Pram (band)
Encyclopedia
Pram are an experimental
band who formed in the Balsall Heath/Moseley area of Birmingham
, England
in 1990.
, Rosie Cuckston and Matt Eaton went to school together. They moved to Birmingham in the late 80s, schoolfriend Andy Weir keeping in touch after a move to London to study art. Cuckston met Sam Owen by chance at a local supermarket's Singles Night. The four began performing under the name "Hole" in 1988 performing only with vocals and a homemade theremin
. The band eventually became "Pram"; Matt Eaton playing multiple instruments, Andy Weir on the drums, and Sam switching to bass. Max Simpson joined later on keyboard and sampler.
Pram's first album Gash was self-released and sold by mail order and at gigs. Along with their name and incorporating toy instruments, the band had a child-like theme. Also, Cuckston's eerie vocals and lyrics dealt with depression, loneliness and the dark side of childhood. The band's early recordings had a krautrock
-influenced blend of rhythmic guitar, keyboards and percussion.
Records (then home to Stereolab
, Mouse on Mars
and PJ Harvey
). On that label, Pram had released several increasingly sophisticated albums and EPs between 1993 and 1995.
On their second LP, The Stars Are So Big, The Earth Is So Small...Stay As You Are, a trumpeter, credited as "The Verdigris Horn," joined and played on several tracks, including the quarter-hour "In Dreams You Too Can Fly". Their next album Helium (1994) featured increasing use of the sampler
.
Their later recordings show a marked interest in "exotica
". The band's final Too Pure
album, 1995's Sargasso Sea, was "awarded" a score of 0/10 when reviewed by the NME
, which the band saw as a compliment. (However, in 2004, NME tipped Pram as the next big band to watch out for). The band's popularity continued to gain momentum.
In 1995, Pram left Too Pure, and released a cassette compilation of early demos and live recordings called Perambulations. Some of these recordings were added to the CD reissue of Gash. Singles and EPs were recorded for a variety of labels (including Stereolab's Duophonic Records
), before the band found a new home at Domino Records.
. The band's releases on Domino have been distributed by Merge Records
in the US.
From the release of 2003's Dark Island, the song "Track of the Cat" was used on a BT Group
advert. The remix of "Simon from Sydney/Untitled 2", commissioned by Warp Records
, was used on Volkswagen
's "30 years in the Making" advertising campaign. Grandmaster Gareth of Misty's Big Adventure
produced the string arrangement on "Peepshow". He also arranged all the strings on the 2007 The Moving Frontier album and played the cello on the songs "The Empty Quarter" and "Compass Rose".
Pram have been remixed by several artists (Somniloquy features remixes by fellow Brummie
experimentalists Plone
and Tele:funken amongst others), and remixed LFO and the Aphex Twin
for the Warp Records
10th anniversary compilation. They have also remixed a song for the India
n singer Mohammed Rafi
.
in the late 90s. She had appeared on their "M Is The Thirteenth Letter/Monade" and "Split" 45s.
Matt Eaton DJs with Mark from Plone
for Silver Dollar, a reggae club in Birmingham. Eaton also produces his own music under the name 'Micronormous'. In Autumn 2009 he is working on an album for Warm Circuit records, home of the Modified Toy Orchestra
.
Their one-time drummer Steve Perkins had also been part of fellow Birmingham
band Broadcast
. The band's original theremin player left to become a bomb disposal
worker.
Compilations:
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
band who formed in the Balsall Heath/Moseley area of Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1990.
History
Originally from Harrogate, North YorkshireNorth Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
, Rosie Cuckston and Matt Eaton went to school together. They moved to Birmingham in the late 80s, schoolfriend Andy Weir keeping in touch after a move to London to study art. Cuckston met Sam Owen by chance at a local supermarket's Singles Night. The four began performing under the name "Hole" in 1988 performing only with vocals and a homemade theremin
Theremin
The theremin , originally known as the aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device...
. The band eventually became "Pram"; Matt Eaton playing multiple instruments, Andy Weir on the drums, and Sam switching to bass. Max Simpson joined later on keyboard and sampler.
Pram's first album Gash was self-released and sold by mail order and at gigs. Along with their name and incorporating toy instruments, the band had a child-like theme. Also, Cuckston's eerie vocals and lyrics dealt with depression, loneliness and the dark side of childhood. The band's early recordings had a krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
-influenced blend of rhythmic guitar, keyboards and percussion.
The Too Pure years
The band soon attracted the attention of Too PureToo Pure
Too Pure is a London-based independent record label that was formed in 1990 by Richard Roberts and Paul Cox.-History:Too Pure started off as a small experimental label and had built their reputation by releasing primarily alternative/independent music which they felt was being ignored by the major...
Records (then home to Stereolab
Stereolab
Stereolab are an alternative music band formed in 1990 in London, England. The band originally comprised songwriting team Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier , both of whom remained at the helm across many lineup changes...
