Cubanate are an English
industrial
Industrial may refer to:
Industry
* Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry
* Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems
* Industrial city, a city dominate ...
band from
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, England, founded in 1992 by
Marc Heal
Marc Heal is an English musician, television producer and writer. He is best known as an industrial music artist of the 1990s, noted for mixing metal and techno with more traditional industrial sounds. His extroverted onstage behaviour was unus ...
and Graham Rayner with Phil Barry and Steve Etheridge. The group became well known for their combination of
electro-industrial
Electro-industrial is a music genre that emerged from industrial music in the early 1980s. While EBM (electronic body music) has a minimal structure and clean production, electro-industrial tends to have a grittier, complex and layered sound wi ...
with distorted
heavy metal guitars and
techno
Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...
percussion (later incorporating
breakbeat
Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that tends to use drum breaks sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as hip hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat hardcore, and UK ...
s).
History
Cubanate played their first UK tour in November 1992 supporting leftfield UK techno duo
Sheep on Drugs
Sheep on Drugs are a British techno/industrial music group, formed by Duncan X ( King Duncan) (vocals) and Lee Fraser (a.k.a. Dead Lee) (guitar/keyboards), and currently composed of Fraser and Johnny Borden (vocals/keyboards).
Biography
Dunca ...
. 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
Julian Beeston is an English musician, mainly noted for his time in the electronic groups Nitzer Ebb and Cubanate. He has spent time as a remixing engineer working on artists such as Bob Marley and Billy Idol. More recently, he has worked as a ...
(ex –
Nitzer Ebb
Nitzer Ebb () are a British EBM group formed in 1982 by Essex school friends Vaughan "Bon" Harris (programming, synthesizers, drums, vocals), Douglas McCarthy (vocals), and David Gooday (drums).
History
Initial releases (1983–1987)
The g ...
drummer).
In May 1994, the ''Metal'' EP was Single of the Week in ''
Melody Maker
''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...
'' magazine and later that year Cubanate received media attention when they were weirdly paired with
Carcass
Carcass or Carcase (both pronounced ) may refer to:
*Dressed carcass, the body of a livestock animal ready for butchery, after removal of skin, visceral organs, head, feet etc.
*Carrion, the decaying dead body of an animal or human being
*The str ...
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
Paul Bruce Dickinson (born 7 August 1958) is an English singer who has been the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden from 1981 to 1993 and 1999–present. He is known for his wide-ranging operatic vocal style and energetic stage ...
.
The second album ''Cyberia'' (1995) spawned the hit single "Oxyacetylene", generally considered Cubanate's creative peak. The album peaked at 3 on the CMJ RPM Chart in the U.S.
For live work around the ''Cyberia'' tour the band hired Shep Ashton on guitar and Darren Bennett on keyboards. After 1996, Ashton and Bennett were replaced by Roddy Stone (currently fronting UK metal act
Viking Skull
Viking Skull are an English hard rock band originally from Corby, Northamptonshire. Formed in 2002, the band currently features vocalist and guitarist Roddy Stone, guitarists Frank Regan and Dom Wallace, bassist Kevin "Waldie" James and drummer ...
) 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
The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music band formed in Braintree, Essex, in 1990 by producer, keyboard player and songwriter Liam Howlett. The original line-up also featured dancer and singer Keith Flint and dancer and occasional l ...
,
the group decided a change was clearly needed.
Signed in the United States to
Wax Trax!
Wax Trax! Records is an American independent record label based in Chicago. It began as a record shop in Denver, Colorado, opened by life partners Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher, who sold the store in 1978 and moved to Chicago. In November of that ...
Recordings for the act's fourth and final official full-length album to date, ''
Interference
Interference is the act of interfering, invading, or poaching. Interference may also refer to:
Communications
* Interference (communication), anything which alters, modifies, or disrupts a message
* Adjacent-channel interference, caused by extr ...
'' (1998) was a departure from Cubanate's earlier techno experiments with a strong
drum and bass
Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...
influence that alienated some of their traditionalist fans but was heralded as revelatory by others. The album was co-produced by
Rhys Fulber
Nowell Rhys Fulber is a Canadian electronic musician and producer. He is a member of Front Line Assembly and Delerium, along with Bill Leeb. He also records under his own name and under the name Conjure One.
Biography
Rhys Fulber was born in ...
.
Early 2000s hiatus
In 2004, a
torrent
Torrent or torrents may refer to:
* A fast flowing stream
Animals
* Torrent duck, a species of the family Anatidae
* Torrent fish
* Torrent frog, various unrelated frogs
* Torrent robin, a bird species
* Torrent salamander, a family of sala ...
appeared on the Internet with nine leaked demo tracks recorded by Heal in 2000 titled ''Search Engine''. Featuring such tracks as "Razor Edge", "Superstructure", and "Drowning Hands" the material had been abandoned by Heal in 2000.
In October 2010, the band announced that they were recording again and would be releasing new material in 2011. A new track titled "We Are Crowd" was released on Alfa-Matrix's compilation ''EBM1''.
In a posting on his Facebook page dated 13 September 2011, Cubanate founder Marc Heal stated: "Marc here. I should have posted this a while back, but I wanted to let everyone know that I have decided conclusively not to do another Cubanate album. It was a real blast getting back into studio with Phil – and he came up with some brilliant music. But I'm doing something different with my life now and I've come to the conclusion to leave it. Thanks for all your support, I really appreciate it. I'll keep posting. M".
Both Heal and Barry have released solo work since that announcement.
