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Kula Shaker

Kula Shaker
Background information
Origin Flag of England London, England
Genre(s) Psychedelic rock
Years active 1995-1999, 2004-present
Label(s) Sony BMG Music Entertainment
Columbia Records
Members
Crispian Mills
Alonza Bevan
Paul Winterhart
Harry Broadbent
Former members
Jay Darlington

Kula Shaker are an English multi-platinum selling psychedelic rock band who came to prominence during the Britpop era. They split in September 1999 but officially reformed in 2004 for sessions which led to plans for a full live and album-release comeback. Their reformation was not widely publicised until the beginning of 2006 (see the 'Reformation' section below). Their third album 'Strangefolk' will be released later in 2007.

Contents

  • 1 Members
  • 2 Band history
    • 2.1 Formation/History (1988-1995)
    • 2.2 Career 1995-1999
    • 2.3 Controversy
    • 2.4 After the split (1999-2004)
    • 2.5 Reformation (2004-present)
  • 3 Discography
    • 3.1 Albums
    • 3.2 EPs
    • 3.3 Compilation albums
    • 3.4 Singles
  • 4 Chart History (UK)
    • 4.1 1996
    • 4.2 1997
    • 4.3 1998
    • 4.4 1999
  • 5 TV appearances (2006 - present) (UK)
    • 5.1 2006
  • 6 External links and references

Members

Ex-members:-

Band history

Formation/History (1988-1995)

The first stirrings of Kula Shaker came about in 1988 when Crispian Mills (grandson of Sir John Mills and the son of '60s actress Hayley Mills and film director Roy Boulting) met Alonza Bevan at Richmond College in Surrey. The two went on to play together in a band named Objects of Desire. The Objects of Desire included Mills on guitar, Bevan on bass, Marcus French (aka Frog) on drums, Leigh Morris on rhythm guitar and vocalist Marcus Maclaine, then Hayley Mills' boyfriend (and effectively Crispian's step-dad). During that time they also ran a psychedelic nightclub, called the Mantra Shack, in the back of Richmond ice rink.

In 1993, following the acrimonious dissolution of Objects of Desire, Mills went backpacking in India, and upon returning he formed a band, The Kays with bassist Bevan, drummer Paul Winterhart (aka 'Country Boy'), and vocalist, Mills' cousin Saul Dismont (son of Bermuda politician Russell Dismont). Within a year, Dismont had left and organist Jay Darlington had joined the band; prior to joining the group, Darlington had played in several mod revival bands. After spending two years touring and recording the group had not made any headway.

The band changed their name and direction in the spring of 1995, when he had an epiphany that the group should take the name Kula Shaker in honour of one of the 12 Alvars, the ninth-century Indian emperor and holy man Kulashekhara, and that they should pursue a more spiritual direction in future (in line with Crispian's own interest in the philosophy of Gaudiya Vaishnavism). Kula Shaker became the name for the band's activities from that point onwards.

Career 1995-1999

In September 1995 Kula Shaker were joint winners of the "In The City" contest (along with Placebo), which quickly resulted in a record contract with Columbia Records, who were eager to sign another band that had the multi-platinum, crossover appeal of Oasis. A debut single, 'Tattva (Lucky 13 Mix)' (later re-recorded for their debut album) was released on CD and limited 7" vinyl in March 1996, but it entered just outside the UK Top 75, at number 86. "Tattva" was followed quickly in April by the band's second single, "Grateful When You're Dead", a slice of Acid Jimi Hendrix-esque rock which was to became their debut UK Top 40 single (entering at #35). Music press and public alike finally began to take notice of the band, and this sudden exposure propelled the re-released (and re-recorded) "Tattva" to number 4 in the UK charts. The band's upward climb continued with their third single "Hey Dude", a more traditional rock song which was only kept off the top spot by the Spice Girls when it was released in August.

October saw the release of the band's eagerly awaited debut album K, which became the fastest selling debut since Oasis' Definitely Maybe. The album went on to sell over 850,000 copies in the UK, a further 250,000 copies in the US, and well over a million copies worldwide. The fourth and final single from K was "Govinda", which reached number 7 in the UK charts in December of that year. "Govinda" was sung totally in Sanskrit, and mixed swirling guitars with traditional Indian music. Total sales for all the singles from K came to half a million.