, Mouse on Mars
Mouse on Mars
Mouse on Mars is a duo from Germany who have been making electronic music since 1993. Their music is a sometimes quirky blend of IDM, krautrock, disco, and ambient with a heavy dollop of analog synth sounds and cross-frequency modulation...
and PJ Harvey
PJ Harvey
Polly Jean Harvey is an English musician, singer-songwriter, composer and occasional artist. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments including piano, organ, bass, saxophone, and most recently, the autoharp.Harvey began her career in...
). On that label, Pram had released several increasingly sophisticated albums and EPs between 1993 and 1995.
On their second LP, The Stars Are So Big, The Earth Is So Small...Stay As You Are, a trumpeter, credited as "The Verdigris Horn," joined and played on several tracks, including the quarter-hour "In Dreams You Too Can Fly". Their next album Helium (1994) featured increasing use of the sampler
Sampler (musical instrument)
A sampler is an electronic musical instrument similar in some respects to a synthesizer but, instead of generating sounds, it uses recordings of sounds that are loaded or recorded into it by the user and then played back by means of a keyboard, sequencer or other triggering device to perform or...
.
Their later recordings show a marked interest in "exotica
Exotica
Exotica is a musical genre, named after the 1957 Martin Denny album of the same title, popular during the 1950s to mid-1960s, typically with the suburban set who came of age during World War II. The musical colloquialism, exotica, means tropical ersatz: the non-native, pseudo experience of Oceania...
". The band's final Too Pure
Too Pure
Too Pure is a London-based independent record label that was formed in 1990 by Richard Roberts and Paul Cox.-History:Too Pure started off as a small experimental label and had built their reputation by releasing primarily alternative/independent music which they felt was being ignored by the major...
album, 1995's Sargasso Sea, was "awarded" a score of 0/10 when reviewed by the NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
, which the band saw as a compliment. (However, in 2004, NME tipped Pram as the next big band to watch out for). The band's popularity continued to gain momentum.
In 1995, Pram left Too Pure, and released a cassette compilation of early demos and live recordings called Perambulations. Some of these recordings were added to the CD reissue of Gash. Singles and EPs were recorded for a variety of labels (including Stereolab's Duophonic Records
Duophonic Records
Duophonic Ultra High Frequency Disks Limited, known as Duophonic Super 45s, is a London based independent record label formed by the British pop group Stereolab...
), before the band found a new home at Domino Records.
The Domino years
Their first album for Domino, North Pole Radio Station, was originally recorded for Wurlitzer Jukebox Records, but the label shut down before it could be released. 1999's "Keep in a Dry Place and Away From Children" was the soundtrack to an animated film, and also featured a remix by Mouse on MarsMouse on Mars
Mouse on Mars is a duo from Germany who have been making electronic music since 1993. Their music is a sometimes quirky blend of IDM, krautrock, disco, and ambient with a heavy dollop of analog synth sounds and cross-frequency modulation...
. The band's releases on Domino have been distributed by Merge Records
Merge Records
Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as a way to release music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expanded to include artists from around the world and records...
in the US.
From the release of 2003's Dark Island, the song "Track of the Cat" was used on a BT Group
BT Group
BT Group plc is a global telecommunications services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is one of the largest telecommunications services companies in the world and has operations in more than 170 countries. Through its BT Global Services division it is a major supplier of...
advert. The remix of "Simon from Sydney/Untitled 2", commissioned by Warp Records
Warp Records
Warp, commonly referred to as Warp Records, is a pioneering independent British record label, founded in Sheffield in 1989, notable for discovering some of the more enduring artists in electronic music....
, was used on Volkswagen
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
's "30 years in the Making" advertising campaign. Grandmaster Gareth of Misty's Big Adventure
Misty's Big Adventure
Misty's Big Adventure are an eight piece band from Birmingham, England. Their music is an eclectic mix of jazz, lounge, psychedelia, two tone, pop and punk....
produced the string arrangement on "Peepshow". He also arranged all the strings on the 2007 The Moving Frontier album and played the cello on the songs "The Empty Quarter" and "Compass Rose".
Pram have been remixed by several artists (Somniloquy features remixes by fellow Brummie
Brummie
Brummie is a colloquial term for the inhabitants, accent and dialect of Birmingham, England, as well as being a general adjective used to denote a connection with the city, locally called Brum...
experimentalists Plone
Plone (band)
Plone was an electronic music band from Birmingham, England.-Career:The group was created in late 1994 when Mark Cancellara and Mike Johnston started to buy old analogue keyboards and fx and began to rehearse making huge soundscapes...
and Tele:funken amongst others), and remixed LFO and the Aphex Twin
Aphex Twin
Richard David James , best known under the pseudonym Aphex Twin, is an Irish-born electronic musician and composer described as "the most inventive and influential figure in contemporary electronic music"...
for the Warp Records
Warp Records
Warp, commonly referred to as Warp Records, is a pioneering independent British record label, founded in Sheffield in 1989, notable for discovering some of the more enduring artists in electronic music....
10th anniversary compilation. They have also remixed a song for the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n singer Mohammed Rafi
Mohammed Rafi
Mohammad Rafi , was an Indian playback singer whose career spanned four decades. He was awarded National Award and 6 Filmfare Awards. In 1967, he was honoured with the Padma Shri awarded by the Government of India....
