Kris Weston
Encyclopedia
Kris Weston (aka "Thrash") is a British electronic musician, record producer
and remix
er best known for his work as a member of The Orb
.
Near the beginning of his career, he worked with Andrew Weatherall
on remixes of Meat Beat Manifesto
, remixed for Saint Etienne
, U2
and others. He was still a teen when working on the first few albums by The Orb. Thrash was with The Orb for less than 5 years, from around 1990 to the end of 1995. He appeared on the Orb albums and the many remixes they did during this period, including the album FFWD, a collaboration with Robert Fripp
that is credited to Fripp, Thomas Fehlmann
, Weston, and Alex Paterson
.
He also worked with Fortran 5
on their first album Blues.
, Miranda Sex Garden
, and Bananarama
under the name Thrash.
to join him in live performances as The Orb
. Weston's technical abilities allowed The Orb to craft panoramic sounds portraying aspects of space travel, especially the launch of Apollo 11
in their album The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld
. Paterson and Weston wrote their next single, "Blue Room". Assisting with the recording was bassist Ted Nugent
, keyboardist Miquette Giraudy
, and guitarist Hillage. This led to Weston and Patterson appearing on Top of the Pops
where they played a game of chess
in space suits with "Blue Room" playing in the background. Weston brought his technical and creative expertise to the Eno
-influenced ambience on U.F.Orb.
Weston and Patterson, along with Robert Fripp
and Thomas Fehlmann
worked on the FFWD. Soon after the release of FFWD in August 1994, Weston suddenly quit The Orb to pursue his own projects. Paterson claimed that Weston's departure was due to Weston's desire to have more control over The Orb's projects. However, in an interview with i-D
, Weston reportedly attributed the split to Paterson, saying that Paterson "never did 50% of the work."
, Thrash formed Justablip Records, an Open Source
/Creative Commons
license style music label.
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
and remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
er best known for his work as a member of The Orb
The Orb
Throughout 1989, the Orb, along with Martin Glover, developed the musical genre of ambient house through the use of a diverse array of samples and recordings. The culmination of its musical work came toward the end of the year when the group recorded a session for John Peel on BBC Radio 1...
.
Near the beginning of his career, he worked with Andrew Weatherall
Andrew Weatherall
Andrew Weatherall is a DJ, producer, and remixer.Andrew, Terry Farley, Cymon Eckel and Steve Mayes started Boy's Own initially as a fanzine commenting on fashion, records, football, and other issues...
on remixes of Meat Beat Manifesto
Meat Beat Manifesto
Meat Beat Manifesto, often shortened to Meat Beat or MBM, is an electronic music group originally consisting of Jack Dangers and Jonny Stephens formed in 1987 in Swindon, UK...
, remixed for Saint Etienne
Saint Etienne (band)
Saint Etienne are an English Pop group comprising Sarah Cracknell, Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs. They are named after the French football team AS Saint-Étienne.-History:Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs were childhood friends and former music journalists...
, U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
and others. He was still a teen when working on the first few albums by The Orb. Thrash was with The Orb for less than 5 years, from around 1990 to the end of 1995. He appeared on the Orb albums and the many remixes they did during this period, including the album FFWD, a collaboration with Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp is an English guitarist, composer and record producer. He was ranked 42nd on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and #47 on Gibson.com’s "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". Among rock guitarists, Fripp is a master of crosspicking, a technique...
that is credited to Fripp, Thomas Fehlmann
Thomas Fehlmann
Thomas Fehlmann , is a Swiss-born composer/producer who currently lives in Berlin, and has been active in electronic music as far back as the 1980s. He is currently active on the Kompakt record label based in Germany...
, Weston, and Alex Paterson
Alex Paterson
Alex Paterson is an English musician and co-founder of the ambient group The Orb, in which he has worked since its inception....
.
He also worked with Fortran 5
Fortran 5
Fortran 5 was an electronic music band recording music during the nineties.-Background:The band were made up of members David Baker and Simon Leonard, who had previously worked together on the music project known as I Start Counting. Around 1990 they had begun recording new material, and realised...
on their first album Blues.
Late 1980s-early 1990s
In 1990 and 1991, Weston performed remix work for many electronic pop groups including Depeche ModeDepeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
, Miranda Sex Garden
Miranda Sex Garden
Miranda Sex Garden were a music group from London, England. Formed in 1990, they were originally a trio of madrigal singers. Their first album, Madra , was entirely a cappella, with the songs all based on traditional English verse...
, and Bananarama
Bananarama
Bananarama are an English female pop duo who have had success on the pop and dance charts since 1982. Rather than relying on a two part harmony, the duo generally sings in unison, as do their background vocalists. Although there have been line-up changes, the group enjoyed their most popular...
under the name Thrash.
The Orb
In 1991 while working as a studio engineer, Kris Weston was invited by Alex PatersonAlex Paterson
Alex Paterson is an English musician and co-founder of the ambient group The Orb, in which he has worked since its inception....
to join him in live performances as The Orb
The Orb
Throughout 1989, the Orb, along with Martin Glover, developed the musical genre of ambient house through the use of a diverse array of samples and recordings. The culmination of its musical work came toward the end of the year when the group recorded a session for John Peel on BBC Radio 1...
