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808 State are a British electronic music outfit, formed in 1987 in Manchester,^[1] taking their name from the Roland TR-808 drum machine and their common state of mind. They were formed by Graham Massey, Martin Price and Gerald Simpson, and they released their debut Newbuild in September 1988.^[1]

The band secured commercial success in 1989, when their song "Pacific State" was picked up by BBC Radio 1 DJ Gary Davies.^[2]

History[link]

Martin Price was the owner of a record store, Eastern Bloc, and was also the founder of the independent record label, Creed.^[1] Customers Graham Massey and Gerald Simpson joined with Price to form a hip-hop group called Hit Squad Manchester. Soon after, the band shifted to an acid house sound, recording the debut Newbuild in 1988, while using the name 808 State for the first time. The album was released on Price's own record label. Massey had been a member of the band Aqua in the 1970s, along with the violinist Graham Clark, a former pupil of Manchester Grammar School.

The band's "Pacific State" was released as a single, peaking at #10 in the UK Singles Chart.^[1] Simpson left the group in 1989 to form his own solo project, A Guy Called Gerald. At this point, the remaining personnel enlisted DJ's Andrew Barker and Darren Partington, known as the Spinmasters, and recorded the EP, Quadrastate in July 1989.^[1] Ninety was released in December 1989.

MC Tunes worked with the band on the 1990 album, The North At Its Heights. The album was a moderate success, reaching #26 in the UK Albums Chart,^[3] and also saw European and Japanese release. It spawned three UK singles, "The Only Rhyme That Bites" – featuring a sample of "The Big Country" performed by The City of Prague Philharmonic – (UK #10), "Tunes Splits The Atom" (UK #18) and "Primary Rhyming" (UK #67).^[1] The first two issues credited MC Tunes versus 808 State, whilst the latter was simply MC Tunes.^[3] Tunes later returned in 1996 to work with on a new track, "Pump", taken from 808 State's album Thermo Kings.

808 State's next album was released in 1991, Ex:el, which featured vocals from Bernard Sumner and Björk. Other hits included "In Yer Face" (UK #9), "Cubik Olympic" (UK #10) and "Lift" (UK #38).^[1]

In October 1991, Price left the group to perform solo production work, eventually forming his own label, Sun Text. The remaining members released a fourth album called Gorgeous, and after that, did some remix work for David Bowie, Soundgarden, and other performers, before returning with the album entitled Don Solaris in 1996. It featured contributions from James Dean Bradfield, who sung vocals on "Lopez", which reached #20 in the UK Singles Chart.^[1] This song was remixed by Brian Eno. The song "Bond" featured vocals by Mike Doughty from the band Soul Coughing and "Azura" featured Louise Rhodes from Lamb. They released a greatest hits compilation album, 808:88:98 in 1998. In 2000, Newbuild was re-released.

In 2003, they released Outpost Transmission which featured guest collaborations from the Alabama 3 and Guy Garvey from Elbow.

In May 2008, the re-issue of the album Quadrastate completed a trilogy of pre-ZTT releases on CD for the first time. The band is still active, touring and performing DJ sets.

Pseudonyms and side projects[link]

In 1990, 808 State composed the theme tune to the Channel 4 television programme, The Word.^[4]

808 State and its various members have recorded under a variety of pseudonyms. An early EP, containing the tracks "Mssage-a-Rama" and "Sex Mechanic", was released under the name Lounge Jays. These tracks have since been re-released by Rephlex Records on the Prebuild LP. Another early EP, Wax on the Melt, was released under the name Hit Squad Mcr. This is the only EP to which all five members of the group (Massey, Price, Simpson, Barker and Partington) contributed simultaneously.

Massey released the solo album Subtracks under the name Massonix on Skam Records. He is also a member of Biting Tongues, an experimental jazz rock group once signed to Factory Records. He has a side project with Toolshed.

Price released a couple of EPs under the name Switzerland.

Barker has produced a small number of tracks as Atlas, Benaco, and remixed various tracks.

Partington has recorded under the name Jeep.

Partington and Barker presented the 808 State radio show, firstly on Sunset 102 from 1989 to 1993, and later on Kiss 102 from 1994 to 1997.

In 1997, 808 State appeared on the Spawn (film) soundtrack alongside Mansun in the track "Skin Up, Pin Up".

Band members[link]

• Graham Massey (born 4 August 1960,^[1] Manchester) — guitarist, keyboardist, saxophonist (1988–present)
• Martin Price (born 26 March 1955, Farnworth)^[1] — keyboardist (1988–1991)
• Gerald Simpson — keyboardist (1988–1989)
• Andrew Barker (born 9 March 1968^[1] — keyboardist (1989–present)
• Darren Partington (born 1 November 1969,^[1] Manchester) — keyboardist, percussionist (1989–present)

Discography[link]

Studio Albums[link]