Fluke are an English electronic music group formed in the late 1980s by Jon Fugler, Mike Tournier and Mike Bryant with Julian Nugent as the band's manager.[1][2] The band's conception was influenced by the members interest in the burgeoning acid house music scene and particularly the work of Cabaret Voltaire and Giorgio Moroder.[3]
Fluke | |
|---|---|
| Fluke | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | UK |
| Years active | 1989 – present |
| Members | Mike Bryant Jon Fugler |
| Past members | Julian Nugent Rachel Stewart Mike Tournier |
The band are noted for their diverse range of electronic styles, spanning the house, techno, ambient and blues genres. They are also known amongst fans for their reclusiveness and long timespans between albums. Most listeners know of Fluke only through the inclusion of their music in many blockbuster film soundtracks, most notably The Matrix Reloaded and Sin City as well as featuring prominently on the soundtracks to the Need for Speed and Wipeout video game series.
There have been several changes to the band's lineup throughout their career, with credited appearances attributed to Neil Davenport playing guitars, Robin Goodridge on drums and Hugh Bryder as a DJ.[4] When Fluke were touring for Risotto their official mascot was an animated racing car driver named Arial Tetsuo, personified on stage by Rachel Stewart who sang the female vocals for all Fluke's live performances between 1997 and 1999.[5]
Two members of the band are currently engaging in projects under the name "2 Bit Pie" with their debut album released on September 4, 2006.[6]
History/biography
The Techno Rose of Blighty
Fluke's first single, released in 1988[1], was a white label vinyl under the title of "Island Life". Although a commercial failure, the group persisted and released a further two white label vinyls; "Thumper!" in 1989 and "Joni/Taxi" in 1990[7]. The attention that these records received successfully gained the band a record deal with Creation Records with whom they released their first CD single "Philly". The following year saw the release of Fluke's first album, The Techno Rose of Blighty which was switftly followed by the single "The Bells" and a live album entitled Out (In Essence). For the release of Out (In Essence) Fluke abandoned their deal with Creation Records and signed instead with Circa Records, an offshoot of Virgin Records.[7]
At this point Fluke also began a long standing tradition of releasing work of a different nature under aliases with the single "All Aboard" published in 1990, the band selecting the name The Lucky Monkeys.[8]
Six Wheels On My Wagon
After a two year break Fluke returned with what was to be a breakthrough into mainstream popular music when, in 1993, they released the single "Slid". This single became an instant club classic when it was picked up by DJ Sasha who liked it so much that he included three separate remixes of it on his Renaissance album.[9] This burst of success was followed by a rush of two further singles, "Electric Guitar" and "Groovy Feeling", and, in the same year, the release of the group's second album, Six Wheels On My Wagon. This new album was a distinctly house production featuring uplifting riffs and ambient effects as opposed to the eponymous techno style of their previous album. The album is structured so that the more accessible 'pop' tracks are to be found at the beginning of the album, whilst the more ambitious ambient tracks are to be found towards the end of the album and although this could have given the album the effect of petering out it received favourable critical reviews.[10] The cover art depicts a series of various sized unidentified objects. The objects are randomly arranged sockets for a socket wrench.
The Peel Sessions
In 1994 Fluke released a further CD, The Peel Sessions, recorded live in various studios at BBC Radio 1 for DJ John Peel. This CD included new songs, and songs previously released only on vinyl, yet the album is actually a mix of three separate recording sessions. There seems to be some confusion from the BBC's official record of the Peel Sessions as to which these recordings are. The primary problem is to be found with the inclusion of Bullet on the album. All of the tracks except for "Bullet" could have come from either of two recordings, one made on 18th November, 1990[11] and the second on 10th December, 1990.[12] While "Bullet" does come from Fluke's next album, the only record of a performance of "Bullet" for John Peel comes from an undated performance[13], which is particularly difficult to place chronologically due to the inclusion of "Atom Bomb" on the set list. The BBC have provisionally filed this performance under the date 10th November, 1996 which would fit more accurately with the inclusion of "Atom Bomb", but leaves the 1994 release, The Peel Sessions without a source for "Bullet". While it is possible that "Atom Bomb" was already conceived by this point, it is highly unlikely as it was not included on the subsequent "Oto". On the 8th December, 2002, Fluke were invited to play one final session for John Peel, the set consisting of "Switch/Twitch", "Hang Tough" and "Snapshot".[14] Fluke's recognition by such a prominent DJ greatly added to their mainstream acceptance and is one of the main ways through which non-fans first heard of the band.
