Space Raiders

Space Raiders may be relatively new faces on the Skint roster, but they come with a ready made rock family tree of their own. For Mark Hornby, Gary Bradford and Martin Jenkins who make up the band, the Space Raiders is the culmination of a decade of musical experimentation in dozens of bands that have bemused audiences all over the country.

Gary began experimenting with weird underground electronics on The Bogley Factory label, making their own tapes and T-shirts in true cottage industry fashion. Particularly memorable was the group Ball, which included a ball of cheese as a band member. Then came Angels Of Wigwam, followed by stints in the hillbilly skiffle band Jimmy Linklater & The Plastic Forx, and as Nature Boy.

Martin's musical interest initially lay in the techno / breakbeat field with the Leicester based sound system News Of The Future which rocked audiences at clubs like Peek and Zen Masters before going solo as Kong King.

Mark trained as a nurse in Leeds and played in pubs with a Velvet Underground cover band 'Can't Be Arsed'.

Whilst they had known each other as friends for many years, Gary, Martin and Mark could so easily have continued on their seperate paths accumulating a progressively more ridiculous collection of band names. Fate, however, was to take its course.

The band concede that the single most important factor in the formation of the Space Raiders was the mushroom season of '97. For as the autumn evenings drew in Gary, Martin & Mark plotted their future. They began making music: the seminal 'Cutter's Choice' was made during this creative vortex, along with 'East Coast Melody' and 'Glam Raid'. The band got a title. Naming themselves after an empty packet of Space Raiders crisps that blew through Gary's front door on a particularly windy Middlesboroughafternoon. As anyone who lives there knows, empty packets of Space Raiders swirl around the streets like flocks of sparrows - they're the most popular brand of crisp in the North East. It was the perfect choice.

They had also decided that Skint Records would be the target, attracted by the label's music and philosophy. Another top move.

So what of the Space Raiders' music? Their influences are wide and frankly bizarre. Gary likes glam rock, house and Frank Sinatra, Mark prefers 60's & 70's music and hip hop whilst Martin confesses to a penchant for Queen, Fats Domino, techno and mentions in passing that he was brought up on a diet of Shirley Bassey. When it comes to making music they plan nothing, preferring to just randomly sample records and see where the music takes them. "I don't quite know why we do things or where we are going," muses Gary, "But it is important that everything we do has a good melody and a sense of humour."

Having moved to Brighton, the Raiders set about writing and producing their debut album, creating their own percussion sounds, collecting off-the-wall noises and getting down to the serious business of writing "songs that are happy and sad at the same time."

'Don't Be Daft' LP shocks and delights at every turn. A beast with many tentacles, it's a freaked out and funked up amalgam of all those Raiders influences and a whole lot more. An album that only Gary, Martin and Mark could produce. From the Raiders' anthem 'Rock The Nation', the distinctive and sublime 'Laidback', right through to the simply insane glam moments of 'Monster Munch' and, of course, the record that started it all, 'Glam Raid', this album stands apart. There is even a bit of deep house in there somewhere. It sounds like nothing else around. And that of course can only be a good thing...

Their last single "(I Need The) Disko Doktor" muscled onto the dancefloor over the summer of '99 and with its remixes by Phats & Small, Groove Armada and Clockwork Voodoo Freaks, attained something approaching cult status in Ibiza.

The Space Raiders unique brand of musical entertainment is not convined to the studio. They are only too keen to get on the road with their "costumes" and show everyone exactly how it should be done. However their live shows did get off to a rather inauspicous start.The band freely confess that their early performances were nothing short of a vodka and mushroom induced shambles, only deciding what to play moments before going on stage "according to what people looked like in the audience." But after a long stint supporting the Lo Fidelity Allstars in Europe (autumn 98) and on the road alongside Indian Ropeman and Sparky Lightbourne as the 'Skint In February' nationwide tour, they have emerged brimming with confidence winning over audiences with every new performance. A Space Raiders show is like nothing else around. Just like their music...

Space Raiders - taking the boogie back to Middlesborough!

Taken from the Official Skint Web Site

CD Album: Don't Be Daft

12": Glam Raid

CD Single: Laid Back