About Me
This is a site for the fans of Altern 8 by a fan. If you have any questions or personal messages for Mark Archer or Chris Peat then message Mark. Peace....................................................... ............................................................ ............................................................ ............................................................ ............................................................ ........................http://media.putfile.com/Altern8-Liv e-PA-Shelleys-Stoke......................................... ............................................................ ............................................................ ............................................................ ............................................................ ..............................................Altern 8 is the name for the breakbeat hardcore duo of Mark Archer and Chris Peat. They set trends in the hardcore techno genre with several anthems and a music style that became faster, with more bass and definitely more noise. Archer and Peat seem to be very normal fellows, with cool tempers, but when the duo decide to put on their masks and chemical suits, everything seems to be out of control on the dancefloor. Their kind of music really seems to be a melting pot where you couldn't define exactly the different style frontiers. So many influences made up the English movement, and later even other ones, such as Jungle and Drum & Bass, were then influenced by it. Even though the Detroit Techno pioneer Kevin Saunderson was considered a reference to all rave style with a track named "Truth of Self Evidence" (as Reese & Santonio), he had never made hardcore, one day he met the Altern 8 duo at Stafford aka Techno City and they recorded the "Let it Reign" tune together with Inner City. That's when Mark explained the basic ingredients of hardcore to Kevin, resulting in what he did later, like Tronikhouse's "Uptempo". Altern 8 started in 1989 as Nexus 21, because they just liked it. It sounded 'technoey', and they were both 21 at that time. According to Archer, it was already a proto-hardcore project. Nothing to do with the unborn bleep techno. They definitely were willing for something more dancefloor, more breakbeat. So, they choose the best option: to Altern 8!. Encoded by the musical elements of the Detroit techno artists Derrick May, Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson, as well as the Chicago sound of Phuture and early techno heroes Kraftwerk, Altern 8 tunes changed the World of dance music, bringing these influences to all over the place, in a mixture of 303, 808 and 909. This was, in fact, "the sound of Altern 8!". Two names in the Altern 8 emerging process: Neil Rushton, the manager and captain of the Network Records, from Stafford; and John McCready, the man responsible for the pop myths propagation. Archer and Peat, dressed in chemical warfare suits, appeared in an incredible number of live-acts during the beginning of the 90's decade. They built massive hardcore hits, such as "Frequency", "Activ-8", "Brutal-8-E", "Armageddon", "Move my body", among many others, using an amazing sampling technique, awesome synth lines, bass waves and breakbeats. Their sounds were totally dancefloor, noisy and fast with a flow all to it's own......................................................... ............................................................ ............................................................ ............................................................ ............................................................ ....................................On their comeback tour they were rumoured to have played a midnight rave set in the middle of a country farm. The noise levels were so intense that 13 cows on the farm had to be treated for partial deafness. That leads me to ask, "How does one know a cow is deaf ?" But thats another subject being diagnosed on a farm far, far away........................................................ ............................................................ ............................................................ ............................................................ .................................ALTERN 8's TOP SCAMS AS SELECTED BY THE NETWORK COLLECTIVE (From the inner papers of Full On.. Mask Hysteria CD)........1. The 2:30 am gig in Shelley's car park. "I'm still on one" said Butler. The police were not amused. It was the ULTIM8 - rave's finest twenty minutes........2. Chris standing for MP in Stafford for his own "Hardcore - U know the score" party. Incredibly, not really that incredible by todays standards, he didn't come last. This was worrying. It was all very silly and this time it was Mark who was not amused........3. MC Crazy Clair is an old school rapper shock ! American fanzines joined in the spirit of things and claimed Clair - of "Top one, nice one, get sorted" fame - was a rapper from the early 80's and had been illegally sampled and cheated of royalties. "I don't even like Sugar Hill Records" complained the six year old........4. Kevin Saunderson and Paris Grey will forget Detroit and record their Inner City single in Stafford, we pretended - and then it actually happened........5. Genuine Hong Kong police riot tanks were spotted at a garage in Lichfield by DJ Stan of "Devil Tunes" fame. What had been planned as a £ 2,000 home video for "E-Vapor-8" turned into a multi thousand epic. We had scammed ourselves........6. The Altern 8 video for 'Activ-8' has been plagued by problems and has cost £ 80,000" claimed the tabloids. Real cost £ 2,310........7. Mass publicity about the limited edition release of "Frequency" being followed by a ritual burning of the master tapes in "Stafford Park" was perhaps McCready's finest hour. Style magazines battled for an exclusive photo shoot and the Altern 8 fanatics rang the office for details so they could attend. Sorry everybody - we lied. There wasn't even a multi-track, only a DAT. Mark loved this one........8. "Sorry - we couldn't possibly consider a million dollars for the American rights. Are you mad ? Come back with something better and we'll talk", - the Network response to a certain USA record label. Yes, we'd got carried away with it all and scammed ourselves again........9. The Vicks connection. Mark and Chris really do use it underneath their masks to ease breathing problems. This time it was true but nobody listened........10. Chris has a parrot that says "Rave On". Not much of a scam but it's true. Neil Rushton..................................................... ............................................................ ............................................................ ............................................................ ............................................................ ...................................In another stunt, they decided to distribute free christmas puddings to the poor from a hot air balloon, all with the words "The Poor Know The Score" on them. However the idea was shelved when someone who was less pissed noted that Christmas puddings arrive like scuds from 2,000 feet in the air!........................................................ ............................................................ ............................................................ ............................................................ ............................................................ ....................................Hardcore ravers from Stafford, England, Altern 8 comprised Mark Archer and Chris Peat, and was an offshoot of their Nexus 21 project. Of the two, Archer was the house music aficionado, while Peat was a former music technology student with an interest for computers. They crashed the UK charts in 1991 with Infiltrate 202 and Activ-8 (come with me), two chaotic slices of hardcore, the latter reaching number 3. Their live events were also designed as eye catching performances, where the band donned RAF chemical warfare suits and dust masks. They were aided by their resident dancers Crez, Jon Parkes, and MC MkOne, in the case of their gig at Stafford's Bingley Hall, an actual shaman. His job was to cleanse the venue of its rock n roll, prior to performance. Additional vinyl outings included the Overload EP (1990), Frequency (10,000 copies of which were on sale for a single day only), and another top ten hit, E-Vapor-8, followed by Hypnotic St-8, the LP Full on..Mask Hysteria (number 10 in the LP charts)..................................................... ............................................................ ............................................................ ............................................................ ............................................................ ....................................Mark Archer has gone on to form Slo-Moshun, a duo of Archer and Danny Taurus from Stoke on Trent. They released Bells of New York, one of the biggest club hits of early 1994, breaking the main top 30 on the back of its house/hip hop undulations. Also Xen Mantra, his solo project. Archer has gone on to record tracks as diverse as Nu Skool Breaks for Rennie Pilgrems label TCR, under the pseudonym Mr Nex, and remixed Edzys Do it till you burn on Strictly Rhythm. With the Old Skool revival in full swing, Archer along with MkOne have remixed the Hardcore favourite Far Out by Sonz of a Loop Da Loop era, and mixed Old Skool edition of the very popular Euphoria CD series. Along side MkOne, Archer is currently djing on the Old skool revival scene, together they have played at many of the top events including slots in Ibiza for Helter Skelter/Deja vu. Altern 8 have just started a residency at Poke parties, which are held at Jack's club, on Crucifix lane........................................................ ............................................................ ............................................................ ............................................................ ..............................................This is the future, right now, and THIS is the sound of Altern 8)
