Sunscreem

Sunscreem
Origin	Essex, England
Genres	Techno House Rave Trance
Years active	1991–2001
Members
Lucia Holm Paul Carnell Nick Slingsby
Past members
Darren Woodford Rob Fricker Gary "Baz" Bailey Duane Brazier Sean Wright Dave Valentine Tony Rush Wayne Simms

Sunscreem is a techno/house band from Essex, England, who scored a number of hits on the U.S. Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart throughout the 1990s and into the 21st century. Sunscreem also has the rare reputation as a techno-based band that successfully performs concerts.^[1] Over a ten-year period, 12 of their singles made an entry to the UK Singles Chart.^[2]

Career

The nucleus of the group is lead vocalist/keyboardist Lucia Holm and fellow keyboardist Paul Carnell. The group has also, at times, included Darren Woodford, Rob Fricker, Sean Wright, Nick Slingsby (aka "Bongo Ted") and DJ Dave Valentine.

Sunscreem released a 12" promo of "Love U More" on the Sony Soho Square record label in 1991, a song which went on to spend two weeks at #1 on the U.S. Dance chart in March 1993. They had club hits in the UK with the singles "Walk On" and "Pressure" (also on Sony Soho Square) before releasing their successful first album O₃ on multiple labels in 1993. Other singles from O₃ included "Perfect Motion" and a cover of the Marianne Faithfull record "Broken English".

"Love U More" was one of the first techno songs to hit the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Top 40, climbing to #36 (to date it is their only Hot 100 entry). It has subsequently been covered (usually in a bowdlerised form, omitting the climactic reference to rape and toning down other images in the lyrics) by other artists including Paul Elstak, LMP, Rollergirl and Steps.

The band is known for having their songs remixed by a wide variety of dance music producers. They have been those including Leftfield, Band of Gypsies, Carl Cox, Push, Rollo Armstrong from Faithless, Red Jerry, Matt Darey, Slam, X-Press 2, Trouser Enthusiasts, Robbie Rivera, K-Klass, Armand Van Helden and Fire Island (Pete Heller and Terry Farley) amongst others.

Ahead of their second album, the group released a variety of tracks under alternative names including a selection of 12-inches referred to as 'The Anna Series'. This included the instrumental "Angel Dub" credited to Anna Din, and featured on many compilations^[3] such as Renaissance: The Mix Collection by Sasha & John Digweed. These tracks were released independently, breaking the terms of their contract with Sony and leading to an increasingly strained relationship with the label.^[4]

Their second album was called Change Or Die, and from it the band released the singles "When" (U.S. Dance #1), "Exodus", "White Skies", "Secrets", and "Looking At You" (U.S. Dance #2). Despite all these singles, the album was not commercially released in major territories outside the UK, and the band therefore negotiated their release from the Sony Records contract. Their next release was a mainly instrumental limited edition CD called New Dark Times, issued on their own label Kali, which combined new material with tracks from the "Anna Series" and remixes from Change Or Die.

The band subsequently signed to UK dance label Pulse-8. Their next single, "Catch" (U.K. Dance #1,^[5] U.S. Dance #2), was from an album entitled Out Of The Woods, but the label went bankrupt in 1997 before its completion, and the album and the second single "Cover Me" were never released.

Since then there have been a handful of releases and compilations such as the Sunscreem vs Push "Please Save Me" single (US Dance #26, UK Singles #40), and a re-release of "Perfect Motion" with new remixes by Starchaser and Way Out West. In 2002, the group released Ten Mile Bank, which combined new and remixed material in the manner of New Dark Times, many of the tracks being club mixes of songs from the still-unissued Out of the Woods. Former lead singer Lucia Holm released a promo called "Heaven" (a cover of the Psychedelic Furs song) to radio stations in 2005, but it was never fully published.

Discography

• O₃ (1993)
• Change or Die (1996)
• New Dark Times (1996)
• Looking at You: Club Anthems (1998)
• Ten Mile Bank (2001)
• Club Classics (2007) (digital download)
• House Classics (2008) (iTunes exclusive)
• Love U More - The Very Best Of Sunscreem (2009)

Singles

• "Walk On" (1991)
• "Pressure" (1991)
• "Love U More" (1992)
• "Perfect Motion" (1992)
• "Broken English" (1992)
• "Pressure Us" (1993)

The above all appeared (in different mixes) on O₃. "Pressure Us" was a remake of "Pressure".

• "When" (1995)
• "Exodus" (1995)
• "White Skies" (1995)
• "Secrets" (1996)
• "Looking At You" (1996)

The above appeared on Change Or Die. "Looking At You" was released in the US only.

• "Catch" (1997)

This was the only single released from the cancelled Out of the Woods album.

• "No Angel" (1999)
• "Exodus '99" (1999)
• "Please Save Me" (credited to Sunscreem vs Push, 2001)
• "Coda" (2001)
• "Perfect Motion 2002"
• "Perfect Motion" (credited to James Fitch featuring Sunscreem, 2008)

These are remixes of old Sunscreem tracks. "Please Save Me" is a remix of "Who Will Love Me Now?", which was recorded for the film soundtrack The Passion of Darkly Noon (though not used; a version by PJ Harvey appeared instead).

Under aliases

• Anna Din: "Angel" / "Angel Dub" (1994)
• Anna Crusis: "XS" / "Syclik" (1994)
• Anna Nas: Untitled (1994)
• Chiba: "Time Flies" (1997)
• DJ AWOL: "Absent" (2002)

The "Anna series" were issued on 12" only. Variants of these tracks were subsequently issued (some under different titles) on Change Or Die, New Dark Times and the "Exodus" single. "Time Flies" was an extended version of "A Brief History of Nonsense" from New Dark Times, itself a radical remix of "Exodus".

In addition, DJs Darren Tate and Judge Jules had a hit in 2000 with "It's My Turn" credited to Angelic, which was their previously-issued remix of Sunscreem's "Change" with the original vocal track replaced with a new one by Jules' wife Amanda O'Riordan. The track reached number 11 in the UK singles chart.

Videography

• Sunscreem - "Love U More" video on Singingfool.com

See also

• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

References

1. ^ Sherman: 'Sol Music', New Musical Express, 21-03-1992
2. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 540. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. 
3. ^ Information primarily from discogs http://www.discogs.com/artist/Annadin, accessed 30-09-09
4. ^ M.Taylor: 'Sunscreem caught taking Annadin', Essex Chronicle, 5-5-1995
5. ^ DJ Magazine Club Chart 15-08-1997

External links

• Official website
• Sunscreem discography at MusicBrainz
• Lucia Holm official website
• Unofficial fan website