Mint Royale
Encyclopedia
Mint Royale is a big beat
electronic music act from Manchester
, England
. They were originally founded by the duo Neil Claxton and Chris Baker in 1997; the latter left the band in 2004, but Claxton continues to produce music using the Mint Royale name.
. They were championed by British dance guru Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim, whose DJ sets regularly included their work. Their sound was similar to his, to the extent that some people mistakenly believed Mint Royale to be a pseudonym for Cook himself. Their first album, On the Ropes
was released in late 1999, and though it was not a big sales hit, some songs from it have achieved recognition. The single "Don't Falter", featuring Lauren Laverne
from Kenickie
, was a minor hit in the British charts. The song "From Rusholme with Love" has been made recognizable through its extensive use in film
and television series soundtracks. Notable examples include the theme tune for the film Kung Pow! Enter The Fist, as well as being present on the soundtrack
of the films Vanilla Sky
, Get Carter, Serendipity and the television series ALIAS
(episode The Prophecy) and Spaced
. The song "Because I'm Worth It" has also been used as the theme tune for the Jamie Theakston
and Zoë Ball
chat show 'The Priory'. The song "Show Me
", which first appeared on the 2001 US reissue of the album, is played every Friday by John Richards
of KEXP
and the song has become known as "The Friday Song". "Show Me" was also used in the National Lampoon film Van Wilder
The band released their second album, Dancehall Places
, in 2002. The first single from this album, "The Sexiest Man in Jamaica", featuring a sample of a Prince Buster
recording, became their second UK Top 20 hit. As the band embarked on a series of live shows and a UK tour in 2003, a new single was released, "Blue Song", the video for which featured comedians Noel Fielding
and Julian Barratt
, of The Mighty Boosh
fame, as well as Nick Frost
of Spaced
and Shaun of the Dead
fame and Michael Smiley
, also of Spaced
. The video was directed by Edgar Wright
.
Mint Royale returned to the studio to start writing and recording their third album in April 2004. The next few months were a turbulent time for Mint Royale with founding member Chris Baker parting company with the band. However, Neil and the resident vocalists returned to the studio to complete the recording of the third album in January 2005 and the result was ‘See You In The Morning’ with the then unknown Duffy
singing on two of the tracks. In 2005 the group released "Waiting in the Rain" on the "Wait for You" EP - a remix of "Singin' in the Rain", which was featured in the January 2005 Volkswagen Golf
GTI commercial. It reached #20 on the UK Singles Chart
after it was released as a single (remixed and renamed as "Singing In the Rain"). This version also features on the album "See You in the Morning".
In 2007, Mint Royale released a compilation CD+DVD named Pop Is...
, which contained all their singles and videos, as well as a couple of the remixes they had done for other performers, and a new song, "Wham-Bar", based on the Wham!
hit song "Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)
". The same year, Mint Royale released a bonus track remix of Frank Sinatra's "This Town
" on the Ocean's Thirteen
official soundtrack.
On 1 June 2008, "Singin' In The Rain" re-entered the UK Singles Chart
at number 28 after the success of George Sampson
on Britain's Got Talent
and Jack Chambers on So You Think You Can Dance Australia
. It then became Number 1 on the UK Chart announced on 8 June 2008.
Big beat
Big beat is a term employed since the mid-1990s by the British music press to describe much of the music by artists such as The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, The Crystal Method, and Propellerheads typically driven by heavy breakbeats and synthesizer-generated loops and patterns in...
electronic music act from Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. They were originally founded by the duo Neil Claxton and Chris Baker in 1997; the latter left the band in 2004, but Claxton continues to produce music using the Mint Royale name.
Career
Mint Royale first specialized in remixes, and became known after the release of their mix of "Tequila", by TerrorvisionTerrorvision
Terrorvision are an English rock band. They were formed in 1987 in Keighley, and initially disbanded in 2001...
. They were championed by British dance guru Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim, whose DJ sets regularly included their work. Their sound was similar to his, to the extent that some people mistakenly believed Mint Royale to be a pseudonym for Cook himself. Their first album, On the Ropes
On the Ropes (album)
On the Ropes is the debut album by British big beat duo Mint Royale, released in 1999 on the Faith & Hope label.-Track listing:All songs were written by Chris Baker and Neil Claxton, except where noted....
was released in late 1999, and though it was not a big sales hit, some songs from it have achieved recognition. The single "Don't Falter", featuring Lauren Laverne
Lauren Laverne
Lauren Cecilia Fisher , known professionally as Lauren Laverne, is an English radio DJ, television presenter, author and singer...
from Kenickie
Kenickie
Kenickie were a four-piece rock band from Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England. The band were formed in 1994 and consisted of lead vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Lauren Laverne , drummer Johnny X , lead guitarist and occasional vocalist Marie du Santiago and bass guitarist Emmy-Kate Montrose...
