Sneaker Pimps F.A.Q. [Version 3.0] The Sneaker Pimps F.A.Q. has originaly been built up by Phantom and is constantly being updated, if you think you have information that should be included, or if you just want to help take part in the writing [all help will, of course, be clearly credited!] then email the webmaster.If you're a 'Pimps fan, I NEED input from YOU for help with this section!     Introduction 0.00 Welcome!     1.00 Information regarding the Band 1.00 Who are Sneaker Pimps? 1.01 When did Sneaker Pimps get a record deal? 1.02 How many albums have Sneaker Pimps released? 1.03 What label are Sneaker Pimps with? 1.04 Have Sneaker Pimps ever appeared on any film soundtracks? 1.05 What are Sneaker Pimps personal musical influences? 1.06 Have any members of Sneaker Pimps played in other bands? 1.07 Why did Kelli leave the band? 1.08 Who is 'Ian Pickering' who is credited as co-writer for most of the songs? 1.09 What's the design on the cover to 'Becoming X'? 1.10 Why did the band have a photo of Chris on the cover of Splinter? 1.11 Is that a photo of Liam on the cover of Bloodsport? 1.12 What was that I heard about the band making crop circles?? 1.13 Did you consider changing your name when Kelli left the band? 1.14 What's a Sneaker Pimp? Where's that taken from? 1.15 Who are Line of Flight and what else have they produced?     2.00 Personal Questions 2.00 Where are Sneaker Pimps from? 2.01 How did Sneaker Pimps meet? 2.02 When are their birthdays? 2.03 Are any of Sneaker Pimps married or have partners? 2.04 What are Sneaker Pimps favourite alcoholic drinks? 2.05 When and why did Chris start wearing makeup? 2.06 What are their favourite films / tv shows? 2.07 What would the band be doing if they hadn't gone into music? 2.08 Who cuts Chris' hair? 2.09 What have been the most memorable experiences for the group?     3.00 Sneaker Pimps Music 3.00 Who writes the lyrics and music in Sneaker Pimps? 3.01 Who produced their albums? 3.02 What are Sneaker Pimps rarest songs, and where could I find them? 3.03 What kind of equipment do they use? 3.04 What songs have Sneaker Pimps covered? 3.05 What samples have the band used in their tracks? 3.06 Who plays what in the band? 3.07 What other artists have the band collaborated with? 3.08 Are there any Sneaker Pimps mobile ringtones? 3.09 Whats the story behind the cover of Prodigys 'Firestarter'? 3.10 What instruments do you guys play?     4.00 Playing Live 4.00 What other bands have toured with Sneaker Pimps? 4.01 What was 'Home Taping'? 4.02 What was the 'Sickbag' that that band gave out at one of their gigs? 4.03 Why are there always different people playing Live? Where are Liam and Joe? 4.04 Why do 6 Underground and Spin Spin Sugar sound different live?     5.00 Merchandise 5.00 Where can I buy Sneaker Pimps T-Shirts etc? 5.01 Is there a Sneaker Pimps fan club? 5.02 Where can I buy Sneaker Pimps bootlegs? 5.03 Where can I buy rare/hard to find Sneaker Pimps CD's?     6.00 Internet related 6.00 Where can I find more Sneaker Pimps websites? 6.01 Do the band ever use the internet? 6.02 Is it true that the band do their own website? 6.03 Is there an email address that I can contact the band on?     Sneaker Pimps F.A.Q. Answers     0.00 Introduction 0.00 Welcome To The Sneaker Pimps F.A.Q. This FAQ hopefully contains all the information concerning all those little things you ever wondered and wanted to know about Sneaker Pimps. If you have any any additions, deletions, corrections, suggestions, misspellings, omissions or complaints, please email me: webmaster@sneakerpimps.be     1.00 Information regarding the Band 1.00 Who are Sneaker Pimps? Sneaker Pimps are a band based in London, England. The band initially began to take shape in the early 90's and relocated to London from the North East after the release and success of their first album. Original line-up (1995-1999): Chris Corner: guitar. Liam Howe: Electronics, samples. Ian Pickering: Lyrics Kelli Dayton: vocals. Although Dave and Joe WERE a part of the band at this point.. Current line-up (1999-Present): Chris Corner: guitar. Liam Howe: Electronics, samples. Joe Wilson: bass, guitar. David Westlake: drums, percussion. Ian Pickering: Lyrics 1.01 When Did Sneaker Pimps Get A Record Deal? In 1993 Chris and Liam signed to 'Clean Up Records' as 'Line Of FLight', which then matured into Sneaker Pimps. 1.02 How many albums have Sneaker Pimps released? 