1997 got off to a fine start for the band with four nominations for BRIT Awards, and they subsequently took home the award for "British Breakthrough Act" at the ceremony in February. In the same month they released what would turn out to be their biggest hit, a cover of "Hush" (originally by Joe South) , which peaked at number 2. The song also proved successful in the US, where it was used on the soundtrack to the blockbuster movie "I Know What You Did Last Summer". The song was also placed at number 224 by Virgin Radio, in a poll for the 20th century's greatest songs. In the wake of the single's release, some ill-advised remarks on the traditional mystical properties of Swastikas by Crispian Mills put the band in the firing line of some of the UK press (see "Controversy" below).

Despite the negative publicity, the band pressed on regardless with a set of live shows in the summer of that year, including T in the Park where they were acclaimed by many as the best live act T in the Park had ever seen, the Glastonbury Festival and the V music festival. The focus during the latter part of 1997 moved to the US where both "Tattva" and "Hey Dude" received airplay exposure. "Tattva" became a minor number 10 hit in the Modern Rock Tracks Chart and "Hey Dude" peaked at number 25. K itself peaked at number 11 in the Heatseekers chart and K crept into number 200 in the Billboard charts. An EP, Summer Sun, was released in the US for the band's fans there. The 6 tracks on the EP were all B-sides to earlier UK singles.

After initial disagreements with management, Kula Shaker resurfaced with the UK-only single "Sound of Drums" in April 1998, peaking at number 3. A promised album in the summer of that year failed to materialise, and the momentum generated by the single was lost as a result. Fans would have to wait until February 1999 to hear any more new material from the forthcoming second album.

The second album Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts was partly recorded aboard the houseboat-studio Astoria, which belongs to the guitar-legend David Gilmour (of Pink Floyd). Its release was preceded by the single "Mystical Machine Gun" which failed to make as strong an impact on the charts as their previous singles, peaking at Number 14 and only remaining two weeks in the top 40. The album itself followed in March 1999 to mixed reviews, and only sold a mere 25,000 copies in its first week as it crawled in at Number 9 on the album chart, spending only 10 weeks in the UK Top 75. The album went Gold in the UK (over 100,000 copies sold). The third and final single from the album, "Shower Your Love" failed to reignite momentum, stalling at #14, even with it having more TV exposure on Top of the Pops, TFI Friday, Later with Jools Holland and CD:UK. In June they played Glastonbury Festival and headlined the Lizard Festival in Cornwall in August 1999 to coincide with the total eclipse. The band made a few more festival appearances, including an appearance at V99, as a last-minute replacement for Placebo, before playing their last ever gig in Holland at the end of August.

In September of that year, the band announced their split. "I have loved my time with Kula Shaker and have experienced more than I could ever have imagined", Mills commented. "We've had an excellent time and been a very tight band, but there comes a time when you want to do your own thing."

Controversy

In early Spring 1997, Open Eye, a British political magazine, ran an article denouncing Mills as one of Britain's "New Age Nazis". The article drew upon comments Mills had made in two interviews in early 1997 (with magazines NME and Melody Maker), which had not attracted much comment at the time. In the Melody Maker interview he had claimed "we know that democracy doesn't work" and instead advocated a "non-elected body that set the right standards". In the NME interview he went further still, (correctly) identifying the swastika as an ancient mystic symbol. "Hitler knew a lot more than he let on [in picking the symbol for the Nazis]," he argued, and went on to suggest that the swastika was "a brilliant image," which symbolised "peace and the sun and illumination" (which was the original meaning before Hitler adopted the symbol). In the interview's most notorious quote, he expressed a desire to have a "great big flaming swastika on stage". The article also revealed that the Objects of Desire had used the motto "England will rise again", and had performed at a 1993 conference at Wembley called "Global Deception" at which speakers included renowned conspiracy theorists Eustace Mullins (who has been denounced as an antisemite because of his writings, which he later recanted) and William Cooper. William Cooper was also thanked in the credits of Kula Shaker's album.

