R.O.C are a British
electronic music
Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroa ...
group, founded in 1990 by Fred Browning and Patrick Nicholson in
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.
[Ankeny, Jason]
R.O.C. Biography
, Allmusic, retrieved 2012-03-23 Karen Sheridan joined the band in 1993.
R.O.C have released three albums (on the Virgin, Setanta and 12 Apostles labels) and 15 singles/EPs. Producer
Danton Supple
Danton Supple is a British record producer and mixer, best known for his work with Coldplay.
Early career (1985–1994)
Danton Supple was introduced to the world of recording studios in the 1980s, at his girlfriend's uncle Paddy Kingsland's BBC ...
(Coldplay/Patti Smith) joined in 2017.
Career
R.O.C began with Browning and Nicholson making demos on 4-track cassette, laying film dialogue over Drumatix beats and Casio keyboards.
By 1993, R.O.C was Browning, Nicholson, Karen Sheridan (from Denver, US), Russell Warby, and producer Peter Burgess. They released 5 singles/EPs on their Little Star label, quickly gaining critical acclaim and airplay from the likes of
John Peel on UK Radio 1, and KCRW in LA. "Girl with a Crooked Eye" made 1994's John Peel Festive 50 and earned R.O.C a session on the DJ's Radio 1 show. Their releases revealed R.O.C's disregard for genres, throwing rock, dance, spoken-word and noise influences into their evolving songs. Airing their Radio 1 session, Peel said '"you never know what you're gonna get next from this lot, do you? I'm all in favour of that."
Of the single "God Willing", ''Dazed & Confused'' magazine said: "pseudo-religious spoken word over ambient pop, if it was the only record R.O.C ever released it would still put them in the top 50 best British bands."
The singles displayed a tendency to black humour. "Girl with a Crooked Eye" is a duet about domestic violence on holiday. But with their 1996 debut
album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
, ''ROC'', the group revealed a more personal side as Browning and Sheridan's vocals took centre stage. The group was now a trio of Browning, Nicholson and Sheridan. The album was widely acclaimed; ''Music Week'' called it "a storming debut album by this outfit who are impossible to categorise. The extraordinarily diverse set veers from electronic ambience to slick pop tunes. An early candidate for album of the year."
A single from the album, "Hey You Chick" was shot in the band's stamping ground of Brixton, South London, the camera relentlessly following a girl's bottom around the streets. The video opened an edition of BBC's ''
Top of the Pops 2
''Top of the Pops 2'' (also known as ''TOTP2'') is a British television music show broadcast on BBC Two showing archive footage from the long-running ''Top of the Pops'' show, some dating back to the 1960s when the programme first aired on Britis ...
'', and was voted Video of the Year in ''Melody Maker'' by prankster Dennis Pennis who said: "Somehow it's not sexist." The video was showcased at a music/art event staged by ''Dazed and Confused'' magazine, themed around David Cronenberg's film ''Crash''. R.O.C has played live alongside
Radiohead and
Sneaker Pimps
Sneaker Pimps are an English electronic music band, formed in Hartlepool in 1994. They are best known for their debut album, '' Becoming X'' (1996), and its singles " 6 Underground" and "Spin Spin Sugar". The band takes its name from an article ...
.
Signing to
Virgin
Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...
the following year, they released the ''Virgin'' album featuring Dada, based around
Idi Amin
Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 16 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern w ...
's laugh, and "Said What I Said". Regarding "Ocean & England", ''
Q'' said: "It ends with a love song - now that is unsettling". More glowing reviews followed, and endorsements from other artists. At the 1997
Q Awards
The Q Awards were the UK's annual music awards run by the music magazine '' Q''. Since they began in 1990, the Q Awards became one of Britain's biggest and best publicised music awards. Locations for the awards ceremony included Abbey Road Studios ...
, Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien, accepting Best Album, said he'd have nominated ‘Virgin’.
The album produced two singles: "Cheryl" made the UK singles top 75.
Orbital, guest reviewers for ''Melody Maker'', made it Single of the Week. "(Dis)count Us In" received another celebrity review, from
Dannii Minogue who said: “This has got the groove, hasn't it? And it's immediate too. Fantastic."
The video for "(Dis)Count", shot by Spanish director Edmundo, featured performance artist David Fryer walking through a sun-drenched Valencia, arms raised. Edmundo said the gesture meant either surrender or victory (Edmundo and Fryer previously made
Everything but the Girl
Everything but the Girl (occasionally referred to as EBTG) are an English musical duo formed in Kingston upon Hull in 1982, consisting of lead singer and occasional guitarist Tracey Thorn and guitarist, keyboardist, producer and singer Ben Watt ...
's video for "Single").
Despite the album's warm reception, Virgin dropped R.O.C in 1999. R.O.C continued with independent releases, including "2000Mann" on the Spiky
record label
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...
. They also toured the UK with Sneaker Pimps.
Joining the
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
-based label 12 Apostles in 2004, they were back in the
recording studio with long-standing collaborators, producer Danton Supple and bassist Gareth Huw Davies. ''Night Fold Around Me'' was released in June 2006. ''Q'' said: "In the mid-'90s, R.O.C, like Underworld, tapped into an interesting dance/guitar hybrid. Urban paranoia and moody melody is what they do best...artistically the trio remained an intriguing fringe concern, and this belated third album sees that continuing."
A single, "Princess", was
BBC 6 Music's 'Evening Single of the Week' in July 2005. The follow-up, "Journey to the Centre of Brixton" made
Playlouder.com's readers' poll best singles of 2005, with radio
airplay
Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...
including
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
and 6 Music (UK) and
2SER (Australia).
In 2014, R.O.C's debut album was reissued on Metal Postcard Records, including for the first time on vinyl, edited from the original 60-minute cd. ''Uncut'' said: "Even with hindsight it's hard to fathom what R.O.C were up to. The trio belonged to
Britpop
Britpop was a mid-1990s British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. It produced brighter, catchier alternative rock, partly in reaction to the popularity of the darker lyrical themes of the US-led grunge music and to the ...
like cats belong in the sea. Disco Inferno and AR Kane might have shared their experimental drive, but neither had the same pick-and-mix approach to modern pop or their habit of skewering expectation with every song."
Discography
Albums
*''R.O.C.'' (1995),
Setanta
*''Virgin'' (1997),
Virgin
Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...
*''Night Fold Around Me'' (2006), 12 Apostles
*''R.O.C.'' (reissue) (2013), Metal Postcard
*''Bile & Celestial Beauty'' (2019), ROC Music
Singles
*"Dead Step" (1993),
Little Star
*"God Willing" (1993), Little Star
*"White Stains" (1994), Little Star
*"X-ine" (1994), Little Star
*"Girl with a Crooked Eye" (1994), Little Star
*"Hey You Chick!" (1996),
Virgin
Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...
*"Cheryl" (1997), Virgin
*"(Dis)Count Us In" (1997), Virgin
*"Soviva" (1999), rocmusic
*"2000Mann" (2001), Spiky Records
*"I Want You I Need You I Miss You" (2003), rocmusic
*"Princess" (2006), 12 Apostles
*"Journey to the Centre of Brixton" (2006), 12 Apostles
References
External links
*
{{authority control
English electronic music groups
English new wave musical groups
Trip hop groups
Musical groups established in 1990
Musical groups from the London Borough of Lambeth