3 albums have been released so far. Their debut 'Becoming X' was originally released in August 1996 (re-released March 1998). The follow up, 'Splinter', being released in September 1999. There was also a remix version of 'Becoming X' released. 'Bloodsport' was released in 2002. 1.03 What label are Sneaker Pimps with? The band are not currently with any record company. After Clean-Up records they signed to TommyBoy, but TommyBoy was bought out and the band decided to release their own albums through their own 'Splinter Industries' record label.. Although all releases will now be on a WORLDWIDE scale.. so its good news for all the non-UK Pimps fans! Check out the band's very own online shop. 1.04 Have Sneaker Pimps ever appeared on any film soundtracks? 'The Saint' [6 Underground - Nellee Hoopper Edit] 'A Life Less Ordinary' [Velvet Divorce] 'Spawn' [Long Hard Road Out Of Hell] 'Can't Hardly Wait' [6 Underground - NOT on the officially released soundtrack] 'Cruel Intentions' [6 Underground - NOT on the officially released soundtrack] 'Y Tu Mama Tambien' [Cold Air] Commercial - Beer Commercial directed by Win Wenders. [6 Underground] 1.05 What are Sneaker Pimps personal musical influences? Chris: "The first band I got into was Japan (1983ish). Suicide, Kraftwerk, Shirley Bassey, Nick Drake, Afrika Bambaata, Scott Walker - alsorts! "The first record I ever bought was by Sly Fox - Let's Go All The Way. It was dreadful - I used to breakdance to it!" Liam: Kraftwerk, Afrika Bambaata, David Silvian, Tangerine Dream, John Cage, Can. Dave: [to be found out!] Joe: "The first record I ever bought was Dougal And The Blue Cat - a Magic Roundabout story." 1.06 Have any members of Sneaker Pimps played in other bands? Chris did all the drum programming for 'Robots in Disguise' debut mini-album, and has been known to play or help out with their live performances. Chris has also performed some live solo shows. Joe and Chris co-wrote a garage song with 'Double 99'. The track is called '7th High'. Joe and Chris also supply vocals. Joe is now working on an album under the name of 'Trash Money' with Chris Tate, a long time friend of the bands. Liam works on a lot of side projects, although most of the work is done anonymously.. 1.07 Why did Kelli leave the band? After 18 months of touring 'Becoming X', and falling into a lifestyle that was both rock star cliché and rock star casualty, the band returned to England and realised that they wanted to absorb any musical style or direction that they wanted. "With a new studio we wanted to start the second album, but as soon as we started we also realised that we wanted Chris to sing on it. He was now ready so the band returned to it’s core of Joe, Dave, Chris and Liam." [Version 2] Chris: "The main problem was that there was a lot of things out of our control. We never really clicked with Kelli. All the problems started when she wanted to start writing the songs. We didn't want that because we didn't trust her as a writer. We'd written these new songs (Low Five and Destroying Angel), and we gave them to her, but her voice just didn't suit the music. The most natural thing to do was not to use her. It's a big risk, but something we just had to do" "We didn't part on good terms really, which tends to be picked up on by the press who want to get a bit of gossip on it all. We have seen her a couple of times since the split, but it's always really strained. When we first started out, I sung everything on the demos, but I wasn't ready to take on frontman duties, so we didn't go with it. I feel ready for that challenge now." [Version 3] The vocals on Becoming X were sung by Kelli Dayton. She toured with us for two years promoting Becoming X but for the Splinter album we decided to switch to a male vocal. There were a few reasons for this major change in approach. One was the proliferation of female fronted tr*p-h*p bands with whom we were anxious to avoid comparison. When something is done too often it loses its effect, and there was a glut of bands breaking who had two production guys and a girl singing. It was a formula we wanted to break. On a more basic level we preferred the sound of Chis' vocal with those songs. The songs were much more autobiographical than those on Becoming X and it seemed less honest to get Kelli to sing someone else's thoughts. 