The Beta Band were a British musical group who received much critical acclaim and achieved cult status, but failed to make much of a commercial impact on the popular music scene. Their style was self-described as being folk hop, a blend of folk, rock, trip hop, and experimental jamming.
To the surprise of most fans, the band announced their breakup on their official website on 2 August 2004. In November, they performed at the Summer Sundae festival and commenced a farewell tour. Their final show was at Edinburgh's Liquid Rooms venue on 5 December 2004. This lens serves as a memorium and source of information for Beta fans, old and new.
To the surprise of most fans, the band announced their breakup on their official website on 2 August 2004. In November, they performed at the Summer Sundae festival and commenced a farewell tour. Their final show was at Edinburgh's Liquid Rooms venue on 5 December 2004. This lens serves as a memorium and source of information for Beta fans, old and new.
Beta Band Online
Gone but not forgotten.
- The Official Beta Band Site
- Flash heavy and a little bit strange (just like the Betas,) this site is a great source for their music videos especially.
- The Beta Band Break Up!
- "Eight years of hard work and critical acclaim but little return in terms of commercial success inevitably takes its toll and a group decision was made to finally lay he band to rest."
- Beta Band on Wikipedia
- The Beta Band formed in 1996 around Edinburgh musicians Steve Mason (vocals, guitar) and Gordon Anderson. The two had plans to call their group The Pigeons but later changed their minds.
- A Love Letter to 'Dry the Rain'
- Most of you probably know Dry The Rain as 'the song from High Fidelity'. You remember - John Cusack makes a claim to his record store co-workers that he can sell multiple copies of a song immediately, just by placing it on the store's sound system. "I am now going to sell five copies of The Three EPs by The Beta Band."
Human Being - The Video
The Beta Band DVD
Beta Band Fan Blog
This blog keeps an eye on new projects and what members of the sadly defunct Beta Band are doing now.
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byShort Lifespan of the Beta Band
From PitchforkMedia.com
Formed in 1997, The Beta Band garnered consistent critical acclaim from the beginning (no great surprise-- have you fucking heard "Dry the Rain"?) and a formidable fan following. Over the course of three LPs and numerous EPs and singles, The Beta Band cemented their position among British rock's elite as a diverse and original act capable of dabbling in acid jazz, trip-hop, krautrock and straight-up indie.Despite the critical fawning and more hype in the British press than you can shake a Clinic album at, sales did not reflect Mojo scores and that apparently put a strain on the band.
Things seemed to be looking up in 2004: Heroes to Zeroes, released in May on Astralwerks, debuted at #18 on the UK album chart and brought the band its most significant commercial success to date. So why break up now? In the statement, bassist Richard Greentree described the decision as a culmination of problems, rather than a direct reaction to poor record sales:
"The Beta Band apple has over-ripened and become riddled with maggots, it must fall from the tree and let its seeds return to the ground." While the breakup is indeed sad news for rock music, fans of long-winded metaphors shall certainly rejoice.
The Beta Band Discography
Beta Band News from Rolling Stone
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byWhat's Your Favorite Beta Band Song?
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Photos From The Beta Band's Last Gig
Beta Band Lyrics
"We're the Beta Band and we're nice and cleanWe're always polite and hardly ever mean
Times have changed, we used to be smelly,
We lived in a squat 'til a punk nicked our telly."
- The Beta Band Rap
"Dr. Baker phoned me again later that day
Said he cried and he really sounded out of it
His wife was dead and his dog was dead
And misery planned inside his head
I tried to reason with him, tried singing
He said: 'No boy you'll never listen'."
- Dr. Baker
"I seen the demons but they didn't make a sound
They tried to reach me but I lay upon the ground
I seen the people but they didn't make a sound
They tried to reach me but I gave the runaround"
- Squares
"I say the time has come for decision
Better steer my boat for a reason
Lost on the way I went over horizon
She went out of sight
The girl lost me a lifetime"
- Assessment
Click here for a comprehensive collection of lyrics to The Beta Band's entire catalog.
Great Stuff on CafePress
(Outside) - The Video
Del.icio.us! Beta Band!
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Listen to The Beta Band!
A collection of sites which allow you to download or stream Beta Band music. These links go directly to BB specific sections on not to the homepages.
- Beta Band on LastFM.com
- Sign up for free to listen to the Beta Band's brilliant repetoire - and thousands more bands right on your computer. You get your own online music profile that you can fill up with the music you like. This information is used to create a personal radio station.
- Radio.Blog.Club's Beta Band Results.
- Save your favorite Beta Band tracks and build-up your playlist. Then listen to your juke.blog player all day loooooong.
- Beta Band on Yahoo! Music
- Buy and sample over 25 of the BB's best loved tracks. Dry the Rain, indeed.
- ArtistDirect.com's Beta Page
- Listen to clips from several songs spanning the Beta's entire lifespan.
- Dry The Rain - The Entire Song!
- Listen to the song the Beta's will probably be best remembered for - Dry The Rain - from start to finish in Real Audio!
Watch the Beta Band!
Look back in time with this collection of sites with Beta Band videos available for viewing.
- Beta Videos on Yahoo! Music
- The video for "Outside" from 2004's Hot Shots II can be watched here.
- BetaBand.com Video Archives
- Shorts for "Assessment", "Broke", "Inner Meet Me" and more can be seen in the Gallery > Videos section of their official site.
- MTV.com's BB Videos
- Catch "Squares" and other tunes in high resolution streaming video from MTV.com
- The VSpot BB Section
- VH1's VSpot features clips from several Beta Band videos.
by Pyeman73
Pyeman73
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