PHOTO
BIOGRAPHY
The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo composed of Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons, originating in Manchester in 1989. Along with The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, The Crystal Method, and fellow acts, they were pioneers at bringing the big beat genre to the forefront of pop culture. In the UK, they have had six number one albums and 13 top 20 singles, including two number ones.
HISTORY
Ed Simons was born in Herne Hill, South London on 9 June 1970 to a barrister mother and a father who was not around much when Simons was growing up. Simons' two main interests when he was young were aeroplanes and musicals. Simons attended two South London public schools, Alleyn's School and Dulwich College. During his school years, he developed a fondness for rare groove and hip hop music, having frequented a club called The Mud Club from the age of 14. By the time he left school, his two main musical interests were two Manchester bands, New Order and The Smiths. After finishing school with 11 O levels and three A levels, he continued on to study history, especially late medieval history, at the University of Manchester.
Tom Rowlands, a childhood classmate of Simons', was born on 11 January 1971 in Kingston upon Thames, London. When Rowlands was very young, his family relocated to Henley-on-Thames. He later attended Reading Blue Coat School in Berkshire, during which time he became obsessed with Scotland, developing a fondness for the bagpipes in particular. In his early teens, his interest in music broadened to other genres. Initially, some of his favourites included the Oh What a Lovely War soundtrack, 2 Tone, the nascent gothic rock genre (Sisters of Mercy, Fields of the Nephilim) and the electro sounds of artists such as Kraftwerk, New Order, Cabaret Voltaire, and Heaven 17. He described the first Public Enemy album as the record that probably changed his life, and commented that "Miuzi Weighs a Ton" was one of the most amazing tracks he had ever heard. Rowlands also started collecting hip hop records by artists like Eric B and Schoolly D. Rowlands left school with similar accomplishments to Simons', achieving nine O levels and three A levels. For university, he followed Simons to Manchester primarily to immerse himself in its music scene in general and the Haçienda in particular.
Rowlands was also in a band called Ariel prior to meeting up with Simons. Ariel was formed in London by Rowlands and his friends Brendan Melck and Matt Berry. Their first single was "Sea of Beats", which was essentially a white label. Before Philip Brown set up Echo Logik Records, their first promo was "Bokadilo". Other songs, released on 12", included "Mustn't Grumble" and their most well-known, "Rollercoaster". After a year on Echo Logik they signed to the record label deConstruction. They insisted that they get a female singer and they recruited former Xpansions frontwoman Sally Ann Marsh, and after some disappointing songs like "Let It Slide" (Rowlands would later describe it as "a stinker") the band fell apart. One of the last things Ariel did was the song "T Baby" which was remixed by the pair. In regards to the remix, Ed stated that "Ariel symbolically ended when Deconstruction asked us for a Dust Brothers remix of an Ariel track. That was the final nail in the coffin". Tom would later say in a TV interview from 1995: "One of the blokes went a bit mad, but now he's back at college, and the other one drives our van".
Rowlands and Simons then started to DJ at a club called "Naked Under Leather" in the back of a pub in 1992,[3] under the alias of "The 237 Turbo Nutters" (named after the number of their house on Dickenson Road in Manchester and a reference to their Blackburn raving days). The pair would play hip hop, techno, and house.[6] Rowlands and Simons called themselves The Dust Brothers,[3] after the US production duo famous for their work with the Beastie Boys. After a while, they began to run out of suitable instrumental hip hop tracks to use, so they started to make their own. Using a Hitachi hi-fi system, a computer, a sampler, and a keyboard, they recorded "Song to the Siren", which sampled This Mortal Coil. "Song to the Siren" was released on their own record label, called "Diamond Records" (after Ed's nickname). In October 1992, they pressed 500 white label copies and took them to various dance record shops around London, but none would play it, saying that it was too slow (the track played at 111 BPM). They sent a copy to London DJ Andrew Weatherall, who made it a permanent fixture in his DJ sets. Weatherall also signed the band to his Junior Boy's Own label.In May 1993, Junior Boy's Own released "Song to the Siren".
Around June 1993, the Dust Brothers did their first remixes. The first was "Packet of Peace" for Justin Robertson's Lionrock group, followed by songs from Leftfield, Republica, and The Sandals. Later in 1993, The Dust Brothers completed work on their Fourteenth Century Sky EP, released in January 1994. It contained the ground-breaking "Chemical Beats", which epitomized the duo's genre-defining big beat sound. The EP also contained "One Too Many Mornings", which for the first time showed the less intense, more chilled-out side of The Dust Brothers. Both "One Too Many Mornings" and "Chemical Beats" would later appear on their debut album. Fourteenth Century Sky was followed later in 1993 by the My Mercury Mouth EP. "Chemical Beats" was also part of the soundtrack for the first edition of the Wipeout game series, having been featured in Wipeout for the PlayStation in 1995.
In October 1994, The Dust Brothers became resident DJs at the small, but influential Heavenly Sunday Social Club at the Albany pub in London's Great Portland Street. Noel Gallagher, Paul Weller, James Dean Bradfield, and Tim Burgess were regular visitors. The Dust Brothers were subsequently asked to remix tracks by Manic Street Preachers and The Charlatans, plus Primal Scream's "Jailbird" and The Prodigy's "Voodoo People". These two remixes received television exposure, being playlisted by MTV Europe's "The Party Zone" in 1995. Early in 1994, The Dust Brothers were approached in the club one Sunday by Noel Gallagher, from Oasis, who at the time were becoming one of the most prominent guitar bands in Britain. Gallagher told the duo that he had a Balearic-inspired track which he had written and would like the Dust Brothers to remix. However, over time, Gallagher changed his mind, and in the end the Brothers did not remix it.
In March 1995, The Dust Brothers began their first international tour, which included the United States – where they played with Orbital and Underworld – then a series of European festivals. Also around this time, objections were filed by the original Dust Brothers over the use of their name, and so Rowlands and Simons had to decide on a new name.They decided to then call themselves "The Chemical Brothers" after "Chemical Beats" (Simons' grandmother had suggested they call themselves "The Grit Brothers").
In June 1995, they released their fourth single, the first under their new identity. "Leave Home" was released on Junior Boy's Own, as a preview of the imminent debut album and became the band's first chart hit, peaking at No. 17
DISCOGRAPHY
Studio albums
Exit Planet Dust (1995)
Dig Your Own Hole (1997)
Surrender (1999)
Come with Us (2002)
Push the Button (2005)
We Are the Night (2007)
Further (2010)
Born in the Echoes (2015)
Soundtrack albums
Hanna (soundtrack) (2011)
Live albums
Don't Think (2012)
Main compilation albums
Brothers Gonna Work It Out (1998)
Singles 93–03 (2003)
Brotherhood (2008)
MORE INFO https://www.discogs.com/artist/2290-The-Chemical-Brothers
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