Oto and Risotto
The following year Fluke released their third album, Oto, which is the (Greek for of the ear). In terms of style, Oto is somewhat darker than Six Wheels on my Wagon, focusing on the downbeat ambient effects which were present in the second half of Six Wheels on My Wagon, but in this album the band completely removed the uplifting house style that characterised their previous work. Owing to the decreased accessibility of the album as a result of this, only three singles were deemed suitable for single release from Oto; "Bubble", the aforementioned "Bullet" and "Tosh". In spite of this, these singles were the first of Fluke's releases to gain mainstream top 40 chart positions in the UK.[15]
In 1996 Fluke released "Atom Bomb", a single that reached #20 in the UK charts[16]. Originally created as a soundtrack to the game Wipeout 2097, it was to become the centrepiece of their next album, Risotto. The track was also included in an official release of the Wipeout 2097 game soundtrack, called Wipeout XL, which featured tracks from The Chemical Brothers, Future Sound of London, Photek, Underworld, Daft Punk, Leftfield and The Prodigy.[17] Of all their productions, it is Fluke's fourth studio album which is most widely known, primarily because it included the highly successful singles, "Atom Bomb" and "Absurd". The album is named Risotto because it contained a mix of the pre-released singles "Atom Bomb" and "Absurd", new tracks "Goodnight Lover", "Kitten Moon", and the post-album single "Squirt" and older tracks remixed by themselves; "Mosh" being a remix of "Tosh" from Oto. At this stage the band also saw fit to re-use the Lucky Monkeys moniker for the release of "Bjango", a single which attempted to disguise the identity of The Lucky Monkeys by inluding a remix of the track by Fluke themselves.[8]
After touring for a year with Risotto on the "Electric Highway Tour" of the US[18] and having made two appearances at the Glastonbury festival in 1995[19] and 1998[20] Mike Tournier decided to leave the group to pursue a different project named Syntax, which also featured Jan Burton. The pair produced just a single album, Meccano Mind in March 2004 and two singles before splitting up.[21]
Progressive History X/Progressive History XXX
Around 2000 the group decided to carry on producing tracks still under the name Fluke. They started producing again, and released early singles and tracks on 12 inch vinyl such as "Slap It" in 2001, subsequently to be released on their next album as "Another Kind Of Blues". Fluke also switched labels from Virgin, to One Little Indian, this change being the principle reason given for the very lengthy delays to the release of their fifth studio album, Puppy.[22] In 2000 Fluke produced a promotional CD named The Xmas Demos, which included many of the tracks intended for the album Puppy (only the track Liquid was not included). Also in 2001 they released Progressive History X, a compilation of their earlier work which, coupled with the long time between albums, was taken by many fans to signal the end of Fluke, as many 'Best Of' albums often do. In 2002 these rumours were proved to be unfounded when Fluke released "Hang Tough" as a single which would eventually be included on Puppy, and also in the same year Progressive History XXX, another Best Of album, this time with three CDs and including many rare mixes.
2002 also saw the formation of The Fluke DJs, a pairing of Jon Fugler and Hugh Bryden, a DJ who had assisted Fluke in their live performances since 1993 as well as working with other DJs such as Seb Fontaine and also becoming a regular DJ at MTV's special event parties. This seemed to many to indicate further rifts amongst the band as this DJ combination included neither Mike Bryant nor Mike Tournier[9], Jon Fugler denied these rumours shortly after they surfaced claiming that the band merely needed some time away from each other after their intense work on Risotto.[23]
Puppy
In 2003 Fluke released their long awaited album Puppy, much to fans' surprise, as it was six years since their last studio album. The name of the album was inspired by Jeff Koons' fifty foot sculpture of a puppy that stands outside the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao.[24] This album proved to be similar to the earlier Risotto tracks in tempo and mood, but with the introduction of some new ideas, such as the inclusion of a blues track, "Blue Sky".
