Richard Norris (musician)

Richard Norris (born 23 June 1965) is an English, London-based record producer, song writer, sound engineer, musician, DJ and author. Best known as a member of electronic dance band The Grid.,[1] he has also worked as a producer and engineer since the 80s with artists such as Bryan Ferry, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Marc Almond, Joe Strummer and Pet Shop Boys.[2]

Richard Norris
Birth nameRichard Norris
GenresMusic
Occupation(s)Record producer
DJ
Musician
Sound engineer
Author
Years active1979–present
WebsiteRichard NorrisOfficial website

Norris began making music as a teenage member of St. Albans punk band Innocent Vicars,[3] recording two singles in 1980 - "Antimatter" and "Funky Town" for the independent No Brain Records. He started working in the music industry as the label manager for the British psychedelic record label, Bam Caruso,[4][5] before becoming a writer for NME in 1987.

Bands

The Grid

In 1988, Norris and David Ball again collaborated when they formed the electronic dance group The Grid, who signed to Warner Bros Records/East West Records in 1988. The Grid had six Top 40 UK Singles Chart hits between 1990 and 1995,[6] including "Floatation", "Crystal Clear", "Texas Cowboys", "Rollercoaster" and the million-selling "Swamp Thing"[7] that reached no.3 in the UK charts and was Top Ten in nine other countries. It was eventually certified a Silver Disc.[8]

The Grid have been in existence from their formation in 1988 until the present day (as of 2018) with a 5-year hiatus between 1998-2003. During the break, Norris formed the band The Droyds and under that name mixed tracks for Armand Van Helden[9] and Siobhan Fahey.[10]

The Grid have released five albums (as of 2018).

Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve

Norris, along with British DJ Erol Alkan,[11] formed the remix/DJ duo under the name Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve. Under this name, Norris and Alkan initially released four remix/re-edit EPs titled "Birth", "Spring", "George" and "West", followed by several singles and, in 2016, they released their debut album The Soft Bounce, which was rated album of the week by The Guardian's music critic Alex Petridis[12][13]

Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve have also have remixed The Chemical Brothers, Tracey Thorn, Badly Drawn Boy, Midlake and Goldfrapp. Their own compilation of other band remixes, Reanimations Volume One,[14] was released in 2009. Norris has also compiled the techno compilation album Flux Trax.[15]

Norris also formed the electronic band Circle Sky with DJ Martin Dubka[16] and under that name remixed a number of artists including Yello,[17] Jagwar Ma and Imarhan.

The Time & Space Machine

Norris' formed a new project in 2009 called The Time and Space Machine,[18] signed to Tirk Records in 2009 and released a 7" single, "Children of the Sun", an EP, You Are The One, followed by an album, Set Phazer to Stun. A second Time and Space Machine album, Taste the Lazer was released in 2012.[19][20]

A The Time and Space Machine remix collection, The Way Out Sound From In, was released in 2015, featuring remixes of, among others, Warpaint, Jagwar Ma and Temples.[21][22]

The band also collaborated with designer Luke Insect and the street wear label Stussy to create a series of Time and Space Machine Stussy T-shirts.[23]

Collaborations

Joe Strummer

Norris was also a friend of Joe Strummer[12] and the two worked together on the soundtrack for Grosse Pointe Blank. Norris later appeared on The Mescaleros debut album, Rock Art and the X-Ray Style,[12][24] co-writing and producing the tracks "Sandpaper Blues"[25] and "Yalla Yalla".

Psychic TV

In 1988, Norris and Genesis P-Orridge of Psychic TV collaborated to release two fake compilations of acid house songs, attributing each to a variety of aliases, such as DJ Doktor Megatrip and Mista Luv. The two albums are titled Jack the Tab and Tekno Acid Beat.[26][27] Their intention was to fool people into believing that the genre had already taken off in Britain, thereby encouraging its popularization and acceptance.

Jack the Tab also features Soft Cell’s David Ball, and was notable for sampling dialogue from the film The Wild Angels - ‘We Want to be free! We want to do what we want to do!’ - two years before it was used by Primal Scream to greater commercial success in their Top 20 song "Loaded".

Moog

In 2015, Moog Music, contemporary makers of the famous Moog synthesisers, constructed a bespoke sound lab for the creation of live synthesised music as an open access, experimental music resource to celebrate the life and work of electronics inventor Dr. Robert Moog. In 2018, the UK based Sound Lab at The Institute of Sound Recording (Surrey University), Richard Norris and Dave Ball's electronic band, The Grid were the first to be invited to play and record in the new studio[28] The resulting work was a 6-track album called One Way Traffic.[29] (The other albums, making up a series of three, were: Hieroglyphic Being's The Replicant Dream Sequence and the late Mika Vainio's Lydspor One & Two).[30] The Guardian music critic described the event as 'The synth revival: why the Moog is back in vogue', commenting: 'Both Grid members are bona fide synth pioneers: Dave Ball is best known as the music-making half of Soft Cell, while Richard Norris, among many other things, made the early UK acid house LP Jack The Tab.'[31]

Robert Fripp

Norris's band, The Grid, collaborated with the King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp on the Grid album 456. The Grid also remixed David Sylvian and Robert Fripp's track "Darshan (1993)" [32] and in 2014 released the previously unheard Grid/Fripp collaboration "A Cabala Sky"[33]