. Weston's technical abilities allowed The Orb to craft panoramic sounds portraying aspects of space travel, especially the launch of Apollo 11
Apollo 11
In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...
in their album The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld
The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld
The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld is the seminal 1991 ambient house-concept debut album by the electronic music collective The Orb. The album's framework is of a two-hour psychedelic trip through music genres and studio electronics, produced to "push the threshold" of live stage performance...
. Paterson and Weston wrote their next single, "Blue Room". Assisting with the recording was bassist Ted Nugent
Ted Nugent
Theodore Anthony "Ted" Nugent is an American guitarist, musician, singer, author, reserve police officer, and activist. From Detroit, Michigan, he originally gained fame as the lead guitarist of The Amboy Dukes, before embarking on a lengthy solo career...
, keyboardist Miquette Giraudy
Miquette Giraudy
Miquette Giraudy is a keyboard player and vocalist, best known for her work in Gong and with her partner Steve Hillage. She and Hillage currently form the core of the ambient band System 7.-Film:...
, and guitarist Hillage. This led to Weston and Patterson appearing on Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
where they played a game of chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
in space suits with "Blue Room" playing in the background. Weston brought his technical and creative expertise to the Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
-influenced ambience on U.F.Orb.
Weston and Patterson, along with Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp is an English guitarist, composer and record producer. He was ranked 42nd on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and #47 on Gibson.com’s "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". Among rock guitarists, Fripp is a master of crosspicking, a technique...
and Thomas Fehlmann
Thomas Fehlmann
Thomas Fehlmann , is a Swiss-born composer/producer who currently lives in Berlin, and has been active in electronic music as far back as the 1980s. He is currently active on the Kompakt record label based in Germany...
worked on the FFWD. Soon after the release of FFWD in August 1994, Weston suddenly quit The Orb to pursue his own projects. Paterson claimed that Weston's departure was due to Weston's desire to have more control over The Orb's projects. However, in an interview with i-D
I-D
i-D is a British magazine dedicated to fashion, music, art and youth culture. i-D was founded by designer and former Vogue art director Terry Jones in 1980. The first issue was published in the form of a hand-stapled fanzine with text produced on a typewriter...
, Weston reportedly attributed the split to Paterson, saying that Paterson "never did 50% of the work."
Post-Orb
In the early 2000s, Weston produced and remixed for Japanese music artist and singer Coppé. In 20032003 in music
-January:* January – following an investigation by The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and London detectives, police raids in England and the Netherlands recover nearly 500 original Beatles studio tapes, recorded during the Let It Be sessions. Five people are arrested...
, Thrash formed Justablip Records, an Open Source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
/Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
license style music label.
Orb Albums with Kris Weston
- The Orb's Adventures Beyond the UltraworldThe Orb's Adventures Beyond the UltraworldThe Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld is the seminal 1991 ambient house-concept debut album by the electronic music collective The Orb. The album's framework is of a two-hour psychedelic trip through music genres and studio electronics, produced to "push the threshold" of live stage performance...
(1991), UK #29 - Aubrey Mixes: The Ultraworld ExcursionsAubrey Mixes: The Ultraworld ExcursionsAubrey Mixes: The Ultraworld Excursions is a remix album compilation by The Orb, which was deleted on the day it was released. The album consists of seven alternate mixes of their first album, The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld...
(1991) - U.F.OrbU.F.Orb-Disc 1:# "O.O.B.E." – 12:51# "U.F.Orb" – 6:08# "Blue Room" – 17:34# "Towers of Dub" – 15:00# "Close Encounters" – 10:27# "Majestic" – 11:06# "Sticky End" – 0:49-Disc 2:# "Blue Room " - 3:09# "Blue Room " - 7:37...
(1992), UK #1 - Live 93 (1993), UK #23
- Pomme FritzPomme Fritz-Side one:#"Pomme Fritz " – 9:04#"More Gills Less Fishcakes" – 8:05#"We're Pastie To Be Grill You" – 7:15-Side two:#"Bang 'Er 'N Chips" – 7:47#"Alles Ist Schoen" – 7:17#"His Immortal Logness" – 2:03...
(1994), UK #6 - FFWD (1994) The Orb and Robert FrippRobert FrippRobert Fripp is an English guitarist, composer and record producer. He was ranked 42nd on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and #47 on Gibson.com’s "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". Among rock guitarists, Fripp is a master of crosspicking, a technique...
- Orbus Terrarum (1995), UK #20
- Auntie Aubrey's Excursions Beyond The Call Of DutyAuntie Aubrey's Excursions Beyond the Call of DutyAuntie Aubrey's Excursions Beyond the Call of Duty is a remix compilation by The Orb originally released on a limited edition four record set in 1996. It was re-released five years later on CD along with its sequel, Auntie Aubrey's Excursions Beyond the Call of Duty Part 2...
(1996) - Auntie Aubrey's Excursions Beyond The Call Of Duty Pt 2 (2002)
Justablip Records Discography
- BLIP001/BLIP 23CD : Various Artists WTF? Madonna Remix Project (2003)
- BLIP002 : Weapons of Mass Destruction (2004)
- BLIP003 : Petrol Observer Good Luck, Cunt/Iscream (2004)
- BLIP004 : The War Against Terror Go back to bed America (2004)