, was a minor hit in the British charts. The song "From Rusholme with Love" has been made recognizable through its extensive use in film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
and television series soundtracks. Notable examples include the theme tune for the film Kung Pow! Enter The Fist, as well as being present on the soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
of the films Vanilla Sky
Vanilla Sky
Vanilla Sky is a 2001 American psychological thriller film directed, co-produced and co-written by Cameron Crowe. The film is an English-language remake of the 1997 Spanish movie Abre los ojos , the screenplay for which was written by Alejandro Amenábar and Mateo Gil...
, Get Carter, Serendipity and the television series ALIAS
Alias (TV series)
Alias is an American action television series created by J. J. Abrams which was broadcast on ABC for five seasons, from September 30, 2001 to May 22, 2006...
(episode The Prophecy) and Spaced
Spaced
Spaced is a British television sitcom written by and starring Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson, and directed by Edgar Wright. It is noted for its rapid-fire editing, frequent pop culture references and jokes, eclectic music, and occasional displays of surrealism and non-sequitur humour...
. The song "Because I'm Worth It" has also been used as the theme tune for the Jamie Theakston
Jamie Theakston
Jamie Theakston is an English television and radio presenter, producer and actor.-Education:...
and Zoë Ball
Zoë Ball
Zoë Louise Ball is an English television and radio personality, most famous for becoming the first female host of the BBC Radio 1 breakfast show and for her earlier work presenting the 1990s children's show, Live & Kicking.-TV career:The daughter of the children's TV presenter Johnny Ball and his...
chat show 'The Priory'. The song "Show Me
Show Me
-Music:* "Show Me" , a 2011 dance song by Jessica Sutta* "Show Me" , a 2003 song by Moya Brennan* Show Me , a 1987 album by Canadian rock band 54-40* "Show Me" , a 2007 R&B song...
", which first appeared on the 2001 US reissue of the album, is played every Friday by John Richards
John Richards (disc jockey)
John Richards is an American radio personality. He is the host and producer of The Morning Show and Audioasis on 90.3 FM KEXP Seattle, Washington. He is also KEXP’s associate program director and is referred to on air as "John in the Morning" which was composed as the intro song for The Morning Show...
of KEXP
KEXP
KEXP-FM is a public radio station based in Seattle, Washington, that specializes in alternative and indie rock programmed by its disc jockeys. Its broadcasting license is owned by the University of Washington, which operates the station in a partnership with Paul Allen's Experience Music Project...
and the song has become known as "The Friday Song". "Show Me" was also used in the National Lampoon film Van Wilder
The band released their second album, Dancehall Places
Dancehall Places
Dancehall Places is the second studio album by big beat duo Mint Royale, which was released in 2002 on the Faith & Hope label.-Reception:...
, in 2002. The first single from this album, "The Sexiest Man in Jamaica", featuring a sample of a Prince Buster
Prince Buster
Cecil Bustamente Campbell, O.D. , better known as Prince Buster, and also known by his Muslim name Muhammed Yusef Ali, is a musician from Kingston, Jamaica. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of ska and rocksteady music...
recording, became their second UK Top 20 hit. As the band embarked on a series of live shows and a UK tour in 2003, a new single was released, "Blue Song", the video for which featured comedians Noel Fielding
Noel Fielding
Noel Fielding is a British artist, comedian and actor. He is known for his roles as Vince Noir in The Mighty Boosh, which he co-writes with comedy partner Julian Barratt, and as team captain on the music panel show Never Mind the Buzzcocks.-Stand-up comedy:Noel Fielding performed regularly as a...
and Julian Barratt
Julian Barratt
Julian Barratt is an English comedian, musician, music producer and actor. Barratt is best known for playing the character of Howard Moon in the cult comedy The Mighty Boosh, which he also co-writes with comedy partner, Noel Fielding.-The Mighty Boosh:Barratt stars as the character Howard Moon...
