The Cuban Boys are an English electronic group and production team, currently composed of Skreen B and Ricardo Autobahn; the band formerly also included B.L. Underwood ("Blu") and Jenny McLaren (Autobahn's sister). Their music is characterised by fast electronic beats, heavy reliance upon samples and the repetition of the name drop "the Cuban Boys" in the background of many of their tracks. They achieved success after being aired on

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly f ...

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, includin ...

show with sample-heavy dance tracks and

cut-up The cut-up technique (or ''découpé'' in French) is an aleatory literary technique in which a written text is cut up and rearranged to create a new text. The concept can be traced to the Dadaists of the 1920s, but it was developed and popularize ...

s and were responsible for the UK No. 4 hit single " Cognoscenti vs. Intelligentsia" which was released through EMI.

Band formation

The Cuban Boys formed in 1998 using the Internet as a publicity and collaboration tool from the outset. After a web-only release of an anonymous dance track, "Diophantus Arithmetica", with hints that it was by

Noel Gallagher Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. He was the chief songwriter, lead guitarist, and co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis until their split in 2009. After leaving Oasis, he formed ...

, they recorded "Oh My God! They Killed Kenny" (later retitled "Kenny"), which featured sampled dialogue from ''

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boys Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand ...

'' combined with "The Bump" by Kenny. This was played extensively by

and took the 6th position in the 1998

Festive Fifty The Festive Fifty was originally an annual list of the year's 50 (though the exact figure varied above and below this number) best songs compiled at the end of the year and voted for by listeners to John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show. It was usually do ...

. Following this it was released as the band's first single. A six-track EP, ''Blueprint for Modernisation'', followed. A track from this EP, "Cuban Boy (Cuban Boys Go Boom! Mix)", went on to be used as the theme music for the BBC sitcom ''

Still Game ''Still Game'' is a Scottish sitcom, produced by The Comedy Unit with BBC Scotland. It was created by Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill, who played the lead characters, Jack Jarvis (Still Game character), Jack Jarvis, Esq and Victor McDade, two G ...

''.

"Cognoscenti vs. Intelligentsia"

The Cuban Boys' next single, " Cognoscenti vs. Intelligentsia" was built on a sample used from "Whistle Stop" by

Roger Miller Roger Dean Miller Sr. (January 2, 1936 – October 25, 1992) was an American singer-songwriter, widely known for his honky-tonk-influenced novelty songs and his chart-topping country and pop hits " King of the Road", " Dang Me", and " Engl ...

which was featured in the

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movie ''

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''. It was first featured online as part of the Hampster Dance song on the website of the same name. It was picked up by producer

Jonathan King Jonathan King (born Kenneth George King; 6 December 1944) is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. He first came to prominence in 1965 when " Everyone's Gone to the Moon", a song that he wrote and sang while still an undergraduate ...

who championed it and found a label to release it. The same sample was later used as the basis for the song "Irritating Hamster" by DJ Mavica, then as part of the Cuban Boys' hit (a close but noticeably different imitation of the original sample was used in the final release, as the licensing fees could not be met). "Cognoscenti vs. Intelligentsia" became a No. 4 hit in the UK in December 1999, following months of speculation and rumours - all of which turned out to be false - that the men behind the Cuban Boys project were in fact

Paul Weller Paul John Weller (born John William Weller; 25 May 1958) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Weller achieved fame with the punk rock/ new wave/ mod revival band the Jam (1972–1982). He had further success with the blue-eyed soul ...

and

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical im ...

. Either way, the track received many requests for play on radio, and was heavily hyped as a contender for the Christmas number one spot. Upon release, the single peaked at No. 4 on the

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

chart, outsold only by

Westlife Westlife is an Irish pop vocal group formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1998. The group currently consists of members Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan, and Nicky Byrne. Brian McFadden was a member, until he left in 2004. The group temporari ...

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

(with "

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"), and a re-release of

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

's " Imagine". It also took the number one position in the 1999

. The Cuban Boys co-wrote Atomic Beat Boy with Helen Love, released as a CD single, followed by a 12" remix EP 'Helen Love Vs Cuban Boys: Does Your Heart Go Boom'.

