Senser
Encyclopedia
Senser, a politically-charged UK
band, originally formed in South West London
from a group of friends in the late 1980s, Nick Michaelson (guitar), Heitham Al-Sayed
(vocals), Kerstin Haigh (vocals), John Morgan (drums), James Barrett (bass) and Alan "Hagos/Haggis" Haggarty (engineer, producer, programmer) and in 1992 they were joined by Spiral Tribe
D.J, Andy Clinton. The band soon forged an innovative, eclectic and explosive new style and began to support psychedelic rockers the Ozric Tentacles
. Soon they had developed a following in their own right and they were invited to play at Glastonbury, this got the ball rolling in 1993 the band were signed to Ultimate records. Senser's musical style has repeatedly been described as "uncategorisable", but is nevertheless most often classified as rap rock
.
, The Levellers
and Chumbawamba
.
In March 1994 Senser released their third single, Switch, which entered the National Chart at No.39 and the band underwent a heavy schedule of T.V, radio, press and live performances. Senser's first album, "Stacked Up", was released in May 1994, and entered the National Charts at No.4. With the success of their album, Senser's fan-base grew, enabling the band to play to sell-out crowds across the UK and Europe.
In 1994 Senser could be seen on the UK festival circuit and supported Red Hot Chili Peppers
at Reading festival. In Europe they played at Roskilde Festival
(Denmark
), Torhout-Werchter (Belgium
), and Pinkpop
(Holland) and toured as support for Henry Rollins
. After a curtailed tour of Japan
, they then returned to the UK.
At the beginning of 1995 Senser toured the UK supported by Skunk Anansie
before setting off to tour the U.S.A. with Moby
. It was during this tour that the band decided to split over musical differences. Heitham and John left to form a new band with Haggis called Lodestar
. The remaining members of Senser found a new drummer, Paul Soden, and set about writing Senser's second album.
After a year of writing and rehearsing Senser took to the road again and appeared at Phoenix '96. During the spring of '97 they recorded the 2nd album with legendary producer Arthur Baker
and engineer Kevin Porée
, it had a similar eclectic sound to the first but had a more electronic feel. Whilst recording the album Kerstin became pregnant so the other members formed De-Senser to keep the ball rolling until they could tour again. This new project, dealt specifically with programmed techno and drum and bass. And in the summer of 1997 De-Senser released "Om" an instant hit at clubs across the UK.
In the summer of 1998 Kerstin was able to tour and the band released the second album, Asylum. This was followed by touring throughout '98 especially in areas such as Spain, Italy
and France. Once again musical differences became apparent and in February 1999 the band decided to split. Senser still had to play two last festivals to honour their commitments so they invited original members Heitham, John and Haggis back to perform with them. The gigs were extremely successful and proved to the group that they still worked well together and soon the original line-up found themselves working together on a compilation album of Senser's back catalogue called Parallel Charge.
The band, now with the original line-up in place, recorded and released their third studio album SCHEMAtic. The material drew on their own personal styles developed from their time apart with other musical ventures. In 2003, an early tour of the new material was performed to eager audiences.
Senser's song "States of Mind", from Stacked Up
was used as the soundtrack to the well-known demoscene
production State of Mind by Bomb. http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=26
Haggis left the band to pursue other projects and Senser spent much of 2006-2007 writing new songs and playing them at festivals and gigs around the UK and Europe. By October 2008, Senser had recorded and mixed the next studio album titled "How To Do Battle" with producers Neil Mclellan and Scott Harding, and Jason Wilcock as recording engineer, recorded at Stakeout Studios (London). The album has been released on 19-th October in 2009 on Imprint Music.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
band, originally formed in South West London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
from a group of friends in the late 1980s, Nick Michaelson (guitar), Heitham Al-Sayed
Heitham Al-Sayed
Heitham Al-Sayed is a rapper/singer from South West London. He is of Saudi and English parentage.Al-Sayed is lead vocalist in the band Senser and Lodestar. He is known for strong political opinions which permeate his music and contributed to conflict within, as well as the eventual break-up of,...
(vocals), Kerstin Haigh (vocals), John Morgan (drums), James Barrett (bass) and Alan "Hagos/Haggis" Haggarty (engineer, producer, programmer) and in 1992 they were joined by Spiral Tribe
Spiral Tribe
Spiral Tribe is a free party sound system which existed in the first half of the 1990s, and became active again in 2007. The collective originated in west London and later travelled across Europe and North America. According to one member, the name came to him when he was at work, staring at a...
