Alabama 3
Encyclopedia
Alabama 3 are a British band mixing rock
, dance
, blues
, country
, and gospel
styles, founded in Brixton
, London, in 1995. In the United States, they are known as A3, allegedly to avoid any possible legal conflict with the country music
band Alabama
. The group achieved international fame when the producers of hit TV series The Sopranos
chose their track "Woke Up This Morning
" for the show's opening credits.
The band are particularly notable for their fusion of styles, lyrics full of ironic intent, their deliberately humorous personas, and their outrageous live performances. Every member of the group has an alias by which he is known, the band's founding members adopting the personas Larry Love (Rob Spragg) and The Very Reverend Dr. D. Wayne Love (Jake Black).
party in Peckham
and they decided that a fusion of country music with acid house was a musical possibility. Other members of the band were accumulated over a lengthy period, but it is known that Rob Spragg was at university with Piers Marsh, the harmonica player and synth programmer for the band whilst Orlando Harrison, the group's current keyboardist, used to live with Jake Black. Prior to the formation of the Alabama 3 Jake had gone through his "wilderness years" period of which there is little or no recorded output. This creative gulch lasted years following the demise of The Jangletties.
Starting their act under the alias the First Presleyterian Church of Elvis the Divine (UK), the group eventually switched names to Alabama 3 and, after having been dismissed by the mainstream media as a novelty act, the group finally signed with One Little Indian Records
in 1997 for the release of its debut album, Exile on Coldharbour Lane
.
In August 2007, the group toured under the name of Alabama 3: Acoustic and Unplugged, with Harpo Strangelove and Devlin Love to promote its new album M.O.R.
(released 10 September 2007). Bassist John "Segs" Jennings apparently left the band, saying he is "busy elsewhere and [he doesn't] have the time."
Their sixth studio album album M.O.R includes a cover of Jerry Reed
's 1970s hit "Amos Moses" and features The Proclaimers
on the track "Sweet Joy" plus piano parts on the country stomp version of the Gil Scott Heron song "The Klan", written by Heron and Brian Jackson
. In September and October 2007, the band toured the UK in support of M.O.R. with Irish band Republic Of Loose
supporting.
On Friday 29 February 2008, Larry Love, Devlin Love and Mark Sams did an encore with Carbon/Silicon
at the seventh and final Carbon Casino gig at the Inn on the Green, under the Westway. Mick Jones
joined the group onstage to add guitar and backing vocals to a version of "Woke Up This Morning
."
In late 2010/early 2011, programmer, harmonicist, and founding member Piers "Mountain of Love" Marsh left the band. Although no reason has yet been publicly given, his departure appears to be amicable, as he is still an active contributor to the band's Facebook page and is working on solo projects involving Zoe Devlin and L.B. Dope.
The members of the band are:
, and acid house
. Their songs have sampled Jim Jones
in "Mao Tse Tung Said" and Birmingham Six
survivor Patrick Hill in "The Thrills Have Gone." Trouser Press
reviewer Jason Reeher wrote that A3's "debut is brilliant and shambolic...owing huge debts to both Hank Williams and Happy Mondays."
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, dance
Electronic dance music
Electronic dance music is electronic music produced primarily for the purposes of use within a nightclub setting, or in an environment that is centered upon dance-based entertainment...
, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, and gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
styles, founded in Brixton
Brixton
Brixton is a district in the London Borough of Lambeth in south London, England. It is south south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
, London, in 1995. In the United States, they are known as A3, allegedly to avoid any possible legal conflict with the country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
band Alabama
Alabama (band)
Alabama is a country music and southern rock band from Fort Payne, Alabama, United States. The band was founded in 1969 by Randy Owen and his cousin Teddy Gentry , soon joined by Jeff Cook...