''Eastwood''

In 2000, the Cuban boys released their first album, '' Eastwood'', through EMI but, despite the popularity of "Cognoscenti vs. Intelligentsia", ''Eastwood'' suffered poor sales. It was not released in time to capitalise on the success of "Cognoscenti vs. Intelligentsia" and was given limited marketing. Some of the older tunes featuring unauthorised samples had them replaced by obvious imitations. Following the commercial failure of ''Eastwood'', the band were dropped by the label and left with some bitterness, later expressed through their releasing of a 7"

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of the

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they were one of the most groundbreaking acts in the history of popular music. They were responsible for ...

' "EMI".

Later work

Commercially, little was heard of the band itself after ''Eastwood'', although they released several limited release singles and EPs. The band focused mainly on Internet downloads, and made much of their early discography available free of charge from their various websites and on Myspace. All the members became involved in other projects and although the Cuban Boys never formally split up, the band ceased to be active around 2001. Its members continued to work together under various names, most notably Spray. Following the death of

in 2004, the Cuban Boys (now consisting only of Skreen B and Ricardo Autobahn) reformed to release a tribute song, "The Nation Needs You", as a free download.Cuban Boy
Discography
Following this, they returned to producing individual tracks, releasing some of them as download-only or limited release CD singles. In 2008, they released their first full album since ''Eastwood'', ''The Satellite Junkyard'' on their own record label, House of Beauty. In 2010, the Cuban Boys released a greatest hits compilation of their singles. ''Art vs Commerce'' amounted to twenty one tracks, and was released once again on House of Beauty Records. The cover for the CD consists of a booklet with new artwork and a detailed history of the band. Their third album, ''Machines'' was released in 2017.

Related acts

Members of the Cuban Boys have also worked on music under various names: *The Beatbox Saboteurs (Skreen B and BL Underwood) *Wave Runner *Space Kats * Spray (McLaren and Autobahn) *Dynamo Beat (Skreen B and BL Underwood) *PigynClust (Skreen B and BL Underwood) *Blu Thunder (BL Underwood) * Ricardo Autobahn (solo) *Rikki & Daz (Ricardo Autobahn and Daz Sampson) *The Barndance Boys (Ricardo Autobahn and Daz Sampson)

Discography

Albums

*'' Eastwood'', EMI (2000) *''The Satellite Junkyard'', House of Beauty / self-published (2008) *''Art vs Commerce - The Singles Collection'', House of Beauty / self-published (2010) *''Machines'', self-published (2017) Additionally, the Cuban Boys have featured on alternative

compilation album A compilation album comprises tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several performers. If by one artist, then generally the tracks were not originally intended for rel ...

s such as Damaged Goods' ''Totally Damaged'' sampler (unique track) and have done remix work featuring on other bands' singles and EPs, e.g. Helen Love.

Singles and EPs

*"Oh My God! They Killed Kenny!", Rough Trade Shop (1998) (7" single, limited edition of 1000) *''Blueprint for Modernisation EP'', Org Records (1998) (6 track CD, limited edition of 1000) *" Cognoscenti vs. Intelligentsia", EMI (1999) - UK No. 4 *"Inertia Kicks", Stone the Kubist Records / self-published (2000) *''Old Skool for Scoundrels EP'', Prim & Proper / self-published (2000) (7" EP on yellow vinyl, limited edition of 1000) *"EMI", Damaged Goods (2000) (7" single) *"Drink" (originally "Drink Drink Drink"), Sanctuary Records (2001) (unreleased promotional CD) *"The Nation Needs You", self-published (2005) (promotional CD and free download) *"Spooky!", self-published (2007) *"The Penthouse Messiahs", self-published (2008) *"Summer Song", self-published (2009) *"All Girls Have a Volvo", self-published (2009) *"I'm Backing Britain", self-published (2009) (promotional CD) * "Datacrime 2011", self-published (2011) (downloadable single)

References

External links

Cuban Boys website
{{Authority control English electronic music duos Musical groups established in 1998 Musical groups from Devon Electronic dance music duos Record production duos British record production teams