front 242, Gary Numan, Rammstein, The Sisters of Mercy, and Front Line Assembly. [13]

"Oxyacetylene" was featured on the 1996 compilation album, Mortal Kombat: More Kombat , and was later used on the soundtrack of the best-selling 1998 PlayStation game Gran Turismo in the NTSC and EU versions. Apart from "Oxyacetylene", three other Cubanate songs were used on Gran Turismo and the single "Body Burn" can be heard at length in episode eighty-two of The Sopranos , from the final season of the show. [13]

Members

Current members

Past members

Timeline

Color denotes main live duty

Cubanate

Discography

Studio albums

TitleYearNotes
Antimatter 1993US release in 1995 but with an altered tracklisting
Cyberia 1995
Barbarossa 1996
Interference 1998US release also in 1998 but with two tracks removed
Search Engine [5] 2000Unreleased but leaked to the internet in the early 2000s

Studio EPs

TitleYearNotes
UK 921992Demo tape which featured tracks that later appeared on the Antimatter album
Metal1994A few tracks were later added to the US reissue of the Antimatter album
Kolossus2019Consisted of five original new songs and two remixes

Other releases

TitleYearNotes
Brutalism2017Compilation of songs from the band's first three albums
Live Brutalism2018Live album recorded in 2017

Singles

TitleYear
"Body Burn"1993
"Junky"1994
"Oxyacetylene"
"Joy"1996
"9:59"1998
"Voids"
"We Are Crowd"2011

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phil Lesh and Friends</span> American rock band

Phil Lesh and Friends was an American rock band formed and led by Phil Lesh, former bassist of the Grateful Dead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nitzer Ebb</span> British EBM band

Nitzer Ebb are an English EBM group formed in 1982 by Essex school friends Vaughan "Bon" Harris, Douglas McCarthy (vocals), and David Gooday (drums). The band were originally named La Comédie De La Mort but soon discarded that and chose the name Nitzer Ebb by cutting up words and letters and arranging them randomly to create something Germanic without using actual German words.

Cop Shoot Cop was a noise rock group founded in New York City in 1987. They disbanded in 1996. The band were frequently classified as industrial rock, but were often quite different from many bands so dubbed: having a distinctive instrumental lineup that encompassed twin bass guitars, found metal percussion, and no lead guitar. The group had little mainstream success, despite tours with Iggy Pop and music videos on MTV's Headbangers Ball and 120 Minutes. They retain a cult following—their out-of-print releases sometimes sell for large amounts.

<i>Dizrythmia</i> 1977 studio album by Split Enz

Dizrythmia (1977) is the third studio album released by New Zealand new wave band Split Enz. It was the first Split Enz album without co-founding members Phil Judd and Mike Chunn. Neil Finn and Nigel Griggs, the first being the younger brother of band leader Tim Finn, replaced them respectively. Meanwhile, Nigel's old friend and former bandmate Malcolm Green took the place of Emlyn Crowther, who also left around this time. The album was released domestically by Mushroom Records, and overseas by Chrysalis Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Die Krupps</span> German industrial metal/EBM band

Die Krupps is a German industrial metal/EBM band, formed in 1980 by Jürgen Engler and Bernward Malaka in Düsseldorf.

Marc Heal is an English musician, television producer and writer. He is best known as an industrial music artist of the 1990s, noted for mixing metal and techno with more traditional industrial sounds. His extroverted onstage behaviour was unusual in the generally downbeat industrial genre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alastis</span> Swiss metal band

Alastis was a Swiss extreme metal band formed in 1987 in Sion, Valais.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skrew</span> American industrial metal band

Skrew is an American industrial metal band. Formed in 1990 and disbanded in 1998, the group announced its return in 2009.

<i>Cyberia</i> (album) 1995 studio album by Cubanate

Cyberia is a 1995 album by UK-based industrial band Cubanate. The album features one of the band's most well known songs, "Oxyacetylene", which was also included alongside "Skeletal", "Industry" and "Autonomy" in instrumental versions in the video game Gran Turismo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keep of Kalessin</span> Norwegian metal band

Keep of Kalessin is a Norwegian extreme metal band from Trondheim, formed in 1993. The group's early lineup consisted of Ghash on vocals, Obsidian C. on guitars and keyboards, Warach on bass, and Vyl on drums. They released two albums under this lineup: Through Times of War in 1997, and Agnen: A Journey Through the Dark in 1999, before splitting up. Obsidian C. then toured with Satyricon, but revived the Keep of Kalessin name for a 2003 EP, Reclaim. In 2006, he reconstituted the group with a new lineup and released a third full-length, Armada. They toured with Behemoth and Dimmu Borgir early in 2008. Their fourth album Kolossus was released on 6 June 2008. They take their name from Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series of books, where Kalessin is the name of the arch-dragon who is the bearer of the Earthsea world. Keep of Kalessin was nominated for a Spellemannprisen in the metal category in 2008.

<i>Antimatter</i> (album) 1993 studio album by Cubanate

Antimatter is the 1993 debut album of UK industrial band Cubanate. "Body Burn" notably became the band's first music video and single. Antimatter is the band's only release by its original lineup. While Marc Heal and Phil Barry stayed in the band, Graham Rayner and Steve Etheridge instead departed afterwards to form the duo K-Nitrate. The two were replaced by Julian Beeston.