. The group achieved international fame when the producers of hit TV series The Sopranos
The Sopranos
The Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...
chose their track "Woke Up This Morning
Woke Up This Morning
"Woke Up This Morning" is a song by Alabama 3 from their 1997 album Exile on Coldharbour Lane. The song is best known as the opening theme music for the HBO drama series The Sopranos .Alabama 3 frontman Rob Spragg wrote the song after hearing about the 1996 murder case of Sara Thornton,...
" for the show's opening credits.
The band are particularly notable for their fusion of styles, lyrics full of ironic intent, their deliberately humorous personas, and their outrageous live performances. Every member of the group has an alias by which he is known, the band's founding members adopting the personas Larry Love (Rob Spragg) and The Very Reverend Dr. D. Wayne Love (Jake Black).
History
The band formed when Jake Black met Rob Spragg at an acid houseAcid house
Acid house is a sub-genre of house music that emphasizes a repetitive, hypnotic and trance-like style, often with samples or spoken lines rather than sung lyrics. Acid house's core electronic squelch sounds were developed around the mid-1980s, particularly by DJs from Chicago who experimented with...
party in Peckham
Peckham
Peckham is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Southwark. It is situated south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London...
and they decided that a fusion of country music with acid house was a musical possibility. Other members of the band were accumulated over a lengthy period, but it is known that Rob Spragg was at university with Piers Marsh, the harmonica player and synth programmer for the band whilst Orlando Harrison, the group's current keyboardist, used to live with Jake Black. Prior to the formation of the Alabama 3 Jake had gone through his "wilderness years" period of which there is little or no recorded output. This creative gulch lasted years following the demise of The Jangletties.
Starting their act under the alias the First Presleyterian Church of Elvis the Divine (UK), the group eventually switched names to Alabama 3 and, after having been dismissed by the mainstream media as a novelty act, the group finally signed with One Little Indian Records
One Little Indian Records
One Little Indian Records is a London-based independent record label that rose from the ashes of punk record company Spiderleg Records. It was set up in 1985 by members of various anarchist punk bands, and managed by ex-Flux of Pink Indians Derek Birkett. The first success came with A.R. Kane and...
in 1997 for the release of its debut album, Exile on Coldharbour Lane
Exile on Coldharbour Lane
Exile on Coldharbour Lane is the debut album by Alabama 3, released November 11, 1997, on One Little Indian and Geffen. The name and cover are references to Exile on Main St. by The Rolling Stones and Coldharbour Lane a major street in Brixton, South London best known for containing several...
.
In August 2007, the group toured under the name of Alabama 3: Acoustic and Unplugged, with Harpo Strangelove and Devlin Love to promote its new album M.O.R.
M.O.R. (album)
M.O.R. is the official 6th studio album by Alabama 3. It was released on September 9, 2007.-Track listing :# "Check In" - 1:21# "Fly" - 3:48#* featuring Devlin Love# "Lockdown" - 4:12# "Monday Don't Mean Anything" - 4:09#* featuring Errol T...
(released 10 September 2007). Bassist John "Segs" Jennings apparently left the band, saying he is "busy elsewhere and [he doesn't] have the time."
Their sixth studio album album M.O.R includes a cover of Jerry Reed
Jerry Reed
Jerry Reed Hubbard , known professionally as Jerry Reed, was an American country music singer, innovative guitarist, songwriter, and actor who appeared in more than a dozen films...
's 1970s hit "Amos Moses" and features The Proclaimers
The Proclaimers
The Proclaimers are a Scottish band composed of identical twin brothers, Charlie and Craig Reid . They are probably best known for the songs "Letter from America", "I'm On My Way" and "I'm Gonna Be ". The band tours extensively throughout Europe and other continents...
on the track "Sweet Joy" plus piano parts on the country stomp version of the Gil Scott Heron song "The Klan", written by Heron and Brian Jackson
Brian Jackson
Brian Jackson is the name of:*Brian Jackson , American football cornerback*Brian Jackson , American basketball player for Utah Flash*Brian Jackson , Canadian conductor...
