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808 State
Background information
Origin	Bury, Greater Manchester, England
Genre(s)	House, Techno, Ambient techno, Acid house, IDM, Electronica, Rave
Years active	1988 - present
Label(s)	ZTT
Associated acts	Biting Tongues
Members
Graham Massey Andrew Barker Darren Partington
Former members
Martin Price Gerald Simpson

808 State are an English electronic music outfit formed in 1988 in Radcliffe, Bury in Greater Manchester, taking their name from the Roland TR-808 drum machine and the "state of mind" shared by the members. Widely regarded as one of the pioneers of acid house, they were formed by Graham Massey, Martin Price and Gerald Simpson (later to record as A Guy Called Gerald) and released their debut Newbuild in 1988. Autechre and Aphex Twin have often cited Newbuild as being enormously influential, and the group achieved some degree of chart success in the UK in the early 1990s with releases "Pacific State", "Cubik" and "In Yer Face".

Contents 1 History 2 Pseudonyms and side projects 3 Trivia 4 Band members 5 Discography 6 External links

The group 808 State was formed in 1988 in Bury, England. They were considered pioneers of the acid house sound, a staple and foundation of rave music. Martin Price, who owned a popular and legendary record store called Eastern Bloc and who founded the independent label Creed, joined up with producer and local musician Graham Massey. They teamed up with Gerald Simpson, who collaborated the effort. At this time, 808 State recorded the debut Newbuild, in 1988.

Simpson left the group in 1989 to form his own solo project, A Guy Called Gerald. Voodoo Ray was his biggest song. At this point, the remaining personnel enlisted Andrew Barker and Darren Partington (known as the Spinmasters) to record an EP called Quadrastate in 1989. A very popular hit on the club floors came forth from this effort, entitled Pacific. Their next album, Ninety, was well-received by the ever-growing rave culture at that time.

MC Tunes (real name Nicky Lockett) was a Manchester rapper, who worked with the band on the 1990 album, The North At Its Heights. The album was a moderate success, reaching #26 in the UK charts, and also saw European and Japanese release. It spawned three UK singles, The Only Rhyme That Bites - featuring a sample of "The Big Country" performed by The City of Prague Philharmonic - (UK #10), Tunes Splits The Atom (UK #18) and Primary Rhyming (UK #67). Tunes later returned in 1996 to work with on a new track, Pump, taken from their album Thermo Kings. It was due to be released as a single, but this never happened.

Their next album was released in 1991 Ex:el, which featured vocals from Bernard Sumner (New Order) and ex-Sugarcubes vocalist Björk, other hits include In Yer Face, Cubik, Olympic & Lift

In 1992, Price left the group to do solo producing, eventually forming his own label, Sun Text. The remaining members released a fourth album called Gorgeous, and after that, did some remix work for David Bowie, Soundgarden, and other performers, before returning with the album entitled Don Solaris in 1996.This album marked a change for the band who wanted to shake off their rave moniker and with 'Don Solaris' they created a beautiful cinemascopic sound.The album featured contributions from James Dean Bradfield from the Manic Street Preachers who sung vocals on 'Lopez' which reached number 20 in the UK singles charts. This song was remixed by Brian Eno.The song 'Bond' featured vocals by Mike Doughty from the band Soul Coughing and 'Azura' featured Louise Rhodes from Lamb.They released a greatest-hits compilation named 808:88:98 in 1998-their last on record label ZTT and a 1998 remix of Pacific soared high in the charts. In 2000, their pioneering 1988 acid house album 'Newbuild' was re-released to critical acclaim.

In 2003, they released Outpost Transmission which again featured guest collaborations this time with the likes of the Alabama 3 and Guy Garvey from Elbow. The band is still active, touring and performing DJ sets, and occasionally performing in the full line up.

The official 808 State website, globalState, is also still active, with new unreleased tracks and information added frequently, along with a semi-active message board.

808 State and its various members have recorded under a variety of pseudonyms. An early EP, containing the tracks Massage-a-Rama and Sex Mechanic, was released under the name Lounge Jays. These tracks have since been re-released by Rephlex Records on the Prebuild LP. Another early EP, Wax on the Melt, was released under the name Hit Squad Mcr. This is the only EP to which all five members of the group (Graham Massey, Martin Price, Gerald Simpson, Andrew Barker and Darren Partington) contributed simultaneously.

Graham Massey is soon to release the solo album 'Subtracks' under the name Massonix. He is also a member of Biting Tongues, an experimental jazz rock group once signed to Factory Records. He has a successful side project with "Toolshed" which grew from the Manchester night.

Martin Price left 808 State in 1991 and released a couple of EPs under the name Switzerland.

Andrew Barker has produced a small number of tracks as Atlas, Benaco and remixed various tracks under the guise Black Smoke.

Darren Partington has recorded under the name Jeep. Darren and Andy appeared on Kiss 102 from 1994 to 1997.

• In the USA, "the 808 state" is a nickname for Hawaii, due to 808 being the telephone area code.
• The bird call that can be heard in all versions of the track Pacific is the distress call of the North American Loon. The same sample is evident on Sueño Latino recorded the same year (1989).
• 808 State's 'Pacific' can be heard in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on the House Music radio station SF-UR.
• In the anime Eureka Seven the episode Pacific State is named after the song.

• Graham V Massey (born 4 August 1960, in Manchester) — guitarist, keyboardist, saxophonist (1988-present)
• Martin Price (born 26 March 1955, in Manchester) — keyboardist (1988-1990)
• Gerald Simpson — keyboardist (1988-1989)
• Andrew Barker (born 9 March 1968 — keyboardist (1989-present)
• Darren Partington (born 1 November 1969, in Manchester) — keyboardist, percussionist (1989-present)

For more details about the discography, see 808 State discography.

• Incomplete 808 State discography
• Band website with most recent information
• Zang Tuum Tumb and all that
• Rare & Unreleased Downloads
• Mostly complete text discography
  

808 State

Graham Massey | Martin Price | Gerald Simpson | Andrew Barker | Darren Partington

Discography

Albums Newbuild | Quadrastate | Ninety | Utd. State 90 | Ex:el | Gorgeous | State to State | Don Solaris | State to State 2 | Outpost Transmission | Prebuild

Live and Compilations: Forecast | Thermo Kings | 808:88:98

VHS/DVD 808:90ptical | Optibuk

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