Sheep on Drugs
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Sheep on Drugs is a British techno / dance-punk music group formed by Duncan X [aka King Duncan] (vocals) and Lee Fraser [aka Dead Lee] (guitar / keys). Originally classified as off-the-wall ravers, the duo emerged in the early 1990s with a string of singles, including "Motorbike," "15 Minutes of Fame" and "Track X" (later covered by Grace Jones as "Sex Drive"), which grazed the lower reaches of the mainstream UK charts.
Their Gareth Jones-produced debut album, Greatest Hits, was released on Island Records in 1993 to some acclaim from the UK music press. However, with their Grand Guignol style stage shows and a musical mixture of sleazy rock, hard techno and punk nihilism, SoD found themselves pigeonholed as an "industrial" band. Their 1994 follow-up album, ...On Drugs (the title was decidedly un-ironic by this point) was a commercial and critical disappointment.
"For the 'On Drugs' album, it was basically me and Duncan locked in a room, with no guidance about what direction we were to take it in, no producer. Markus Dravs, who did the production for that album, he's a brilliant artist in his own right, but he wasn't the producer we needed. He was just brought into the studio to mix, it wasn't like he was an active part of the team, so they fucked that up. So, no wonder the second album wasn't as commercial as they were expecting, because they didn't give us any guidance," according to Lee. [1]
After being dropped by Island, the band independently released two EPs: Suck in 1994 and Strapped for Cash in 1995. The band was then signed to Martin Atkins' Invisible Records and headed to the US. With Invisible, they released the two EPs as Double Trouble in 1996, their third studio album, One for the Money and a remix collection, Never Mind the Methadone in 1997, and a live recording, Two for the Show in 1998. By this time, they had tired of their situation in the States and were unsatisfied with Invisible.[1] Frontman Duncan X departed Sheep on Drugs shortly afterwards to become a professional tattooist (though he does perform live with the band on rare occasions). Lee continued his relationship with Invisible Records, releasing two more albums as Bagman and was briefly a member of Atkins' bands Pigface and The Damage Manual, usually under the moniker "Lee 303". Lee revived the group in 2002 with himself as the frontman and released a new album, F**K, on Invisible in 2005. A best-of compilation called Best of a Bad Bunch was released in 2006.
[edit] Discography
Albums:
- Greatest Hits (Island, 1993)
- ...On Drugs (Island, 1994)
- Double Trouble (Invisible, 1996) - compilation and rerelease of Drug Squad EPs.
- One for the Money (Invisible, 1997)
- Never Mind the Methadone (Invisible, 1997) - remixes
- Two for the Show (Invisible, 1998) - live
- F**K (Invisible, 2005)
EPs:
- From A to H and Back Again (Invisible, 1994)
- Strapped for Cash (Drug Squad, 1995)
- Suck (Drug Squad, 1995)
Singles:
- Catch 22 / Drug Music (Transglobal, 1991)
- Motorbike / Mary Jane (Transglobal, 1992)
- Track X (Transglobal, 1992)
- TV USA (Transglobal, 1992)
- 15 Minutes of Fame (Island, 1993)
- Let the Good Times Roll (Island, 1994)
As Bagman (Lee Fraser solo)
- Wrap (Invisible, 1998)
- Trax (Underground, Inc, 2004)
[edit] References
- ^ a b Donnacha DeLong (2002). Another 15 minutes. Sorted magAZine.