1.08 Who is 'Ian Pickering' who is credited as co-writer for most of the songs? Liam explains: "He's an old friend of mine from school. We grew up together. Me, him and Chris have been friends for years. Because we grew up in the same place, our mental structure is similar. ... I was always extremely lazy. I would write a couple of lines for the verse and a single line for the chorus and go, "OK, I know exactly what I want this to be and I know what it's about but I haven't got the confidence or the reason to write the rest of it... So it's really good that Ian comes along and fills in the gaps." 1.09 What's the design on the cover to 'Becoming X'? Liam explains: "It's a circuit board from an obsolete piece of '70s hobby electronics. It's a thing called DJ Killer. It's a device that, when built and put in line with the radio signal, it detects a DJ's voice and eliminates it ... which I thought was really funny. Again, it was just one of these flippant little follies which I think the album is full of. It's kind of frowning at the idea techno. You could look at the album and say, "Oh, it's just a simple endorsement of electronica," but I think it's more ironic. It's more satirical. It's just like saying this is what can happen if you get too excited about electronics. You can end up making useless, culturally laughable shit. I think the same way if you've ever got too excited about electronic music; you make useless, culturally unimportant shite." 1.10 Why did the band have a photo of Chris on the cover of Splinter? The band chose to have a photo of Chris on the cover of the album because Chris was the 'new' frontman of the band and would now be the focus of the band - and the best way to help promote that was to make him a 'cover star'! Chris - "It was a deliberate thing." "It's natural, that's the thing, I'm absolutely full of conviction for the writing. I couldn't think of any other way of doing it. In a way, I don't want to be pushed to the front, because I want it to be the whole band. I never wanted Kelli to be pushed either, I want people to know what it was all about in the first place." Dave - "We thought it was quite a laff to do that. The whole point was that we never wanted Kelli to be put across as the central character. But she was. All the time. And so this time round we just thought ‘ah fuck it, we’ll do the central character thing...' We felt we had to make a point of this new person singing. Everyone was going to be looking for ‘who’s the new singer?’ So that’s why a lot of the artwork is just a tease - the back of his head, or his chin, or whatever..." "We are the same band, to the public, it may look like we've totally changed, but it's really only one instrument that's changed." Liam : "There is the theory that the more you pass on your ideas the more diluted they become. There was a thinness before, a lack of confidence. It came across the way it did because of the gap between concept and interpretation. When Chris sings it's genuine. He's not singing this for anyone else." 1.11 Is that a photo of Liam on the cover of Bloodsport? The man on the cover of Bloodsport is actually 'DJ Groove' from Moscow. Liam took nearly all the photos used in the Bloodsport album work (also used over SNEAKERPIMPS.be). The band were in a bar in Moscow and really liked the DJ and eventually used the photos for the album cover. 1.12 What was that I heard about the band making crop circles?? When the band were playing at the Pheonix Festival in 1997 (Kelli era) a cropcircle of the bands logo appeared in a corn field. It is documented in a book that mistakenly took it to be an authentic 'alien crop circle'. Alien Art by Sarah Moran. ISBN: 1-85833-859-X "Alien Art is a fascinating tour of the world's most enigmatic artistic & architectural mysteries" 1.13 Did you consider changing the band name when Kelli left? Chris - "Yes. But we stuck with it because we ARE The Sneaker Pimps. We always were. I think it would be stupid of us to not use what fanbase we have." Dave - "And if we changed the name it would imply that if Kelli wasn’t there then it wasn’t The Sneaker Pimps." But it still is." 1.14 What's a Sneaker Pimp? Where's that taken from? Basically,it was the best name out of a massive list we had. And the story is simply that the Beastie Boys had a habit of giving their friends jobs and one friend, whose job was to go out and buy cool and cult secondhand trainers (as we call them in England), was employed as the Sneaker Pimp. Joe: "Liam and myself were watching TV. There