C-Tec was an EBM band originally formed as a side project in 1995 by Jean-Luc De Meyer, Jonathan Sharp, and Ged Denton. The name was taken from Cyber-Tec Records, who released the band's debut EP. Afterward, Jonathan Sharp left the band, and Marc Heal joined as a full-time member.

Westwon was a dance/rock fusion band formed in 1987 and who supported Gary Numan on the 1987 Exhibition Tour.

<i>Mortal Kombat: More Kombat</i> 1996 compilation album by Various Artists

Mortal Kombat: More Kombat is a compilation album featuring primarily exclusive music from a number of metal, industrial and electronica bands inspired by the first Mortal Kombat film. It is not an actual soundtrack to the movie, however. Cubanate's "Oxyacetylene" had already been released as a single from their 1994 album Cyberia, and would later be included in instrumental form in the soundtrack for non-Japanese releases of Gran Turismo. Babylon Zoo's "Spaceman" had already been released as a single in 1995. Alien Factory's "Higher" later turned up in the second movie, Mortal Kombat Annihilation, and Juno Reactor's "The Journey Kontinues" was later released under the title "Biot Messiah" on the single "God Is God" (1997). Psykosonik's "It Has Begun" and Sister Machine Gun's "Deeper Down" appeared in the animated series Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm. Track 16 is exclusive to the cassette release and was taken from the EBN's album Telecommunication Breakdown.

Deitiphobia is a Christian industrial, electro and techno band from the United States formed in 1990 consisting of the duo of Wally Shaw and Brent Stackhouse. Known originally as Donderfliegen, the band changed names to Deitiphobia in 1991 to better clarify the band's focus on Christianity. The band's name means "Fear of God".

Julian Beeston is an English musician, mainly noted for his time in the electronic groups Nitzer Ebb and Cubanate.

<i>Diatribe</i> (album) 1996 studio album by Diatribe

Diatribe is the debut studio album by American industrial rock band Diatribe, released on November 3, 1996, by Cargo and Re-Constriction Records. The album features tracks dating back to 1992, with most of the tracks being produced around 1995.

<i>Enz of an Era</i> 1982 compilation album by Split Enz

Enz of an Era was a compilation by New Zealand rock band Split Enz. Released to mark the band's 10th anniversary, and composed of tracks selected by members of the band, the album was released in New Zealand and Australia only. The album was followed up by two "Enz Of An Era" 10th anniversary concerts in early 1983.

Rockets is a French space rock band that formed in Paris in 1974 and relocated to Italy in 1978. Some of the former members had played together since 1970 in a local band called Crystal. In their most successful era (1977–1982) the line-up comprised vocalist Christian Le Bartz, bassist and vocalist "Little" Gérard L'Her, guitarist and keyboardist Alain Maratrat, drummer and percussionist Alain Groetzinger, and keyboardist Fabrice Quagliotti. The band went through a number of name changes, being known as the Rocket Men and Rok-Etz, among others. In the year 2000, Fabrice Quagliotti decided to reform the band, but with a totally different line-up. This brought to an anomalous situation, as far as none of the former members agreed to hold a reunion. In fact, the last former member to leave the band was Alain Maratrat, in 1992.

Needle is an American industrial rock band formed in Philadelphia in 1995. The group's musical style primarily consists of aggressive electronic dance music. [needle] has seen extraordinary popularity in the Philadelphia and New York City underground music scenes with original distribution through Sony Music via Ruffhouse Records' Contract Records sub-label.

References

  1. UK 92 Credits (liner notes). self-released. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
  2. Hyperphobia Credits (liner notes). Synthetic Symphony. CD085-61502SPV.
  3. Joel McIver (2002). Nu-metal: the next generation of rock & punk. Omnibus Press. p. 44. ISBN   9780711992092.
  4. Frampton, Megan (19 February 1996). "RPM" (PDF). CMJ New Music Report. 45 (462). Great Neck, NY: College Media, Inc.: 14. ISSN   0890-0795 . Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  5. 1 2 "Tales of the RIFF – Marc Heal". 2013. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014.
  6. "cyberia for gigakiddies like you". Eruptzine.com.
  7. "Drowning Hands Demo 2000 by Marc Heal on SoundCloud". 7 September 2014. Archived from the original on 7 September 2014.
  8. [ permanent dead link ]
  9. "Full Band Bios". ColdWaves.net. Cracknation Records. 25 March 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2016. Most chemical engineers can probably tell you what "Oxyacetelyne" is... and so perhaps can Marc Heal, finally returning to the US with Phil Barry and Julian Beeston as CUBANATE
  10. "Cold Waves Festival added a new photo". ColdWaves.net. Cracknation Records. 25 March 2016. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  11. "Electro-Industrial". AllMusic . Retrieved 26 September 2017.
  12. Bush, John. "Cubanate biography". AllMusic . Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  13. 1 2 "Cubanate - 'Brutalism' : retrospective collection out 05.05.17". frontview-magazine.be. 23 March 2017.