808 State | Artist

808 State is an English electronic/dance group formed 1987 in Manchester, by Graham Massey, Martin Price and Gerald Simpson. Martin Price was the owner of a record shop, Eastern Bloc, and founder of the record label Creed. Customers Graham Massey and Gerald Simpson joined with Price to form a hip hop group called Hit Squad Manchester. Soon after, the band shifted to an acid house sound, recording the debut album Newbuild in 1988, using the band name "808 State", named after the Roland TR-808 drum machine. The record was re-released in 2005 on Aphex Twin's Rephlex Records. Aphex Twin was a huge fan of the record quoting "It was the next step after Chicago acid, and as much as I loved that, I could relate much better to 808 State. It seemed colder and more human at the same time." Around the same time, the band also recorded an acid house version of New Order's "Blue Monday", which became a favourite at The Haçienda's Hot Night. Simpson left the group in 1989 to form his own solo project, A Guy Called Gerald. MC Tunes worked with the band on the 1990 album, The North At Its Heights, which reach number 26 in the UK Albums Chart and spawned three UK singles: "The Only Rhyme That Bites", "Tunes Splits the Atom" and "Primary Rhyming". 808 State's next album Ex:el was released in 1991, featuring the vocals of Bernard Sumner and Björk, gave them the hit singles "In Yer Face", "Cubik" and "Lift". To-date the band has released 10 studio albums, standouts include Newbuild, 90, ex:el and Quadrastate (EP). Gerald Simpson has many solo albums under the name A Guy Called Gerald.

Artist Website: 808state.com

Featured Albums: 808 State

Related Artists: A Guy Called Gerald