used to be a piss poor show in Britian called The Word. You know those terrible programs that are supposed to be for young people and come out middle aged? That was The Word. They had an interview with the Beastie Boys on. They were asked where they got their sneakers from and Mike D went, "Oh, we got a sneaker pimp. He goes out and finds old school and rare sneakers for us." In some weird way, it seemed like the official description of our career. The Beastie Boys deny that they ever said it at all now. It was the period when they were trying to be bad all the time." 1.15 Who are Line of Flight and what else have they produced? Line of Flight is the name Sneaker Pimps use for their production company. Originally started by Liam and Chris in the early 90s it expanded to include Joe and David after Becoming X. All Sneaker Pimps material is produced by Line of Flight. They also remix other artists like The Killers, August, Emiliana Torrini, Inoran, ... .     2.00 Personal Questions 2.00 Where are Sneaker Pimps from? Chris: Middlesborough Liam: Hartlepool Joe: London Dave: Newton Abbot Ian: North East UK 2.01 How did Sneaker Pimps meet? Liam used to go out with Chris's sister when he was 16. They started making music together not long after they met. David and Joe didn't officially join till '96. David had in fact supplied drums on Becoming X whereas Joe had helped design the sleeves for some of the first ever Howe/Corner releases and had been part of the DJ wing of the Clean-Up organisation, playing test pressings of records Liam and Chris had just finished. 2.02 When are their birthdays? Chris: [23rd January] Liam: [29th September] Joe: [7th February] David: [26th December] Ian: [1st April] 2.03 Are any of Sneaker Pimps married or have partners? Chris: [secret] - lost his virginity to The Sugarcubes' 'Birthday' Liam: Gaynor [wife] - lost his virginity to Landscape's 'Einstein A Go- Go' Joe: Victoria [girlfriend] Dave: [to be found out!] 2.04 What are Sneaker Pimps favourite alcoholic drinks? Dave: "The studio and our tour bus have been converted to run solely on wine power. Other than wine we have a remarkable tolerance for most forms of alcohol." Chris is often seen with a botle of red wine on stage. EXCEPTIONS: 1. Never give Chris Tequila. 2. Never give Liam, Chris or David Jagermeister 2.05 When and why did Chris start wearing makeup? Chris says that his love of make up probably came from his sister putting make up on him when he was little. 2.06 What are their favourite films / tv shows? All: The Wicker Man [Film] Liam: French Kiss [Film] (They discuss wine!) Joe: Assault on Precinct 13 [Film] [to be found out!] 2.07 What would the band be doing if they hadn't gone into music? All of the band went to Art School and would more than likely have more than likely ended up doing something artistic if they hadn't ventured down the path they have... Liam, Dave and Joe all went to University in Reading, Chris studied in London 2.08 Who cuts Chris' hair? Chris cuts his own hair! He's not a trained hairdresser, but he's been cutting / styling his own hair for years now.. From the offcial site: "The two things that keep the Sneaker Pimps together are music and hair care. Our collective life resembles an endless teenage slumber party where we listen to new music and swap styling products. We cut and dye each other's hair regularly in the hope that we will never look normal." 2.09 What have been the most memorable experiences for the group? Joe: "We went to Janet Jackson's launch party for the Velvet Rope album in New York. It was at the top of the Chrysler Building. If someone had told me six months prior that we'd be sharing an elevator with the Wu Tang Clan, I would've been surprised. That night, you had to wait in line to kiss Janet's hand. I thought, "What the hell is wrong with everybody?" It was weird standing at the bar next to Donald Trump and Busta Rhymes."     