Faze Action are a British
dance music band, composed of brothers Simon and Robin Lee.
Over the years, Faze Action blended
house music
House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...
with Western classical, pan-African, and Latin music. Its music is also heavily influenced by funk, disco, and jazz.
The Lee brothers grew up in
Amersham
Amersham ( ) is a market town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, in the Chiltern Hills, northwest of central London, from Aylesbury and from High Wycombe. Amersham is part of the London commuter belt.
...
,
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...
, England,
and they were both interested in music from an early age. Robin went on to study music at
Goldsmiths College in London.
The pair collaborated in 1995 to produce the ''Original Disco Motion EP'',
which was supported by DJs such as
François Kevorkian
François Kevorkian (born 10 January 1954), also known by the stage name François K, is a French-born, U.S.-based DJ, producer, remixer and label owner of Armenian descent, who started his career DJing in clubs such as the Paradise Garage ...
.
Shortly afterwards Robin moved to
Osaka, Japan, to work as an English teacher.
Meanwhile, the success of the group's debut EP won it a contract with
Nuphonic Records
Nuphonic was an independent record label, based in London, from 1994 to 2002.
History
Nuphonic was founded in 1994 by Sav Remzi and David Hill. It released its first record in June 1995, Faze Action's "Original Disco Motion", which was soon ...
.
The pair then in 1996 produced a single called "In the Trees", which won them increased exposure
and is still probably its most famous track. In conjunction with a reissue of the track in the winter of 2007, a number of remixes were also released by Carl Craig, Jerome Sydenham, and Tiger Stripes.
After Robin returned to the UK,
the pair released its first album, 1997's ''Plans and Designs''.
The pair has subsequently released a number of singles and albums; their tracks have been remixed by
Rae and Christian and
Cinematic Orchestra
The Cinematic Orchestra is a British nu jazz and downtempo music group created in 1999 by Jason Swinscoe. The group is signed to independent record label Ninja Tune.
The Cinematic Orchestra have produced four studio albums, ''Motion'' (1999), ...
.
In the United States, an album, ''Moving Cities'' (1999), was licensed to F-111/
Warner Bros. Records.
Faze Action have a long list of remix credits that include Yellow Sox,
Diana Brown,
D*Note,
Femi Kuti,
Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg (; born Lucien Ginsburg; 2 April 1928 – 2 March 1991) was a French musician, singer-songwriter, actor, author and filmmaker. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provoca ...
,
Metronomy,
Ibibio Sound Machine,
Francois Kevorkian and
Saint Etienne.
June 2009 saw the release of their album ''Stratus Energy'', which featured 1980s-like disco vocals and synths. Faze Action released their'' Body of One'' LP in 2014. Singles from the LP have included remixes by
Phil Mison, Dicky Trisco, Chuggy and
Eric Duncan.
As an eight piece live entity, Faze Action have toured extensively with an early stint across North America with
Groove Armada in 2000, as a headline act for the Vibes on a Summers Day festival in Australia, Glastonbury, The Big Chill, Benicassim and more. They continue to be in demand DJs having signed to the MN2S agency early in 2015.
References
External links
Faze Action websiteDiscogs: Faze Action
Faze action live
at Glastonbury 2000
Myspace page
British electronic music groups
People from Amersham
{{House-band-stub