Culture Shock

Artist bio

There are at least four bands/projects named Culture Shock:

1) Culture Shock are an influential anarcho-punk / punk-dub-ska band formed in Warminster, Wiltshire, UK, in 1986 by Dick Lucas, previously of the Subhumans and of Citizen Fish.

2) Culture Shock is James Pountney, a drum and bass DJ/producer from London who is signed to Ram Records.

3) Culture Shock is a hardcore punk band, with thrash influences, from Syracuse, New York.

4) Culture Shock are a Denver straight edge hardcore band.


1) Culture Shock are an anarcho-punk / punk-dub-ska band formed in Warminster, Wiltshire, UK, in 1986 by Dick Lucas, previously of the Subhumans.

Their three LPs, "Go Wild", "Onwards and Upwards" and "All The Time!", were released on Bluurg Records. They also did 205 gigs between 86-89.

Culture Shock mixed their punk roots with ska and reggae music to a previously unheard extent and influenced the styles of bands like AOS3, Radical Dance Faction, Back to the Planet, Bender, The AK 47's, The Dicemen at a time when the free festival scene was under state attack following the cessation of the Stonehenge Festival; Culture Shock were one of a heap of bands playing as many festivals as possible, alongside their more regular gigs and this earned them a broard range of support.

Dick’s lyrics were mostly concerned with social and political issues, from cruelty to animals, Northern Ireland, war, and social alienation, but were far from angry rants, often finding a positive and empowering perspective. Culture Shock split in 1989, as Bill and Nigel both had young families to support. Dick went on to form Citizen Fish with Jasper, the bassist for Culture Shock’s final 80s album, and two other former members of the Subhumans. Nigel died in 1993.
The band returned in the 2010s and released the album Attention Span in 2016.

Members:
* Dick Lucas (vocals)
* Nige (guitar, vocals)
* Paul (bass - on Go Wild, and Onwards and Upwards)
* Bill (drums)
* Jasper (bass - on All the Time)

Discography
LPs
* Go Wild (Fish 18)
* Onwards and Upwards (Fish 20)
* All the Time (Fish 23)

Cassette only
* Living History Demo 86 (Bluurg Tapes 66)
* Reality Stop No.44 (Bluurg Tapes 71)
* Hot and Sweaty live compilation (Bluurg Tapes 79)

In 2011, Bluurg records (Dick Lucas) released "Everything", a three CD package with detailed lyric / interview / biography booklet. This is also available from Active Distribution (Active 25)
CD1: Go Wild and All The Time
CD2: Onwards and Upwards + "Stonehenge" from the EP of the same name and two live tracks ("Home Economics" and "New York, New York".
CD3: The "Living History" demo and the "Reality Stop #44" demo (19 tracks)

Myspace fan site:
http://www.myspace.com/civilizationstreet

2) Culture Shock is a James Pountney, a young up-and-coming drum and bass DJ/producer from London who is signed to Ram Records.
James was brought up in a musical household with both parents involved with Classical music, and always showed a healthy curiosity about music, listening to anything from Jazz to house. He first heard about drum and bass around 96 on London's pirate radio stations and at school where everyone talked about Jungle music being the cool new thing. In his own words, 'it sounded totally alien' and he was blown away. He started reading music technology magazines, managed to set up a basic studio and started experimenting.

James' first release happened thanks to a hook up with Dom Angus (Dom & Roland) though their parents who are friends and colleagues. The result was the 2004 'Vega EP' on Moving Shadow. It was well received but unfortunately the seminal label stopped releasing music and it was another two years before James found another home with the legendary Ram Records.

Impressed by the production skills displayed on the Vega EP, Andy C followed the progress of the young producer and ended up signing him to his label, with the first track 'The Bypass' – one of Optical's favourite tunes - appearing on 2006's Dimension EP and getting tongues wagging on the scene.

James was then given the chance to make his own EP, and 'the third stage' was released in summer 2007. It included the suave 'Rework', produced in partnership with the Brookes Brothers, and a brilliant electro-breaks track 'Asteroids' that fits well with James' open approach to music: 'I've been into drum and bass for a long, long time – he recently told Knowlede magazine - That is great but it's all about bringing in influences from elsewhere. I am really into all electronic music and I listen to a lot of techno and electro'.

With signing Culture shock to its prestigious stable, Ram are nurturing yet another talent destined to expend the boundaries of the scene.

3) Culture Shock is a hardcore punk band, with thrash influences, from Syracuse, New York. The band formed in late 2005 with members TJ (v), Andrew (v), Trevor (g), Richard (b) and Eddie (d). After the band’s first few shows, in early 2006, Andrew left to focus on other bands. Andrew would later rejoin on drums when Eddie left the band in the spring of 2007.

The band released their first, self-recorded/self-released demo in the spring of 2006, and a re-recorded (and less distributed) version of the same demo later the same year with one less track. A second album, recorded by a friend of the band and self-released, features 9 new songs, and was released at a Syracuse locals fest (Assault City Hardcore Fest) with 100 copies personally spray painted.

The bands lyrical content focuses on political, economic and social realities in the greater society as well as within the hardcore punk scene, and generally manifests in expressions of anger, cynicism and disgust. Several songs also include personal life experiences of the band’s vocalist.

4) STRAIGHT EDGE FUCK YOU Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.