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Dubstar "We're not very big, but we're certainly clever" (Disgraceful, 1995) Formed in Gateshead back in 1993, consists of the vocalist Sarah Blackwood, Steve Hillier and Chris Wilkie. Sarah ended up in Gateshead after studying at college in Halifax, Steve came from South London to be a DJ. Chris met Steve while he was DJ'ing in a Newcastle club, and between Chris' penchant for the guitaring of Johnny Marr and James Honeyman-Scott, and Steve's thing for the Bristol scene and the dub experiments of Wetherall and William Orbit, they found common ground in The Durutti Column, Colourbox and the sugared melodies of the Cocteau Twins. DUBSTAR were formed, first named 'Joanes' after Steve's aunt, and for a while Steve did any singing that was necessary. Soon, however, they were introduced to Sarah and it quickly became clear she was better at this sort of thing. So they scrapped what they had been doing and began to write specifically with Sarah in mind, with her increasingly supplying the subtle sting of the lyric writing. Although Sarah shows a penchant for stadium rock she goes well together with Steve and Chris, "U2 are the only band since the Beatles that haven't bored me", "I also used to like 'Wanted Dead Or Alive' (by Bon Jovi) but I've gone right off them now". They decided to go public with their work, and after performing just one gig, a person at Food-records (who later on became their manager) fell for their music and decided to sign them up at once. They started to record their debut-album 'Discgraceful' while playing a few more gigs. Their debut single got released in july 1995 and was called 'Stars', it was an entrance to a wider public that was filled with strings, bass and lovely vocals, the single didn't chart very well, but the critics loved it, comparing them to both the Pet Shop Boys and New Order, with these comparisons in mind it is perhaps no surprise that Dubstar quickly came to the attention of Stephen Hague, who has produced both New Order and the Pet Shop Boys. Steve comments about the NO and PSB comparsion: "They do very good stuff but especialy with both of these groups coming out of the 80's it's a little bit irrelevant. Hopefully Dubstar will be the sound of the late 90's." Sarah about Pet Shop Boys: "Neil Tennant is the coolest guy in the entire universe. He's got the best eyelashes ever" More accurate similarities can be seen with Saint Etienne, something the band see as "quite a compliment". Their next single 'Anywhere' didn't do that well chartwise either, but it certainly didn't disappoint anyone, the chorus gets easily stuck in your mind and you could see that 'Stars' wasn't their only masterpiece. 'Not so manic now', the third single from the album stormed in to the top 20, and now the public had got their eyes pointed at the band. All these songs are built upon Sarah's beautiful helium voice and Steve and Chris' mastering with the synths - their lyrics have the ability to subtly redefine the English pop vocabulary, and make it seem effortless as they do it. On March the 15th 'Stars' got re-released, and something tells me that this isn't the last we'll hear from Dubstar. (Facts compiled from an article by Ian Jacobsberg, and an article from the 'Venue '96' pages) |
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