Campag Velocet

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Campag Velocet were a British Indie rock band who were at their peak during the late 1990s. The band's musical style was influenced by bands such as Primal Scream, and at the time were lumped into an indie dance genre which then included bands such as Lo Fidelity Allstars and Regular Fries. The name of the band is probably a reference to the Campagnolo [1] groupset, and much of their artwork draws from road bicycle imagery. Another major influence in the Campag vocabulary and artwork is Nadsat, coined by Anthony Burgess in the book A Clockwork Orange. The single "Drencrom Velocet Synthmesc" uses Nadsat words for recreational drugs, with the text being shown in the opening frame of the Clockwork Orange film.

The band's lineup was Pete Voss (vocals), Ian Cater (guitars, keyboards, programming), Barnaby Slater (bass) and Lascelles Lascelle (drums, percussion, samples).

Campag Velocet released their debut album, Bon Chic Bon Genre in 1999, and released three singles off it, "To Lose La Trek", "Vito Satan" and "Drencrom [Velocet Synthmesc]", the latter of which was an NME magazine 'single of the week'. The band were hailed as the 'best new band in Britain' by the NME, appearing on the cover of the magazine during 1999 and playing on the NME Tour in 2000 (appearing above Coldplay in the lineup). They later suffered the same fate as some of the other bands to be pushed by the NME (such as Terris and Gay Dad) by losing their record deal due to poor sales and disappearing off the musical radar.[citation needed]

The band signed a new recording contract with record label, Pointy Records, and in 2004, they released their second album, It's Beyond Our Control, to mixed reviews.

Campag Velocet broke up in 2005. Pete Voss formed a new band in 2006 called The Count.

[edit] References

  1. ^ VeloceCampagnolo. com website notes