The Borg

The Borg.The Borg are/were an electro/darkwave, retro/progressive, two man composite of many influences and directions.We never took ourselves too seriously; there’s enough of those guys on ‘the scene’ (still) and bloody good luck to them!Ed C: Keyboards, samples, instrumentation. Mark Bell: Vocal noises, samples, sound co ordination.Formed in 1999, in order to give a live performance of the ‘Numania EP’ (Are friends electric?, Replicas and We are so fragile.), which was released through Flag recordings in 1997. The three numan cover/remixes were recorded in 1993 and found favour with factions within the Numan community. We were approached by Frank Drake, who liked what we were doing and wanted to release the tracks. It should be noted that ‘the Numan bible’ (Electric Pioneer by Paul Goodwin), states, I am reliably informed.. that Frank was involved in the recording of the tracks (an early version of ‘Greenhaus’???) – he wasn’t. We are entirely to blame. It should also be noted we haven’t made a penny out of the release.We had stopped recording songs in 1993 and recorded ‘Are friends electric?’ as our last project. Frank phoned us (having heard it at various venues) in 1995 wanting to release it and it finally came together in 1997 and has followed us around ever since. We were asked to perform at Milton Keynes in 1999, supporting Dig. We recorded another two further Numan covers (Metal and Sleep by Windows) to fill a half hour set, which despite some difficulties with a rather bouncy stage, which gave our backing tracks a rather bad case of indigestion, still went down well.The name ‘the Borg’ was never a conscious decision on a band name. One of the mixes we did for Frank, which was the final one used on the ‘Numania’ E.P, was ‘the Borg mix’ (also available in ‘Skynet Mix’ and various other sci fi named mixes). Short of an actual band name, we used ‘the Borg’ for the Milton Keynes slot (thinking it was a one off) and sort of got stuck with it. But safe to say we are not ‘trekkies’ ( I am sure they’re very nice people) and the only resemblance to the ‘all conquering’ stars of tv and screen, are perhaps some slightly ‘static’ stage moments where my enthusiasm for movement waned…Following Milton Keynes were invited to perform at Black Celebration at LA2, on Halloween, Oct ’99. Our backing tracks once again had the hiccups ( the DAT machine never did this back in the old days..) and victims of not learning lesson from before, we quickly employed some highly technical packaging foam and job done. Good time had by all (eventually) and the positive reaction/ reviews (on the whole.. apart from the inevitable ‘I don’t like cover versions’ brigade; well go to the bar and shut your ears then..).The whole Numan tribute band (never the intention, nor believe the result) thing and the clamouring from people who did like the cover versions, for original material. Prompted the recording of ‘Order Out of Chaos’ recorded in 2000. A collection of eleven tracks of new original material. No strangers to writing our own stuff, we kept the Telekon/Replicas/Metamatic synth sounds added some industrial doom, gloom and depression, a bit of 80/90’s electro pop, some 70’s children’s tv and hey presto.. The lyrics were based around a general re hash of distopian sci fi themes and a few digs at the ‘nanny state’ that was starting to appear as a good candidate for the lasting legacy of Mr Blair. Track listing: ‘Watch with Mutha, Death on Mars, Obscene Machine, Why do the bad guys never win, Number 13, Hell’s frozen over, Bat girl, Nightmare, My curse, the Grey, Mortality’.We continued to gig around with this material during 2000, supported some bands we really liked, notably Mesh and Covenant. We produced some runs of ‘Order out of Chaos’, ‘Numania 2’ (Metal, Sleep by windows and Photograph) and also an EP with a different mix of My Curse (Lola’s mix), accompanied by Obscene Machine and Bat girl, to sell at gigs and started to make a small but healthy profit (thanks if you’re still out there, not for the dosh but for the support) and it all just kept going from there.2001 saw a move into some ‘grittier’ material, reflecting influences from more industrial influences. This produced the ‘Wagner Machine EP’, with ‘Tortured Angel’, ‘Heaven and Hell’ and a cover of Sly Fox’s ‘Lets go all the way’. Commitments outside the project (non musical), a lack of enthusiasm for expanding live performances outside of London (time, money and quite frankly a little bit of boredom), saw our last ‘live’ performance back at LA2 for ‘Black Celebration’ in October 2001.We met some famous people, we met some not so famous people. We met some very nice people and some very shallow, not so nice people. We had a laugh and enjoyed the experience. It never ceases to amaze me how many people still recognise us and say nice things…Both myself and Ed are thinking about revisiting ‘the Borg’. What form this takes remains to be seen. Maybe we’ll start off with a Numan cover….

Myspace Layouts at Pimp-My-Profile.com / Blood