Reunion
On 24 September 2016, Cubanate reformed to play the Cold Waves Festival (an annual industrial music festival held in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
, United States) with members Marc Heal, Phil Barry and Vince McAley (variously from Dead on TV, GoFight and Die Warzau). The festival lineup included The Cocks (ex-
Revolting Cocks
Revolting Cocks, also known as RevCo, are an American-Belgian industrial rock band, and sometimes supergroup, that began as a musical side project for Richard23 of Front 242, Luc van Acker, and Al Jourgensen of Ministry.
History 1984: Origin ...
members:
Richard 23
Richard Jonckheere (born 20 January 1963), better known by his stage names Richard23 and Richard JK, is a Belgian musician. He has been a member of Front 242 (which he joined in 1983) and was a founding member of Revolting Cocks (which he left ...
,
Luc van Acker
Luc Van Acker is a Belgian singer, songwriter, and music producer. He began writing and releasing solo material in 1982, contributed guitar on Shriekback's 1984 album ''Jam Science'', and collaborated with Anna Domino on the track "Zanna" for hi ...
,
Chris Connelly &
Paul Barker
Paul Gordon Barker (born February 8, 1959), also referred to as Hermes Pan, is the former bass guitarist, producer and engineer of the industrial metal band Ministry from 1986 to 2003. Prior to Ministry, Barker provided bass for the Seattle ...
),
,
16Volt
16volt is an American industrial rock band featuring Eric Powell, with other performers added for live shows.
History
16volt was formed in Portland, Oregon by composer and vocalist Eric Powell. Powell recruited musicians drummer Joel Bornzin, g ...
, Dead When I Found Her, Bloody Knives, and Kanga, many of whom had previously collaborated with Heal in projects such as
Pigface
Pigface is an American industrial rock supergroup formed in 1990 by Martin Atkins and William Rieflin.
History
Pigface was formed from Ministry's ''The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste'' tour, which produced the ''In Case You Didn't Feel Lik ...
and C-Tec.
On 5 May 2017, Cubanate released a compilation album titled ''
Brutalism
Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by Minimalism (art), minimalist constructions th ...
'' via Armalyte Industries, featuring 14 remastered songs from Cubanate's first three albums.
On 8 May 2019, Cubanate announced the upcoming release of ''Kolossus'', their first new material since 1998. ''Kolossus'' was released on 7 June 2019.
Musical style
Cubanate has been described often as
electro-industrial
Electro-industrial is a music genre that emerged from industrial music in the early 1980s. While EBM (electronic body music) has a minimal structure and clean production, electro-industrial tends to have a grittier, complex and layered sound wi ...
.
AllMusic wrote that the band "have explored the hybrid style created by mixing
industrial music
Industrial music is a genre of music that draws on harsh, mechanical, transgressive or provocative sounds and themes. AllMusic defines industrial music as the "most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music" that was "initiall ...
with the high-speed rhythms of
techno
Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...
".
The band also has included elements of
industrial metal
Industrial metal is the fusion of heavy metal and industrial music, typically employing repeating metal guitar riffs, sampling, synthesizer or sequencer lines, and distorted vocals. Prominent industrial metal acts include Ministry, Nine In ...
in some songs, with vocals similar to the vocals of
Lemmy Kilmister
Ian Fraser Kilmister (24 December 1945 – 28 December 2015), better known as Lemmy Kilmister or simply Lemmy, was an English musician. He was the founder, lead singer, bassist and primary songwriter of the rock band Motörhead, of which he wa ...
of
heavy metal band
Motörhead
Motörhead () were an English rock band formed in London in 1975 by Lemmy (lead vocals, bass), Larry Wallis (guitar) and Lucas Fox (drums). Lemmy was also the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band are often considered a precu ...
.
Discography
Albums and EPs
Singles
Legacy and influence
Although the act is not very well known outside the crossover scene, Cubanate had a brief vogue in
heavy metal circles. The band toured with acts such as
Fear Factory
Fear Factory is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1989. Throughout the band's career, they have released ten full-length albums and have evolved through a succession of sounds, all in their main style of industrial metal. ...
,
The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy is an English rock band, formed in 1980 in Leeds. After achieving early underground fame there, the band had their commercial breakthrough in the mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasin ...
,
Rammstein
Rammstein (, "ramming stone") is a German Neue Deutsche Härte band formed in Berlin in 1994. The band's lineup—consisting of lead vocalist Till Lindemann, lead guitarist Richard Kruspe, rhythm guitarist Paul Landers, bassist Oliver Riedel, ...
,
Carcass
Carcass or Carcase (both pronounced ) may refer to:
*Dressed carcass, the body of a livestock animal ready for butchery, after removal of skin, visceral organs, head, feet etc.
*Carrion, the decaying dead body of an animal or human being
*The str ...
and other rock acts, whilst "Body Burn" and "Oxyacetylene"' were both 'Single of the Week' in the British rock weekly ''
Kerrang!
''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...
'' magazine and a number of early
nu metal
Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, sometimes called aggro-metal) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop, alternative rock, funk, industrial, and grunge. Nu met ...
acts have cited Cubanate as an influence.
"Oxyacetylene" was featured on the 1996 compilation album, ''
Mortal Kombat: More Kombat'', and was later used on the soundtrack of the best-selling 1998
PlayStation
is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...
game ''
Gran Turismo'' in the NTSC and EU versions. Apart from "Oxyacetylene", three other Cubanate songs were used on ''Gran Turismo'' and the single "Body Burn" can be heard at length in episode eighty two of ''
The Sopranos
''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based American Mafia, Italian-American mobster, portraying h ...
'', from the final season of the show.
References
External links
artist information/discography page at CyberNoise
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cubanate
TVT Records artists
Electronic music duos
Musical groups established in 1992
Musical groups from London
British industrial music groups
Electro-industrial music groups
Wax Trax! Records artists
English techno music groups
British industrial rock musical groups
British industrial metal musical groups
Rock music duos