Spray is a

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

duo from

Preston, Lancashire Preston () is a city on the north bank of the River Ribble in Lancashire, England. The city is the administrative centre of the county of Lancashire and the wider City of Preston, Lancashire, City of Preston local government district. Preston ...

, England, consisting of siblings Jenny McLaren and

Ricardo Autobahn John Matthews (born 8 March 1978), better known by his stage name Ricardo Autobahn, is an English producer, songwriter and musician. He is also known in collaborations with Daz Sampson as in Rikki & Daz and the projects like Barndance Boys, Cu ...

. Following the demise of their previous band, the

Cuban Boys 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 b ...

(famous for their

Hampster Dance The Hampster Dance is one of the earliest Internet memes. Created in 1997 by Canadian art student Deidre LaCarte as a GeoCities page, the dance features rows of animated GIFs of hamsters and other rodents dancing in various ways to a sped-up sam ...

record and

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

sessions), McLaren and Autobahn released the album ''Living In Neon'' on Ninthwave Records in the United States. This was followed in 2003 by the extended single "I Am Gothic". A new album, ''Children of a Laser God'' was released online in 2006, along with the single " Run With Us", a cover of the theme tune of the popular 1980's cartoon ''

The Raccoons ''The Raccoons'' is a Canadian animated television series that ran on CBC from November 11, 1985, to March 19, 1991, in Canada and on Disney Channel from July 4, 1985, to August 28, 1992, in the U.S., with three preceding television specials ...

'' with the "Michael Trenfield" remix as the main single accompanied with the original version and remixes from JKZ, Absorb, FMU and Diskowarp. After a hiatus, the duo returned in 2010 with the single "Everything's Better With Muppets", accompanied by a popular

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

video containing excerpts from

The Muppet Show ''The Muppet Show'' is a variety sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and starring the Muppets. It is presented as a variety show, featuring recurring sketches and musical numbers interspersed with ongoing plot-lines with ru ...

lipsynching with the song. Amongst other projects, Spray have been partially responsible for

Glen Campbell Glen Travis Campbell (April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017) was an American country musician and actor. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting ''The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour'' on CBS television from ...

's 2002 return to the top of the charts with the "Rhinestone Cowboy" remake, top 40 kids band the

Barndance Boys The Barndance Boys was an English trio musical formation made as a country and folk dance act in 2003. Barndance Boys was the brainchild of John Matthews (stage name Ricardo Autobahn) from the Cuban Boys fame. He launched the novelty band wit ...

, and the European hit "The Woah Song" by DJ Daz (

Daz Sampson Darren "Daz" Sampson (born 28 November 1974) is a British singer-songwriter, record producer and football manager. Sampson is known for his commercial dance music, as part of several groups, and his television appearances. He has had nine Top 3 ...

). McLaren has a successful sideline in vocalising club/dance records, and Autobahn in soundtracks and commercials. The band has also had one of their singles, "I Am Gothic", appear in the

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

game

Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 3 ''Dance Dance Revolution ULTRAMIX 3'' is a music video game developed by Konami and the tenth entry of Dance Dance Revolution released in the United States. It was released on November 15, 2005 for the Xbox. About 70 songs are available in total ...

. Spray's 2016 release, ''Enforced Fun'', released on the Banoffeesound label, featured narration on its opening track "The Prologue" by actress and singer Jane Badler and collaborations on other tracks with artists like Kid Kasio and

Hyperbubble Hyperbubble is an international visual art, visual and performing arts electropop/synth-pop duo from San Antonio, Texas, formed by Jeff DeCuir and Jess Barnett DeCuir. The music of this United States, American group is variously described as "ear ...

. A version available by electronic download through

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...

included instrumental versions of the tracks and a bumper sticker. Their fourth album ''Failure Is Inevitable'' was released in May 2019 on Analogue Trash, as was 2021's ''Ambiguous Poems About Death'' and 2023's album of cover versions ''Songs Already Sung''.

Discography

Albums

* '' Living in Neon'' (2002) * '' Children of a Laser God'' (2006) * ''The Difficult Third Album'' (2014), compilation, Banoffeesound * ''Enforced Fun'' (2016), Banoffeesound * ''Failure Is Inevitable'' (2019), Analogue Trash * ''Ambiguous Poems About Death'' (2021), Analogue Trash * ''Songs Already Sung'' (2023), Analogue Trash

EPs

* ''We're Nihilists, Not Stylists'' (EP) (2011) * ''We Are Gothic'' (EP) (2016) * ''Anthologised By Cherry Red'' (EP) (2018) * ''Offerings from the Algorithm'' (EP) (2020)

Singles

* "I am Gothic" (Remix Project) (2003) * "Run with Us" (2006) * "He Came with the Sleigh" (2007) * "Singing for England 2010" (2010) * "Everything's Better with Muppets" (2010) * "Manga Eyes" (2014) * "It's Not Enough" (with Kid Kasio) (2016) * "Félicette (Space Cat)" - 7" vinyl (2021) * "Diamond Lights - Get Normal" (2022) * "The Big Idea" (2023) * "(Ich Bin Verliebt) In Den Ampelmann" (2024)

References

External links

Official website (archived 25 Nov 2022)Spray at Bandcamp
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spray English synth-pop groups Musical groups established in 2001 Musical groups from South Yorkshire English electronic music duos Sibling musical duos