, of The Mighty Boosh
The Mighty Boosh
The Mighty Boosh is a British comedy troupe featuring comedians Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding. Developed from three stage shows and a six episode radio series, it has since spawned a total of twenty television episodes for BBC Three and two live tours of the UK, as well as two live shows in the...
fame, as well as Nick Frost
Nick Frost
Nicholas John "Nick" Frost is an English actor, comedian and screenwriter. He is best known for his work with Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg in the role of Mike Watt in the television comedy Spaced, as well as the film characters Ed in Shaun of the Dead, PC/Sgt...
of Spaced
Spaced
Spaced is a British television sitcom written by and starring Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson, and directed by Edgar Wright. It is noted for its rapid-fire editing, frequent pop culture references and jokes, eclectic music, and occasional displays of surrealism and non-sequitur humour...
and Shaun of the Dead
Shaun of the Dead
Shaun of the Dead is a 2004 British zombie comedy directed by Edgar Wright, starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, and written by Pegg and Wright. Pegg plays Shaun, a man attempting to get some kind of focus in his life as he deals with his girlfriend, his mother and stepfather...
fame and Michael Smiley
Michael Smiley
Michael Smiley is a British comic and actor currently living in England.-Biography:Smiley was born in 1963 in Belfast, and moved to London in his 20s with his wife...
, also of Spaced
Spaced
Spaced is a British television sitcom written by and starring Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson, and directed by Edgar Wright. It is noted for its rapid-fire editing, frequent pop culture references and jokes, eclectic music, and occasional displays of surrealism and non-sequitur humour...
. The video was directed by Edgar Wright
Edgar Wright
Edgar Howard Wright is an English film and television director and writer. He is most famous for his work with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost on the films Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, the TV series Spaced, and for directing the film Scott Pilgrim vs...
.
Mint Royale returned to the studio to start writing and recording their third album in April 2004. The next few months were a turbulent time for Mint Royale with founding member Chris Baker parting company with the band. However, Neil and the resident vocalists returned to the studio to complete the recording of the third album in January 2005 and the result was ‘See You In The Morning’ with the then unknown Duffy
Duffy (singer)
Aimée Ann Duffy , known as Duffy, is a Welsh singer-songwriter. Her 2008 debut album Rockferry entered the UK Album Chart at number one. It was the best-selling album in the United Kingdom in 2008 with 1.68 million copies sold...
singing on two of the tracks. In 2005 the group released "Waiting in the Rain" on the "Wait for You" EP - a remix of "Singin' in the Rain", which was featured in the January 2005 Volkswagen Golf
Volkswagen Golf
The Volkswagen Golf is a small family car manufactured by Volkswagen since 1974 and marketed worldwide across six generations, in various body configurations and under various nameplates – as the Volkswagen Rabbit in the United States and Canada , and as the Volkswagen Caribe in Mexico .The...
GTI commercial. It reached #20 on 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 ...
after it was released as a single (remixed and renamed as "Singing In the Rain"). This version also features on the album "See You in the Morning".
In 2007, Mint Royale released a compilation CD+DVD named Pop Is...
Pop Is...
Pop Is... is a compilation album by Mint Royale, released on February 4, 2007 on Faith & Hope Records. It is a retrospective compilation, including a variety of Mint Royale's works over the past ten years.-Track listing:...
, which contained all their singles and videos, as well as a couple of the remixes they had done for other performers, and a new song, "Wham-Bar", based on the Wham!
WHAM!
Wham! were a short-lived British musical duo formed by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley in the early 1980s. They were briefly known in the United States as Wham! UK due to a naming conflict with an American band....
hit song "Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)
Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)
"Wham Rap! "' is a 1982 song by British pop duo Wham! on Innervision Records. It was written by Wham! members George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley....
". The same year, Mint Royale released a bonus track remix of Frank Sinatra's "This Town
This Town
"This Town" is the title of a song written by Lee Hazelwood and recorded by Frank Sinatra in 1967. The song first appeared on Sinatra's 1967 album The World We Knew and also on his 1969 Greatest Hits album....
" on the Ocean's Thirteen
Ocean's Thirteen
Ocean's Thirteen is a 2007 crime comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring an ensemble cast. It is the third and final film in the Soderbergh series following the 2004 sequel Ocean's Twelve and the 2001 film Ocean's Eleven, which itself was a remake of the 1960 Rat Pack film Ocean's 11...
official soundtrack.
