Natural Life were an English

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...

of the early 1990s that are best described as a 'bohemian rock collective', their

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

is a combination of

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

influences and dancefloor beats. They emerged from London's Balearic dance movement and were quickly caught up in a bidding war between the major

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

s. Their early

gigs Gigs, Inc. is an American technology company in the telecommunications industry, headquartered in San Francisco, California, with additional offices in London (UK) and Berlin (Germany). Admitted to Y Combinator in 2021, the company specializes in ...

listed venues such as

Danny Rampling Daniel Rampling (born 15 July 1961), better known as Danny Rampling is an English house music DJ and is widely credited as one of the original founders of the UK's rave/club scene. His long career began in the early 1980s playing hip-hop, soul ...

's fledgling 'Milk Bar' and 'Eat The Worm' at the Hannover Grand, where they were supported by the then unknown

Ocean Colour Scene Ocean Colour Scene (often abbreviated to OCS) is an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1989. They have had five top 10 albums, including a number one in 1997. They have also achieved seventeen top 40 singles and six top 10 singles to d ...

. They were the only London based band to play 'Factory Day' at ' Cities in the Park' with The

Happy Mondays Happy Mondays are an English rock band formed in Salford in 1980. The original line-up consisted of brothers Shaun Ryder (vocals) and Paul Ryder (bass), Gaz Whelan (drums), Paul Davis (keyboard), and Mark Day (guitar). Mark "Bez" Berry la ...

Electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...

and

A Certain Ratio A Certain Ratio (abbreviated as ACR) are an English post-punk band formed in Greater Manchester in 1977 by Peter Terrell (guitar), Simon Topping (vocals, trumpet), Jez Kerr (bass guitar, vocals), Martin Moscrop (trumpet, guitar) and Donald Johns ...

. This almost exclusively Mancunian mini-festival was a memorial festival for the recently deceased

Martin Hannett James Martin Hannett (31 May 1948 – 18 April 1991) was an English record producer, musician and an original partner/director at Tony Wilson's Factory Records. Hannett produced music by artists including Joy Division, the Durutti Column, A Cert ...

run by

Factory Records Factory Records was a Manchester-based British independent record label founded in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus. The label featured several important acts on its roster, including Joy Division, New Order (band), New Order, A Certain Ra ...

.(see Cities in the Park video band list) The band were signed to an offshoot of

Hollywood Records Hollywood Records is an American record label owned by the Disney Music Group which focuses on pop, rock, alternative, hip hop and country genres, also specializing in recordings for a more mature audience not suitable for the flagship Wal ...

called Tr1be Records. They toured extensively with indie dance act The Farm, and provided support for

Seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, also called "true seal" ** Fur seal ** Eared seal * Seal ( ...

on his UK tour. The band's first

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

"Strange World" was voted 'record of the week' by

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, including ...

. The second single "Natural Life" received the same accolade two weeks running. Although the band enjoyed a large UK following and were regulars on the

festival A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

circuit playing at both the

Glastonbury Glastonbury ( , ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury is less than across the River ...

and

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

festivals in the summer of 92, they never managed to break into the mainstream. The band performed on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

's '' The Word'' on 28 February 1992. Their

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

ist Shovell later found fame as a member of

M People M People (stylised as ''M''People) are an English dance music band that formed in 1990 and achieved success throughout most of the 1990s. The name M People is derived from the first letter of the first name of band member Mike Pickering, who f ...

Members

* Jon Spong – Vocals * Shovell – Percussion * Darren Hunter – Guitar * "Liggy" Locko – Guitar * Mark Matthews – Bass * Ray Wilson – Keyboards * 'Big' Sydney Holdforth – Drums * Hakan Tuna – Keyboards (After Ray Left early 1992)

Discography

Singles

* "Strange World" ( Tr1be Records/

– 1992) * "The Promise" (12" Hollywood Records. -1991) * "Passion" (Promo Hollywood Records. ) * "Natural Life"/"As One Alone" (Tr1be Records – 1992) – UK #47

Albums

* ''Natural Life''

References

{{Authority control English electronic music groups English dance music groups English rock music groups