Spiritualized
are an English space rock band formed in 1990 in Rugby, Warwickshire by Jason Pierce (who often goes by the alias J. Spaceman) after the demise of his previous outfit, space-rockers Spacemen 3. The membership of Spiritualized has changed from album to album, with Pierce—who writes, composes and sings all of the band's material—being the only constant member.
Spiritualized has released six studio albums. The best known and most critically acclaimed of these was 1997's Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space
, which NME
magazine made their Album of the Year.
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SPIRITUALIZED TICKETS
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Biography
Following a major breakdown in relations between Spacemen 3 co-frontmen
Peter Kember and
Jason Pierce, the group's bassist Will Carruthers, drummer
Jonny Mattock, and guitarist
Mark Refoy decided to form a splinter group, before persuading Pierce to join alongside local friend Steve Evans to create Spiritualized. The band took their name from an adaptation of the text on the back label of a bottle of
Pernod. Due to formation from a majority of
Spacemen 3 members, a technical clause meant that Spiritualized had to maintain the Spacemen 3 recording contract with
Dedicated Records.
The first Spiritualized release, in 1990, was a cover of
The Troggs' "Anyway That You Want Me"; the record heralded the official split of Spacemen 3 following contractual wrangles over the band's name and its use in Spiritualized-related promotional material (initial copies of "Anyway That You Want Me" came with a Spacemen 3 logo on the sleeve).
Evans was replaced on keyboards by Pierce's then-girlfriend
Kate Radley for the follow-up single, "Run"/"I Want You". A number of singles followed, before the band, in early 1992, released their first LP
Lazer Guided Melodies
, which had been recorded in Rugby over the previous two years. A second album,
Pure Phase
, was released in 1995, and a third
Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
emerged in 1997 to notable critical acclaim and commercial success.
The musical style of Spiritualized relies heavily on sustained '
pedal' notes and drones.
Lazer Guided Melodies
and
Pure Phase
incorporate elements of the
shoegazing style, drones and tremolo. The landmark
Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
saw the influence of
African-American gospel and
blues beginning to show, while "walls of sound" modelled after the production styles of
Phil Spector and
Brian Wilson also made their presence felt. Such influences dominated Spiritualized's next album,
Let It Come Down
which included over 120 musicians.
Amazing Grace
favoured a more stripped down sound with the gospel, blues, and soul influences even more dominant than before.
On 15 June 1997, Spiritualized became the last band to ever play at Factory Records' famous Manchester nightclub
The Haçienda.
After several years of work and a serious illness on Pierce's part in July 2005
[1], the latest Spiritualized album,
Songs in A&E
was released on 26 May 2008 in the UK, and on 27 May 2008 in the US. The first single from the 18-track album was "Soul On Fire". The release was backed by an Electric Mainlines UK tour which began in May.
[2] Pierce has also scored
Harmony Korine's 2008 film
Mister Lonely
.
Pierce is quoted as saying in a 2008 interview that Spiritualized was scheduled to play the
CERN collider. "They asked us to do it! We were gonna play in it before they’d thrown the switch. But it was a timing thing—their timings didn’t coincide with ours."
[3]
In October 2009 the band will perform 1997's
Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space
live in its entirety as part of the
All Tomorrow's Parties-curated
Don't Look Back series.
Band members
The band was formed by messers Carruthers, Refoy and Mattock following the impending split of Spacemen 3. Pierce was invited to join, and due to a technical clause inherited Spacemen 3's new record deal with Dedicated Records. Only Pierce remains from the original line-up of the band. Will Carruthers left the band in 1992 and now records as a solo project under the name
Freelovebabies, Carruthers was replaced by Rugby musician Sean Cook from local band Electrahead. Following the completion of recording sessions for Pure Phase, Mark Refoy was jettisoned in 1994, deciding to concentrate on his own fronted band
Slipstream. He was initially replaced by Kevin Cowen from fellow Rugby band
The Darkside, Cowen only completed one gig (Glastonbury 1994) before himself leaving to be replaced first by John Coxon (
Spring Heel Jack, Betty Boo) and then later on by
Julian Cope's former guitarist Michael Mooney (Coxon returned to replace Mooney following his eventual departure). Mattock played in
The Breeders for a spell (during a lull in Spiritualized activities in 1991, he appears on the
Safari
EP) and left Spiritualized later in 1994 following the recording of Pure Phase, working as a session musician before joining
Lupine Howl, he was replaced by Damon Reece.
Kate Radley appeared for some initial dates promoting
Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
, before leaving the band in 1997 with a reported unspecified illness. (Radley had married
The Verve's singer
Richard Ashcroft in 1995, however after a reconciliation with Pierce, she eventually returned to Ashcroft by the time of her illness.) Kate was replaced by Thighpaulsandra from
Julian Cope's band Queen Elizabeth. Sax player Ray 'Moonshake' Dickaty was added to the lineup in 1997, and
Gregg Hale (guitar) also augmented the band in 1997 and 1998.
Following promotional activity for
Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
, Sean Cook, Damon Reece and Michael Mooney threatened a strike in protest over low salaries and appearance fees. New contracts of employment were drawn up between Pierce and the musicians, and the same contracts were then used to fire them (to general disbelief by the music press at the time). In response, Messrs Cook, Reece and Mooney formed the ill-starred
Lupine Howl. Ray Dickaty departed in 2003, quitting to play in the free-jazz Solar Fire Trio.
Retaining only keyboardist
Thighpaulsandra (keyboards), Jason Pierce then debuted a new (and current) line up of Spiritualized, introducing classical percussionist Tom Edwards and former
Julian Cope string arranger Martin Schellard on bass guitar. Completing the new Spiritualized line-up were guitarist Doggen of
Brain Donor and the
Julian Cope band,
Richard Warren and drummer Kevin 'Kevlar' Bales, who is was also a member of
Brain Donor. This line-up finished recording their newest album
Songs In A&E
in Nottingham and London. Jonny Aitken stepped in on drums for the recording of "Amazing Grace" while Kevin Bales was recovering from illness.
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Discography
Title
| Format
| Label
| Release
| Chartpos.
|
Lazer Guided Melodies
| 2LP/CD
| Dedicated
| Mar 1992
| UK #27
|
Pure Phase
| Sampler 12"/2x12"/CD/Ltd.CD
| Dedicated
| Feb 1995
|
Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space
| Cassette/2x12"/CD/Ltd.CD/12x3"CD
| Dedicated
| Mar 1997
| UK #4; SWE #41
|
Let It Come Down
| 2LP/CD/Ltd.CD
| Spacemen/Arista
| Sep 2001
| UK #3; US #133; SWE #47
|
Amazing Grace
| CD/LP/3x12”
| Sanctuary
| Aug 2003
| UK #25
|
Songs In A&E
| CD/Book/LP
| Universal, Sanctuary
| May 2008
| UK #15; US #157; SWE #48
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References
- Spiritualized Star Hospitalised | News | Nme.Com
- http://www.nme.com/news/spiritualized/31174"
- April 2008 Interview with L.A. Record