The Trevor Horn Band are an English group[1][2] formed in 2006 as the Producers, when they included record producersTrevor Horn (bass and vocals) and Steve Lipson (guitar), and musicians Lol Creme (guitar and vocals) and Ash Soan (drums). The band briefly adopted the name US before changing to Producers. Latterly, they have switched to the name The Trevor Horn Band.[3]
Producer Chris Braide (keyboards and vocals) was originally a member but left in 2009 due to work commitments, though still contributed to the band's début album Made in Basing Street (released under the name Producers), released on 25 June 2012.[4]Gary Langan also works with the band, engineering and mixing in the studio and working front of house at gigs.
History
Formation and Camden gigs (2006–09)
The original line-up (L-R; Creme (out-of-shot), Soan (drums), Horn, Lipson and Braide) performing at the Camden Barfly
"The idea was... I was good friends with Steve Lipson, who worked with Trevor on all the Frankie Goes to Hollywood stuff, all that stuff. And Steve and I were good mates and he kept saying to me we should form a band and get out of the studio, just have some fun. This was way back in early 2000s. And we did eventually. And Trevor got involved with Lol, and then I brought Ash Soan, the drummer, in, who I'd known for years before that. And we had good fun, y’know, and then... So, to cut a long story short, I moved to the US and, and that ended."[6]
A second Camden gig in February 2007 followed a similar format to their first show, but also debuted two original songs, "Freeway"[7] (sung by Braide, which Horn has said was inspired by driving on a freeway from Los Angeles[5]) and "Barking Up the Right Tree" (an acoustic piece sung by Creme). The band was joined again by Jardim and Jordan, as well as Jamie Cullum.[8] "Barking Up the Right Tree" would be released as a single with "Freeway" as a B-side in 2007 on the Stiff Records label.[9] Further gigs in Camden would see more new songs: "Your Life", "Man on the Moon",[10] "You and I", "Waiting for the Right Time"[11] and a song entitled "Music from Bel Air" (which wouldn't appear on the album), and featured more guest appearances, including Tina Charles (whose backing band Horn began his musical career as part of) on their cover of Grace Jones' "Slave to the Rhythm".
The Producers' début album was originally announced under the name Studio 1, to be released on the Stiff label,[citation needed] but was then renamed Watching You Out There (sharing its name with a new song that wouldn't be revealed until the 2012 university tour). The album was eventually released as Made in Basing Street, referencing its creation at the SARM Studios (formerly Basing Street Studios, now owned by Horn) in London's Notting Hill.[8]
Work on first album and university tour (2009–2012)
Braide left the band as an official "member" in early 2009 due to work commitments,[12] but would continue to perform at gigs between October 2009 and January 2010, as well as contributing to the album when he could.[13] The remaining members decided to change their name to US (pronounced "Us"), but still played live under "The Producers", possibly due to Braide's presence. With the name change, the début album was now to be named The Path of Sydney Arthur, and was to be a concept piece based around the fictional life-story of a man born on the same day as the 1969 Moon landing.[14][15][16] The Sydney Arthur idea has not been mentioned since 2009, and it is unknown whether or not it contributed towards the finished album. The short-lived "US" name vanished with the Sydney Arthur idea, and the definite article was dropped, the band now officially going by Producers (though the definite article is still often used for linguistic simplicity).
The remaining members continued with recording sessions at SARM during 2010, with Braide recording vocals on a new song, "Garden of Flowers",[17] in Los Angeles the same year. A new version of "Freeway", still with Braide on vocals, was made available online.[18] The original version of "Freeway" appears on the second disc of the 2CD special edition of Made in Basing Street as "Freeway (Extended)". Outside of the band, all five original members worked together on various other projects, including supporting Horn in the September 2010 and October 2011 reunion shows by The Buggles, with Horn's fellow "Buggle", former Yes bandmate and now Asia keyboardist Geoff Downes also working with The Producers.[citation needed]
In March 2012, the band set out on a small tour of English universities and music colleges, playing at Southampton Solent University, South Birmingham College, Leeds College of Music, Buckinghamshire New University and the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford.[19][20] The concerts (which followed Q&A sessions with the music students attending the institutions) consisted of an hour-long set, which followed the format of previous gigs with hits such as "Video Killed the Radio Star", "Slave to the Rhythm", "I'm Not in Love", and David Bowie's "Space Oddity", as well as performances of the band's original songs, "Barking Up the Right Tree", "Freeway", and the live débuts of "Watching You Out There" and "Garden of Flowers" (with Horn taking the place of Braide on lead vocals where appropriate). Other hits were also played, such as 10cc's "The Dean and I", "Two Tribes" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, and t.A.T.u.'s "All the Things She Said". The concerts also borrowed from the 2011 Buggles reunion gig, including its tongue-in-cheek cover of "Check It Out" by will.i.am and Nicki Minaj (a song which samples "Video Killed the Radio Star"), and a contest winner being given the opportunity to sing backing vocals on the finale of "Video Killed the Radio Star".[21] The three female backing singers from the Buggles concert – Kirsten Joy, Holly Petrie and Kate Westall – also toured with the band, providing female vocals for appropriate songs such as the aforementioned "Slave to the Rhythm" and "All the Things She Said". The tour was intended as a showcase of Made in Basing Street. Horn's brother, Ken, a television producer and director, was present at the concerts as a camera operator.[21]
Geoff Downes and Chris Braide also started working together as DBA (Downes Braide Association), with an album, Pictures of You, released on Cherry Red Records in November 2012.[22] Braide has described how the album's lyrics are thematically related to the Producers song "Watching You Out There". The DBA collaboration has continued with two more albums and other projects.
