Maillist
FOCUS ON: Transit Kings
- Official Website >>
- Label: Malicious Damage >>
- Genre: Soul & Dance
In the summer of 2001 a plan to put together one of the most interesting combinations of artists in the studio finally came to fruition...
alex paterson and jimmy cauty - inventors of ambient house (later to become the orb and the klf), guy pratt (long time post-waters pink floyd bassist, occasional orb contributor and renowned session player) and dom Beken (programmer/producer, orb contributor and long time collaborator and assistant to guy) met at gunpoint - the studio built by guy and dom at london's townhouse studios...
a lifetime ignoring mainstream boundaries and changing expectations of music laid down an albums worth of music exciting enough to bring in guests johnny marr (the smiths) and simon day (the fast show) as a result of just passing the basement door to the studio... working outside the major label system, session players normally accustomed to working with names such as basement jaxx and moby joined the transits to help create a sound which finally crosses the boundaries between dance, ambient and rock...
work transfered to jimmy's wheelchair factory studios in brighton and after a brief experiment with the name custerd other projects over-ran the four members...
...but the album refused to die...
on january 1 2004 transit kings followed basement jaxx on stage at tokyo's biggest new year's party to road test the album in front of a 7,000 strong crowd and it became clear this was a project screaming to be finished... after several months of re-arrangement transit kings again had an audience "po-going with delight" on the main stage of 2005's big chill after testing the water with a lo-key ep release token... working at dom beken's and music studios in the former projection room of ealing film studios with dom and alex at the helm, living in a giant candle winking at god at last made it to the mastering suite thanks to the independent spirit of malicious damage, the label which give birth to killing joke...
a short film to accompany the title track starring simon day is currently in pre-production and the transits will play this year's fuji rock festival white stage followed by a couple of london gigs in late august...
www.transitkings.com