3.00 Sneaker Pimps Music 3.00 Who writes the lyrics and music in Sneaker Pimps? The music is written mainly by Liam & Chris. Lyrics are also written by mainly Liam, Chris and '5th member' Ian Pickering. Most of the songs start out as traditional guitar songs, then they are transformed into electronic masterpieces :-) Although the bands sound and equipment have changed a lot, their approach to writing songs has remained constant. "We've always started with an instrument, be it the guitar or keyboard or whatever," insists Chris. "I think we're really interested in the strong melodic core of the tune, and once we've got that, then we start playing around with sounds. We always try to get the song first" "We have a sort of modular approach," adds Dave. "While Liam & Chris might be writing the songs there will always be ideas that are happening in the studio that arent connected to the songs, just sound sets or 'pizza bases' as we call them. We're constantly chucking out ideas. If we're between albums we'll just come in here and mess around and make sketches, and one day, one of the songs that's been written will get matched to a set of sounds." "I suppose we consider the two disciplines quite seperate to start off with, almost." agrees Liam. "We keep changing the look and the line-up, but what stays the same in the terms of the way we make music is that there's 3 people who write it: me and Chris and our friend Ian, who has lyrical input. But we have to have songs which can exist outside the studio, which are not to do with sounds." "Even if a song is inspired by a beat or something, it'll go back to the drawing board, and we'll ask 'OK, we have a set of lyrics and a meldoy, does it stand up?'." 3.01 Who produced their albums? Their albums have all been produced by 'Line Of Flight' who are in fact the band themselves. The band do like to bring in outside producers to offer a helping hand. Jim Abiss and Flood have helped produce 'Becoming X' and 'Bloodsport' Mark 'Spike' Stent often helps out with mixing. Its more then likely that now that the band all work from their homes, and don't use a recording studio, that all future releases will be produced solely by Line Of Flight. 3.02 What are Sneaker Pimps rarest songs, and where could I find them? There are several rare tracks, apart from the b-sides and soundtrack songs, there are quite a few bootleg live tracks out there, although quality varies. The song that can be classed as 'rarest' will most likely be the cover of Prodigys' 'Firestarter'. Also not as popular tracks are the Double 99 joint single '7th High' release, and the Maxim song 'Backward Bullet' featuring the Pimps. It can be found on his 'Hells Kitchen' album. There also two tracks that were recorded in the Bloodsport sessions that have never seen the light of day; Masterbate and Polaroids. 3.03 What kind of equipment do they use? LIVE: On the Splinter tour Chris played a Fender Jazz master electric guitar through a Vox AC30 amp, and a Takamine acoustic. Joe played a Fender Jazz Bass (I think). At the 93 Feet East and LA2 , Chris played a Ricken backer electric with a different amp, Joe had the same bass, (which was bashed about a bit at 93FE and was replaced by an almost identical new one at LA2) Joe also played a Fender Jaguar electric guitar. [Thanks to Tim Cowlishaw!] STUDIO: The main gear rack in the bands 'control room' of their recording studio included: TLA Ivory Voice Channel Oberhiem OB-Mx Sythn Module Dbx 160S Compressor MXR Digital Delay Patchbays Akai S612 Sampler MD280 Quick Disk Drive Roland RE201 Space Echo DigiDesign ProTools 888 & 882 Interfaces MOTU Midi Timepiece MIDI Interface Alesis Midiverb Effects ELK Effects Akai S900 Sampler Akai S3000 Sampler Evolution Mini Keyboard Kawai S100P Analogue Synth Yamaha Electric Piano Titanium Powerbook Emagic EMI 216 USB Interface & Emu Launchpad Control Surface Roland TR606 Drum Machine Digitech Talker Effects Waldorf Pulse Yamaha CS5 Synths DigiDesign Digi 001 Interface Currently the main recording medium is a Digidesign Pro Tools system, with Emagic's Logic Audio running as a front end. Liam: "Our first album 'Becoming X' was made on two Akai S900's, and that was it." Dave: "With 'Becoming X' we recorded the vocals in a cupboard. That was all done in a bedroom. When we got our main studio there was quite a shift sound-wise in the way we did things, because before we were in a tiny bedroom and we didnt have the choice. After that we had the choice, and you can hear it on 'Splinter' - there's live drums, and we really go into the idea of recording things and experimenting acoustically with instruments. It was a fascinating thing to do, then with 'Bloodsport' we've gone back into the boxier limited specturm that 'Becoming X' had, with less live performance and more programming." 