Faithless are a British band whose music is described by the band as a cross between hip-hop and dance. While they are mostly famous for their dance songs ("Insomnia" "God Is A DJ" and "We Come 1"), they try to produce albums which offer a blend of styles.

History

Faithless perform "We Come One" with crowd participation at the Orange Music Experience Festival, Haifa, 2005-06-27

The three principal members of Faithless are Maxi Jazz, Sister Bliss and Rollo. Jazz acts as a vocalist in mostly rap format with lyrics that have strong spiritual or socio-political intent. Bliss constructs most of the music herself electronically, but is talented in playing the piano, violin, saxophone and bass. Rollo heads and produces the band. Lead female vocals for many of their songs are performed by Pauline Taylor, who also performed lead vocals for singles Rollo released under his monikers Rollo Goes Mystic and Rollo Goes Spiritual.

As well as these three members, Faithless have employed a guest member for each album. Jamie Catto was an original member of the band, but left after their second album, Sunday 8PM. On their third album, Outrospective, Zoë Johnston joined the lineup while their fourth album, No Roots saw LSK as Faithless member number four. The band often has various people do one-off features on their tracks, though one artist has managed to make a regular feature of her appearances. Singer Dido, who is Rollo's sister, recorded her first studio track with Faithless, "Salva Mea", and was reportedly paid with a curry. She has since featured on one track on each album, in order: "Flowerstand Man", "Hem Of His Garment", "One Step Too Far", "No Roots" and finally "Last This Day".

It was reported that Faithless were to split up after their latest tour in mid-2005. Speculation started after Rollo wrote in the liner notes of the No Roots booklet "We set out thinking it would be our last album, feeling maybe we have had our time in the sun". However, a fresh clutch of live dates meant the tour actually lasted until December 2005. The band then released a greatest hits compilation, called Forever Faithless - The Greatest Hits, which reached number one in the UK.

Following the release of their greatest hits album, Faithless released a new studio album on 27th November 2006. The album, To All New Arrivals, from which the first single released was Bombs. The new album was followed by a major tour, The Bombs Tour.

Music

Faithless have released five albums of their own work, the first four gaining successively higher positions on the album charts. The albums are called Reverence (which reached number 26), Sunday 8PM (reaching number 10), Outrospective (peaking at number 4) and No Roots (which debuted at number 1) between 1996 and 2004, with a greatest hits album out in 2005. In light of their dance roots, each of the four studio albums has been followed with a subsequent bonus disc of remixes. Their fifth album, To All New Arrivals, was released in 2006.

As well as their own studio albums, all three members actively engage in other people's work as solo figures. Sister Bliss, as previously mentioned, is a prominent dance DJ and has for a long time toured the circuit on her own, remixed others' albums and even appeared in music videos, such as Paul Oakenfold's "Weekend". Maxi Jazz brought out an album before the formation of Faithless and also worked on pirate radio and would later work on the digital music project album 1 Giant Leap guesting on a song with Robbie Williams. Finally, Rollo founded the label Cheeky Records and has produced the music of other artists, most notably his sister's two albums, as well as using various monikers to create popular dance music under the names Rollo Goes ... (Camping, Mystic and Spiritual), Felix, Our Tribe (with Rob Dougan), and Dusted.

As well as this other work, the band collectively indulge in mixtapes of other musicians' work, either mixed by the group or merely selected by them. This includes the long running Back To Mine sessions, of which they are the fifth of over 20 people selected to choose the music, as well as The Bedroom Sessions and more recently the Renaissance 3D music project, in conjunction with the Renaissance nightclub.

On September 29, 2006, the first single Bombs from their latest studio album To All New Arrivals made its debut on BBC Radio 1's Pete Tong show. The album was released on November 27, 2006. "Bombs" generated moderate controversy with its music video, as demonstrated by MTV's refusal to air it. The music video featured interchanged clips of war scenes and daily life; symbolizing the presence of war all around us. As said by the director of the music video Howard Greenhalgh, "War infects all our lives; recently it feels that this has increasingly become 'our way of life'".

Discography

Albums