Archive

Archive was formed by Darius Keeler and Rosko John in 1993.Shortly afterwards, Danny Griffiths, who was a former bandmate of Darius in the UK breakbeat act Genaside II, joined the group. In 1994 after having developed their signature sound they began the search for a vocalist. They met female singer Roya Arab who joined them to sing on the demos Mother Records had paid for which evoked a lot of attention from other record labels. The band released their first album 'Londinium' on Island Records in 1996, which is a mixture of dark trip hop electronica and a hardcore sound at the route but with an unequivocal match of string arrangements and almost baroque and classically influenced songwriting. The album received moderate critical acclaim and in Q magazine Peter Gabriel was quoted as saying, "Londinium was one of my most favourite albums of the year". However the success was short lived as later that year the band broke up.

Archive released their second studio album, entitled 'Take My Head': a mix of pop and symphonic trip-hop, far more melodic than its predecessor with a new female vocalist, Suzanne Wooder. However due to inter-band disputes they now describe this as one of their least favourite albums they have ever recorded. 'You All Look The Same To Me' was the third album released and was seen as the turning point from the trip hop beginnings and the development of a psychedelic and progressive sound that was inspired by the likes of Mogwai and Pink Floyd. The band toured around Europe to their loyal fan bases that had already been established with early releases in countries such as France and Poland.

One of their most commercially successful releases includes the 'Controlling Crowds' series which was delivered in two parts and charted in Europe in France, Switzerland, Greece along with others. It features their most well known single 'Bullets'. Despite the numerous line up changes over their long career, the band continue to tour and produce music under the name Archive.