Made in Basing Street and subsequent live work (2012–present)
The Trevor Horn Band performing on 5 March 2015 at the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire in London. L-R; Jamie Squire, Geoff Downes, Lol Crème (behind Downes), Ash Soan, Trevor Horn, Luis Jardim, Simon Bloor (behind Jardim), Steve Lipson, Julian Hinton, Phil Palmer, Seal (making an announcement). Not pictured Kirsten Joy, Kate Westall.
Made in Basing Street, the 10-track début album was released 25 June 2012 under "The LAST Label" – an imprint of ZTT created by the four, named by taking the first letters of the Producers' first names (Lol, Ash, Stephen, Trevor); a 2CD special edition was also released featuring bonus tracks on the second disc. Horn, Creme, Lipson, Soan and Braide perform on every track, with other performers including Ryan Molloy, Luís Jardim, Kirsten Joy and Kate Westall.[23]
In July 2012, following the release of the album, Horn, Creme, Soan, and some other musicians – many involved with Producers – played a gig at the Half Moon pub in Putney as the "Trevor Horn Orchestra",[24] before going on to tour Japan, where they were billed as "Trevor Horn feat. Lol Creme & Ash Soan/Producers", with Phil Palmer filling in for the absent Lipson on guitar.[citation needed] Like Producers, this band performed live sets featuring songs from Horn's recording history, as well as some 10cc songs, but did not perform any material from Made in Basing Street.[25]
In September 2012, Producers, in a line-up including Lipson and Ryan Molloy, performed at The Big Feastival, a food and music festival in Oxfordshire hosted by celebrity chefJamie Oliver and Alex James of Blur.[26] The album was released in Germany on 1 December 2012,[27] with the band promoting the album across European radio stations in November 2012.
The group spent 2013 on hiatus while the members spent time on other projects, before performing alongside Seal (a Horn-produced artist) at the 2014 MPG Awards in February. The performance was in honour of Horn winning the award for Outstanding Contribution.[28][29]
The band reemerged on 5 March 2015 at the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire in London under the name "The Trevor Horn Band",[30] with Geoff Downes, Luis Jardim, Kirsten Joy, Kate Westall, Jamie Squire, Julian Hinton, Phil Palmer and Simon Bloor. Guests included Gabrielle Aplin, Mr Probz and Ella Eyre. Seal was unable to perform due to flu.
The band, with Seal, played European dates in July 2015, including at the Cornbury Music Festival in Oxfordshire[31] and in Amsterdam.[32]
The Buggles are an English new wave band formed in London in 1977 by singer and bassist Trevor Horn and keyboardist Geoff Downes. They are best known for their 1979 debut single "Video Killed the Radio Star", which topped the UK Singles Chart and reached number one in 15 other countries and was chosen as the song to launch MTV in 1981.
The Age of Plastic is the debut album by the English new wave duo the Buggles, released on 10 January 1980 on Island Records. It is a concept album about the possible repercussions of modern technology. The title was conceived from the group's intention of being a "plastic group" and the album was produced in the wake of the success of their debut record, "Video Killed the Radio Star" (1979), which topped the UK Singles Chart. Most of the album's other tracks were written during promotion of the single.
Trevor Charles Horn is an English record producer and musician. His influence on pop and electronic music in the 1980s was such that he has been called "the man who invented the eighties".
Art of Noise were a British avant-garde synth-pop group formed in early 1983 by engineer/producer Gary Langan and programmer J. J. Jeczalik, along with keyboardist/arranger Anne Dudley, producer Trevor Horn, and music journalist Paul Morley. The group had international Top 20 hits with its interpretations of "Kiss", featuring Tom Jones, and the instrumental "Peter Gunn", which won a 1986 Grammy Award.
ZTT Records is a British record label founded in 1983 by the record producer Trevor Horn, the businesswoman Jill Sinclair and the NME journalist Paul Morley. They released music by acts including Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Grace Jones, the Art of Noise and Seal.
"Video Killed the Radio Star" is a song written by Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes and Bruce Woolley in 1979. It was recorded concurrently by Bruce Woolley and the Camera Club for their album English Garden and by British new wave/synth-pop group the Buggles, which consisted of Horn and Downes.
