Bis are a Scottish indie pop band composed of Steven Clark (Sci-fi Steven), John Clark (John Disco), and Amanda MacKinnon (Manda Rin). Formed in 1994, the band broke up in 2003, but reformed briefly in 2007 for a series of concerts.
The three musicians formed Bis in 1994, when Rin and Disco were in secondary school and Steven had recently finished there. About a year later, they appeared on BBC Television's Top of the Pops performing "Kandy Pop" from their Secret Vampire Soundtrack EP ahead of its release: much being made at the time about them being the first 'unsigned' band to do so: in reality dozens of bands - especially in the late 1970s and 'novelty' acts - had appeared on the show with singles released on labels they had no formal contract with other than as a distributor or, like Bis, on a single by single basis.
Bis released a number of EPs, three of which entered the UK Singles Chart. In the late 1990s "Eurodisco", from their album Social Dancing, became a minor success for the band in Australia as well as the UK.
The band's name, rhyming with 'this', derives from "Black Iron Skyline", a lyric from the song Twilight of a Champion by The The.
The band's early releases were on Glasgow's Chemikal Underground label, run by The Delgados, before transferring to Wiiija where labelmates included Cornershop. In the United States, their records appeared on the underground label K Records, and on the Beastie Boys' Grand Royal label. They toured extensively both in the UK and abroad— their diverse influences reflected in the kind of acts they appeared with: Pavement, Garbage, Luscious Jackson, Foo Fighters and Gary Numan amongst them.
The group became a favourite of the likes of Blur, John Peel and Green Day, despite a particularly hostile review by Steven Wells in the New Musical Express entitled "The Sinking of the Bis-Lark".
The U.S. first encountered the band during the closing credits of The Powerpuff Girls animated series. Their song "Detour" was also given some radio airplay in the U.S. They enjoyed a period of success in Japan, selling nearly 100,000 copies of their debut album in its first week of release, but future releases failed to be anywhere near as successful.
The band broke up in 2003, after playing a farewell show at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut. All remained active in the local music scene. Steven and John Disco played in Dirty Hospital and Rin acted as a DJ. Rin was also in a band called The Kitchen, whilst Disco joined the ska band, The Amphetameanies, which included members of Belle & Sebastian and Pink Kross.
In 2005, they announced on the official Bis website that together they had formed a new band, called Data Panik with Stuart Memo on bass and drummer Graham Christie. After releasing two 7" singles, however, the band split up.
Bis contributed an old song to the game Jet Set Radio Future called "Statement of Intent". In 2005, Bis performed in animated form on the CBBC children's cartoon BB3B.
As of 2006 Rin was working on solo material. In 2007 she teamed up with the Scottish electro-pop outfit, Juno!, and has collaborated on their independently released singles, "Smoke & Mirrors" and "These Boys Are Athletes", as well as regularly appearing live with the band, most recently at the Rock Ness 2008 Festival.
To celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the release of their debut album The New Transistor Heroes, Bis re-formed in April 2007 for three shows in Glasgow, Manchester, and London. A greatest hits compilation titled We Are Bis from Glasgow, Scotland was released on compact disc to coincide with these shows.
In August 2008, Rin released the solo single, "DNA", which she followed up with the release of her debut album, My DNA with "This Is Fake DIY" in September 2008.
In November 2009, Rin announced that the band would reform to play at the Primavera Festival in May 2010.
More recently, singer Manda Rin provided the artwork for an iPhone game called "All Fridges Are Psychotic" and (on 18 November 2010) made a short guest appearance on the BBC music quiz programme Never Mind the Buzzcocks. She also teamed up with Hyperbubble on a track for their 2011 album Drastic Cinematic.
And here's the one bit of plastic I have in the cupboard:-
mp3 : Bis - Kandy Pop
mp3 : Bis - Secret Vampires
mp3 : Bis - Teen-c Power
mp3 : Bis - Diska
A #25 hit in March 1996. Next up.....Blood Uncles.
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