The Earthlings is a musical collaboration between

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

-born Marucs Hill & Paul Burgess performing an unusual blend of

acoustic music Acoustic music is music that solely or primarily uses instruments that produce sound through acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means. While all music was once acoustic, the retronym "acoustic music" appeared after the adven ...

incorporating humour and character based lyrics.

Early years

Both Hill & Burgess attended Bishop Luffa secondary

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Chichester Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ci ...

and when they met in the late 1980s it was clear they shared a similar sense of humour. It was in 1990 that Nuclear Freakout was formed along with fellow school friend Robert Thurston. Thurston left the following year and it was Hill & Burgess along with other school friends that continued under the Freakout banner. Much of Freakout's music was based on recorded

improvisations Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

between Hill & Burgess but also included

recordings A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

of various line-ups of school friends. They released a tape of

demo Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...

s in 1991 & two albums. 'Rub me up the wrong way' in 1995 which drew from material recorded between 1990–94 and the follow-up 'Rub me up the right way' in 1996. Plans for a third album never materialised.

Earthlings Calling Earthlings

As their teenage years drew to a close, Hill & Burgess decided to develop their ideas into a more refined music. They spent 1997 recording which resulted in the 'Earthlings Calling Earthlings' album and the subsequent drop of the Nuclear Freakout name. The album was released in March 1998 and even achieved a small amount of air play on BBC national radio. The album showcased the unique writing style which incorporated lyrics about bizarre

characters Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

which Hill & Burgess would act out in the songs. The music was catchy and melodic, although quite odd and unique.

Sessions

The Earthlings music is dominantly improvised. Hill & Burgess compose the vast majority of their music in what they refer to as their 'sessions'. This involves setting up in a recording environment and improvising ideas. Burgess provides the Guitar backing and usually the chorus while Hill dominates the lyrics and verses. The results are recorded and sometimes ideas are developed further at a later time. To date, Hill & Burgess have a huge archive of the session recordings dating from the early 1990s to 2009.

Keeping My Eye On You

Work began on the follow-up to 'Earthlings Calling Earthling' in late 2002. Whereas the previous album was dominantly acoustic, this time they opted for the standard drums, bass, guitar sound using drummer James Aslett. Burgess also brought in the

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

based fiddler Tim Cotterell for

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

duties on a number of tracks. The album was finally mixed and released in December 2006.

Future plans

The Earthlings announced recently that work had commenced on their third album. In July 2010 'Earthlings Calling Earthlings' was remastered for release on to popular download stores such as iTunes and Amazon.

External links

The Earthlings's official website

The Earthlings's MySpace site

The Earthlings's Facebook page
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