.
Outside band activities
Most notably, Rosie Cuckston had recorded songs with Laetitia Sadier as MonadeMonade
Monade is a Bordeaux, France-based post-rock band which was initially a side project of Lætitia Sadier, a founding member of Stereolab. In the late 1990s, the All-City imprint released a 7" split of Monade's "Ode to a Keyring"/"Witch Hazel" [the a-side of the split featured materials by post-rock...
in the late 90s. She had appeared on their "M Is The Thirteenth Letter/Monade" and "Split" 45s.
Matt Eaton DJs with Mark from Plone
Plone (band)
Plone was an electronic music band from Birmingham, England.-Career:The group was created in late 1994 when Mark Cancellara and Mike Johnston started to buy old analogue keyboards and fx and began to rehearse making huge soundscapes...
for Silver Dollar, a reggae club in Birmingham. Eaton also produces his own music under the name 'Micronormous'. In Autumn 2009 he is working on an album for Warm Circuit records, home of the Modified Toy Orchestra
Modified Toy Orchestra
The Modified Toy Orchestra is an experimental music group from Birmingham, England. Brian Duffy, the main member and creator of the orchestra makes the group's instruments by circuit bending sound making devices, such as toy keyboards, and educational spelling toys.- Members :*Brian Duffy*Darren...
.
Their one-time drummer Steve Perkins had also been part of fellow Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
band Broadcast
Broadcast (band)
Broadcast are an electronic music band, founded in Birmingham, England. Original members were Trish Keenan , Roj Stevens , Tim Felton and James Cargill . Various drummers played with the band, including Keith York, Phil Jenkins, Jeremy Barnes, Steve Perkins, and Neil Bullock...
. The band's original theremin player left to become a bomb disposal
Bomb disposal
Bomb disposal is the process by which hazardous explosive devices are rendered safe. Bomb disposal is an all encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated functions in the following fields:*Military:...
worker.
Albums
- GashGash (Pram album)-Track listing:#Dead Piano#Flesh#Inmate's Clothes#I'm a War#Pram#Dirty Children#Blue Singer#The Day the Animals Turned on the Cars#Goosewalk#Sunset International#Bleed...
(1992), Howl - mini-LPMini-LPA Mini-LP or Mini-album is a short album, usually retailing at a lower price than an album that would be considered "full-length".-History:...
with 6 songs, CD reissue with extra material (1997) - The Stars Are So Big, The Earth Is So Small...Stay As You Are (1993)
- Helium (1994), Too PureToo PureToo Pure is a London-based independent record label that was formed in 1990 by Richard Roberts and Paul Cox.-History:Too Pure started off as a small experimental label and had built their reputation by releasing primarily alternative/independent music which they felt was being ignored by the major...
- Sargasso Sea (1995), Too Pure
- North Pole Radio Station (1998), Domino
- The Museum of Imaginary AnimalsThe Museum of Imaginary AnimalsThe Museum of Imaginary Animals is the sixth album by English band Pram.- Track listing :# "Owl service"# "Bewitched"# "Mother of Pearl"# "Narwhal"# "History of Ice"# "Mermaid's Hotel"# "Million Bubbles Burst"# "Cat's Cradle"# "Picturebox"...
(2000), Domino - Somniloquy (2001), Domino - mini-album
- Dark IslandDark Island (album)Dark Island is an album by English band Pram released in 2003. The album features the song Track of the Cat which was used on a BT advert in 2003.-Track listing:All tracks by Pram# "Track of the Cat" – 4:13# "Penny Arcade" – 4:27...
(2003), Domino - The Moving FrontierThe Moving FrontierThe Moving Frontier is the 11th album by Pram in 15 years, released in September 2007. In that same year, Wire Magazine named The Moving Frontier #7 in their top ten records of the year.-Track listing:#'The Empty Quarter'#'Salt and Sand'...
(2007), Domino
Compilations:
- Perambulations (1995, cassette-only collection of early recordings, some live)
- Telemetric Melodies (1999), Domino - collects various single/EP tracks from 1997–99
Compilation appearances
- Brum Brum (1989, Pram's song "Jack Sabbath" appears on this compilation, along with other Brummie bands)
Singles and EPs
- Iron Lung EP (1993), Too Pure
- Meshes EP (1994), Too Pure
- Music for Your Movies EP (1996), Duophonic
- "Omnichord" (1997), Wurlitzer Jukebox
- Sleepy Sweet EP (1998), Domino
- "The Last Astronaut" (1998), Kooky
- "Keep in a Dry Place and Away From ChildrenKeep in a Dry Place and Away from ChildrenKeep in a Dry Place and Away From Children is a single/EP to a 10 minute animation film entitled Keep in a Dry Place and Away From Children.-Track listing:#Space Siren#Space Iron ...
" (1999), Domino - "The Owl Service" (2000), Domino
- Prisoner of the Seven Pines EP (2008), Domino