A Short History of The Beta Band

One of the Beta Band's claims to fame is their influence on Radiohead's change of direction on their album 'Kid A'. They had a psychedelic hip-hop feel which lolloped around in the same way that the Happy Mondays groove did. Beyond that though it was hard to pinpoint exactly where the Beta Band's influences came from. This was the refreshing thing about them. Many bands have their influences written large on all over their songs, but not the Beta Band. They were originals. I guess if pushed, their style may have something to do with acid-house and something to do with Kraftwerk. But neither of these are direct influences in sound, more stylistic references. Their early music just sort of shuffled along with each track building and building on the underlying groove. The further you get into a track, the more complex it becomes.

Both Stephen Mason, who previously had been a B-boy, and John MacLean, who was a DJ, were into loops and looping techniques mainly because of electro-funk. Their initial EP's hold the Beta Band formula. Each track started off with an acoustic guitar which was strummed by Mason in a simple way. Then, perhaps, a bongo comes in, then another. The tracks develop around a simple lyric, a mantra-like refrain, repeated. This goes on and builds a little here and there and then it all slowly fades out. Each track has warm and organic layered textures which merge and weave to become more complex as the song progresses. None of this was done with excessive studio trickery. They were recorded at a time when producers and DJ's were becoming more central to the songwriting and recording process, manipulating new and revolutionary studio technology. But the Beat Band were not about studio technology. Each new sound comes and goes when the timing, and the feel, is right. Each adds weight and dynamic to the loping underlying looped groove. The early EP's proved so popular that they were all collected together and became a 12 track album in 1999. They are presented in chronological order and it is clear that the band were on a rapid learning curve as they recorded their new songs.

The Beat Band were invited by Radiohead to tour America in 2001. 'Kid A' is full of electronically constructed songs which seem to steadily build out of electronic soundscapes that start as one thing and finish as another. Was this Radiohead's Beat Band phase?

When the Beta Band came to record their proper debut album they went into the studio without any pre-prepared songs. The results were messy, there was simply too much going on. But 'Hot Shots II', their second album, gets right back on track. It starts with a song about daydreaming amidst the flowers called 'Squares'. Its a great pop song but doesn't conform to any particular genre. The vocals of Stephen Mason a dreamy and mantra-like, a little monastic in feel. The music sounds sort of space age. The key thing on 'Hot Shots II' is that the songs are not just better, they are shorter too, and more happens in the shorter time span. Each track has lots of movement within the sound. The styles and textures constantly shift on tracks like 'Broke' and 'Human Being'. It can all be summed up by the 'less is more' principle and the Beta Band were master of it.