R.O.C. (band)

Last updated

R.O.C
Logo white2.gif
Background information
Origin Brixton, England
Genres Indie, electronica, new wave, dance
Years active1990present
Labels Virgin, Setanta, 12 Apostles, Spiky
Website www.rocmusic.com
MembersFred Browning
Karen Sheridan
Patrick Nicholson
Danton Supple
Past membersPeter Burgess
Russell Warby
Mark Harris
Roddy Kennedy

R.O.C are a British electronica group, founded in 1990 by Fred Browning and Patrick Nicholson in London, England. [1] Karen Sheridan joined the band in 1993. [1] R.O.C have released three albums (on the Virgin, Setanta and 12 Apostles labels) and 15 singles/EPs. Producer Danton Supple (Coldplay/Patti Smith) joined in 2017.

Contents

Career

R.O.C began with Fred and Patrick making demos on 4-track cassette, laying film dialogue over Drumatix beats and Casio keyboards.

By 1993 R.O.C was Fred, Patrick, Karen Sheridan (from Denver USA), Russell Warby, and producer Peter Burgess. They released 5 singles/EPs on their Little Star label, quickly gaining critical acclaim and airplay from the likes of John Peel on UK Radio 1, and KCRW in LA. 'Girl With A Crooked Eye' made 1994's John Peel Festive 50 and earned R.O.C a session on the dj’s Radio 1 show. Their releases revealed R.O.C's disregard for genres, throwing rock, dance, spoken-word and noise influences at their evolving songs. Airing their Radio 1 session, Peel said '"you never know what you're gonna get next from this lot, do you? I'm all in favour of that."

Of the single 'God Willing' Dazed & Confused magazine said: 'pseudo-religious spoken word over ambient pop, if it was the only record R.O.C ever released it would still put them in the tope 50 best British bands'.

The singles displayed a tendency to black humour. 'Girl With A Crooked Eye' is duet about domestic violence on holiday. But with their 1996 debut album, ROC, the group revealed a more personal side as Fred and Karen's vocals took centre stage. The group was now a trio of Fred, Patrick and Karen. The album was widely acclaimed: Music Week called it 'a storming debut album by this outfit who are impossible to categorise. The extraordinarily diverse set veers from electronic ambience to slick pop tunes. An early candidate for album of the year.’

A single from the album ’Hey You Chick’ was shot in the band’s stamping ground of Brixton, South London, the camera relentlessly following a girl’s bottom around the streets. The video opened an edition of BBC’s Top of the Pops 2, and was voted Video of the Year in Melody Maker by prankster Dennis Pennis who said: ‘somehow it’s not sexist’. The video was showcased at a music/art event staged by Dazed and Confused magazine, themed around David Cronenberg's film "Crash". R.O.C played live alongside Radiohead and Sneaker Pimps.

Signing to Virgin the following year, they released the Virgin album featuring "Dada", based around Idi Amin's laugh, and "Said What I Said". Regarding "Ocean & England", Q said: "it ends with a love song - now that is unsettling".[ citation needed ] More glowing reviews followed, and endorsements from other artists. At the 1997 Q awards, Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien, accepting Best Album, said he’d have nominated ‘Virgin’.

The album produced two singles: ‘Cheryl’ made the UK singles top 75. Orbital, guest reviewers for Melody Maker, made it Single of the Week. '(Dis)count Us In’ received another celebrity review, from Dannii Minogue who said: “This has got the groove, hasn't it? And it's immediate too. Fantastic."

The video for ‘(Dis)Count’, shot by Spanish director Edmundo, featured performance artist David Fryer walking through a sun-drenched Valencia, arms raised. Edmundo said the gesture meant either surrender or victory (Edmundo and Fryer previously made Everything But The Girl's video 'Single').

Despite the album's warm reception Virgin dropped R.O.C in 1999. R.O.C continued with independent releases, including "2000Mann" on the Spiky record label. They also toured the UK with Sneaker Pimps.

Joining the Brooklyn-based label 12 Apostles in 2004, they were back in the recording studio with long-standing collaborators producer Danton Supple and bassist Gareth Huw Davies. Night Fold Around Me was released in June 2006. Q said: ‘In the mid-'90s, R.O.C, like Underworld, tapped into an interesting dance/guitar hybrid. Urban paranoia and moody melody is what they do best...artistically the trio remained an intriguing fringe concern, and this belated third album sees that continuing.’

