Acid Brass
Encyclopedia
Acid Brass was a musical collaboration between Turner-Prize-winning
artist Jeremy Deller
and the Williams Fairey Brass Band
. The project was based on fusing the music of a traditional brass band
with acid house
and Detroit techno
.
Acid Brass began in 1997 as a collaboration between Deller, the Stockport
-based Fairey Brass Band and Rodney Newton who created all the brass arrangements. Deller saw a connection between the two apparently disparate genres, viewing them as "two authentic forms of folk art rooted in specific communities". The music has since been taken all over the world, and was performed by the Fairey Band before a London crowd of 25000 in July 2005.
In 1997, The KLF
co-founder Bill Drummond
heard Acid Brass performing The KLF's "What Time Is Love?
" as part of their encore. Consequently, Acid Brass collaborated with The KLF on a track titled "Fuck the Millennium
", incorporating Acid Brass' cover of "What Time Is Love?". The track was released as a single under the moniker 2K.
The Fairey Band still play regular Acid Brass gigs at major music festivals in the UK and abroad, and have recently (Jan 2011) recorded an all new Acid Brass CD [details below].
Turner Prize
The Turner Prize, named after the painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist under the age of 50. Awarding the prize is organised by the Tate gallery and staged at Tate Britain. Since its beginnings in 1984 it has become the United Kingdom's most publicised...
artist Jeremy Deller
Jeremy Deller
Jeremy Deller is an English conceptual, video and installation artist. He is a Turner Prize winner.Deller is best-known for his Battle of Orgreave , a reenactment of the actual Battle of Orgreave which occurred during the UK miners' strike in 1984.-Life and work:Jeremy Deller was born in London,...
and the Williams Fairey Brass Band
Fairey Band
The Fairey Band is a brass band based in Heaton Chapel in Stockport, Greater Manchester.Its name comes from Sir Richard Fairey and the Fairey Aviation Company, famous in later years for the Fairey Delta 2 aircraft - the first aircraft in level flight to exceed 1,000mph, and had an important...
. The project was based on fusing the music of a traditional brass band
Brass band
A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting entirely of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands , but are usually more correctly termed military bands, concert...
with acid house
Acid house
Acid house is a sub-genre of house music that emphasizes a repetitive, hypnotic and trance-like style, often with samples or spoken lines rather than sung lyrics. Acid house's core electronic squelch sounds were developed around the mid-1980s, particularly by DJs from Chicago who experimented with...
and Detroit techno
Detroit techno
Detroit techno is an early style of electronic music beginning in the 1980s. Detroit, Michigan has been cited as the birthplace of techno music. Prominent Detroit Techno artists include Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson...
.
Acid Brass began in 1997 as a collaboration between Deller, the Stockport
Stockport
Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on elevated ground southeast of Manchester city centre, at the point where the rivers Goyt and Tame join and create the River Mersey. Stockport is the largest settlement in the metropolitan borough of the same name...
-based Fairey Brass Band and Rodney Newton who created all the brass arrangements. Deller saw a connection between the two apparently disparate genres, viewing them as "two authentic forms of folk art rooted in specific communities". The music has since been taken all over the world, and was performed by the Fairey Band before a London crowd of 25000 in July 2005.
In 1997, The KLF
The KLF
The KLF were one of the seminal bands of the British acid house movement during the late 1980s and early 1990s....
co-founder Bill Drummond
Bill Drummond
William Ernest Drummond is a Scottish artist, musician, writer and record producer. He was the co-founder of late 1980s avant-garde pop group The KLF and its 1990s media-manipulating successor, the K Foundation, with which he burned a million pounds in 1994...
heard Acid Brass performing The KLF's "What Time Is Love?
What Time Is Love?
"What Time Is Love?" is a song released, in different mixes, as a series of singles by the band The KLF. It featured prominently and repeatedly in their output from 1988 to 1992 and, under the moniker of 2K, in 1997...
" as part of their encore. Consequently, Acid Brass collaborated with The KLF on a track titled "Fuck the Millennium
Fuck the Millennium
"Fuck the Millennium" or "***K the Millennium" is an electronic protest song that was released as a single in 1997 by 2K...
", incorporating Acid Brass' cover of "What Time Is Love?". The track was released as a single under the moniker 2K.
The Fairey Band still play regular Acid Brass gigs at major music festivals in the UK and abroad, and have recently (Jan 2011) recorded an all new Acid Brass CD [details below].
Albums
- The original Acid Brass album of 1997 was released on the Blast FirstBlast FirstBlast First is a sub label of one-time independent record label, Mute Records, founded in approximately 1985. It was named after a phrase taken from the first number of the radical Vorticist journal Blast, published by Wyndham Lewis in 1914...
label and featured versions of dance classics such as A Guy Called GeraldA Guy Called GeraldA Guy Called Gerald is the stage name for the musician, record producer and DJ Gerald Simpson ....
's "Voodoo RayVoodoo Ray"Voodoo Ray" is a 1988 Acid House single by Gerald Simpson, recording under the name A Guy Called Gerald. The single was released the UK in 1988, in the 7" and 12" vinyl formats, on the Rham! label. It reached number 12 in the UK singles chart, and was the best selling independently released single...
", Rhythm Is Rhythm's "Strings Of Life" and 808 State808 State808 State are a British electronic music outfit, formed in 1987 in Manchester, taking their name from the Roland TR-808 drum machine and their common state of mind...
's "Pacific 202". The original studio album was recorded at the BBC NorthBBC NorthBBC North is a brand used by the BBC to mean any of the following.*The large BBC North region, centred on Manchester, that was active from the late 1920s until 1968....
's sound studios on Oxford Road in ManchesterManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, whilst a live version was recorded on 1 March 1997 at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts.
- A new collection entitled "Acid Brass 2 - In Yer Face!' was recorded in January 2011. It consists of 10 all new arrangements by Richard Rock of iconic Acid House hits such as 'Infinity', 'Jack to the Sound of the Underground', 'Acid Thunder', 'Theme from S'Express', 'We call it Acieed'.
External links
- The Fairey Band ACID page (homepage)
- Jeremy Deller (homepage)