Underworld | |
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Underworld live at Alexandra Palace in 2017 (Left to right: Rick Smith and Karl Hyde)
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Background information | |
Also known as | Lemon Interupt, Mr. and Mrs. Christmas |
Origin | Romford, Greater London, England |
Genres | |
Years active | 1980–present |
Labels |
Cooking Vinyl, Om Records, Junior Boy's Own, V2, Wax Trax!, Sire, Warner Bros. underworldlive.com, Traffic, Different Recordings |
Associated acts | The Screen Gemz, Freur, Steppin' Razor |
Website | underworldlive.com |
Members |
Karl Hyde Rick Smith |
Past members | Gary Bond Steve Irwin Stuart Keeling Bryn Burrows Alfie Thomas John Warwicker Baz Allen Pascal Consoli Darren Emerson |
Cooking Vinyl, Om Records, Junior Boy's Own, V2, Wax Trax!, Sire, Warner Bros.
Underworld are a British electronic group formed in 1980 in Cardiff and the principal name under which musicians Karl Hyde and Rick Smith have recorded together. Darren Price has toured with the band since 2005, after the departure of Darren Emerson in 2000. Known for visual style and dynamic live performances, Underworld have influenced a wide range of artists and been featured in soundtracks and scores for films, television and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
Hyde and Smith began their musical partnership with the Kraftwerk and reggae-inspired sounds of The Screen Gemz while working together in a diner in the city of Cardiff, where both had been studying. They were joined by The Screen Gemz' bass player Alfie Thomas, drummer Bryn Burrows, and keyboardist John Warwicker in forming a proto-electroclash/new wave band whose name was a graphic squiggle, which was subsequently given the pronunciation Freur. The band signed to CBS Records and went on to release the albums Doot-Doot in 1983 and Get Us out of Here in 1986. Freur disbanded in 1986.