Cubanate

by John BushMarc Heal and Phil Barry, otherwise known as industrial terrorists Cubanate, have explored the hybrid style created by mixing industrial music with the high-speed rhythms of techno. The group formed in London in late 1992 with Heal on vocals and Barry playing guitar, along with keyboard player Graham Rayner and percussionist Steve Etheridge. Cubanate began recording soon after, and played their first live show that same year (with only Heal and Barry). In early 1993, the group signed to Berlins Dynamica label and released the Bodyburn single a few months later. It earned good reviews (Single of the Week according to Kerrang!), but Rayner and Etheridge left not long after. Remixer/producer Julian Beeston was added for awhile, but Heal and Barry decided to continue for the time being as a two-piece.September 1993 brought the duos debut album Antimatter, and the Metal EP followed in 1994. Controversy followed Cubanate around the British Isles during a 1994 tour with Carcass, as death threats and near riots caused the London Evening Standard to declare that the band had provoked an outbreak of demented carnage. Late in 1994, Cubanate delivered Oxyacetylene, the trailer single for second LP Cyberia, which appeared in early 1995. Heal and Barry once again enlisted extra members — this time guitarist Shep Ashton and keyboard player Darren Bennett — for a tour with Front Line Assembly, but returned to the duo format for third album Barbarossa, released in April 1996. Two years later, Interference appeared on TVT.