Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Cubanate

 
Artist: Cubanate

Group Members:

Darren Bennett, Shep Ashton, Steve Etheridge, Graham Rayner, Marc Heal, Philip Barry

Similar Artists:

Performed Songs By:

Marc Heal, Philip Barry
  • Formed: 1992, London, England
  • Genres: Electronica
  • Representative Albums: "Barbarossa," "Interference," "Cyberia"
  • Representative Songs: "Oxyacetylene," "Barbarossa," "Build"

Biography

Marc Heal and Phil Barry, otherwise known as industrial terrorists Cubanate, have explored the hybrid style created by mixing industrial music with the high-speed rhythms of techno. The group formed in London in late 1992 with Heal on vocals and Barry playing guitar, along with keyboard player Graham Rayner and percussionist Steve Etheridge. Cubanate began recording soon after, and played their first live show that same year (with only Heal and Barry). In early 1993, the group signed to Berlin's Dynamica label and released the "Bodyburn" single a few months later. It earned good reviews (Single of the Week according to Kerrang!), but Rayner and Etheridge left not long after. Remixer/producer Julian Beeston was added for awhile, but Heal and Barry decided to continue for the time being as a two-piece.

September 1993 brought the duo's debut album Antimatter, and the Metal EP followed in 1994. Controversy followed Cubanate around the British Isles during a 1994 tour with Carcass, as death threats and near riots caused the London Evening Standard to declare that the band had "provoked an outbreak of demented carnage." Late in 1994, Cubanate delivered "Oxyacetylene," the trailer single for second LP Cyberia, which appeared in early 1995. Heal and Barry once again enlisted extra members -- this time guitarist Shep Ashton and keyboard player Darren Bennett -- for a tour with Front Line Assembly, but returned to the duo format for third album Barbarossa, released in April 1996. Two years later, Interference appeared on TVT. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
Search unanswered questions...
Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics
Wikipedia: Cubanate
Top
Cubanate
Origin London, England
Genres crossover
Years active 1992–1999
Labels Dynamica
TVT
Wax Trax!
Associated acts C-Tec
Members
Marc Heal
Phil Barry
Former members
Graham Rayner
Steve Etheridge
Julian Beeston

Cubanate is a crossover band from London, founded in 1992 by Marc Heal and Phil Barry with Graham Rayner and Steve Etheridge. The group became well-known known for its early fusion of distorted metal guitars, and techno percussion (later incorporating breakbeats).

Contents

History

Cubanate played their first UK tour in November 1992 supporting left-field UK techno duo Sheep on Drugs. The group signed to Berlin's Dynamica Records shortly afterwards. Rayner and Etheridge departed after the first Machinery single, Body Burn (1993). The pair were replaced by Julian Beeston (ex - Nitzer Ebb drummer).

In May 1994 the Metal EP was Single of the Week in Melody Maker magazine and 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 and an on-air confrontation on the Radio One Rock Show with Bruce Dickinson[1]. The second album Cyberia (1995) spawned the hit single Oxyacetylene, generally considered Cubanate's creative peak. Oxyacetylene featured on the 1996 compilation album Mortal Kombat: More Kombat and was later used as the theme tune of the best-selling 1998 PlayStation game Gran Turismo.

For live work around the Cyberia tour the band hired Shep Ashton on guitar and Darren Bennett on keyboards. After '96 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[citation needed] the group clearly decided a change was needed.

Signed in the U.S. to Wax Trax! Recordings for the act's fourth and final 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. The album was co-produced by Rhys Fulber. However, Interference proved to be the band's swansong.

Although the act is not very well known outside the crossover scene, Cubanate had a brief vogue in heavy metal circles. Body Burn and Oxyacetylene were both Single of the Week in UK rock weekly Kerrang! and a number of early nu metal acts have cited Cubanate as an influence.

No new material has been released by Cubanate since 1998, and the band has not performed live since December 1999, although bootlegs of the unfinished album "Search Engine" have surfaced.

Apart from Oxyacetylene, three other Cubanate songs were used on the Gran Turismo PlayStation game and the single Body Burn can be heard at length in episode eighty two of The Sopranos, first aired in May 2007 during the final season of the show.

Discography

Albums and EPs

Year Title Notes
1993 Antimatter Released in the U.S. in 1995 (with an alternate track listing)
1994 Metal EP
1995 Cyberia
1996 Barbarossa
1998 Interference

Singles

Year Title
1993 "Body Burn"
1994 "Oxyacetylene"
1996 "Joy"

References

  1. ^ Joel McIver Nu-metal: the next generation of rock & punk Omnibus Press (2002) p44

External links


 
 
Learn More
C-Tec (Electronica Band, '90s)
Nevermind the Methadone (1997 Album by Sheep on Drugs)
Interference (1998 Album by Cubanate)

What do cubans wear? Read answer...
Do Cubans travel? Read answer...
How do Cubans dress? Read answer...

Help us answer these
What are cuban religion?
What is afro-cuban?
Who is on cuban peso?

Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:

 

Copyrights:

Artist. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Cubanate" Read more