. In September and October 2007, the band toured the UK in support of M.O.R. with Irish band Republic Of Loose
Republic of Loose
Republic of Loose are an Irish funk rock band from Dublin. Formed in 2001, the band currently consists of lead vocalist Mick Pyro, bass guitarist and vocalist Benjamin Loose, keyboardist Darragh, guitarists and vocalists Dave Pyro and Darach O' Laoire and drummers and percussionists Andre Lopes...
supporting.
On Friday 29 February 2008, Larry Love, Devlin Love and Mark Sams did an encore with Carbon/Silicon
Carbon/Silicon
Carbon/Silicon is a punk rock duo consisting of two experienced punk rock musicians: Mick Jones formerly of The Clash and former Generation X and Sigue Sigue Sputnik member Tony James. The band formed around 2002.-Career:...
at the seventh and final Carbon Casino gig at the Inn on the Green, under the Westway. Mick Jones
Mick Jones (The Clash)
Michael Geoffrey "Mick" Jones is the former lead guitarist, secondary vocalist and co-founder for the British punk rock band The Clash until his dismissal in 1983. He went on to form the band Big Audio Dynamite with Don Letts before line-up changes led to the formation of Big Audio Dynamite II and...
joined the group onstage to add guitar and backing vocals to a version of "Woke Up This Morning
Woke Up This Morning
"Woke Up This Morning" is a song by Alabama 3 from their 1997 album Exile on Coldharbour Lane. The song is best known as the opening theme music for the HBO drama series The Sopranos .Alabama 3 frontman Rob Spragg wrote the song after hearing about the 1996 murder case of Sara Thornton,...
."
In late 2010/early 2011, programmer, harmonicist, and founding member Piers "Mountain of Love" Marsh left the band. Although no reason has yet been publicly given, his departure appears to be amicable, as he is still an active contributor to the band's Facebook page and is working on solo projects involving Zoe Devlin and L.B. Dope.
Members
- Rob Spragg AKA Larry Love: vocals
- Jake Black AKA The Very Reverend Dr. D. Wayne Love: vocals
- Simon (The Dude) Edwards AKA Sir Eddie Real: percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
, vocals - Orlando Harrison AKA The Spirit: keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, keyboard bassKeyboard bassThe keyboard bass is the use of a low-pitched keyboard or pedal keyboard to substitute for the bass guitar or double bass in popular music.-1960s:The earliest keyboard bass instrument was the 1960 Fender Rhodes piano bass, pictured above...
, vocals - Mark Sams AKA Rock Freebase: guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - Aurora Dawn: vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
- Piers Marsh AKA Mountain of Love: programming, keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, harmonicaHarmonicaThe harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes... - Jonny Delafons AKA L. B. Dope: drums, percussion
- Steve Finnerty AKA LOVEPIPE: productionRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and vocals - Nick Reynolds AKA Harpo Strangelove: harmonicaHarmonicaThe harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
, percussion, vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
Musical style
Alabama 3's sound is a blend of country, bluesBlues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, and acid house
Acid house
Acid house is a sub-genre of house music that emphasizes a repetitive, hypnotic and trance-like style, often with samples or spoken lines rather than sung lyrics. Acid house's core electronic squelch sounds were developed around the mid-1980s, particularly by DJs from Chicago who experimented with...
. Their songs have sampled Jim Jones
Jim Jones
James Warren "Jim" Jones was the founder and leader of the Peoples Temple, which is best known for the November 18, 1978 mass suicide of 909 Temple members in Jonestown, Guyana along with the killings of five other people at a nearby airstrip.Jones was born in Indiana and started the Temple in...
in "Mao Tse Tung Said" and Birmingham Six
Birmingham Six
The Birmingham Six were six men—Hugh Callaghan, Patrick Joseph Hill, Gerard Hunter, Richard McIlkenny, William Power and John Walker—sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975 in the United Kingdom for the Birmingham pub bombings. Their convictions were declared unsafe and quashed by the Court of...
survivor Patrick Hill in "The Thrills Have Gone." Trouser Press
Trouser Press
Trouser Press was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow Who fan Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" ...
reviewer Jason Reeher wrote that A3's "debut is brilliant and shambolic...owing huge debts to both Hank Williams and Happy Mondays."