Propaganda is a German synth-pop band formed in Düsseldorf in 1982. They signed a recording contract with ZTT Records as early as 1983 and released their first single "Dr Mabuse" in 1984. Followed by their debut studio album, the critically acclaimed A Secret Wish, in 1985. Two of the album's singles, "Dr. Mabuse" and "Duel", were UK Top 30 hits. A second studio album, 1234 (1990), was recorded with a markedly different line-up and released by Virgin Records to less success. There have been several partial reformations of the group in the 21st century, with the original vocalists currently active as xPropaganda.
Eric Michael Stewart is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer, best known as a founding member of the rock groups the Mindbenders with whom he played from 1963 to 1968, and likewise of 10cc from 1972 to 1995. Stewart co-owned Strawberry Studios in Stockport, England, from 1968 to the early 1980s, where he recorded albums with 10cc and artists including Neil Sedaka and Paul McCartney. Stewart collaborated with McCartney extensively in the 1980s, playing on or co-writing songs for McCartney's solo albums Tug of War (1982), Pipes of Peace (1983), Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984), and Press to Play (1986). Since 1980, Stewart has released four solo studio albums.
Laurence Neil "Lol" Creme is a British musician and music video director, best known for his work in 10cc. He sings and plays guitar, bass and keyboards.
"I'm Not in Love" is a song by British group 10cc, written by band members Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman. It is known for its innovative and distinctive backing track, composed mostly of the band's multitracked vocals. Released in the UK in May 1975 as the second single from the band's third album, The Original Soundtrack, it became the second of the group's three number-one singles in the UK between 1973 and 1978, topping the UK Singles Chart for two weeks. "I'm Not in Love" became the band's breakthrough hit outside the United Kingdom, topping the charts in Canada and the Republic of Ireland as well as peaking within the top ten of the charts in several other countries, including Australia, Germany, New Zealand, Norway and the United States.
"Close (to the Edit)" is a single by English avant-garde synth-pop group Art of Noise, released on various formats in October 1984. It was closely related to their earlier single (and hip hop club hit) "Beat Box", though the two tracks were developed as separate pieces from an early stage.
"Cry" is a song released by the English music duo Godley & Creme on 11 March 1985. It was included on the duo's album The History Mix Volume 1.
"Into the Lens" is a song written by Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes. It was originally released in 1980 by progressive rock band Yes, of which Horn and Downes were a part, as a part of the album Drama, before being reworked as "I Am a Camera" for the 1981 album Adventures in Modern Recording by the Buggles, a duo consisting of Horn and Downes; both versions were released as singles, with the Yes single being re-titled "Into the Lens (I Am a Camera)".
Geoffrey Downes is an English keyboardist who gained fame as a member of the new wave group the Buggles with Trevor Horn, the progressive rock band Yes, and the supergroup Asia.
Ashley Soan is a British drummer. His influences include Stewart Copeland, Steve Ferrone, Jim Keltner, James Gadson, Phil Rudd, Art Blakey, Steve Gadd.
The Moment is the sixth solo studio album by British singer Lisa Stansfield, released by ZTT Records on 27 September 2004. It was her first new studio album since 2001's Face Up. The Moment was entirely produced by Trevor Horn, the acclaimed producer behind Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Seal. It garnered positive reviews from music critics who praised Stansfield's voice and the fact that an established artist like her is still evolving and experimenting. The Moment was released in the United Kingdom and Japan in September 2004 and in Europe in February 2005, and performed moderately on the charts. Two main singles released from the album include "Treat Me Like a Woman" and "If I Hadn't Got You". On 6 April 2015, The Moment was re-released with five bonus tracks, three previously unreleased.
"Clean, Clean" is a song composed by Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes and Bruce Woolley. It was recorded first by the latter for his band Bruce Woolley and the Camera Club in 1979, and later by the former two as the Buggles for their debut album The Age of Plastic. It was released as the album's third single on 24 March 1980.
"I Love You (Miss Robot)" is a song written, performed and produced by the Buggles, a duo of Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes, for their 1980 debut studio album The Age of Plastic. It was not released as a single. The song is, according to Downes, about "being on the road and making love to someone you don't really like", although music critics consider the song's subject having to do with a robot. The song was performed live in 2010, as part of the first performance of all the tracks from The Age of Plastic.
Made in Basing Street is the first album by the English supergroup Producers, released on 25 June 2012. As the album's name suggests, it was mainly recorded at the legendary SARM Studios in Notting Hill, which is now owned by producer and Producers member Trevor Horn, and was used to record such famous albums as Led Zeppelin IV and Queen's News of the World.
"Life Is a Minestrone" is a 1975 song by 10cc released as a lead single from their third album, The Original Soundtrack.
References
↑ "Doing It For the Kicks", Music Week, 7 July 2007
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