About Dreadzone
Dreadzone are a British electronic music group formed in 1993 in London by ex-Big Audio Dynamite drummer Greg Roberts and musician Tim Bran. They have released eight studio albums, two live albums, and two compilations.
They gained a reputation as a live act in 1994 and had their first UK top 40 hit in 1996, with "Little Britain". BBC Radio 1's John Peel championed the group, and they recorded six Peel sessions between 1993 and 2001. The band has experienced several lineup changes, and they have released eight studio albums throughout their career.
Dreadzone were formed in London, England in 1993 when ex-Big Audio Dynamite drummer Greg Roberts teamed up with Tim Bran, who had previously worked as a musician and sound engineer for Julian Cope and who has done production work for artists including London Grammar, Birdy, and the Dutch duo HAEVN. The name Dreadzone was suggested to Roberts and Bran by Don Letts.
Bran and Roberts signed to Creation Records in 1993 and released their first album, 360°. They were soon joined by bassist Leo Williams and keyboardist Dan Donovan, also formerly of Big Audio Dynamite. Throughout 1994 they developed a reputation as a live act and released the limited-edition live album Performance, and in June of that year they opened the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury. During these early years, their backing vocalists included Melanie Blatt and Alison Goldfrapp. The following year, the band signed to Virgin Records and released their second studio album, Second Light. In 1995, Earl Sixteen joined as a vocalist, singing on the single "Zion Youth". Dan Donovan left the group.
In January 1996, the group had their first and so far only Top 40 hit in the UK Singles Chart with "Little Britain", which reached No. 20. The song sampled a line from the 1968 cult British film If.... – "Britain today is a powerhouse of ideas, experiments, imagination".
John Peel championed Dreadzone on BBC Radio 1, and cited Second Light as one of his favourite albums of all time. Tracks from Second Light also dominated Peel's Festive Fifty in 1995, and the band recorded six Peel sessions between 1993 and 2001. In 1996 they supported Oasis at the Loch Lomond and Knebworth shows. In 1997, they released their third studio album, Biological Radio. A track from that album, "Dream Within a Dream", appeared on the soundtrack to the film The Saint.
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