D.J, Andy Clinton. The band soon forged an innovative, eclectic and explosive new style and began to support psychedelic rockers the Ozric Tentacles
Ozric Tentacles
Ozric Tentacles are an instrumental rock band from Somerset, England, whose music can loosely be described as psychedelic or space rock. Formed in 1983, the band has released 28 albums as of 2011, and become a cottage industry selling over a million albums worldwide despite never having major...
. Soon they had developed a following in their own right and they were invited to play at Glastonbury, this got the ball rolling in 1993 the band were signed to Ultimate records. Senser's musical style has repeatedly been described as "uncategorisable", but is nevertheless most often classified as rap rock
Rap rock
Rap rock is a cross-genre fusing vocal and instrumental elements of hip hop with various forms of rock. Rap rock is often confused with rap metal and rapcore, subgenres that include heavy metal-oriented and hardcore punk-oriented bands, respectively....
.
History
In 1993 Senser released two indie chart topping singles on Ultimate, Eject and The Key and during the summer they played most of the major festivals. The band were gaining a reputation for being one of the most exciting live acts around and found themselves on stage alongside Rage Against the MachineRage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group's line-up consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello and drummer Brad Wilk...
, The Levellers
The Levellers (band)
The Levellers are an English rock band, founded in 1988 and based in Brighton, England. Their musical style is said to be influenced by punk and traditional English music.-1988-1990:...
and Chumbawamba
Chumbawamba
Chumbawamba is a British musical group who have, over a career spanning nearly three decades, played punk rock, pop-influenced music, world music, and folk music...
.
In March 1994 Senser released their third single, Switch, which entered the National Chart at No.39 and the band underwent a heavy schedule of T.V, radio, press and live performances. Senser's first album, "Stacked Up", was released in May 1994, and entered the National Charts at No.4. With the success of their album, Senser's fan-base grew, enabling the band to play to sell-out crowds across the UK and Europe.
In 1994 Senser could be seen on the UK festival circuit and supported Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers is an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group's musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk, hip hop and psychedelic rock...
at Reading festival. In Europe they played at Roskilde Festival
Roskilde Festival
Roskilde Festival is a festival held south of Roskilde in Denmark and is one of the six biggest annual music festivals in Europe . It was created in 1971 by two high school students, Mogens Sandfær and Jesper Switzer Møller, and promoter Carl Fischer...
(Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
), Torhout-Werchter (Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
), and Pinkpop
Pinkpop
Pinkpop Festival, or Pinkpop for short, is an annual festival held at Landgraaf, Netherlands. It is held annually on the Pentecost weekend...
(Holland) and toured as support for Henry Rollins
Henry Rollins
Henry Rollins is an American singer-songwriter, spoken word artist, writer, comedian, publisher, actor, and radio DJ....
. After a curtailed tour of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, they then returned to the UK.
At the beginning of 1995 Senser toured the UK supported by Skunk Anansie
Skunk Anansie
Skunk Anansie is an English rock band whose members include Skin , Cass , Ace and Mark Richardson .Skunk Anansie formed in March 1994, disbanded in 2001 and reformed in 2009...
before setting off to tour the U.S.A. with Moby
Moby
Richard Melville Hall , better known by his stage name Moby, is an American musician, DJ, and photographer. He is known mainly for his sample-based electronic music and his outspoken liberal political views, including his support of veganism and animal rights.Moby gained attention in the early...
. It was during this tour that the band decided to split over musical differences. Heitham and John left to form a new band with Haggis called Lodestar
Lodestar (band)
Lodestar was an experimental progressive band formed in 1996 by Heitham Al-Sayed , John Morgan and "Haggis" after they left Senser. They were joined by a fourth member, Jules Hodgson . Lodestar were signed to Ultimate Records where they released their album Lodestar in 1996...
. The remaining members of Senser found a new drummer, Paul Soden, and set about writing Senser's second album.
After a year of writing and rehearsing Senser took to the road again and appeared at Phoenix '96. During the spring of '97 they recorded the 2nd album with legendary producer Arthur Baker
Arthur Baker (musician)
Arthur Baker is an American record producer and DJ best known for his work with hip hop artists like Afrika Bambaataa, Planet Patrol, and the British group New Order.-Early career:...
and engineer Kevin Porée
Kevin Porée
Kevin Porée is a British record producer, songwriter, composer, arranger and recording engineer who is best known for his work with Mark Hole, Paul Young, Los Pacaminos, Senser, Joy Tobing, Hiding in Public, George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, Charlotte Gordon Cumming and for his associations with...