Alabama 3's music in TV and film
- A remixed version of "Woke Up This Morning" plays during the opening credits of the HBOHome Box OfficeHBO, short for Home Box Office, is an American premium cable television network, owned by Time Warner. , HBO's programming reaches 28.2 million subscribers in the United States, making it the second largest premium network in America . In addition to its U.S...
television series The SopranosThe SopranosThe Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...
. - A part of "M.I.A" by the band is played in the 2004 film The Football Factory as the Chelsea firm travel up to Liverpool for an away match.
- A snippet of "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlife" can be heard at the beginning of the first episode of the third season of The Sopranos as Tony Soprano walks down the drive way to get his morning newspaper.
- "Mansion on the Hill" featured on the Kurt Russell/Kevin Costner film 3000 Miles to Graceland3000 Miles to Graceland3000 Miles to Graceland is a 2001 American crime film, starring Kurt Russell, Kevin Costner, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Bokeem Woodbine, Christian Slater, and Kevin Pollak. It is a story of theft and betrayal, revolving around a plot to rob the Riviera Casino during a convention of Elvis...
. - "Too Sick to Pray" plays on the radio in the film Gone in 60 Seconds.
- "Peace in the Valley" is featured in the film A Life Less OrdinaryA Life Less OrdinaryA Life Less Ordinary is a 1997 British black comedy film directed by Danny Boyle, written by John Hodge. It stars Ewan McGregor, Cameron Diaz, Holly Hunter, and Delroy Lindo.-Plot:...
. - A shortened alternate version of "Woke Up This Morning" can be heard for nearly 50 seconds in The SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
episode "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge", while Fat Tony and his gang are on the ride to the Simpsons' house. The sequence is a parody of the opening sequence of The Sopranos. "Woke Up This Morning" is also in the later Simpsons episode "The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her HomerThe Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer"The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer" is the season premiere of The Simpsons’ eighteenth season and first aired September 10, 2006. Lisa meets Fat Tony's son, Michael, who does not want to enter the family business of the mafia, but wants to pursue his dream of being a chef...
", which guest-starred Sopranos regulars Michael ImperioliMichael ImperioliJames Michael Imperioli , commonly known as Michael Imperioli, is an American actor and television writer. He is perhaps best known for his role as Christopher Moltisanti on The Sopranos for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2004. He also...
and Joe PantolianoJoe PantolianoJoseph Peter "Joe" Pantoliano is an American film and television actor. He played the character of Ralph Cifaretto on The Sopranos, Bob Keane in La Bamba, Cypher in The Matrix, Teddy in Memento, Francis Fratelli in The Goonies, Guido "the Killer Pimp" in Risky Business, and Jennifer Tilly's...
. - "Sister Rosetta" from Exile on Coldharbour Lane can be heard in the film BarnyardBarnyard (film)Barnyard is a 2006 computer-animated family comedy film, produced by Nickelodeon Movies and Paramount Pictures, directed by Steve Oedekerk . and produced by Steve Oedekerk, Paul Marshal, and Pam Marsden...
. - Rapper NasNasNasir bin Olu Dara Jones, who performs under the name Nas , formerly Nasty Nas, is an American rapper and actor. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in hip hop and one of the most skilled and influential rappers of all-time...
sampled "Woke Up This Morning" for his 2001 hit "Got Ur Self A...Got Ur Self A..."Got Ur Self A..." is the second single from the 2001 album Stillmatic by the rapper Nas. The song samples "Woke Up This Morning" by Alabama 3. It reached #87 on the Billboard Hot 100.-Music video:...
."
