Sack Trick

Sack Trick are an eccentric British music collective who have been compared to the humour of Monty Python and musical madness of Frank Zappa. The bassist Chris Paulo Dale (ex-Atom Seed and Bruce Dickinson) is the center of the group, guiding the audience through a universe that is more rock circus than rock opera, with a partiality for KISS, funk metal and species of animals such as rabbits, penguins and sheep.

Biography

Sack Trick began when Chris Dale, Alex Dickson and Alessandro Elena (A.K.A Sponder), the founding members of the band, played with Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson on his solo Balls to Picasso tour. After the tour, Alex and Bruce wrote Bruce's next solo album, titled Skunkworks. Chris Dale co-wrote "Innerspace", which featured on the album, as well as writing two songs, "I'm in a band with an Italian drummer" and "Americans are Behind". Bruce encouraged Chris to write more, and decided to include Chris's songs as B-sides to "Back from the edge", the only single from the Skunkworks album. The tracks were also included on the second disc of the 2005 "Expanded Edition" of the album.After the Skunkworks tour, the band split. Bruce went on to make his Accident of Birth album, while Chris continued writing and formed Sack Trick with Alex and Alessandro.

Sack Trick played their first gig on 12th May 1998, at HQ's in London, England.The lineup was Chris Dale (bass), Jef Streatfield (guitar), Robin Guy (drums), Jem Davis (keyboards). Since then, the lineup has undergone changes for nearly every gig the band has played, bringing in talent from all over the UK, including members of bands such as Rachel Stamp, Skunk Anansie and Rainbow, and even a gig featuring Bruce Dickinson on vocals.

The band's first album, "(Music From) The Mystery Rabbits" was released by ORG Records in 1999, with their second album, "Penguins on the Moon" being released on 2000. After this, there was a 4-year gap in which the band prepared their long-awaited Kiss covers album, entitled "Sheep In Kiss Make Up" for release. Although the album began before "The Mystery Rabbits", due to legal negotiations the album saw huge delays before its release. Although the band had signed to Infernal Records, and their cover of "God of Thunder" featured on the label's "Any Colour As Long As It's Black" sampler, the album was never released on the label. Eventually, in 2004, the band gave up on record companies and put the album out themselves, releasing the album in November that year.

Discography

* (Music From) The Mystery Rabbits (1999)
* Penguins on the Moon (2000)
* Sheep in Kiss Make Up (2005)

Current members

The current Sack Trick line up (as of the last tour)
*Chris Dale - Bass/Vocals
*Reuben Gotto - Guitar/Vocals
*Jay Graham - Drums
*Dave Cheeseman - Keyboards/Vocals
*Rockin' Roly Bailey - Percussion/Vocals

Trivia

Collected from "The Random Sack Trick fact thread", on [http://nando.myacen.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=72 The Official Sack Trick Forum]
*The rap part of "I Play Bass" is from "Bring The Noise" by Public Enemy.
*Damonski, who appeared on Sheep in Kiss Make-Up, was the drummer for the boyband Busted.
*Robin Guy and his brother make an appearance in the video for Anthem by The Wildhearts.
*The highest Chart position by any Sack Trick related band (excluding Iron Maiden) is Angels by Robbie Williams.
*Pete Friesen, who appeared on Mystery Rabbits and Sheep in Kiss Make-Up, has the line "In fact, isn't Milwaukee an Indian name?" in the film "Wayne's World".
*The number of Sack Trick related bands currently stands at well over 85.
*Robin Guy was filmed for part of a tv commercial for a brand of tea, and another for a vacuum cleaner, but his footage wasn't used.
*Robin Guy, Chris Dale and Chris Nubile all appear in the Smashing Pumpkins video for Ava Adore.
*Jem Davies plays on a Christmas Album called "Rock ya Christmas" along with Paul Di'Anno and 'Fast' Eddie Clark.
*Al played some guitar parts for Word Up by GUN, he left soon after and wasn't credited for playing it.
*Reuben Gotto is also know as "The Popular Face Of Rock".
*Alex Dickson played his first gig aged 12.
*Reuben Gotto once did some work for Alanis Morrissette.
*Alex "Sponder" Elena played his first professional gig at the age of eight.
*Robin Guy played the song "Ashes to Ashes" on Top Of The Pops with Faith No More, a performance condemned in the Sun because Mike Patton gave Robin the finger.
*Chris Dale and Tom Lown once said the line "That's Asda Price" in an Asda advert.

External links

* [http://www.sacktrick.com Official website]