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A1 PEOPLE- Simeon Bowring, Tom Crook, Tree Carr
Magical Thinking- A1 People's highly anticipated new album ‘Magical Thinking’ throws itself at the heart of Electro and Electro House processing New Wave influences as diverse as Blondie and New Order with the dance floor sensibility of The Chemical Brothers, Daft Punk and Mylo. Founding members Simeon Bowring and Tom Crook have drafted in the vocal talents of New Yorker Tree Carr (10 Minutes With My Dad, M.Craft and Ali Love) along side special guest Pete Shelley (The Buzzcocks) to bring a new dimension to the bands sound.
Infectious melodies float over thumping beats, pulsing synths and guitars creating a futuristic vision describing the twilight fringes of life . Tracks such as Union Square (a homage to Warhol’s New York) conjure up nighttime cityscapes whilst Free Ride describes a twisted sleazy encounter with the human underclass of city life. Space Dust creates cathartic beauty by contrasting its epic sweeping music against Tree’s delicate description of an act of suicide whilst Evol Love with its driving rhythm delivers a tail of inverted love.
Pete Shelly has guested with A1 People to forge a new version of his 1981 hit ‘Homosapien’. A driving rendition of an electro classic, this updated track delivers a slice of post punk history. Engaging and more energetic than ever this production fuses Pete’s charismatic delivery with A1 People’s trademark pulsating synthesizers creating an instant dance floor classic.
A1 People are known for their hedonistic live performances and have started playing the album live with the help of Steve Jones (Moby, Freq Nasty) on drums and Karsten Forsey on samplers and synths. In their live performances they cross the boundaries between the indie and dance music fraternity delivering a polished but gritty show that revels in the glamour of the wild side.
Background- A1 People were founded by Simeon Bowring in 1997 as an outlet to make electronic dance music (he had previously released two albums as Pentatonik but wanted to work in a different genre). He wanted to make dance music that had a raw electronic analogue sound which at the time went totally against the philosophy of the polished jazzy Drum and Bass productions that were popular then. In pursuit of this new sound Simeon hooked up with Tom Crook and Matt Early. With their raw analogue synth sounds and electro funk inspired beats they anticipated a new genre, a new interpretation of electro (a word that few people understood at the time), a sound what would become popular in the dance fraternity years later. As pioneers of this dirty future disco sound A1 People helped to create a new modern vision of electro for a new generation.
Fresh Juice and The Visit (1998-2000)- After several successful EPs the first album Fresh Juice (1998) was released on Hydrogen Dukebox records to great critical acclaim (in fact The Sun made it album of the week). It was the culmination of over a years work and an experiment in electro funk. As a band they had amassed as much vintage gear as they could in Simeon’s studio, it was literally over-flowing with synthesizers and guitars. This love for the gear helped to create a quirky yet and infectious record as memorable for its avant guard against the grain production as much its songs. As a result the band toured festivals throughout Europe and the remixes flooded in. The Visit (2000) was the bands follow up mini-album. They experimented with the fringes of hip-hop and were radical in their approach to the music, even bringing in gospel choir for several tracks. This sonic experimentation would lead them to discover a new working method for their musical direction. Out of this was born...
The Yellow Album (2003)- Now working as a two piece production team Simeon and Tom forged the template of electro house in the Yellow Album. Tracks such as Evel Knieval burned through the DJ charts and they soon found themselves DJing on an international stage as well as guest appearances on stations such as Radio 1. Electro was coming of age and knowledge of the genre was building in the underground. The Yellow Album perfectly mixed underground dance floor awareness with experimental songs. With the release of The Reason EP A1 People’s radio play went through the roof and soon any Xfm listener could hum the melody.
Remixes- Most recently A1 People have remixed Groove Armada, The Dub Pistols and The Sugarush Beat Company. Over their career they have remixed over 60 tracks by artists as diverse as Blondie, Squeeze, The Creatures, The Egg, Anastasia and Apollo 440.