This article attracted the attention of the mainstream press when Matthew Kalman, then a journalist for UK newspaper The Independent contacted the band's press officers to ask them to respond to the allegations in the article. He also interviewed Marcus Maclaine about his early days with the band. Mills responded to the allegations via fax, and his responses, along with a re-hash of the Open Eye material, and the revelation from Maclaine that he had once been in the National Front (though had had nothing to do with it since he was 18) were incorporated into a front-page story for the Independent on Sunday on 20 April 1997. Maclaine, by this time having broken up with Hayley Mills after 13 years, had already voiced his displeasure that Mills had not given him any credit for Kula Shaker's success, in a press interview in February of that year.

In his fax, Mills admitted having played at "Global Deception", but claimed not to have fully understood the nature of the event. He indicated that he now felt that the Swastika was hopelessly connected to Nazism in the West, and that it was the outrage that his comments had sparked that had lead him to this conclusion. He also offered an unequivocal condemnation of right-wing ideology.

I think there is no better example of my naivete and insensitivity than the swastika comments . . . my comments derive from my long interest in Indian culture, from which the swastika has its origins . . . I apologise to those who have been offended by my comment and humbly ask that they accept that I am completely against the Nazis, their crimes and any other latter-day form of totalitarianism. For the record I have never been an anti-semite especially as my dear grandmother was Jewish . . . I loathe totalitarianism, far right thinking, oppression of all forms, denial of human rights and all things that would limit the free spirit of humankind. I stand for peace, love, generosity and learning.

Nevertheless, the damage had been done, and from that point on the band were viewed with suspicion by both journalists and the wider public. This may have contributed towards the relatively disappointing sales of their second album.

After the split (1999-2004)

Bassist Alonza Bevan joined Johnny Marr and the Healers in 2000, having moderate success. After the 2004 status of The Healers is unknown and with all members working on other projects it is not known if they will work together again. As a side project Alonza formed the band Shep (which included Paul Winter-Hart on drums). The band played a handful of gigs in 2001-2002 and released some excerpts of recorded music via the web but nothing further was heard of them after 2003.

Drummer Paul Winter-Hart joined the band Thirteen:13, who split in 2001 with little success. He also drummed on an album by Aqualung and was part of the group Shep with Alonza.

Jay Darlington joined Oasis in 2002 as a touring keyboardist (though not an official band member), and he remains in that role as of 2007.

Lead singer Crispian Mills went into the studio in 2000 to work on a solo album. In Autumn of that year, he toured with a group of musicians under the name 'Pi', first supporting Robbie Williams on his UK Arena dates, then for some smaller headline shows. A new album was scheduled for release in spring 2001 according to Mills' official website and the NME. However his UK record label didn't feel the material proposed for release was commercial enough, and so Mills negotiated an exit from his contract with them in 2001, continuing to record for the rest of 2001 without a UK record deal. At the start of 2002, he began working with with Andy Nixon and Dan Mckinna, formerly of Straw, and the trio bonded together so well musically that it was decided they would form a group, The Jeevas. Mills ditched all his previously recorded material up to that point, though some tracks would later feature as Jeevas B-Sides. The Jeevas enjoyed success in Japan and moderate success in the UK. They released two albums, toured throughout 2002 and 2003, with some dates in mid 2004. Their records were released on their own 'Cowboy Music' label in the UK and mainland Europe, and by Sony in Japan. Some tentative work was done for their third album, but when it became apparent during 2005 that the reformation of Kula Shaker would be permanent, the band officially split up.

In December 2002, Kula Shaker's record company released a best of album, entitled Kollected - The Best of Kula Shaker. Crispian compiled the tracklisting for the release and approved the sleevenotes. The compilation included the band's final recorded track, a cover of Bob Dylan's "Ballad of a Thin Man", which was later featured on the soundtrack to the 2005 movie Stoned, starring Leo Gregory.

Reformation (2004-present)

Kula Shaker's reformation has its origins in sessions for a charity album made with the School of Braja (a private school in California for young people which includes as part of the curriculum teachings about Krishna and devotional music), which was recorded in 2004 (and finally saw release in late 2006). Crispian Mills, who masterminded the album, arranged not only that the Jeevas play on two tracks, but he also got in touch with his old bandmate, Alonza Bevan. The two worked together on a song together for the album, 'Braj Mandala', to which Paul Winter-Hart added drums. Jay Darlington was asked to be part of the in the sessions, but declined the opportunity. At the time of the recording, this was announced on the official Jeevas website as Kula Shaker having reformed to contribute a song to the album, and was referred to by Mills as a Kula Shaker reunion in subsequent interviews. Additionally, the School Of Braja album credits officially state that 'Kula Shaker' appear on the track Braj Mandala. The sessions for the track went so well that Mills and Bevan began writing together again, and making plans for a full-on Kula Shaker comeback that would encompass live touring and the further release of new material. A new band website was also commissioned.

