Sneaker Pimps
The Hartlepool electronic duo of Liam Howe and Chris Corner, whose debut Becoming X (1996) brought "Spin Spin Sugar".
A bedroom in Elwick
The name comes from a Beastie Boys article in Grand Royal magazine about a man hired to acquire classic sneakers. Liam Howe and his brother Miles made cassette music in Hartlepool from about 1985, and Howe later taught Chris Corner guitar. Before Sneaker Pimps the pair were F.R.I.S.K., releasing EPs including one on Clean Up, and Howe produced under the name Line of Flight. In 1994 they signed to Clean Up Records, a sub-label of One Little Indian, for 15,000 pounds split between the two. Corner first demoed the vocals himself, then the band decided a female voice suited the material, and Kelli Dayton, from The Lumieres in Birmingham, sang demos including an early "6 Underground" that helped win a Virgin contract. Ian Pickering wrote lyrics.
Becoming X was recorded in about four months in Howe's bedroom studio in Elwick, County Durham, with vocals in a wardrobe turned booth, no drummer and drum sounds sampled. Howe told Sound On Sound in 2002 that it was made on two Akai S900 samplers sequenced from Cubase or Logic with no multitrack tape. It came out on August 19, 1996 in the UK and February 25, 1997 in the US, reached 27 in the UK and 111 on the Billboard 200 and is BPI Gold. They opened for Blur and Neneh Cherry, played with Tricky and Lamb, and opened Aphex Twin's US tour in October 1997, after which the singer left. Chris Corner took over lead vocals.
After Becoming X
Becoming Remixed (March 10, 1998) collected remixes by Armand van Helden, Tuff and Jam, Reprazent and others. Splinter (October 25, 1999) reached 80 in the UK, and NME praised its staunch refusal to cash in whatsoever on previous fame. Bloodsport (January 22, 2002, Tommy Boy) was delayed by the September 2001 damage to Tommy Boy per the fan archive, reached 68 in Austria and none in the UK, and they toured Europe opening for Placebo in 2001. Songs for a fourth album migrated to Corner's IAMX project, whose Kiss and Swallow appeared in 2004. Leaked demos called SP5 surfaced in 2006. Howe hinted at a reunion in 2015 and Corner confirmed it in 2016; Squaring the Circle followed on September 10, 2021, with Simonne Jones on vocals, recorded at Sawtooth Studios in Pioneertown and The Tower Studios in London.
"6 Underground" was in The Saint (1997), "Velvet Divorce" in A Life Less Ordinary, and a track with Marilyn Manson on Spawn. Five UK Top 40 hits in the first seven years, says the band's IAMX bio. Corner lives near Pioneertown, California, and Howe in London.
Albums
Songs
- Spin Spin Sugar Becoming X · 1997
The fourth single from Becoming X, released March 3, 1997, with a speed garage remix by Armand van Helden.
Sources
- Sneaker Pimps, Wikipedia
- Splinter, Wikipedia
- Bloodsport, Wikipedia
- Sneaker Pimps history, Sneaker Pimps Legacy