, it had a similar eclectic sound to the first but had a more electronic feel. Whilst recording the album Kerstin became pregnant so the other members formed De-Senser to keep the ball rolling until they could tour again. This new project, dealt specifically with programmed techno and drum and bass. And in the summer of 1997 De-Senser released "Om" an instant hit at clubs across the UK.
In the summer of 1998 Kerstin was able to tour and the band released the second album, Asylum. This was followed by touring throughout '98 especially in areas such as Spain, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and France. Once again musical differences became apparent and in February 1999 the band decided to split. Senser still had to play two last festivals to honour their commitments so they invited original members Heitham, John and Haggis back to perform with them. The gigs were extremely successful and proved to the group that they still worked well together and soon the original line-up found themselves working together on a compilation album of Senser's back catalogue called Parallel Charge.
The band, now with the original line-up in place, recorded and released their third studio album SCHEMAtic. The material drew on their own personal styles developed from their time apart with other musical ventures. In 2003, an early tour of the new material was performed to eager audiences.
Senser's song "States of Mind", from Stacked Up
Stacked Up
Stacked Up is the debut album by UK rap-rock group Senser. It was released in the UK on 2 May 1994, and entered the national charts at No.4.It features an eclectic, incendiary cross over of hip hop, rock and psychedelia.-Background:...
was used as the soundtrack to the well-known demoscene
Demoscene
The demoscene is a computer art subculture that specializes in producing demos, which are non-interactive audio-visual presentations that run in real-time on a computer...
production State of Mind by Bomb. http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=26
Haggis left the band to pursue other projects and Senser spent much of 2006-2007 writing new songs and playing them at festivals and gigs around the UK and Europe. By October 2008, Senser had recorded and mixed the next studio album titled "How To Do Battle" with producers Neil Mclellan and Scott Harding, and Jason Wilcock as recording engineer, recorded at Stakeout Studios (London). The album has been released on 19-th October in 2009 on Imprint Music.
Discography
- Stacked UpStacked UpStacked Up is the debut album by UK rap-rock group Senser. It was released in the UK on 2 May 1994, and entered the national charts at No.4.It features an eclectic, incendiary cross over of hip hop, rock and psychedelia.-Background:...
(1994)- States of Mind
- The Key
- Switch
- Age of Panic
- What's Going On
- One Touch One Bounce
- Stubborn
- Door Game
- Peanut Head
- Peace
- Eject
- No Comply
- Worth
- Asylum (1998)
- Book of Flies
- Charming Demons
- Adrenaline
- Strange Asylum
- Burn Out
- Desensitised
- Breed
- Lizard
- Oyster
- Weatherman
- Asylum (Limited Edition) (1998) "Senser Vs. De:Senser"
- Charming Demons (DJ "Awe" mix)
- Eye Laleid
- Tried and Tested
- Om (Harry Hogg mix)
- Rows of People
- Gabba Man
- Parallel Charge (2001)
- Age Of Panic
- Charming Demons
- States Of Mind
- Strange Asylum
- Switch
- Breed
- The Key
- Adrenalin
- Eject
- Lizard
- Stubborn
- Book Of Flies
- No Comply
- Desensitized
- SCHEMAtic (2004)
- Silent By
- 101 Infoburner
- Bulletproof
- Formula Milk
- Crucible
- Return to Zombie Island
- An Astounding Spectacle
- Photographed Files
- Bomb Factories
- A Conscious War
- The Brunt
- How To Do Battle (2009)
- Wake Up, You’re On Fire
- Resistance Now
- Brightest Rays
- 2 3 Clear
- Dictator Bling
- End Of The World Show
- Smoking Paranoia
- Sandhurst in Zero G
- So Refined
- Hex
- Fairytale
- Lights Out
- Arturo
- Blind (iTunes Bonus Track)
Current members
- Heitham Al-SayedHeitham Al-SayedHeitham Al-Sayed is a rapper/singer from South West London. He is of Saudi and English parentage.Al-Sayed is lead vocalist in the band Senser and Lodestar. He is known for strong political opinions which permeate his music and contributed to conflict within, as well as the eventual break-up of,...
(Rap (Lead Vocalist) /Percussion, 1992–1995, 1999– present) - Kerstin Haigh (Vocals and Flute, 1992–present)
- Nick Michaelson (Guitar, 1992–present)
- James Barrett (Bass, 1992–present)
- John Morgan (Drums, 1992–1995, 1999–present)
- Andy "Awe" Clinton (DJ, 1992–present)
Former members
- Alan "Hagos/Haggis" Haggarty (Sound Engineer/Programmer/Producer, 1992–1994, 1999–2004)
- Paul Soden (Drums, 1995–1999)