Band Members
The band was formed by Pierce who then asked Carruthers, Refoy and Mattock to join him following the impending split of Spacemen 3. Pierce, due to a technical clause, inherited Spacemen 3's new record deal with Dedicated Records. Only Pierce remains from the original line-up of the band. Will Carruthers left the band in 1992 and now records as a solo project under the name Freelovebabies, Carruthers was replaced by Rugby musician Sean Cook from local band Electrahead. Following the completion of recording sessions for Pure Phase, Mark Refoy left in 1994, deciding to concentrate on his own fronted band Slipstream. He was initially replaced by Kevin Cowen from fellow Rugby band The Darkside, Cowen only completed one gig (Glastonbury 1994) before himself leaving to be replaced first by John Coxon (Spring Heel Jack, Betty Boo) and then later on by Julian Cope's former guitarist Michael Mooney (Coxon returned to replace Mooney following his eventual departure). Mattock played in The Breeders for a spell (during a lull in Spiritualized activities in 1991, he appears on the Safari EP) and left Spiritualized later in 1994 following the recording of Pure Phase, working as a session musician before joining Lupine Howl, he was replaced by Damon Reece. Kate Radley appeared for some initial dates promoting Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space, before leaving the band in 1997 with a reported unspecified illness. (Radley had married The Verve's singer Richard Ashcroft in 1995, however after a reconciliation with Pierce, she eventually returned to Ashcroft by the time of her illness). Kate was replaced by Thighpaulsandra from Julian Cope's band Queen Elizabeth. Sax player Ray 'Moonshake' Dickaty was added to the line-up in 1997, and Gregg Hale (guitar) also augmented the band in 1997 and 1998.
Following promotional activity for Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space, Sean Cook, Damon Reece and Michael Mooney threatened a strike in protest over low salaries and appearance fees. New contracts of employment were drawn up between Pierce and the musicians, and the same contracts were then used to fire them (to general disbelief by the music press at the time). In response, Messrs Cook, Reece and Mooney formed Lupine Howl. Ray Dickaty departed in 2003, quitting to play in the free-jazz Solar Fire Trio.
Retaining only keyboardist Thighpaulsandra (keyboards), Jason Pierce then debuted a new line up of Spiritualized, introducing classical percussionist Tom Edwards and former Julian Cope string arranger Martin Schellard on bass guitar. Completing the new Spiritualized line-up were guitarist Doggen of Brain Donor and the Julian Cope band, Richard Warren and drummer Kevin 'Kevlar' Bales, who is also a member of Brain Donor. This line-up finished recording their album Songs In A&E in Nottingham and London. Jonny Aitken stepped in on drums for the recording of Amazing Grace while Kevin Bales was recovering from illness. Chris Davis of Six By Seven & Spotlight Kid also stepped in for Kevin for two major festival appearances.
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