The Grid are an English

electronic dance Electronic dance music (EDM), also referred to as dance music or club music, is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres originally made for nightclubs, raves, and List of electronic dance music festivals, festivals. It is generally ...

group, consisting of David Ball (formerly of

Soft Cell Soft Cell are an English synth-pop duo who came to prominence in the early 1980s. The duo consists of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball (electronic musician), David Ball. The band are primarily known for their 1981 hit versio ...

) and Richard Norris, with guest contributions from other musicians. They are best known for the hits "

Swamp Thing Swamp Thing is a superhero and antihero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Len Wein and artist Bernie Wrightson, the Swamp Thing has had several different incarnations throughout his publication. The ch ...

", "Texas Cowboys", "Crystal Clear", "Rollercoaster" and "Floatation".

Band members

* Richard Norris – keyboards, drum programming * David Ball – keyboards, programming * Sacha Rebecca Souter – vocals

History

The Grid formed in 1988, after both Ball and Norris had worked with

Psychic TV Psychic TV (aka PTV or Psychick TV or several other aliases) were an English experimental music, experimental video art and music collective, formed by performance artist Genesis P-Orridge and Scottish musician Alex Fergusson (musician), Alex ...

on the '' Jack the Tab – Acid Tablets Volume One'' album. They recorded the track "Meet Every Situation Head On" together as "M.E.S.H.". The Grid had their first success with their debut single, "Floatation", released on

East West Records East West Records (stylized as east''west'') is a record label formed in 1955, distributed and owned by Warner Music Group, headquartered in New York City. History After its creation in 1955 by Atlantic Records, the label had its first hit wit ...

in 1990. They went on to release a string of ten UK

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single, or simply hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record'' ...

s and four albums, and toured the UK, Europe, Asia and Australia. The group's 1994 album '' Evolver'' reached No. 14 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

. The lead single from this album, "Swamp Thing", features elaborate

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

lines played by Roger Dinsdale. "Swamp Thing" proved to be a commercial success in the UK, Europe and Australia, reaching No. 3 in the UK and Australia, and selling a total of one million copies. In 1996, Norris and Ball agreed to a hiatus in order to pursue individual music interests. Norris formed The Droyds with Andy Chatterley, who went on to

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

tracks by musicians including Armand Van Helden and Siobhan Fahey. Norris also wrote the official biography of

Paul Oakenfold Paul Mark Oakenfold (; born 30 August 1963), formerly known mononymously as Oakenfold, is an English record producer, remixer and trance DJ. He has provided over 100 remixes for over 100 artists including U2, Moby, Madonna, Britney Spears, Ma ...

, published in 2007. Ball reformed Soft Cell with

Marc Almond Peter Mark Almond (born 9 July 1957) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He is the lead vocalist of the synth-pop/ new wave duo Soft Cell. He has a distinctive soulful voice and androgynous image. He has had a diverse career as a ...

, and also wrote music scores for films. Norris has since formed the psychedelic duo, Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve, with DJ Erol Alkan, and has released a number of solo records and remixes under the name The Time and Space Machine. The duo reunited in 2005, initially playing two gigs under the name GDM with female singer Misty Woods, before writing and recording new material as The Grid. A single, "Put Your Hands Together", was released in 2007 and an album, ''

Doppelgänger A doppelgänger ( ), sometimes spelled doppelgaenger or doppelganger, is a ghostly double of a living person, especially one that haunts its own fleshly counterpart. In fiction and mythology, a doppelgänger is often portrayed as a ghostly or p ...

'', followed in 2008. Both were released on the Some Bizzare label. The album featured vocals by the British musician, Chris Braide. In 2018, during the second reunion of

, Ball and Norris released a new album as the Grid, ''One Way Traffic'', which was recorded as part of Moog Music Inc.'s "The Moog Sound Lab" program, using Moog

modular synthesizer Modular synthesizers are synthesizers composed of separate modules for different functions. The modules can be connected together by the user to create a patch. The outputs from the modules may include audio signals, analog control voltages, ...

s. In 2021, Ball and Norris collaborated with Robert Fripp on a new album, ''Leviathan.''

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

The Grid official Facebook pageGrid Central – unofficial page
* The Grid at AllMusicbr>The Grid Myspace
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grid, The English dance music groups English electronic music duos English house music groups English techno music groups English remixers East West Records artists Some Bizzare Records artists Virgin Records artists English male musical duos British electronic dance music duos Deconstruction Records artists