Contents
- 1 History
- 2 Band
members
- 3 Discography
- 4 See
also
- 5 External
links
- 6 References
History
1980s
The Shamen were preceded by Alone Again Or, the Love-inspired
name under which they recorded their first singles. After their name
change, further singles picked up airplay from John Peel.
Released in June 1987, The Shamen's first album Drop
illustrated their love of 60s psychedelia, with influences such as Love, Syd
Barrett and the 13th Floor Elevators.
By mid-1987, frontman Colin Angus was discovering the
sounds of early house music pioneers such as S-Express
and M/A/R/R/S
and increasing his knowledge of the latest studio gadgetry. By
September 1987, the Shamen were applying these techniques to their own
music, mixing rock guitars, techno and hip-hop rhythms and sampled
radio voices to create the prototype rock-dance sound which was to
prove so influential to groups like Pop Will Eat Itself, Jesus
Jones and EMF. However, the newfound
sound proved too radical for co-founder and vocalist Derek McKenzie,
who the left the band in late 1987 to study at university. The Shamen
were suddenly one crucial player short. Help was at hand in the
charismatic form of Will Sinnott (23
December 1960–23 May 1991), who joined the
group in October 1987, on bass, freeing up Colin Angus to handle vocal
and guitar chores.
"Knature of a Girl" was the first record by the Shamen to
feature Sinnott, but it wasn't until June's "Jesus Loves Amerika"
single that the techno influence began to show. By this stage, Angus
and Sinnott had become hooked on the acid house movement taking place in London, and its
music and clubs were to exert a massive influence on the pair. Keith
McKenzie and Peter Stephenson were less impressed by these new
developments, and left the group the following summer, after the
January 1989 release of the In
Gorbachev We Trust album, which saw the group
further enhancing their sound.
Angus and Sinnott relocated to London, allowing them to start
afresh, and plunge headfirst into the emerging rave scene. 1989 was to
be a busy year. They set out on their legendary Synergy tour, a
nightclub experience combined with live music from The Shamen and
others and DJing from the likes of Mixmaster
Morris. The tour was to last nearly two years. They also released the Phorward mini
album, a genre-defining release in the history of the acid house
movement.
1990s
Their third album, En-Tact, was released
in 1990, and it spawned the hit singles "Move
Any Mountain (Progen '91)", "Hyperreal" and "Make It Mine". Also
notable was the appearance of rapper and DJ Mr. C (real name
Richard West). The transformation into a successful rave act
was complete.
In May 1991, The Shamen headed to Tenerife to
film a video for "Move Any Mountain." On May 23, Sinnott drowned in an accident off
coast of La
Gomera. Colin Angus later said: "When it first happened, I was still
reeling from the shock of Will's completely unexpected and tragic
death, and I couldn't think about the Shamen at all, couldn't see how
anything could continue. But as I came to terms with it and thought
about the situation I realised that what the Shamen's about was
positivity and that positivity is like the spirit of the music and
positivity acknowledges the need for change. So for those reasons I
elected to carry on and also I knew that the name Shamen really meant a
lot to Will and that was one of the main attractions for joining the
band for him."
With Mr C now a full member of The Shamen, and Jhelisa
Anderson providing guest vocals, the Boss Drum
album followed in 1992. Boss Drum featured a noted
spoken-word collaboration, "Re:Evolution" with Terence
McKenna, and The Shamen's biggest and most controversial hit: "Ebeneezer
Goode". "Ebeneezer Goode" was accused of promoting drug use owing to
the refrain "Ezer Goode, Ezer Goode" - homophonic with "E's are good"
("E" being slang for the dance drug Ecstasy)
- and to double entendre drug references
throughout the song. This echoed similar references in previous songs
such as "Synergy"'s "M D M A-zing... we are together in ecstasy".
Despite - or maybe because of - the subsequent storm of publicity, the
song stayed at the top of the UK charts for 4 weeks.
Although the single was a commercial hit, it was considered a 'novelty
record' and severely impacted on the 'underground' credibility of the
band. Subsequent singles such as "Boss Drum" and "Phorever People" were
chart hits, but some long term fans believed they paled in comparison
to earlier singles.
As Terence McKenna observed, "Nothing
ruins you for the underground like success. So when Boss Drum
went double platinum, they were obviously 'establishment'... I've
talked to Colin about this, and he agrees. It would have been wonderful
to hit it big at 23. At 35 it becomes a pain in the ass, and you just
have to manage the money and the image."
However, The Shamen's new mainstream popularity enabled them
to release an unusually large number of remix singles, EPs, and LPs
during the Boss Drum era, including the "Face EP",
the "S.O.S. EP", and the On Air and Different
Drum albums. On Air featured a series of
popular tracks from En-Tact and Boss Drum
as performed live on BBC radio; Different Drum was
a remix album containing alternate versions of every track from Boss
Drum. The tracks "Boss Drum", "L.S.I. - Love Sex
Intelligence", "Phorever People", "Ebeneezer Goode", and "Re:Evolution"
were all released as singles in their own right.
Axis Mutatis in
1995, with new vocalist Victoria Wilson James replacing Jhelisa
Anderson, did not make as much of an impact. Early special editions of
this album featured a bonus disk, Arbor Bona Arbor Mala,
a bizarre ambient album. The Shamen continued recording into the late
1990s, releasing two additional LPs with an increasingly experimental
bent. Their penultimate studio album, the instrumental Hempton
Manor, followed an acrimonious split with their
label One Little Indian. It is alleged
to have been recorded in seven days to conclude the recording contract
with One Little Indian, and the first letter of each track spell out
"Fuck Birket", referring to label founder Derek Birket, who wanted the
group to move back into more commercial territory. UV,
in 1998, was their last album. UV was released independently and marked
a return to form with both modern techno production and classic Shamen
song structures. Mr C. has since continued as a house
music DJ and
become a successful night-club owner.
Band members
- Colin Angus - Vocals, guitars, keyboards (1985-1999)
- Derek McKenzie - Vocals (1985-1987)
- Keith McKenzie - Drums (1985-1988)
- Peter Stephenson - Keyboards (1985-1988)
- Will Sinnott - Bass, vocals, keyboards
(1987-1991)
- Richard
West (Mr C) - Vocals, keyboards (1990-1999)
Discography
-
Main article: The Shamen discography
See also
- List
of number-one dance hits (United States)
- List
of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
External links
References