The only single put out from Puppy after the album's release was "Switch", which was put out in CD and vinyl format. The track was also featured on the soundtrack for the Electronic Arts video game Need For Speed Underground 2 but achieved nowhere near the critical or popular acclaim of the singles from Risotto, not even clocking an appearance in the UK top 40.[25]
Current work
In late 2005, Fluke teamed up with Jan Burton, Wild Oscar, Robin Goodridge, Dilshani Weerasinghe, Marli Buck and producer Andy Gray to form a group named '2 Bit Pie', for the limited release of 'Nobody Never' a track which retained the rough vocals and electronic feel that was by now characteristic of Fluke, but had a stronger emphasis on live playback and instruments.[26] In May 2006 there were club previews of two new 2 Bit Pie songs, Little Things and Here I Come.[27] A further 2 Bit Pie song made it's debut at the Afterhours club event at KROQ on the 17th June 2006, entitled Fly 2 Pie Island.[28] According to a fan's personal communication with Jan Burton he has recorded four tracks with 2 Bit Pie for inclusion on their forthcoming album.[29]
Mainstream popularity
It is notable that although Fluke have been producing music for the best part of two decades they remain relatively unknown to a large scale audience. The main sphere of influence where they have had success is through their inclusion in film and video game soundtracks.
Amongst the more prominent of these appearances was the 2003 film, The Matrix Reloaded, using the Fluke track "Slap It" renamed to Zion for compatibility with the film.[30]
Fluke's 1997 hit "Absurd" was featured in the trailer for 'Get Carter', in the strip club sequence of the 2005 film Sin City [31] and a more pop-oriented version, dubbed the 'Whitewash Edit', is included on the 'Tomb Raider' soundtrack.
Atom Bomb, aside from being used in Wipeout 2097, was also featured on the Enter the Matrix soundtrack which used one of the "Atomix" remixes of the track. Fluke's music has also appeared on the small screen: the beginning of the song "Absurd" from the Risotto album is the background music for a Volkswagen New Beetle tv ad, "Reverse Engineered from UFOs".
Fluke seem to shun the popular attention that has surrounded artists like The Chemical Brothers, with whom they are often favourably compared[24], with Jon Fugler stating, "It’s not about being on the cover of a magazine" [9].
Live performances
Fluke's live shows are in many respects similar to the live performances given by The Chemical Brothers in that both these artists employ stunning visual effects combining lasers and projected displays[32] and also feature two types of performance; performances as Fluke where the shows consist of entirely original Fluke material and shows under the alias, The Fluke DJs where a combination of Fluke tracks are mixed with others in the style of a DJ Set.
