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such an awesome band

Biography by John Bush

Their sound veering from post-grunge balladry to funk and ambient breakbeat to Madchester acid house, the Beta Band emerged on the British scene as (nominally) a pop group with few similarities to any other act going. Formed around three friends originally from Edinburgh -- vocalist Stephen Mason, drummer Robin Jones, and DJ/sampler John Maclean -- the group later drafted bassist Richard Greentree. Scant months after forming, the Beta Band added a formidable ally in gaining exposure: manager Brian Cannon, the designer responsible for virtually every Oasis sleeve released to that point. The group's first EP, 1997's Champion Versions, featured mixing by the Verve's Nick McCabe. Two additional EPs followed in early 1998, The Patty Patty Sound and Los Amigos del Beta Bandidos. After collecting all three EPs on an album, the Beta Band began recording for their proper debut, a self-titled effort released in 1999. While prepping for the release of their sophomore effort, Hot Shots II in summer 2001, the Beta Band scored the opening slot on Radiohead's monumental summer tour of the United States. Initial recordings for their next LP began around the same time; after self-producing the record and subsequently passing it over to Nigel Godrich for a final mix, the group released Heroes to Zeros in spring 2004. Just a few months later, the Beta Band announced they would disband at the end of 2004, citing the frustration of much critical praise but no commercial impact. The Best of the Beta Band -- a two-disc package containing one of their last performances -- was released in 2005.

"I'm now going to sell five copies of the 3 EPs by the BETA BAND!"

No you're no pal, they're shite.

They were quality - but rarely got the props they deserved.

they were brilliant. particularly live.

I've only got the Patty Patty Sound ep, but The Monolith is a seriously whacked out piece of music, and the other tunes are great too.

One of my fave bands of all time, live show was amazing - out to Parson on this one, cant believe I haven't rep'd them on here.

See also: King Biscuit Time (Lead Singer Solo/Colab), Black Affair (Lead Singer New Band) & The Aliens (The other 2 and the guy that founded the Beta's and left).

First 3 EPs rocked the house, first album was kinda hit and miss (the out-of-tempo Black Hole samples in Too Beautiful, why??), first single off the next album was pretty meh, then I stopped caring.

The Three EPs record FTW though.

you have gotta check out hot shots II and especially zeroes to heroes

Auan wrote:(the out-of-tempo Black Hole samples in Too Beautiful, why??)

OMFG this record is perfect! Its all about the out of time, wonky madness - some absolute gems on their self titled album - some pish too and but they even had the balls to tell the world that

Yeah I was bored and googled it. Apparently they had samples from another sci-fi theme in the demo which fit perfectly, but couldn't get it cleared and the label was breathing down their collective neck, so they just shoved in The Black Hole at the last minute because it's Disney and the music rights were held by the label.

It is a great tune. There's another mix of it without the Black Hole samples - just edits out the chorus altogether - that keeps cropping up on tv and I like it a lot.

And yeah, there is some great stuff on there, Round the Bend is quality, but it's far from a classic debut and never got me interested enough to keep up with the band.

The 3 EPs one the other hand...

Thats a shame, get everything after that debut, seriously - some amazing music!

yeah they really are an incredible band

amazing music

even the lyrics are awesome

Such a shame they went away.

well, the leaves on the trees are green
[ok we're agreed on that]
and the roads are not very clean
[ok we're agreed on that]
and the food we eat is not very healthy
[ok we're agreed on that]
and the music we make is not particularily good
[ok we're agreed on that]
and the planets sort of revolve around the sun
[ok we're agreed on that]
and the moon is a big ball with nothing on it, and I don't think anyone's ever been there
[ok, so we're kind of agreed to that, so what are we arguing about?
Well, I don't know..
Ok. so let?s get together and smoke that pizza pie]

Some people with a pizza pie made me very high
The people with the questions smile
And the people with the answers lie
They lie

So no pizza for them