3.04 What songs have Sneaker Pimps covered? Can't Find My Way Home [Steve Winwood (Blind Faith)] : 6 Underground single. Firstarter [Prodigy] : Un-released b-side 3.05 What samples have the band used in their tracks? Becoming X: 'Waterbaby' sampled David Sylvian's 'Let The Happiness In' 'How Do' sampled the Britt Eckland vocal audio from the film 'The Wicker Man' Bloodsport: 'Loretta Young Silks' sampled Bill Withers 'I Wish You Well' 'The Fuel' sampled 'Following Kirwell' and 'Irina's Chase' from the original 'Gorky Park' film O.S.T 'Bloodsport' sampled 'Tar' by Visage 'Blue Movie' sampled 'Canaan's Land' (traditional) by the Keynotes. 3.06 Who plays what in the band? There seems to be a lot of swapping instruments going on in the band.. The band say: "We all play anything we can get our hands on. When we are touring Chris sings and plays guitar; Joe sings and plays bass, guitars and maracas; Liam plays keyboards; David plays drums." "In the studio things are quite different. We all share in the production work, the recording, the programming, the mixing. Sometimes it is more interesting to swap instruments for a recording. Sometimes it is more interesting to leave the instruments out altogether." 3.07 What other artists have the band collaborated with? There has been many collaborations and remix work with various artists over the years: Marilyn Manson - backing vocals by Kelli and some beats on "Long Hard Road Out of Hell" Maxim - backing vocals by Chris, production on "Backward Bullet" Double 99 - Lead vocals by Chris, backing vocals and guitar by Joe on "7th High" Korn - Backing vocals on "Kick the PA" Natalie Imbruglia - Music for the track 'Cold Air' There has also been some remix work for Placebo, Eagle-Eye Cherry, Shamen, Narina Pallot aswell as work with Sophie Ellis Bextor that has yet to be released. 3.08 Are there any Sneaker Pimps mobile ringtones? There ARE! They were compoised by Vojta Strouhal and are meant for Nokia phones mainly as they have to be programmed in using the 'composer' function. If you have a Nokia phone, why not add one now: LIGHTNING FIELD Tempo = 225 4#a1 4f2 4#a2 4f2 4#a2 4f2 4c1 4#d2 4#a2 4#d2 4#a2 4#d2 4c#1 4f2 4#g2 4f2 4#g2 4f2 4#d1 4g2 4#g2 4g2 4#g2 4g2 2#a1 2#c3 2c3 2#a2 2#g2 2f2 4#c1 4f2 4#g2 4f2 4#g2 4f2 4#d1 4g2 4#g2 4g2 4#g2 4g2 SMALL TOWN WITCH Tempo = 140 2e2 2d2 2e2 2d2 4e2 4g2 4a1 LOW FIVE Tempo = 225 2g2 2#g2 2#d2 32- 2d2 2#d2 2g#2 32- 2g2 2#g2 2#d2 32- 2d2 2#g1 4g1 4- 2#g2 2#d2 4d2 4- 2d2 2#g1 4g1 4 - 2g2 2#g2 2#d2 32- 2d2 2#d2 2#g2 32 - 2g2 2#g2 2#d2 32- 2d2 2#g1 4g1 4- 2#g2 2#d2 4d2 4- 2d2 2#g1 4g1 TEN TO TWENTY Tempo = 225 4e1 4e2 4#g2 4#g2 4#g2 2e2 2#d2 2e2 2b2 2#a2 4- 4e1 4e2 4#g2 4#4g2 4#g2 2#f2 2#g2 2a2 2e3 2#d3 2- 4e1 4e2 4#g2 4#g2 4#g2 2e2 2#d2 2e2 2b2 2#a2 4- 4e1 4e2 4#g2 4#g2 4#g2 2#f2 2#g2 2a2 2e3 2#d3 KIRO TV Tempo = 140 8#c1 8#c1 8- 8e1 8e1 8- 8d1 8d1 8- 8d1 8d1 8- 8d1 8d1 8d1 8d1 3.09 Whats the story behind the cover of Prodigys 'Firestarter'? There are two different stories behind the the Firestarter release: The band recorded a 'lounge' version of 'Firestarter' to be a b-side for the Six Underground single re-release, but the Prodigy refused to let them use the track. So the band made a couple of hundred copies of a 7" of the track and released them unofficially.. The 7" is now highly sought after. Sneaker Pimps did a cover version of this top-track and released it on a 7" vinyl as a limited edition. Liam wasn't keen on the track, which is why it was never officially released. You can read about the phonecall that Liam recived in the book "Adventures with the Voodoo Crew" by Martin James. 3.10 What instruments do you guys play? This is not an easy question to answer as we all play anything we can get our hands on. When we are touring Chris sings and plays guitar; Joe sings and plays bass, guitars and maracas; Liam plays keyboards; David plays drums. In the studio things are quite different. We all share in the production work, the recording, the programming, the mixing. Sometimes it is more interesting to swap instruments for a recording. Sometimes it is more interesting to leave the instruments out altogether.     4.00 Playing Live 4.00 What other bands have toured with Sneaker Pimps? Sneaker Pimps have supported and been supported by many many bands over the years. Bands they have played with include: :: Robots in Disguise :: The Servant :: Fiji :: Linoleum :: Blur :: The Cure :: Love Spit Love :: Everclear :: Placebo :: Eels :: Ruby :: Lionrock :: The Aloof 4.01 What was Home Taping? 