Blazin' Squad
is a UK pop-rap vocal band. Heavily influenced by the UK garage scene, they enjoyed significant success in the UK, achieving six consecutive top ten hits, including a UK number-one single, "Crossroads", a cover version of the Bone Thugs-n-Harmony original. James, Mus, Kenzie, Marcel & Lee reunited in 2009 and their latest single 'Let's Start Again' was released on 15 June 2009.
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BLAZIN' SQUAD TICKETS
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History
Early days
The ten members grew up in Highams Park. The group made their first single, "Standard Flow", with the production team TNT Xplosive. They subsequently signed a recording and production deal with Terry Mcleod and Tapps Bandawe aka TNT Xplosive on their independent label Xplosive Records, who then licenced the band to EastWest/Warner Music.
"Standard Flow" featured the dancehall musician
Elephant Man and was released to pirate radio stations on the Weighty Plates label. Xplosive Records and EastWest/Warner Music followed this with their first commercial release, "Crossroads".
Breakthrough and debut album
Blazin' Squad were highly influenced by the rap/metal band of the late 90's Korn (sometimes written as KoRn or Ko?n), and this is seen in their debut album. TNT Xplosive and EastWest/Warner Music both agreed to work on the single "Crossroads", which was originally recorded by
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony as "
Tha Crossroads" in 1996. Using their own version of the chorus, the band wrote their own MC verses. The track was released as their first single once they left school at the ages of 16. "Crossroads" entered the
UK Singles Chart at number one in August 2002. During their initial two years together, the group achieved six consecutive UK top ten hits, although they faced a lot of criticism. Their rap skills were not taken seriously by the British media, sidelining them to a younger audience. Despite this, their debut album,
In the Beginning
, achieved gold satus in the UK and spawned two further UK top ten hits, "
Love on the Line" (which reached number six) and a double A-side single, "
Reminisce/Where The Story Ends" (which reached number eight in February 2003).
The group were popular with commercial radio gigs and roadshows, other crew members such as Bearmanzie, as well as pre-teen pop music magazines such as
Top of the Pops
and
Smash Hits
.
Further success and Now or Never
The group achieved further chart success in 2003, with two UK top five chart hits. "
We Just Be Dreamin'" reached number three in July 2003, and "
Flip Reverse" reached number two in November. "Flip Reverse" was used to re-launch the BBC's
Top of the Pops
. A special performance was recorded outside
BBC Television Centre with 100 or so hooded back-up dancers.
Despite the chart success of their singles, the group failed to match it with their second album,
Now or Never
, however, it made the UK Top 40 album chart. A live recording of a concert in Liverpool was released for Christmas 2003. It failed to re-ignite the low sales of their second album, nor did a follow-up single, "
Here 4 One", which peaked at number six in the UK during early 2004. The group completed a sold-out UK 21-date tour in 2003, managed by successful rap touring promoter Aaron Hill.
Decline in popularity
2004 was a period of little public activity for the group. In January 2005, Kenzie appeared on Channel 4's
Celebrity Big Brother
, finishing in second place. The original Blazin' Squad split shortly after. Kenzie went on to form
Friday Hill with two other Blazin' Squad members, Mus and James. Friday Hill's music was more pop-based and different in vein to the music of Blazin' Squad. They released two singles in the UK, "Baby Goodbye" (which peaked at number five on the Official UK Singles Chart in November 2005) and "One More Night Alone" (which reached number thirteen in February 2006). They also released an album
Times Like These
, which failed to chart.
Blazin' Squad made a brief return to the UK charts in October 2006, as a four-piece consisting of Marcel (MC Plat'num), Stuart (MC Reepa), Sam (MC Spike-E) & Chris (MC Melo-D). The single released was a summer-sounding "
All Night Long", which did not chart as expected. The group expressed their disappointment via their official
MySpace page.
Blazin' Squad cancelled several dates from their tour of Swansea. After this disappointment, the group split and Blazin' Squad was left to rest for the time being. Rumours circulated in
2008 that Spike-e had legally changed his name to 'Diamond Geezer' although it is unknown if this was a failed publicity stunt as there in no conclusive evidence.
The group reformed in
2009 and created the single 'Lets Start Again' with only 5 of the original members. It was released on
15 June 2009, and entered the
UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 51. By
12 July 2009, the release had dropped out of the UK Top 100 singles
[1]
Criticism
The band were notoriously criticised, even after the release of their second album, as they were seen to be pioneers of the
chav culture, and some said that they were to
So Solid Crew what
S Club Juniors were to their senior counterparts,
S Club. They were also seen to appeal only to the young population of the UK.
Discography
Albums
| Statistics
| Singles
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In the Beginning
- Released: 25 November 2002
- UK Number 33
| Singles Released
- "Crossroads"
- "Love on the Line"
- "Reminisce/Where the Story Ends"
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Now or Never
- Released: 20 November 2003
- UK Number 37
| Singles Released
- "We Just Be Dreamin'"
- "Flip Reverse" Music video directed by Andy Hylton (http://www.andyhylton.com)
- "Here 4 One" Music video directed by Andy Hylton (http://www.andyhylton.com)
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*Download only album available via fansite
Singles
| Year
| Title
| Chart Positions
| Album
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| UK Singles Chart
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| 2002
| "Crossroads"
| 1
| In the Beginning
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| "Love on the Line"
| 6
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| 2003
| "Reminisce/Where The Story Ends"
| 8
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| "We Just Be Dreamin'"
| 3
| Now or Never
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| "Flip Reverse"
| 2
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| 2004
| "Here 4 One"
| 6
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| 2006
| "All Night Long"
| 54
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| 2009
| "Let's Start Again"
| 51 Music video directed by Andy Hylton (http://www.andyhylton.com)
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References
- [1]