- Formed in 1994, bis (written all in lowercase and taken from a previous bandname ”Black Iron Skyline”) were a Scottish band featuring Steven Clark (Sci-fi Steven) (vocals, guitar), John Clark (John Disco) (vocals, bass), and Amanda MacKinnon (Manda Rin) (vocals, keyboards). In 1995, they became the first unsigned band to ever appear on BBC’s venerable Top of the Pops. Their 1998 hit single “Eurodisco” was a success for the band and it’s follow-up single “Detour” became the band’s first notable song in the United States. During their career, the group toured extensively with the likes of Garbage, Foo Fighters, Luscious Jackson, Pavement, and Gary Numan.|bis were so popular in Japan that they sold 100,000 of the album The New Transistor Heroes in 2 weeks and played 3 nights in a row at a 900 capacity venue in Tokyo as part of the tour. “Eurodisco”, a single from the band’s second album Social Dancing, reached number 37 in the UK singles chart. Shortly after, the band was dropped by Grand Royal in the USA, their publisher Universal in the UK, and they left the Wiiija UK label. Spinart Records in the US and Artful in the UK released their 3rd album Return to Central. bis recorded the theme tune to the Powerpuff Girls on Cartoon Network. As a result of its success, they were asked by the BBC to write music for the cartoon BB3B. The band appeared as characters and provided a tune per episode for them. Although the band broke up in 2003, all three former members have remained active within the U.K. music scene. Steven and John Clark formed Dirty Hospital and Amanda MacKinnon and her then-husband formed The Kitchen. The three then formed Data Panik in early 2005 along with members Stuart Memo and Graham C. Data Panik disbanded in August 2006, but each member still contributes to the music scene with Amanda doing solo material and the Clark brothers continuing make music as Dirty Hospital. In April 2007 bis played three reunion gigs to mark the 10th anniversary of the release of their debut album The New Transistor Heroes and a best-of compilation (We Are bis from Glasgow, Scotland). |
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