Spiritualized

Infobox musical artist
Name = Spiritualized


Img_capt = Spiritualized Circa 1997
Img_size =
Background = group_or_band
Alias =
Origin = Rugby, England
Genre = Space Rock
Alternative rock
Years_active = 1990-present
Label = Dedicated Records
Arista Records
Current_members = Jason Pierce
Tom Edwards
Doggen
Thighpaulsandra
John Coxon
Past_members = Will Carruthers
Jonny Mattock
Mark Refoy
Kate Radley
Sean Cook
Mike Mooney
Gregg Hale
Damon Reece
Ray Dickaty
Kevin 'Kevlar' Bales
URL = http://www.spiritualized.com/

Spiritualized are an English space rock band formed in 1990 in Rugby, Warwickshire by Jason Pierce (who often goes by the alias J. Spaceman) after the demise of his previous outfit, space-rockers Spacemen 3. The membership of Spiritualized has changed from album to album, with Pierce—who writes, composes and sings all of the band's material—being the only constant member.Spiritualized has released six studio albums. The best known and most critically acclaimed of these was 1997's "Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space", which NME Magazine made their Album of the Year.

Biography

Following a major breakdown in relations between Spacemen 3 co-frontmen Peter Kember and Jason Pierce, the group's bassist Will Carruthers, drummer Jonny Mattock, and guitarist Mark Refoy decided to form a splinter group, before persuading Pierce to join alongside local friend Steve Evans to create Spiritualized. The band took their name from an adaptation of the text on the back label of a bottle of Pernod. Due to formation from a majority of Spacemen 3 members, a technical clause meant that Spiritualized had to maintain the Spacemen 3 recording contract with Dedicated Records.

The first Spiritualized release, in 1990, was a cover of The Troggs' "Anyway That You Want Me"; the record heralded the official split of Spacemen 3 following contractual wrangles over the band's name and its use in Spiritualized-related promotional material (initial copies of "Anyway That You Want Me" came with a Spacemen 3 logo on the sleeve).

Evans was replaced on keyboards by Pierce's then-girlfriend Kate Radley for the follow-up single, "Run"/"I Want You". A number of singles followed, before the band, in early 1992, released their first LP "Lazer Guided Melodies", which had been recorded in Rugby over the previous two years. A second album, "Pure Phase", was released in 1995, and a third "Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space" emerged in 1997 to notable critical acclaim and commercial success.

The musical style of Spiritualized relies heavily on sustained 'pedal' notes and drones. "Lazer Guided Melodies" and "Pure Phase" incorporate elements of the shoegazing style, drones and tremolo. The landmark "Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space" saw the influence of African-American gospel and blues beginning to show, while "walls of sound" modelled after the production styles of Phil Spector and Brian Wilson also made their presence felt. Such influences dominated Spiritualized's next album, "Let It Come Down" which included over 120 musicians. "Amazing Grace" favoured a more stripped down sound with the gospel, blues, and soul influences even more dominant than before.

After several years of work and a serious illness on Pierce's part in July 2005 [ [http://www.nme.com/news/spiritualized/20504 Spiritualized Star Hospitalised | News | Nme.Com ] ] , the latest Spiritualized album, "Songs in A&E" was released on May 26, 2008 in the UK, and on May 27, 2008 in the US. The first single from the 18-track album was "Soul On Fire". The release was backed by an Electric Mainlines UK tour which began in May. [http://www.nme.com/news/spiritualized/31174"] Pierce has also scored Harmony Korine's 2008 film "Mister Lonely".

Pierce is quoted as saying in a 2008 interview that Spiritualized was scheduled to play the CERN collider. "They asked us to do it! We were gonna play in it before they’d thrown the switch. But it was a timing thing—their timings didn’t coincide with ours." [ [http://larecord.com/interviews/2008/04/25/spiritualized-barely-tinged-by-the-blues/ April 2008 Interview with L.A. Record] ]

Band members

(guitar) also augmented the band in 1997 and 1998.

Following promotional activity for "Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space", Sean Cook, Damon Reece and Michael Mooney threatened a strike in protest over low salaries and appearance fees. New contracts of employment were drawn up between Pierce and the musicians, and the same contracts were then used to fire them (to general disbelief by the music press at the time). In response, Messrs Cook, Reece and Mooney formed the ill-starred Lupine Howl. Ray Dickaty departed in 2003, quitting to play in the free-jazz Solar Fire Trio.

Retaining only keyboardist Thighpaulsandra (keyboards), Jason Pierce then debuted a new (and current) line up of Spiritualized, introducing classical percussionist Tom Edwards and former Julian Cope string arranger Martin Schellard on bass guitar. Completing the new Spiritualized line-up were guitarist Doggen of Brain Donor and the Julian Cope band, and drummer Kevin 'Kevlar' Bales, who is was also a member of Brain Donor. This line-up finished recording their newest album "Songs In A&E" in Nottingham and London.

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from:1990 till:end text:"Jason Pierce" from:1994 till:1997 text:"John Coxon" from:1999 till:end text:"John Coxon" from:1990 till:1997 text:"Keyboard: Kate Radley" from:1997 till:end text:"thighpaulsandra" (Tim Lewis) from:1990 till:1994 text:"Guitar: Mark Refoy" from:1995 till:1999 text:"Mike Mooney" from:1997 till:1999 text:"Gregg Hale" from:1999 till:end text:"Doggen" from:1990 till:1992 text:"Bass: Will Carruthers" from:1992 till:1999 text:"Sean Cook" from:1999 till:2003 text:"Martin Shellard" from:1990 till:1994 text:"Drums: Jonny Mattock" from:1995 till:1999 text:"Damon Reece" from:1999 till:2004 text:"Kev Bales" from:1999 till:end text:"Tom Edwards (Percussions)" at:1990 text: from:1997 till:2003 text:"Saxophone:Raymond Dickaty" at:1990 text: from:2007 till:end text:"Drums" Nick Manning"

Trivia

On the 15th June 1997, Spiritualized became the last band to ever play at Factory Records infamous Manchester nightclub The Haçienda (FAC 51)

Discography

Albums

All releases

References

External links

* [http://www.spiritualized.com/ Spiritualized Homepage]
* [http://ideensynthese.de/spiritualized/ Official Spiritualized Message Board]
* [http://www.myspace.com/spiritualized Official Spiritualized MySpace page]
* [http://www.thetripwire.com/news/2007/11/19/gallery-spiritualized-the-apollo-nyc Photo Gallery From NYC Performance @ The Apollo 11.23.07]
* [http://comfortcomes.com/?page=reviews&id=2382 Spiritualized Songs in A&E Review ]
* [http://www.spiritualizedharmonies.com Spiritualized Harmonies: Past & Present]
* [http://www.webcutsmusic.com/news77.html Interview with Jason Pierce (June 2008)] from Webcuts
* [http://music.virgin.com/referrer/?PS=wiki_spirit&TP=2008/07/24/spiritualized-on-the-road-to-toronto-virgin-festival Spiritualized video interview on music.virgin.com]
* [http://www.concertbuzz.net/genres/indie/spiritualized.html Spiritualized Concert Review]