Their first gig back together (as a 3-piece) took place at the Wheatsheaf, Leighton Buzzard, England , on 21 December 2005. This was a 'secret' gig and not promoted beforehand; however blackboards outside the pub announced 'Kula Shaker tonight' on the night of the show. As a joke about the nature of secret gigs, Mills told the assembled crowd that the band was called 'The Garcons' whilst wearing a 'big hair' grey wig. All sources both official and unofficial have subsequently referred to this as gig as a Kula Shaker show.

Kula Shaker announced on January 11, 2006 that they had reformed permanently. They released the following statement on their new official website (which launched that day):

It's official. Kula Shaker has arisen from the bottomless pit. How and why will all be revealed in good time, as this [web] site grows, swells and expands. In the meantime join our mailing list and be the first to find out about secret gigs, free downloads and the inside story on what is sure to be their finest hour.

During preparation for their comeback live dates, a new member joined the band - Harry Broadbent. He became the band's new keyboard player, and Kula Shaker were restored to a four-piece once more.

The band undertook a small UK tour in the Spring. The tour dates were split into two 'legs', with a pre-tour warm-up show in Milton Keynes. The band played to sell out audiences in smaller venues, playing a mix of new and old material. They also recorded a session for Scottish radio station Clyde1, and made an appearance on the Billy Sloan show on that station to coincide with this.

The band released a four-song EP entitled "The Revenge of the King" on iTunes in April. This was later released on a limited run of 1000 10" vinyls, sold on certain dates of the band's April / May tour and later from the band's official website. Later still, the EP was released on CD in Japan with a bonus track (the 2006 radio session version of Govinda). Apart from the Japanese bonus track, the tracks on the EP were recorded in a very small studio in London right at the beginning of 2006, before Harry Broadbent joined the band.

The band went on to play some festivals in the Summer of 2006 - T in the Park, Fuji Rock, V Festival and Pentaport Festival in Korea - along with a handful of warm-up dates. After this, they played one more live date in 2006, headling the Purple Weekend festival in Spain at the end of the year.

After the summer festival dates, it was announced on the band's website that the third Kula Shaker album was underway. Pre-production started in September 2006, with final mixing completed by April 2007. Tchad Blake was the producer for the album sessions.

In Japan, the Freedom Lovin' People EP preceded the album. It was released there on May 23, 2007. The lead track from this release was the album track 'Great Dictator (Of The Free World)' and a rough animatic-style video was used to promote the song on Japanese music stations. In the UK, the first single from the album is 'Second Sight' and this will be released on 13 August 2007. The single is being promoted with a pro-shot video featuring the band as characters from the Sherlock Holmes stories.

The third album, Strangefolk (which was the working title of second album "Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts"),was released in Japan on 27 June and a UK release is slated for 20 August. All editions contain at least one bonus track; the Japanese edition contains two further bonus tracks. The track 'Song of Love / Narayana' on the album incorporates elements from the tracks Narayan and Climbatize, both from The Prodigy's The Fat of the Land. Narayan was a co-write with Mills and featured his vocals.

The band played UK warmup dates from early June. They went on to play four festival dates in the summer - Bilbao BBK Live, Culura Quente festival, Japanese festival Fuji Rock, and the iTunes Festival in London, along with a special album release show at London's Cargo club. More UK dates will follow in the Autumn.

To capitalise on publicity surrounding the band's comeback, the re-release record label Music Club issued a hastily-compiled double album 'Tattva : The Very Best Of Kula Shaker' in July, which included all the tracks from the band's first two albums and a handful of previously released non-album tracks. The band had no input into any aspect of the release and their consent was not obtained for its release.

Discography

Albums

EPs

Compilation albums

Singles

Chart History (UK)

K album cover
K album cover
Peasants, Pigs and Astronauts album cover
Peasants, Pigs and Astronauts album cover

1996

1997

1998

1999

TV appearances (2006 - present) (UK)

2006

External links and references


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