On 1 June 2008, "Singin' In The Rain" re-entered 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 ...
at number 28 after the success of George Sampson
George Sampson
George Jennifer Sampson is a street dancer and actor from Warrington, England. He won the second series of Britain's Got Talent on 31 May 2008 at the age of 14.-2007 series:...
on Britain's Got Talent
Britain's Got Talent
Britain's Got Talent is a British television talent show competition which started in June 2007 and originated from the Got Talent series. The show is produced by FremantleMedia's TalkbackThames and Simon Cowell's production company SYCOtv. The show is broadcast on ITV in Britain and TV3 in Ireland...
and Jack Chambers on So You Think You Can Dance Australia
So You Think You Can Dance Australia
So You Think You Can Dance Australia was an Australian version of the American reality dance-off series So You Think You Can Dance. The show is hosted by Natalie Bassingthwaighte, with Jason Coleman, Matt Lee and Bonnie Lythgoe acting as the judges....
. It then became Number 1 on the UK Chart announced on 8 June 2008.
Singles
| Release date | Title | 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 ... |
Irish Singles Chart Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured... |
Album | Format(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 November 1998 | "Deadbeat" | — | — | On the Ropes On the Ropes (album) On the Ropes is the debut album by British big beat duo Mint Royale, released in 1999 on the Faith & Hope label.-Track listing:All songs were written by Chris Baker and Neil Claxton, except where noted.... |
12" |
| 30 January 1999 | "Tequila" by Terrorvision Terrorvision Terrorvision are an English rock band. They were formed in 1987 in Keighley, and initially disbanded in 2001... (remix) |
2 | — | — | CD / 7" / 12" |
| 2 February 1999 | "Rock and Roll Bar" | 163 | — | On the Ropes | CD / 12" |
| 7 June 1999 | "From Rusholme with Love" | 117 | — | CD / 12" | |
| 27 September 1999 | "Shake Me" | 154 | — | CD / 12" | |
| 24 January 2000 | "Don't Falter" (feat. Lauren Laverne Lauren Laverne Lauren Cecilia Fisher , known professionally as Lauren Laverne, is an English radio DJ, television presenter, author and singer... ) |
15 | — | CD / 12" | |
| 24 April 2000 | "Take It Easy" | 66 | — | CD / 12" | |
| 2001 | "Show Me" (feat. Pos Kelvin Mercer Kelvin Mercer is a rapper, producer, and one-third of the hip hop trio De La Soul. He is known more famously by his alias Posdnuos, or simply Pos. He was born in the Bronx, New York and grew up in East Massapequa, New York.Mercer and David Jude Jolicoeur were childhood friends... ) |
79 | — | — | CD / 12" |
| 26 August 2002 | "The Sexiest Man in Jamaica" | 20 | — | Dancehall Places Dancehall Places Dancehall Places is the second studio album by big beat duo Mint Royale, which was released in 2002 on the Faith & Hope label.-Reception:... |
CD / 12" |
| 27 January 2003 | "Blue Song" | 35 | — | CD / 12" | |
| 21 July 2003 | "I Don't Know"/"Dancehall Places" | 137 | — | CD / 12" | |
| 11 April 2005 | "Wait for You" | 123 | — | See You in the Morning See You in the Morning See You in the Morning is the third studio album by Mint Royale, which was released in 2005 on the Faith & Hope label. The album featured a then-unknown Duffy singing vocals on the tracks The Effect on Me and Little Words.... |
12" |
| 22 August 2005 | "Singin' in the Rain" | 20 | — | CD / 12" | |
| 21 November 2005 | "The Effect on Me" | 219 | — | CD / 12" | |
| 26 May 2008 | "Singin' in the Rain" (re-entry) | 1 | 3 | Digital / CD |
Albums
- On the RopesOn the Ropes (album)On the Ropes is the debut album by British big beat duo Mint Royale, released in 1999 on the Faith & Hope label.-Track listing:All songs were written by Chris Baker and Neil Claxton, except where noted....
(1999) - Dancehall PlacesDancehall PlacesDancehall Places is the second studio album by big beat duo Mint Royale, which was released in 2002 on the Faith & Hope label.-Reception:...
(2002) - See You in the MorningSee You in the MorningSee You in the Morning is the third studio album by Mint Royale, which was released in 2005 on the Faith & Hope label. The album featured a then-unknown Duffy singing vocals on the tracks The Effect on Me and Little Words....
(2005) UK, #132 - Pop Is...Pop Is...Pop Is... is a compilation album by Mint Royale, released on February 4, 2007 on Faith & Hope Records. It is a retrospective compilation, including a variety of Mint Royale's works over the past ten years.-Track listing:...
(2007)