Biography
-
Members
- Andy Diagram
- Richard Harrison
Spaceheads are a duo of trumpet and drums, based in Manchester and London. They formed in the early 1990s and have released nine CDs to date as well as toured extensively around Europe and the USA.
Andy Diagram plays trumpet through electronics mainly live loopers and harmonizers. Richard Harrison plays drums and percussion.
Their music is a curious mix of styles that is at times highly experimental and at other times very melodic and groove-orientated. Their unique partnership was first formed in 1989, when Diagram and Harrison began to jam together after their rehearsals with other bands in the Manchester area. They did the occasional concerts with one another, but nothing was that official quite yet. They recorded the Pay Me My Money Down EP the following year, a recording based in multi-tracking to create a huge brass section. The album sold out and they followed it up with the Ho! Fat Wallet full-length cassette by the end of the year.
Although they continued to play with one another, they wouldn't appear live for the first time until 1993, where they utilized several brass loops to pull off the performances. They continued this way into the next year, where they had a much publicized appearance with Aphex Twin. Their first full-length self titled CD, an eponymous album of various live and studio tracks, was released the following year and followed by a tour.
They traveled through Europe and the United States throughout 1996, recording the Round the Outside album at various radio stations during the tour. Their first video, "Shoot the Boss," became a minor hit on MTV Europe while they continued to tour and promote their material. By 1998, they had performed at several improv festivals in Europe and the Terrastock II festival in San Francisco. They also released Ho! Fat Wallet on CD with the Pay Me My Money Down EP attached as bonus tracks.
They signed to Merge records in the USA and the album Angel Station came out in 1999, followed by more touring in the U.S. These tours were recorded and eventually edited into a live album (Live 1999).
In the 21st Century they decided to slow down their touring schedule in order to start working with guest musicians. They released two albums with sound artist Max Eastley on the French label Bip Hop -The Time of the Ancient Astronaut in 2001 and A long way from Anywhere else in 2008. They also continued their relationship with Merge in the USA with an album Low Pressure.
Due to Andy's playing commitments with Pere Ubu's David Thomas and Manchester's indie legends, James, and also Richards family commitments Spaceheads have not been very active recently but 2013 sees them come back with a series of EPs released on their own Electric Brass label
They have an active website with lots of video content at www.spaceheads.co.uk
Artist descriptions on Last.fm are editable by everyone. Feel free to contribute!
All user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
