Alabama 3

A highly eclectic and original project, Alabama 3 (A3 in the USA) is the genre-bending creation of a motley crew of underground club veterans based in Brixton, London. They were formed around singer-songwriter Larry Love (b. Robert Spragg), a native of South Wales, and the line-up also includes Jake Black, Piers Marsh, Simon Edwards, Orlando Harrison, Mark Sams and Jonny Delafons. Spragg began working as a DJ in the late 80s, and recorded Mahalia, a gospel techno record released under the Shed moniker, in the early 90s. He began working on the Brixton scene with Piers Marsh, whose experimental sampling of blues music helped formulate the newly named Alabama 3's sound. The loose collective played several sets in Northern Italy and Brixton, and soon began to attract a loyal following. The One Little Indian Records' subsidiary Elemental signed the group for the UK and European markets in January 1996, while Geffen Records snapped up the US rights in September. The singles "Ain't Goin' To Goa" and "Woke Up This Morning" followed in November and spring 1997 respectively. They served as an excellent introduction to the band's heady fusion of traditional American popular music forms, including country, gospel and blues, with contemporary dance music grooves. An appearance on the soundtrack to the Cameron Diaz/Ewan McGregor movie A Life Less Ordinary provided further valuable exposure for their uneven debut, Exile On Coldharbour Lane. Alabama 3 appeared at Primal Scream's Brixton all-nighter in February 1998 and supported Chumbawamba on their US tour the following month. A re-released "Ain't Goin' To Goa" peaked at number 40 on the UK singles chart, and "Woke Up This Morning" received extensive exposure as the theme music to the acclaimed HBO series, The Sopranos. Alabama 3 remains a popular live act and in addition to official albums for One Little Indian, has released a series of bootleg recordings through their website.