Campag Velocet was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Indie rock

Indie rock

Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...

 band

Band (music)

In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...

, who were at their peak during the late 1990s.

Career

Formed in London in early 1993, the band's musical style was influenced by bands such as Primal Scream

Primal Scream

Primal Scream are a Scottish alternative rock band originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie and Jim Beattie and now based in London. The current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes , Martin Duffy , and Darrin Mooney...

, and at the time were lumped into an indie dance genre which then included bands such as Lo Fidelity Allstars

Lo Fidelity Allstars

The Lo Fidelity Allstars are a British electronica group who have recorded since the late 1990s.-Career:Their members originate from various cities in Northern England where they were formed in Leeds, before relocating first to London where they came to the attention of major record labels...

 and Regular Fries

Regular Fries

Regular Fries were a 7-piece psychedelic rock band, formed in London, England in 1997. Their style was surreal and infused with the space age. Although chart success eluded them they received rave reviews in the music media from NME, Rolling Stone and Loaded, who were once moved to call them "the...

. The name of the band is probably a reference to the Campagnolo

Campagnolo

Campagnolo is an Italian manufacturer of high-end bicycle components with headquarters in Vicenza, Italy. The components are organised as groupsets and are a near-complete collection of a bicycle's mechanical parts. Campagnolo's flagship components are the Super Record, Record, and Chorus...

 groupset

Groupset

A groupset or gruppo is a bicycle component manufacturer's organized collection of mechanical parts...

, and much of their artwork draws from road bicycle

Road bicycle

The term road bicycle is used to describe bicycles built for traveling at speed on paved roads. Some sources use the term to mean racing bicycle...

 imagery. Another major influence in the Campag vocabulary and artwork is Nadsat

Nadsat

Nadsat is a fictional register or argot used by the teenagers in Anthony Burgess' novel A Clockwork Orange. In addition to being a novelist, Burgess was also a linguist and he used this background to depict his characters as speaking a form of Russian-influenced English...

, coined by Anthony Burgess

Anthony Burgess

John Burgess Wilson  – who published under the pen name Anthony Burgess – was an English author, poet, playwright, composer, linguist, translator and critic. The dystopian satire A Clockwork Orange is Burgess's most famous novel, though he dismissed it as one of his lesser works...

 in the book A Clockwork Orange

A Clockwork Orange

A Clockwork Orange is a 1962 dystopian novella by Anthony Burgess. The novel contains an experiment in language: the characters often use an argot called "Nadsat", derived from Russian....

. The single "Drencrom Velocet Synthmesc" uses Nadsat words for recreational drugs, with the text being shown in the opening frame of the Clockwork Orange film

A Clockwork Orange (film)

A Clockwork Orange is a 1971 film adaptation of Anthony Burgess's 1962 novel of the same name. It was written, directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick...

.

The band's lineup was Pete Voss (vocals), Ian Cater (guitar

Guitar

The 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...

s, keyboards

Keyboard instrument

A 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...

, programming), Barnaby "Barney" Slater (bass

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

) and Lascelles Lascelle (drum

Drum

The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...

s, percussion, samples

Sampling (music)

In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...

).

Campag Velocet released their debut album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

, Bon Chic Bon Genre in 1999, and released three singles

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 off it, "To Lose La Trek", "Vito Satan" and "Drencrom [Velocet Synthmesc]", the latter of which was an NME

NME

The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

magazine

Magazine

Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

 'single of the week'. "Vito Satan" peaked at #75 in the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 in February 2000. The band were hailed as the 'best new band in Britain' by NME, appearing on the cover of the magazine during 1999 and playing on the NME Tour in 2000 (appearing above Coldplay

Coldplay

Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...

 in the lineup). They later suffered the same fate as some of the other bands to be pushed by the NME (such as Terris and Gay Dad

Gay Dad

In 2001 the leading single from Transmission - "Now Always and Forever" - was released. It fell just short of the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart. An extensive UK tour was followed by a limited edition single "Harder, Faster". The third single "Transmission" was released just before the album came...

) by losing their recording contract

Recording contract

A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...

 due to poor sales.

The band signed a new recording contract

Recording contract

A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...

 with the record label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

, Pointy Records, and in 2004, they released their second album, It's Beyond Our Control, to mixed reviews.

Campag Velocet broke up in 2005. Voss formed a new band in 2006 called The Count.