'Home Taping' was a night club the band staged at the ICA, London. Liam explains: "Central to the idea was that people made taped compilations of their favourite music - just as one does for close friends. It's kind of an antidote to DJ Culture. Music won't be played because its hip and happening, but because somebody really loves it." Chris: "We were going to call it 'Empty Dancefloors'"(!). Liam: "We're going to have live sets, visuals, general arty farty things going on.". Some of the celebrites that made tapes included Jennifer Aniston, Roy Hattersley, Geri Haliwell and Louis Theroux. Liam: "Its not just celebrities. Some of the tapes will be by.. nobodies". Chris "Yeah, great! All our 'nobody' friends who will never talk to us again!" 4.02 What was the 'Sickbag' that that band gave out at one of their gigs? When the band played the ICA in London just prior to the release of Bloodsport, the band decided to make a showcase gig out of the ICA gig they previewed most of the new album and invited a whole host of freinds and die-hard fans (and celebrities!) to a 'album release party' of sorts. At the end of the gig everyone in the audience was given a special 'Sickbag' filled with goodies that were related to tracks / tracknames from the album or had a connection to the band. Click Here to see what was in the Sickbag and try and work out the connection each item has in relation to the band! 4.03 Why are there always different people playing Live? Where are Liam and Joe? Liam now has a family and lots of other various business interests. Joe, too, has other projects on the go and simply hasn't got the time to tour at the moment. The band has various friends who have helped out with live duties, Chris Tate (also known as H.U.N.C.H.). And Dale - who helped out on some recent Euro tour dates. 4.04 Why did 6 Underground and Spin Spin Sugar sound different live? Six Underground and Spin Spin Sugar are the oldest tracks that the band include in their setlist - so as you can imagine, it can get tiresome playing the same songs repeatedly for so many years. The band have reworked these songs for their liveset, giving them a new found energy. The band have reworked quite a few songs for live performances. Low Five is now a lot slower and chilled out and they band have also reworked Superbug in the past.     5.00 Merchandise 5.00 Where can I buy Sneaker Pimps T-Shirts etc? Get all the t-shirts available from the official online shop. You can always get a hold of t-shirts is at a Sneaker Pimps concert. You can also track down T-shirts from 'Ebay' 5.01 Is there a Sneaker Pimps fan club? Not really... although there is a forum: 'SNEAKERPIMPS.be Forum' which is a very good substitute for lack of a fan club! 5.02 Where can I buy Sneaker Pimps bootlegs? London's Camden market is probably the best place to start looking for any unofficial CD's and tapes. Don't expect to find much on the Pimps though, I've never heard of any bootlegs. You best bet is to try 'Ebay' 5.03 Where can I buy rare/hard to find Sneaker Pimps CD's? There is often a special 'customised' limited release 12" / CD available from the official online shop. There are a number of online music retailers who sell Sneaker Pimps merchandise: OpalMusic - Buy back-catalogue Pimps singles from OpalMusic. HMV On-Line - Buy back-catalogue Pimps singles from HMV. E-Bay - Back-catalogue singles and rareties.     6.00 Internet related 6.00 Where can I find more Sneaker Pimps websites? There are now many unofficial Sneaker Pimps' sites on the net but the best and most popular ones, are all listed in the Links section. 6.01 Do the band ever use the internet? They have done web chats in the past. And the first official web sites were originaly designed and produced by the Dave, although the whole band use computers quite a lot. They tend to prefer Apple Macs to PCs. 6.02 Is it true that the band do their own website? The official www.sneakerpimps.com site used to be designed, operated and updated by the band themselves, primarily, Dave, as he explains: "This might explain why it was so rarely updated, us being such busy chaps." The website is now designed and operated by Christophe Godfroid - current webmaster. 6.03 Is there an email address that I can contact the band on? You can contact the band at parmesanchic@aol.com. The only people to read the e-mails sent to Parmesanchic are the Sneaker Pimps themselves. But you can't always expect a reply..