A single, "Princess", was BBC 6 Music's 'Evening Single of the Week' in July 2005. The follow-up "Journey to the Centre of Brixton" made Playlouder.com's readers' poll best singles of 2005, with radio airplay including BBC Radio 1 and 6 Music (UK) and 2SER (Australia).

In 2014 R.O.C’s debut album was reissued on Metal Postcard Records, including for the first time on vinyl, edited from the original 60-minute cd. Uncut said: 'Even with hindsight it’s hard to fathom what R.O.C were up to. The trio belonged to Britpop like cats belong in the sea. Disco Inferno and AR Kane might have shared their experimental drive, but neither had the same pick-and-mix approach to modern pop or their habit of skewering expectation with every song.’

Discography

Albums

Singles

Related Research Articles

X-Ray Spex Punk band

X-Ray Spex were an English punk rock band formed in 1976 from London.

Gerry and the Pacemakers British band

Gerry and the Pacemakers were a British beat group prominent in the 1960s Merseybeat scene. In common with the Beatles, they came from Liverpool, were managed by Brian Epstein, and were recorded by George Martin.

David Bedford

David Vickerman Bedford was an English composer and musician. He wrote and played both popular and classical music. He was the brother of the conductor Steuart Bedford and the grandson of the composer, painter and author Herbert Bedford and the composer Liza Lehmann.

Melanie C English singer, songwriter, entrepreneur, actress, fitness model and television personality

Melanie Jayne Chisholm, known professionally as Melanie C or Mel C, is an English singer, songwriter, actress, dancer, entrepreneur, television personality and fitness model. She is one of the five members of the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Sporty Spice.

Kelis American singer, songwriter, and chef from New York

Kelis Rogers is an American singer, songwriter, and chef. At age 14, Kelis was admitted to New York's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, where she learned to play the saxophone and won a spot in the Girls Choir of Harlem. After she graduated from high school in 1997, Kelis took on a variety of jobs before landing a backup vocal slot on a single called "Fairytalez" released by the American hip hop group Gravediggaz. She then began working with music producers Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, known as The Neptunes, which ultimately resulted in her being signed to Virgin Records in 1998.

Microdisney Irish band

Microdisney was an Irish rock band formed in Cork in 1980. It was founded and led by the songwriting team of Cathal Coughlan and Sean O'Hagan (guitar). They reached the Irish top 40 with the 1987 single "Town to Town", and were one of the few Irish bands of the 1980s to achieve international success.

Wannabe 1996 single by Spice Girls

"Wannabe" is the debut single by British girl group the Spice Girls. Written and composed by the group members in collaboration with Matt Rowe and Richard "Biff" Stannard during the group's first professional songwriting session, it was produced by Rowe and Stannard for the group's debut album, Spice, released in November 1996. The song was written, composed, and recorded very quickly; but the result was considered lacklustre by their label, and was sent to be mixed by Dave Way. The group was not pleased with the result, and the recording was mixed again, this time by Mark "Spike" Stent.

Urusei Yatsura were a Scottish rock band formed in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1993.

The Ruts

The Ruts are an English reggae-influenced punk rock band, notable for the 1979 UK Top 10 hit "Babylon's Burning", and an earlier single "In a Rut", which was not a hit but was highly regarded and regularly played by BBC Radio 1 disc jockey John Peel.

The Little Drummer Boy 1941 single by Harry Simeone Chorale

"The Little Drummer Boy" is a popular Christmas song written by the American classical music composer and teacher Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941. First recorded in 1951 by the Trapp Family Singers, the song was further popularized by a 1958 recording by the Harry Simeone Chorale; the Simeone version was re-released successfully for several years and the song has been recorded many times since. In the lyrics, the singer relates how, as a poor young boy, he was summoned by the Magi to the Nativity of Jesus. Without a gift for the Infant, the little drummer boy played his drum with approval from Jesus's mother, Mary, recalling, "I played my best for him" and "He smiled at me".

