Apollo 440

All Music Guide:

A '90s dance act unafraid to throw a growing variety of styles (and samples) into the mix, Apollo 440 hit the British Top Ten in 1997 by sampling Van Halen for the single "Ain't Talkin' Bout Dub," and big-band drummer Gene Krupa for "Krupa." The group was formed in 1991 by Howard Gray (a former studio engineer), his brother Trevor, classically trained on the piano, and their Liverpool schoolmate Noko, formerly the guitarist in Howard Devoto's Luxuria. The group was initially influenced by Britain's acid-house explosion, and worked as remixers (sometimes under the name Stealthsonic Orchestra) for U2, EMF and Shabba Ranks before making the leap to actual recording. The single "Astral America" appeared on the group's own Stealth Sonic Records in 1993, followed by club hits like "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" and "Krupa," both of which used an often formulaic hook borrowed from obvious musical classics of the past. Apollo 440's debut album, Millennium Fever, appeared in 1995, followed two years later by Electro Glide in Blue. The group resurfaced in early 2000 with Getting High on Your Own Supply.

Wikipedia:

Apollo 440 (alternately known as Apollo Four Forty or @440) are an English band formed in Liverpool in 1990. Apollo 440 have written, recorded and produced five albums, collaborated with and produced other artists, remixed as Apollo 440 and as ambient cinematic alter-ego Stealth Sonic Orchestra, and created music for film, television, advertisements and multimedia. During their eleven years at Sony, 1993–2004, they notched up 11 Top 40 UK singles with three Top 10s, and had a chart presence worldwide.

The name comes from the Greek god Apollo and the frequency of concert pitch — the A note at 440 Hz, often denoted as "A440", and the Sequential Circuits sampler/sequencer, the Studio 440. They changed the writing of their name from Apollo 440 to Apollo Four Forty in 1996, though they switched back for their latest album.

To date Apollo's remixes number around 60 - from U2 in the early 1990s to Puff Daddy/Jimmy Page and Ennio Morricone a decade later. Apollo's version of Puretone's "Addicted To Bass" was made a lead track and became a hit in 2002. Among their Stealth Sonic Orchestra remixes are a series of Manic Street Preachers singles.

History

Apollo 440 were formed by the brothers Trevor and Howard Gray with fellow Liverpudlians Noko and James Gardner, although Gardner left after the recording of the first album. All members sing and add a profusion of samples, electronics, and computer-based sounds.

After relocating to the Camden area of London, Apollo 440 recorded their debut album, Millennium Fever, and released it in 1994 on their own Stealth Sonic Recordings label (distributed by Epic Records). They have successfully invaded both the record charts and the dance floor with their combination of rock, techno, and ambient.

The band had been most known for its remixes until the release of Liquid Cool in the UK. However, it was not until the success of the singles "Krupa" and "Ain't Talkin' 'bout Dub" that their own musical efforts were brought to international attention — particularly the latter single contributed greatly to pushing Apollo 440 into the spotlight.

In 2007, the band played a tribute gig to the late singer Billy Mackenzie.

Apollo 440's fifth album, The Future's What It Used To Be, became available for download on the iTunes store from the 23rd March 2012..

Collaborators over the years have included Jeff Beck, Jean Michel Jarre, Billy Mackenzie, Ian McCulloch and Hotei.

Currently, the band resides in Islington, London, having once again moved its headquarters (affectionately labelled 'Apollo Control').

Live performances

Apollo 440 have always played live with a number of different line-ups - in the early days featuring guest vocals by MC Stevie Hyper-D. In 1994 the basic trio of founding members Noko, Howard and Trevor were for the first time joined by Cliff on electronic and acoustic drums. Between 1997 and 2000 they toured extensively round the world as an eight piece live band, joined by Mary Byker (vocals), Harry K (DJ and vocals), Paul Kodish (drums) and Rej (bass). The 2008 live line-up features founding members Noko (guitar), Howard Gray (FOH vibe controller) and Trevor Gray (keyboards), plus frontman, long-time collaborator Ewan MacFarlane, who sings on the new album. Original Apollo 440 drummer Cliff Hewitt is again behind the drum kit, with Michael Cusick on bass guitar. Ashley Krajewski features on keyboards/MPC samples, having been the studio engineer at Apollo Control since 2003.

Vocalists

Apollo Four Forty have a history of working together with various vocalists. Whilst their debut album, Millennium Fever, was sung almost exclusively by Noko, he has since withdrawn from his vocalist status in the band to make way for various guest appearances, including, but not limited to:

Tributes

Jean Baudrillard

The album, Millennium Fever, is a tribute to the French postmodernist Jean Baudrillard. Since the release of that album, other references to Jean Baudrillard's works have popped up.

Marcel Duchamp

The title and cover art of the album Dude Descending a Staircase are parodies of Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 by Marcel Duchamp.

Alcor

The song "Liquid Cool" (released as a B-side in 1993, as a single in 1994, and featured on the Millennium Fever album) is a tribute to Alcor, a company focused to pursue research into and the organization of cryonization. The topic is also referenced in the title-song "Millennium Fever", which includes the line, '"I've been dreaming of freezing my mind in California'" where Alcor was based until 1994. Contact details for Alcor subsequently appeared on the sleeve of the single "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", a cover of the Blue Öyster Cult song.

Omega Point

The song "Omega Point" references the concept of the same name, and features a quote from Barrow and Tipler's "The Anthropic Cosmological Principle": "At the instant the Omega Point is reached, life will have gained control of all matter and forces not only in a single universe, but in all universes whose existence is logically possible; life will have spread into all spatial regions in all universes which could logically exist, and will have stored an infinite amount of information, including all bits of knowledge which it is logically possible to know."

Krupa

Their 1998 song is a homage to the Polish-American drummer Gene Krupa and his improvised style of drumming.