Cubanate

Cubanate are a British industrial rock and electro-industrial group from London, formed in 1992. The core members are Marc Heal and Phil Barry, with Graham Rayner, Steve Etheridge and Julian Beeston also part of the group’s history. Their sound combines industrial music with high-speed techno rhythms, and they work across industrial, industrial metal, industrial rock and electronic styles.

History

The group forms in late 1992 in London, with Heal on vocals and Barry on guitar, alongside Rayner on keyboards and Etheridge on percussion. They begin recording soon afterwards and play their first live show in the same year. In early 1993 they sign to the Berlin label Dynamica and release the single “Bodyburn” a few months later. The single receives favourable attention, including a Single of the Week mention from Kerrang!, though Rayner and Etheridge leave not long after.

Ex-Nitzer Ebb drummer Julian Beeston joins for a period, but Heal and Barry continue the project as a duo. Their debut album, Antimatter, appears in September 1993, followed by the Metal EP in 1994. In 1994, the group tours the British Isles with Carcass, and the tour attracts controversy and reports of threats and near riots.

Albums and singles

Late in 1994, Cubanate release “Oxyacetylene” as the lead single from their second album, Cyberia, which arrives in early 1995. The track appears on the Mortal Kombat II and Gran Turismo soundtrack albums. For a European tour with Front Line Assembly in 1995, Heal and Barry add guitarist Shep Ashton and keyboard player Darren Bennett to the line-up.

Their third album, Barbarossa, is released in April 1996. In 1998, Interference appears on TVT and Wax Trax! Recordings. That album shifts towards drum and bass rhythms and more personal lyrics, and it receives mixed reactions.

Later activity

Cubanate disband by 2000, though the group remains active from 1992 to the present. Their recorded history is closely associated with the early 1990s British industrial scene and with the fusion of metal, electronic and techno-based rhythms.