Penetration (band)

Penetration is a punk rock band from County Durham, England formed in 1976. They re-formed in 2001 with several new members. Their debut single, "Don't Dictate", is now acknowledged as a classic punk rock single and their debut album, Moving Targets (1978), is still widely admired.

Antony Harding

Antony Harding is an English singer, songwriter and musician from London who grew up on the Isle of Wight. He is best known as the drummer in London band Hefner, and has also played independently as ANT and now performs solo as Antony Harding.

I Want You (Janet Jackson song)

"I Want You" is a song recorded by American singer Janet Jackson for her eighth studio album, Damita Jo (2004). It was released April 5, 2004, by Virgin Records as the second single from the album. It was written by Harold Lilly, Kanye West, and John Legend, while it was produced by West, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, and Jackson. The mid-tempo ballad consists of a retro sound and arrangement, paying homage to the classic pop sound of the Motown era. Its composition is based on Jackson's passion and desire for an estranged lover. "I Want You" is notable for being among the first singles produced with West and co-written by Legend, who were both upcoming artists at the time.

Little Big Town American country band

Little Big Town is an American country music group. Founded in 1998, the group has comprised the same four members since its founding: Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Phillip Sweet, and Jimi Westbrook. Their musical style relies heavily on four-part vocal harmonies, with all four members alternating as lead vocalists.

I Turn to You (Melanie C song) 2000 single by Melanie C

"I Turn to You" is a song by British singer-songwriter, Melanie C. It was released as the fourth single from her debut solo album, Northern Star. It was released on 7 August 2000 in the United Kingdom and became Melanie's second UK number-one single. It sold 120,000 copies in its first week, altogether selling 360,477 copies, making it the twenty-seventh best-seller of 2000 in the UK. "I Turn to You" also topped the Austrian Singles Chart, the Danish Singles Chart, the Dutch Top 40, the Swedish Singles Chart and the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. The main single was released as the "Hex Hector Radio Mix", for which Hex Hector won the 2001 Grammy as Remixer of the Year.

The Sultans of Ping FC Irish band

The Sultans of Ping FC are an Irish band formed in 1988 by Niall O'Flaherty, Pat O'Connell, Paul Fennelly and Ger Lyons. The band's name is a play on the Dire Straits song "Sultans of Swing", dating from a time when "it was sacrilege to say anything whatsoever funny or nasty about Dire Straits".

Real Things (song)

"Real Things" is the debut single by English singer and songwriter Javine. The single, which features a sample of M.O.P.'s "Ante Up" and a lyrical interoperation of "It Don't Mean a Thing " by Duke Ellington and Irving Mills, reached the top five on the UK Singles Chart and is the biggest hit of her career to date. The song has also featured on the SingStar games, being the 19th single featured on SingStar Party.

Dominick Antron Wickliffe, better known by his stage names Crooked I and Kxng Crooked, is an American rapper from Long Beach, California. He is best known as a former member of the hip hop supergroup Slaughterhouse with other members Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz and Royce da 5'9". He is currently CEO of his own record labels, Dynasty Entertainment and C.O.B. Digital as well as Senior Vice President of Treacherous Records. Before starting his own label, he was also signed to Virgin Records and Death Row Records.

John Owen Williams is an English A&R executive, record producer, photographer, manager, recording artist, and songwriter. In a career that has spanned over 35 years at major record labels, he has guided, A&R'd, mentored, and produced many artist careers including The Housemartins and The Proclaimers, as well as producing and signing Alison Moyet, Simple Minds, The Waterboys, Robert Plant, The Blue Nile, Status Quo, Cathy Dennis, Petula Clark, Ocean Colour Scene, J. J. Cale, Blancmange, Shriekback, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Jethro Tull, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Debbie Harry and Luciana.

"Tell Me Why" is a song by British girl group, the Spice Girls, appearing as the second track on their third studio album Forever (2000). The song was written by Victoria Beckham, Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Rodney Jerkins, LaShawn Daniels, Fred Jerkins III and Mischke Butler. Jerkins and Daniels produced the song. It was released as a promotional single in December 2000. Planned as the second single from Forever, the release was scrapped in 2001.

References

  1. 1 2 Ankeny, Jason "R.O.C. Biography", Allmusic, retrieved 2012-03-23


https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL039FCC55322F2A4E