Utah Saints

:"This page is for the English dance band, for the American Indoor Football Association team, see Utah Saints (AIFA)."

Infobox musical artist
Name = Utah Saints
Img_capt =
Img_size =
Landscape =
Background = group_or_band
Origin = Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
Genre = Electronica Rave Dance-pop
Occupation =
Years_active = 1991 – present
Label = London, Echo
Associated_acts =
URL = http://www.utahsaints.com/
Current_members = Jez Willis
Tim Garbutt
Past_members =

Utah Saints are a dance band from Leeds, England. The music is produced by Jez Willis and Tim Garbutt, who are joined on-stage by other musicians whenever the band plays live. The band had a string of hit singles in the British pop charts in the 1990s, and were notable for their extensive use of sampling technology. In particular, their practice of manipulating samples from mainstream pop and rock songs, and combining them with contrasting dance beats, predated the mashup scene by several years. The Name "Utah Saints" as told by Willis, is a play on the ironic fact that when the New Orleans Jazz moved to Utah they kept their name "the Jazz". But as Willis put it in an interview once "what if the New Orleans Saints moved to Utah?" A common misconception is that the band based their name on the fact that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are located in Utah, but such a rumor is unfounded, although ironic considering the name.

History

They were described as "the first true stadium house band" (by Bill Drummond), though their music is difficult to place into one particular genre and they have been compared to Underworld, Fluke, The KLF, and even Ministry or Nine Inch Nails.

They first had chart success with the singles "What Can You Do For Me" (UK #10), "Something Good" (their biggest UK success at #4) and "Believe In Me", a UK #8 chart hit, which they described as their vocal sample trilogy as those singles sampled Gwen Guthrie, Kate Bush and Human League respectively ("What Can You Do For Me" also features a sample from Eurythmics). Contrary to one rumour, the band were not sued by Kate Bush over the use of a sample from Bush's track "Cloudbusting" in the Utah Saints track "Something Good" - the sample was legally cleared before use. Additionally, Bush sold Utah Saints footage from the video of her original song [cite news |url=http://gaffa.org/reaching/i93_rcd.html |first=Tony |last=Horkins |title=The Bush Campaign |work=Rock Compact Disc Magazine |publisher=via Gaffaweb |date=November 1993 ] . This track is currently experiencing a revival in the clubs in 2008 with new remixes by Van She, High Contrast, Prok & Fitch, eSquire, Ian Carey and more.

Utah Saints then moved away from vocal samples with singles such as "I Want You" and "I Still Think Of You" (Jez Willis providing original vocals on each).

After their debut album, the self-titled "Utah Saints", and one further single "Ohio", Utah Saints seemed to disappear for several years, though they were still busy doing remixes (for a diverse range of artists including Blondie, Human League, Hawkwind, Simple Minds, James, Annie Lennox and The Osmonds and the theme to the 1995 Movie, "Mortal Kombat"), and producing tracks for other artists such as Terrorvision. During this time, they recorded an album that was to be called "Wired World" but was never released, and produced a handful of Utah Saints tracks that to date have never had a proper release either, with titles such as "Star", "Train" and "Rock".

They eventually re-appeared in late 1999 with charting singles "Love Song", "Funky Music" (featuring Edwin Starr on guest vocals), "Power To The Beats" and "Lost Vagueness" (featuring Chrissie Hynde), by releasing the album "Two". Also in 2000, Utah Saints did the soundtrack for the video game Carmageddon TDR2000. In 2002 they went back into hibernation only to surface again in 2008 with a single release.The band are notorious amongst their fans and the dance music community for taking a long time in between their releases - their first album "Utah Saints" and follow-up album "Two" were released seven years apart.

They have also been working on projects under other names, such as BeatVandals, as well as developing their regular Leeds and Edinburgh-based club night "SugarBeatClub". They opened a new recording studio on the outskirts of Leeds with fellow Leeds DJs and producers Riley & Durrant in 2008.

Personal details

* Tim Garbutt - born 6 January 1969, London.
* Jez Willis - born 14 August 1963, Brampton, Cumbria. [ [http://www.wilde-life.com/encyclopedia/organizations/00083/ Wilde-life.com] ]

Discography

Albums

*"Utah Saints" (1992) #10 UK
*"Two" (2000)
*"Freshtraxxx vol 3 (mix album)" (2008)"

ingles

*"What Can You Do For Me" (featuring samples of Eurythmics' "There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)", Gwen Guthrie's "Ain't Nothin' Goin' On But The Rent" and KISS' "Alive II" album) (1991) #10 UK
*"Something Good" (featuring a sample of Kate Bush's "Cloudbusting") (1992) #4 UK
*"Believe In Me" (featuring samples of Human League's "Love Action (I Believe in Love)",Crown Heights Affair's "You Gave Me Love" and Sylvester's "Do Ya Wanna Funk?") (1993) #8 UK
*"I Want You" (1993) #25 UK (featuring a sample of Slayer's "War Ensemble") (1993)
*"I Still Think Of You" (1994) #32 UK
*"Ohio" (1995) #42 UK
*"Love Song" (2000) #37 UK
*"Funky Music (Sho Nuff Turns Me On)" (featuring Edwin Starr) (2000) #23 UK
*"Power To the Beats" (featuring Chuck D)
*"Lost Vagueness" (featuring Chrissie Hynde)
*"Something Good '08" (2008) #8 UK

ee also

Genre

* Electronic music
* Sampling

Artists

* The Chemical Brothers
* Fluke
* The KLF
* Leftfield
* Overseer
* Underworld
* Future Sound of London
* U.S.U.R.A.

References

External links

* [http://www.utahsaints.com Official website]
* [http://www.sugarbeatclub.com SugarBeatClub]
* [http://www.ilikemusic.com/home/Utah_Saints_Jez_Willis_interview_2008-4643 Interview on ilikemusic.com March 2008]
* [http://www.stuartbruce.net/utahsaints/ Fan site]
* [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/utahsaints/ Utah Saints discussion group]
* [http://www.myspace.com/utahsaints myspace page]