2000AD. Spiderman is in production, the X-Men hit the screens and Rachel Stamp are in production. Ear Candy and eye candy - the future is Stamp.

The year so far...

Rachel Stamp began the year in upbeat form releasing the awesome Hymns for strange children album, which was preceded by the cruelly ignored (by the usual suspects) single didn't I break my heart, a tour the length and breadth of Britain and a live single and new live album to boot. This year should be the one. Monsters of the new wave is in the shops and things are once again looking rosey. But where did it all start?

In the beginning

Legend has it David and Will had a chance encounter at a Vanessa Paradis concert. Their mutual love of petite French sex-kittens, hair dye and music meant that they hit it off immediately. Before the gig was over the nucleus of the band was formed.

At some stage they realised that if they were serious about this band then they'd need other members. And so a recruitment drive began in earnest (a small town near Dinas Powys). In came Jon Lee Jon Lee on drums and Tim Lewis on keys. An early recording by this line-up can be heard on the track N.A.U.S.E.A.

For reasons best known to the band Jon and Tim left the band and as a consequence further changes to the line-up were to occur.

In May 1995 Rachel Stamp were signed to WEA after only their fourth gig. And with this came a new line-up.

• David Ryder Prangley - Vocals and Bass
  
• Will Crewdson - Guitar
  
• Cliff Harris - Drums
  
• Mike Rowe - Keyboards

This stint with WEA saw three singles churned out and an album recorded but sadly never released (For details see the discography). Ultimately the band and the record company separated on what seems pretty amicable terms: David got to keep his pig tails and Warners got access at weekends.

As the deal with Warners came to an end so did the tenure of Mike Rowe. During the previous year Mike had been moonlighting with Oasis. Eventually the lure of Liam and Noel proved too great and so like many before him he buggered orf.

In 1997 he recorded the album Be here Now with the aformentioned Manc beat combo and then accompanied them on their world tour.

He's be spotted around and about in a number of guises since his departure. You may have seen him as the modestly monikered - The Mike Rowe Experience, as Double six and hitting the keys alongside Sheryl Crow.

Following hot on the heels of Mike Rowe went Cliff who - so the story goes - spontaneously combusted during a packed performance near Stonehenge. All that remained of him was a green globule on the end of his stick...

On drums they recruited the shy and retiring Robin Guy who aside from an unexplainable raport with the female fanbase has added a harder hitting dimension to the Stamp live sound (and Vanilla Ice to their set list). A tour to Los Angeles followed as did Dave Mac who has some pictures on the official site.

Shortly before the release of the fourth single, the rock mag Kerrang went Stamp crazy, featuring among other things: A pictorial: "night on the town with Rachel Stamp", the track Dead Girl was featured on the Radio Kerrang sampler CD, not to mention the bands guest appearance in the Pandora cartoon (which we just mentioned).

During the first part of 1999 the band acquired a full time replacement for Mike in the delightful form of Shaheena Dax.

Prior to this there were a number of guest keyboardists(?) who played live with the band including that bloke with long hair, some bloke who's name escapes me and of course the marvelous Becca Grover of Persecution Complex

At the outset 1999 looked like being the year that the band would make a huge impression on the British music scene. However in saying that the band have maintained their position on the shoulder of giants and the fan base continued to grow.

The single I wanna be your doll was released to an unsuspecting public on the 22nd of March. There was a tour. An appearance in the movie Greenwich Meantime (aka G:MT). Shaheena joined. Interviews galore. David appeared on a late night ITV quiz show. They were featured a couple of times in the lifestyle magazine Club International, where David and Robin were interviewed by a naked lovely. I'm sure there are loads of any other things to mention and if I can remember what they are I'll add them in here. Honest.


In the third week of September 1999 Rachel Stamp released the crowd pleaser Spank to the world, backed with... check out the discography for details.

That just about wraps up this much abbreviated history of Rachel Stamp. As time allows I'll add more juice but until then sod off and buy the records!