Senser are a politically charged UK rap rock band, originally formed in South West London from a group of friends in the late 1980s. The initial line-up comprised Nick Michaelson (guitar), Heitham Al-Sayed (vocals), Kerstin Haigh (vocals), John Morgan (drums), James Barrett (bass) and Alan "Hagos/Haggis" Haggarty (engineer, producer, programmer) and in 1992 they were joined by

Spiral Tribe Spiral Tribe is an arts collective and free party sound system formed in 1990. It organised free parties, festivals and raves in the UK and later Europe in the 1990s. Spiral Tribe was involved in the Castlemorton Common Festival and members ...

D.J, Andy Clinton.Strong, Martin C. (1999) ''The Great Alternative & Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 551 The band toured in support of psychedelic rockers the

Ozric Tentacles Ozric Tentacles are an English instrumental rock band, whose music incorporates elements from a diverse range of genres, including psychedelic rock, progressive rock, space rock, jazz fusion, electronic music, dub music, world music, and ambi ...

in 1992. In 1993, the band were signed to Ultimate Records.

History

In 1993, Senser released two indie singles on Ultimate – "Eject" and "The Key". In March 1994, Senser released their third single, "Switch", which entered the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

at number 39. Senser's first album, ''Stacked Up'', was released in May 1994, and entered the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

at number 4. At the beginning of 1995, Senser toured the UK supported by

Skunk Anansie Skunk Anansie are a British rock band whose members include Skin (lead vocals, guitar), Cass (bass, guitar, backing vocals), Ace (guitar, backing vocals) and Mark Richardson (drums and percussion). Skunk Anansie formed in 1994, disbanded in 2 ...

before setting off to tour the United States with Moby. It was during this tour that the band decided to split over musical differences. Al-Sayed and Morgan left to form a new band with Haggis called Lodestar. The remaining members of Senser found a new drummer, Paul Soden, and set about writing Senser's second album. During the spring of 1997, they recorded the second album. And in the summer of 1997 De-Senser released "Om". In the summer of 1998, Haigh was able to tour and the band released the second album, ''Asylum''. Once again musical differences became apparent and in February 1999 the band decided to split. In 2003, the original line-up reunited originally to perform at one show, but decided to re-form and record again. They released their third studio album ''SCHEMAtic'' in 2004. A concert performance was released in 2006 as ''Live At The Underworld''. In 2009, they released ''How To Do Battle''. In 2013, they released their fifth album ''To the Capsules'' via

Pledgemusic PledgeMusic was an online direct-to-fan music platform, launched in August 2009. It was started to facilitate musicians looking to pre-sell, market, and distribute projects; such as recordings and concerts. It bore similarities to other artist p ...

and toured with Erika Footman on vocals in place of Kerstin Haigh. In 2014, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their debut ''Stacked Up'', the band re-released the album in expanded edition with a remastered version of the original tracks on the first CD, and bonus tracks from the era (remixes and previously unreleased songs) on the second disc.

Soundtracks to films

"The Key" was used as part of the cult extreme 1990s ski film, ''The Tribe''. Senser's song "States of Mind" from ''

Stacked Up ''Stacked Up'' is the debut album by UK rap-rock group Senser. It was released in the UK on 2 May 1994 and entered the national charts at No.4. It features an eclectic, incendiary cross over of hip hop, rock and psychedelia. Background Sens ...

'', was used as the soundtrack to the well-known

demoscene The demoscene is an international computer art subculture focused on producing demos: self-contained, sometimes extremely small, computer programs that produce audiovisual presentations. The purpose of a demo is to show off programming, visual ...

production, ''State of Mind'', by Bomb. In 2012, one of their songs was also used in the soundtrack to the film '' Learning Hebrew: A Gothsploitation Movie''.

Discography

Albums

'' (1994) Ultimate/ A&M UK No. 4 :# States of Mind :# The Key :# Switch :# Age of Panic :# What's Going On :# One Touch One Bounce :# Stubborn :# Door Game :# Peanut Head :# Peace :# Eject :# No Comply :# Worth ''Asylum'' (1998) Ultimate UK No. 73 :# Book of Flies :# Charming Demons :# Adrenaline :# Strange Asylum :# Burn Out :# Desensitised :# Breed :# Lizard :# Oyster :# Weatherman ''Asylum'' (Limited Edition) (1998) "Senser Vs. De:Senser" :# Charming Demons (DJ "Awe" mix) :# Eye Kaleid :# Tried & Untested :# Om (Harry Hogg mix) :# Rows of People :# Gabba Man ''Parallel Charge'' (2001) Strike Back :# Age Of Panic :# Charming Demons :# States Of Mind :# Strange Asylum :# Switch :# Breed :# The Key :# Adrenalin :# Eject :# Lizard :# Stubborn :# Book of Flies :# No Comply :# Desensitized ''SCHEMAtic'' (2004) One Little Indian :# Silent By :# 101 Infoburner :# Bulletproof :# Formula Milk :# Crucible :# Return to Zombie Island :# An Astounding Spectacle :# Photographed Files :# Bomb Factories :# A Conscious War :# The Brunt ''How To Do Battle'' (2009) Imprint :# Wake Up, You’re On Fire :# Resistance Now :# Brightest Rays :# 2 3 Clear :# Dictator Bling :# End Of The World Show :# Smoking Paranoia :# Sandhurst in Zero G :# So Refined :# Hex :# Fairytale :# Lights Out :# Arturo :# Blind (iTunes Bonus Track) ''To The Capsules'' (2013) :# Devoid :# Time Travel Scratch :# Witch Village :# Wounded Spectre :# Break The Order :# Alpha Omega :# Liquidity :# Echelon :# Chemtrails :# Let There Be War

Singles

*"Eject" (1993), Ultimate *"The Key" (1993), Ultimate – UK #47 *"Switch" (1994), Ultimate – UK #39 *"Age of Panic" (1994), Ultimate – UK #52 *"Charming Demons" (1996), Ultimate – UK #42 *"Adrenalin" (1998), Ultimate - UK #85 *"Breed" (1998), Ultimate - UK #76 *"Weatherman", Ultimate – promo only *''De:Senser'' EP (1998), Ultimate *"The Brunt" (2004), One Little Indian *"Bulletproof" / "Crucible" (2004), One Little Indian *"Resistance Now" (2009), Imprint *''Biting Rhymes'' EP (2011), Imprint – features hiphop covers

Videos/DVDs

*''States of Mind'' (1995), Ultimate (VHS) *''Live at the Underworld'' (2006), Ignite (DVD/CD)

Members

Current

* Heitham Al-Sayed (b. 27 February 1971) (lead vocals/percussion, 1992–1995, 1999–present) He is of Saudi and English parentage; also associated with Fiend and (previously) Lodestar. * Nick Michaelson (guitar, 1992–present) * James Barrett (bass, 1992–present) * John Morgan (drums, 1992–1995, 1999–present) * Kerstin Haigh (vocals/flute, 1992–2011, 2013-present)

Former

* Alan "Hagos/Haggis" Haggarty (sound engineering/programming/producer, 1992–1994, 1999–2004) * Paul Soden (drums, 1995–1999) * Erika Footman (vocals, 2013) * Andy "Awe" Clinton (turntables, 1992–2017)

References

Bibliography

In Performance
(New York Times)
Rolling Stone Magazine - Transglobal Underground review

External links

* {{Authority control English hip hop groups Musical groups from London Rapcore groups Rap rock groups Rap metal musical groups