Finnur Bjarnasson

In 2018, Norris collaborated on a musical project with classically trained Icelandic opera singer, Finnur Bjarnasson, called Restoration under the band name The Long Now and released on Curved Space Records.[34][35][36]

Remixes

Norris has been remixing music since the eighties and has worked with artists including Soft Cell, Psychic TV, Black Grape, Space, Yello, Shakespears Sister, Armand Van Helden, Lambchop, Joe Strummer, Cornershop, Saint Etienne, Marc Almond and Momus

In 2017, Norris remixed the former The Verve singer Richard Ashcroft's "Out of my Body";[37] Flamingods "Mixed Blessings"[38] and Mary Epworth's "Me Swimming"[39]

Festivals

In 2009, the Lewes Psychedelic Festival in Lewes, south England, was founded by Norris and Chris Tomsett, and the ongoing festival is still curated by Tomsett (as of 2018), hosting in the past bands such as The Notorious Hi-Fi Killers, Voice of the Seven Thunders, The Sound Carriers and Norris's own The Time & Space Machine.[40][41][42]

Norris regularly DJs at UK festivals including Glastonbury [43][44] and the Green Man Festival[45]

Soundtracks

Norris's bands and songs have appeared in several feature films, television shows and documentaries:[46]

Author

In 2007, Norris was the official biographer of Paul Oakenfold and the writer of Paul Oakenfold: The Authorised Biography[47]

References
  1. Gray, Marcus (1 November 2004). The Clash: Return Of The Last Gang In Town. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 471. ISBN 978-0-634-08240-5. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
  2. "Richard Norris | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  3. "The Innocent Vicars". Discogs.com. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  4. "Cherry red Records: Bam Caruso". Cherryred.co.uk. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  5. "Bam-Caruso Records". Discogs.com. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  6. "GRID | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". Officialcharts.com. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  7. "swamp thing | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". Officialcharts.com. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  8. "Imgur". Imgur.com. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  9. "Armand Van Helden - Into Your Eyes (Remixes)". Discogs.com. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  10. "Bitter Pill". Amazon.co.uk. 2 December 2002. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  11. Corner, Lena (8 March 2009). "How We Met: Richard Norris & Erol Alkan". The Independent. UK. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  12. Petridis, Alexis (30 June 2016). "Beyond the Wizards Sleeve: The Soft Bounce review – 60s psychedelia goes acid house". Theguardian.com.
  13. "Beyond The Wizards Sleeve - The Soft Bounce". Discogs.com.
  14. "Beyond The Wizards Sleeve". Discogs.com. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  15. "Various - Flux Trax". Discogs.com. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  16. "Circle Sky". Prsformusic.com. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  17. "Yello - Limbo (The Remixes)". Discogs.com. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  18. "The Time & Space Machine | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  19. "The Quietus | Reviews | The Time And Space Machine". The Quietus. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  20. "The Time And Space Machine - Taste The Lazer". Clashmusic.com. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  21. "THE TIME AND SPACE MACHINE presents 'THE WAY OUT SOUND FROM IN' - ample play records". SoundCloud.com. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  22. "The Time And Space Machine* - The Way Out Sound From In". Discogs.com. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  23. "Stüssy News and Updates". Stussy.com. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  24. "Rock Art and the X-Ray Style - Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros | Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  25. "Discogs - Tracks Beta". Discogs.com. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  26. "Various - Jack The Tab / Tekno Acid Beat". Discogs.com. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  27. "Jack the Tab/Tekno Acid Beat - Psychic TV | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  28. "Moog Recordings Library launches with a series of limited edition live session releases - The Wire". Thewire.co.uk. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  29. "The Grid 'One Way Traffic (Blue TB7 Series)'". Cargorecordsdirect.co.uk. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  30. "Moog Music". Moogmusic.com. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  31. Boxer, Steve (8 July 2015). "The synth revival: why the Moog is back in vogue". Theguardian.com. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  32. "Darshan (Translucent Remix by The Grid)". 16 February 2015.
  33. "Premiere: The Grid & Robert Fripp - A Cabala Sky". Clashmusic.com. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  34. "Search for CD, LPs, coloured LPs". Roughtrade.com. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  35. "Approved: The Long Now | Complete Music Update". Completemusicupdate.com. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  36. "Richard Norris". Theambientzone.co.uk. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  37. "Out Of My Body (Remixes)". Open.spotify.com. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  38. "The Quietus | News | LISTEN: Flamingods Remixed By Richard Norris". The Quietus. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  39. "The Quietus | News | LISTEN: Richard Norris Remixes Mary Epworth". The Quietus. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  40. "The Quietus | Features | Three Songs No Flash | An Invitation To The Dance: Lewes Psychedelic Festival". The Quietus. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  41. "Richard Norris of Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve - "It's people wanting to go on a trip"". 19 January 2017.
  42. "Lewes Psychedelic Festival: "The ethos is to create something joyous"". Theargus.co.uk. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  43. "Glastonbury 2009: Guardian Lounge lineup to feature Little Boots and the Maccabees". Theguardian.com. 29 May 2009. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  44. "The Unfairground". Efestivals.co.uk. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  45. "Far Out After Dark line-up revealed for Green Man Festival". Efestivals.co.uk. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  46. "Richard Norris". IMDb.com. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  47. Norris, Richard. Paul Oakenfold: The Authorised Biography. Amazon.co.uk. ISBN 9780593058954.
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