Utah Saints - WikiHQ

Utah Saints are an English electronic music duo consisting of members Jez Willis and Tim Garbutt. The band had three top-ten and another five top-40 singles on the UK Singles Chart in the 1990s, as well as number-one dance tracks in the UK and US. They were notable for pioneering use of sampling technology, in particular, their practice of manipulating samples from mainstream pop, rock, R&B and soul songs and combining them with contrasting dance beats, using the samples in a new context. The band wrote, produced and mixed all of their own music.

The duo were joined on stage by additional musicians when they played live from 1991 to 2001. They were one of the first electronic groups to play as a live collective and supported both the Shamen and U2 live at 10 stadium shows. Since then the duo have performed live sets themselves.

Utah Saints ran clubs from 1988 to 1994, particularly Ricky's and The Gallery (later the Pleasure Rooms). They booked new DJs, including Pete Tong, Carl Cox, Paul Oakenfold, Sasha, Justice, Annie Mac and Zane Lowe. They then ran their own Sugarbeat club night from 1998 to 2010 in Leeds, Edinburgh and London, booking a diverse range of acts such as Soulwax, Erol Alkan, Felix Da Housecat, Zane Lowe, Annie Mac and Tiga. They continue to book electronic acts and DJs, curating a stage at Beatherder Festival for three days every year since 2007.

They had five further UK top 40 singles including a top 10 between 2000 and 2012, and continue to produce music, DJ in clubs and at festivals, promote nights, curate festival stages and write music for film, trailers and games.

Biography

Utah Saints were described as "the first true stadium house band" by the KLF's Bill Drummond, though their music is difficult to place into one genre. The dance group originally met as music promoters and DJs for the Mix Nightclub in Harrogate in the early 1990s. featuring two former The Cassandra Complex members Jez Willis and Keith Langley, along with Bobby Rae and guitarist Martin Scott. Willis started The Utah Saints with the addition of Tim Garbutt. Additionally, Bush sold Utah Saints footage from the video of her original song. This track, with new vocals by the singer and actress Davina Perera, experienced a revival in the clubs in 2008 and reached No. 1 on UK Dance Chart. The track featured new remixes by Van She, High Contrast, Prok & Fitch, eSquire, Ian Carey and more.

Utah Saints then moved away from vocal samples with singles such as "I Want You" (sampling thrash metal band Slayer) Utah Saints also had three songs — "Hands Up", "Techknowledgy" and "Sick" — featured in the hit video game Carmageddon TDR2000. Their song "Sick" was included on the 2002 PlayStation 2 soundtrack Wipeout Fusion. Another single, "Power To The Beats" featured on the FIFA 2001 football game.

After their debut album, the self-titled Utah Saints, and one further single "Ohio", which was based around samples from the Jocelyn Brown song "Somebody Else's Guy"

They reappeared in late 1999 with charting singles "Love Song" and "Funky Music Sho' 'Nuff Turns Me On" (featuring Edwin Starr on guest vocals), Utah Saints played the Together Winter Music Festival in London at the Alexandra Palace on 26 November 2010. Then went to play Beat-Herder festival, on the Toiltrees stage, in 2012.

In 2012, "What Can You Do For Me" was remixed by drum and bass duo Drumsound & Bassline Smith. Utah Saints then added to the remix and the track became a collaboration, received airplay, entered the top 10 on the dance chart and the top 30 in the national chart. Hervé and Tantrum Desire provided new 2012 remixes for the song, the remix by Herve was made to sound like a remix of the original 1990s single, so Herve cut out the new material performed by Drumsound & Bassline Smith. "What Can You Do For Me" peaked at No. 28 on the UK Singles Chart. It was included on the 2012 edition of Ministry of Sound's Addicted To Bass series. The Cut-Up Boys mashed up "What Can You Do For Me" with "Midnight Run" by Example and Feed Me.

In 2015, Utah Saints released one copy of a work in progress track titled "Swansong D'Amour" which was played on BBC by Mistajam.

Utah Saints revealed on Twitter in October 2021 that they captured crowd noises from fans celebrating the Toronto Blue Jays victory during the 1992 World Series over the Atlanta Braves. The band says they captured these sounds and incorporated them into performance.

Band members

Tim Garbutt – born 6 January 1969, London
Jez Willis – born 14 August 1963, Brampton, Carlisle, Cumberland

Discography

Studio albums

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"

! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:14em;" | Title

! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:16em;" | Album details

! scope="col" colspan="6" | Peak chart positions

! rowspan="2" style="width:10em;" | Certifications

!style="width:2em;font-size:90%;" | UK

!style="width:2em;font-size:90%;" | AUS

!style="width:2em;font-size:90%;" | CAN

!style="width:2em;font-size:90%;" | FIN

!style="width:2em;font-size:90%;" | US

!style="width:2em;font-size:90%;" | US Heat

! scope="row" | Two

Released: October 2000
Label: Echo

| —

|align="center" colspan="15" style="font-size:90%"| "—" denotes items that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

Extended plays

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"

! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:14em;" | Title

! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:16em;" | EP details

! scope="col" colspan="2" | Peak chart positions

!style="width:2em;font-size:90%;" | US

!style="width:2em;font-size:90%;"| AUS

!style="width:2em;font-size:90%;"| FIN

!style="width:2em;font-size:90%;"| IRE

!style="width:2em;font-size:90%;"| ITA

!style="width:2em;font-size:90%;"| NLD

!style="width:2em;font-size:90%;"| NZ

!style="width:2em;font-size:90%;"| SWE

!style="width:2em;font-size:90%;"| US

| 1991

| style="text-align:left;"| "What Can You Do for Me"

| 10

| 90

| —

| 16

| 23

| —

| 35

| —

| style="text-align:left;" rowspan="4"| Utah Saints

| 1992

| style="text-align:left;"| "Something Good"

| 4

| 10

| —

| 4

| —

| 42

| —

| 98

ARIA: Gold

| rowspan="2" | 1993

| style="text-align:left;"| "Believe in Me"

| 8

| 92

| 15

| 100

| 9

| —

| 20

| —

| style="text-align:left;"| "I Want You"

| 25

| —

| 25

| —

| 1994

| style="text-align:left;"| "I Still Think of You"

| 32

| —

| rowspan="2"

| 1995

| style="text-align:left;"| "Ohio"

| 42

| 145

| —

| rowspan="3" | 2000

| style="text-align:left;"| "Love Song"

| 37

| —

|align="left" rowspan="4"| Two

| style="text-align:left;"| "Funky Music" (featuring Edwin Starr)

| 23

| —

| style="text-align:left;"| "Power to the Beats" (featuring Chuck D)

| —

| 2001

| style="text-align:left;"| "Lost Vagueness" (featuring Chrissie Hynde)

| —

| 2008

| style="text-align:left;"| "Something Good '08"

| 8

| 32

| —

| 22

| —

| 29

| —

BPI: Silver