Contrasting with many other electronic acts, however, Fluke's members were not entirely relegated to standing behind consoles and thereby avoided many of the criticisms aimed at The Chemical Brothers/Kraftwerk's shows.[33] This is mainly due to their conscription of session musicians to play guitar and percussive elements live on stage as well as the inclusion of the dancer and singer Rachel Stewart as a real-world incarnation of the band's mascot Ariel Tetsuo.[5] Originally a character from the Wipeout 2097 video game, Tetsuo was subsequently adopted as the band's "fourth member" following "Atom Bomb"'s inclusion in the Wipeout 2097 soundtrack and gave the perfect reason to incorporate a female vocalist to counter Fugler's deep and somewhat monotonous spoken vocals. While Bryant and Tournier were indeed behind synthesizers, Fugler and Stewart were able to entertain the crowd visually with dancing and singing while Fluke's resident lighting technician, Andy Watton, provided a suitable technology-driven accompaniment to the music.[34] In 2004, Stewart parted ways with Fluke indefinitely, instead focusing on a new project with ex-EMF band member James Atkin, named Beauty School.[35]
In more recent Fluke shows, the number of their shows having decreased greatly since the release of Puppy, they have opted for the Fluke DJs setup, which utilises "a battery of laptops and the odd deck" rather than focusing on their live stage band, an approach which Jon Fugler subsequently referred to as "good fun, but ultimately flawed for the dancefloor."[23]
Selected Discography
Albums
- The Techno Rose of Blighty (1991)
- Six Wheels On My Wagon (1993)
- Oto (1995)
- Risotto (1997)
- Progressive History X (2001)
- Progressive History XXX (2002)
- Puppy (2003)
Singles
- "Island Life" (1988)
- "Thumper!" (1989)
- "Joni/Taxi" (1990)
- "Philly" (1990)
- "The Bells" (1991)
- "Slid" (1993)
- "Electric Guitar" (1993)
- "Groovy Feeling" (1993)
- "Bubble" (1994)
- "Bullet" (1995)
- "Tosh" (1995)
- "Atom Bomb" (1996)
- "Absurd" (1997)
- "Squirt" (1997)
- "Slap It" (2002)
- "Pulse" (2002)
- "Hang Tough" (2003)
- "Switch" (2003)
References
- ^ a b BBC Radio One, Peel Sessions Artist Page: Fluke (link).
- ^ Six Wheels on My Wagon Inlay Sheet, Fluke are: Mike Bryant, Mike Tournier, Jonathan Fugler, Julian Nugent.
- ^ One Little Indian Records, Fluke biography (link).
- ^ Fluke Official Website, Fluke Biography (link).
- ^ a b VH1.com, Fluke Biography (link).
- ^ One Little Indian, 2 Bit Pie (link).
- ^ a b global-trance.co.uk, discography with record labels mentioned (link).
- ^ a b global-trance.co.uk, The Lucky Monkeys (link).
- ^ a b c One Little Indian Records, Quotation by John Fugler showing disregard for mainstream fame (link).
- ^ All Music Guide, Six Wheels on My Wagon Review (link).
- ^ BBC Radio One, Peel Sessions: Fluke 1990 (link).
- ^ BBC Radio One, Peel Sessions: Fluke 1991 (link).
- ^ BBC Radio One, Peel Sessions: Fluke Undated (link).
- ^ BBC Radio One, Peel Sessions: Fluke 2002 (link).
- ^ Marcolphus's Fluke Discography, Showing chart position of singles from Oto (link).
- ^ Marcolphus's Fluke Discography, Showing chart position of Atom Bomb (link).
- ^ Amazon.co.uk, Wipeout XL Soundtrack showing Fluke - Atom Bomb (link).
- ^ Astralwerks, Fluke Biography (link).
- ^ Glastonbury Festival, Artist list for 1995 (link).
- ^ Glastonbury Festival, Artist list for 1998 (link).
- ^ Syntax, Message Forum with post from band member confirming split (link).
- ^ global-trance.co.uk, Fluke discography (link).
- ^ a b progressive-sounds.com, Interview with Jon Fugler (link).
- ^ a b thevibes.net, Interview with Jon Fugler (link).
- ^ everyhit.com, UK Music Chart Lookup (link).
- ^ UK Dance Records, 2 Bit Pie (link).
- ^ KCRW, KCRW playlist for 5/19/2006 showing new 2 Bit Pie tracks (here).
- ^ KROQ, Afterhours club event track listing showing Fly 2 Pie Island (link).
- ^ Hybridized.org, Forum post of communication with Jan Burton indicating he has recorded four tracks with 2 Bit Pie (link).
- ^ Amazon.co.uk, track listing for The Matrix Reloaded soundtrack showing Fluke - Zion (link).
- ^ Amazon.co.uk, track listing for Sin City soundtrack showing Fluke - Absurd (link).
- ^ techno.cz, Pictures of Fluke DJs live illustrating the light show and their live setup arrangement (link).
- ^ xmission.org, Post to The Orb message board with criticism of Chemical Brother's live show as boring due to static nature of performance (link).
- ^ electronicmusic.com, Review of Fluke live in seattle (link).
- ^ Beauty School, Biography (link).