- Woke Up This Morning was also used in an episode of BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
series Top GearTop Gear (current format)Top Gear is a British television series about motor vehicles, primarily cars. It began in 1977 as a conventional motoring magazine show. Over time, and especially since a relaunch in 2002, it has developed a quirky, humorous style...
, in which the team were driving through AlabamaAlabamaAlabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
. - "Mao Tse Tung Said" features in the first episode of the second season of TorchwoodTorchwoodTorchwood is a British science fiction television programme created by Russell T Davies. The series is a spin-off from Davies's 2005 revival of the long-running science fiction programme Doctor Who. The show has shifted its broadcast channel each series to reflect its growing audience, moving from...
. - The song "Ain't Goin' to Goa" is featured in the motion picture Definitely, MaybeDefinitely, MaybeDefinitely, Maybe is a 2008 romantic comedy film directed by Adam Brooks, and starring Ryan Reynolds, Isla Fisher, Rachel Weisz, Elizabeth Banks, Abigail Breslin and Kevin Kline.-Plot:...
. - The closing scene to first season Criminal MindsCriminal MindsCriminal Minds is an American police procedural drama that premiered September 22, 2005, on CBS. The series follows a team of profilers from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit based in Quantico, Virginia. The BAU is part of the FBI National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime...
episode titled "Won't Get Fooled Again" (10/05/05) plays "The Night We Nearly Got Busted". - A snippet of "Speed of the Sound of Loneliness" features in the film Some VoicesSome Voices (film)Some Voices is a British 2000 film directed by Simon Cellan-Jones and adapted for the screen by Joe Penhall, from his own stage play . It is the first feature film by Cellan-Jones, a renowned TV director respected for his work on the BAFTA-winning Our Friends in the North...
. - The band are featured in the documentary We Dreamed AmericaWe Dreamed AmericaWe Dreamed America is a documentary film, directed by Alex Walker, that delves deep into the dark recesses of the British music scene. Examining the relationship and ongoing exchange between British and American roots music, the film looks at the British fascination with the most American of...
. The film, which explores the influence of American country music on British artists, features three songs by the band. - Episode four of the BBC Three series Being HumanBeing Human (TV series)Being Human is a British supernatural drama television series. It was created and written by Toby Whithouse and is currently broadcast on BBC Three. The show blends elements of flatshare comedy and horror drama...
features "Too Sick to Pray" at its opening and "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlife" at its end. The songs were omitted from the DVD release of the episode due to copyright issues. - Rob Spragg (as Rob Love) wrote and recorded the theme to Welsh TV series Y PrisY PrisY Pris is a popular Welsh language television programme produced by Fiction Factory for Welsh public service television station S4C. Described in its tagline as "The Sopranos by the seaside"...
. He and John Hardy won the Best Original Music Soundtrack award at BAFTA CymruBAFTA CymruBAFTA Cymru is the Welsh branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.Formed in 1991, they hold an annual awards ceremony to recognise achievement by performers and production staff in Welsh-made films and television programmes...
2008. - "Mansion on the Hill" is used on the opening credits of 2009 mockumentory Good Arrows, written by Irvine WelshIrvine WelshIrvine Welsh is a contemporary Scottish novelist, best known for his novel Trainspotting. His work is characterised by raw Scottish dialect, and brutal depiction of the realities of Edinburgh life...
and Dean CavanaghDean CavanaghDean Cavanagh is an award-winning artist, screenwriter, film and TV producer and music producer born in Bradford, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, in 1966...
. - On the Region 4 DVD release of season one of the Sopranos, the music video to "Woke Up This Morning" is included as a special feature: it is incorrectly credited as being performed by "Alabama 5".
- The song "The Night We Nearly Got Busted" got featured on the Soundtrack of the MMO Game All Points BulletinAll points bulletinAn all-points bulletin is a broadcast issued from one US law enforcement agency to another. It typically contains information about a wanted suspect who is to be arrested or a person of interest, for whom law enforcement officers are to look. They are usually dangerous or missing persons. As...
.