Goteki

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Goteki (pronounced /ɡɒˈtɛkiː/ go-tek-ee) is a British EBM/cyber band, and the musical brainchild of composer Ross Tregenza (a.k.a. "Sneaky").

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Formation

The group was formed after Sneaky's former band, Sneaky Bat Machine, ended. The group took their name from one of the teams in the Playstation game Wip3out (eventually securing Sony's blessing to use the name).

The original Goteki line-up consisted of ex-SBM members Sneaky on vocals, Crash 303 (real name Clive Lewis) on synths, and newcomer Doktor A (real name Bruce Attley) on synthesizers and samples.

[edit] Fight the Saucermen EP

The bands first release was the Fight the Saucermen EP which was released in early 2000 on Wasp Factory Records. The EP received encouraging reviews.[1] After touring extensively the band started working on their first full-length album.

This album was released in 2002 under the name Goteki O/S. It contains 17 tracks and is something of a concept album, divided into "phases" separated by instrumental tracks. For example, Signal One - Nihon is followed by the tracks Geisha Deconstruct and Ninjagrrl, which are inspired by Japanese culture. The album itself is rather eclectic in its style, songs range from ambient electronica to harsh drum and bass. All music on the album was , written and arranged by Sneaky, but there are also several guest appearances by other famous EBM musicians, such as Sebastian Komor of Icon of Coil and Stephan Groth of Apoptygma Berzerk. It received rave reviews,[2] and increased the band's popularity within the cyber scene. The band played at Whitby Gothic Weekend's 10th Anniversary Festival.

[edit] Goteki O/S : Corrupted Files

The album Goteki O/S was followed by Goteki O/S : Corrupted Files, a remix album which contained remixes from bands such as DeathBoy, Icon of Coil and Sigue Sigue Sputnik.

In late 2003, the band announced that they were taking a new direction, concentrating on live performance aspects and utilising a human drummer for the first time. With this shift in direction singer Sneaky dropped the pseudonym Sneaky in favour of his real name, Ross Tregenza. A radical shake-up of the band's line up followed: between 2004 and 2005, both Crash 303 and Doktor A left the band. They were replaced by Ali Star (real name Alastair Power) on bass, Yan Yan (real name Lilian Cheung) on percussion and synth and Edy (real name Edward Green on live guitar.

Goteki played at the 10th goth festival Convergence in 2004; this marked their US debut. At this point, the band were without a label, so Goteki's second album Revolution was an Internet-only download release. In 2005, the band also reached an international audience when some of their music was used on the soundtrack of Timesplitters 3. Due to heavy demand for a CD to be released, Goteki re-released Revolution with their own label, Alphastar Records, in late 2005. By this stage, band members were becoming tied up in other activities. YanYan left the band in 2006 to pursue a career in modeling and fashion photography, and was replaced by Tregenza's long-time friend Rosie Harris. Tregenza himself joined the newly reformed Visage, playing guitar for their comeback tour. Sales of Revolution were disappointing, and Tregenza was frustrated that the band did not get the attention he felt they deserved. Goteki disbanded in March of 2006.[3] Their last performance took place at Electrofest on the 30th of April 2006.

[edit] Present

After disbanding Goteki, Ross announced work on a new project named Jetstream Lovers with members Edy and Ali Star. The group's original name, The Radio Stars, had to be changed for copyright reasons. In 2007, Tregenza surprised fans by announcing a new Goteki album would be released in 2008, containing previously unreleased Goteki tracks, as well as new compositions.

[edit] Line-up

[edit] Current members

[edit] Former members

  • Yan Yan - percussion, backing vocals
  • Bruce Attley ("Doktor A") - samples and programming, backing vocals
  • Clive Lewis ("Evil C", "Crash 303", "introndepot") - synth, backing vocals

[edit] Discography:

[edit] As "Sneaky Bat Machine"

  • Disco 4 the Dead (1998) (Darkbeat Records)
  • Boneshaker (1999) (Darkbeat Records)
  • Disco 4 the Dead 2: Another Dementia (2005) (self-released)

[edit] As "Goteki"

[edit] Other

Goteki have also done songs for the TimeSplitters video game series, notably TimeSplitters 2 and TimeSplitters Future Perfect. Their track "Shinjuku Lullaby" was used as an in-game track for Project Gotham Racing 3.

[edit] References

  1. ^ REVIEW: Goteki - "Fight the Saucermen"
  2. ^ For a selection of Goteki O/S reviews, visit http://www.wasp-factory.com/waspfactory/press-go.htm#os
  3. ^ Ross Tregenza's "farewell" message to Goteki fans