What is the band Electrascope?

(Short answer: it's The Special Guests Stars!)

That was the question. Nobody knew anything about it except for that
they are or perhaps were a band, one that played great music.

Nothing was known (asked the corpse of John Peel who didn't, either)
and not even the Internet offered anything on the band,
so I figured I should change that.

A friend of mine told me an interesting, piece of musical lore regarding the band;
Apparently they had a gig where Coldplay played warm-up,
interestingly enough, and there were record label personnel present.
The story goes, the 'Scope singer promptly remarked during the gig that
they weren't going to accept a recording contract until the label dropped *Nsync. ;)
Sounds legendary enough, doesn't it?

Then the veil of mystery was lifted somewhat.
Evidently, they indeed was a band, one that was recording an album for Parlophone.
However, one gig, having heard the support - Coldplay - the company had second thoughts,
picked up and signed Coldplay instead, and promptly gave Electrascope the axe.
This stab in the ribs disbanded the band back then, and for now only the recorded songs remain,
plus the world now has to suffer Chris Martin every day. :)

Finally, I was able to get in contact with Tel Sutton,
the vocalist/composer/writer of Electrascope. What a breakthrough!
He was able and eager to provide information on a lot of topics,
and I have compiled the results of those inter(views/rogations) on the bottom of the page.

Got something cool to share about the band (or were in the band)? Please write!
My e-mail address is ramiman@hotmail.com and you have permission to mail away.
I'm also available through Live (MSN) Messenger (the same e-mail) and IRCnet (Raimu or Raimu-X).

So. What's going on with the band now?
Well, these days the band's gotten semi-reunited and fallen apart again. Tel's a songwriter and an all-around cool guy.

Next up is the music - the original legacy of Electrascope.
For now, there are no real official Electrascope CDs or vinyls out there,
and apart from some really lo-fi jam session tapes (that I will put up later)
the only "releases" in existence are these two; 1) "A Rare Delight", a six song demo
that originally got Parlophone interested in them, and 2) the tracks for Parlophone release.
But, since the publisher didn't show any interest in the end to release the 'Scope songs,
the head of the former band just released them as MP3 files (too bad not OGG Vorbis),
hoping they'll spread as wide as possible for people to listen - it's perfectly all right
to download and share these songs to whomever might enjoy them. I think.
Get and listen to them. The band totally rocked and the sound's well produced.


Electrascope - The Parlophone tapes 1997-99
MP3, constant bitrate at 256kbps except for 192kbps when marked with *

[6,162,432 b, 3:12] : 01 : Electrascope (Theme From...)
[8,366,080 b, 4:21] : 02 : Atlantis
[6,610,944 b, 3:26] : 03 : Mechanically Separated Chicken
[8,472,576 b, 4:24] : 04 : Exiles
[6,871,040 b, 3:34] : 05 : Flowers Of Japan
[9,330,688 b, 6:28] : 06 * Any Last Requests
[5,445,632 b, 2:50] : 07 : Smell California
[4,888,576 b, 3:23] : 08 * Understanding
[5,421,056 b, 3:45] : 09 * It's War!
[11,212,800 b, 5:50] : 10 : Promenade
[6,139,904 b, 4:15] : 11 * World Wrapped Around Me : "Bonus Track"
[3,467,264 b, 2:24] : 12 * Boys : "Bonus Track"
[6,434,816 b, 4:28] : 13 * Any Last Requests (Radio Edit)


Electrascope - A Rare Delight (Demo from May 1997)
MP3, constant bitrate at 192kbps

[6,038,047 bytes, 4:11] : 02 : Atlantis (demo)
[6,129,580 bytes, 4:15] : 03 : The Breaks (demo)
[11,046,034 bytes, 7:40] : 06 : Powderman (demo)


Lyrical transcription - contains all Parlophone songs, some words are still missing
and Tel told me they're mostly wrong anyway.

File notes - unique songs totalling at 47:52, the Parlophone tapes would've made a killer LP.
From the demo Tel has currently released songs 2, 3 and 6. More will hopefully follow.
I've run into some bad 'Scope MP3s that had lower quality and several aural imperfections.
The ones provided here have no skips, no pops or crackles - nigh immaculate MP3s (oxymoron).
This is Tel's intended track running order.. I knew Promenade would be the closer. :)
The edit of Any Last Requests excludes the slow intro part and some lyrics - see the transcript.
Four and a half minutes, kind of lengthy for modern radio play, don't you think?


You should also see an earlier band of mr. Sutton, called The On,
which is also discussed in the conversation article below.
These days, the band's still there, tho' the current incarnation is called The Special Guest Stars!

And here's all the currently-unsorted material about ol' incarnations including MP3 demos: Gear!

Yes, like stated earlier, I had the opportunity to talk to Tel Sutton, the Way/On/Scope/Flash/Stars man,
so I asked him a variety of questions and he was very kind and eager to elaborate.
Thanks, man! You rock. Here's Electrascope revealed.


Yes, there also was a band with the name spelled with an 'o' instead of an 'a',
but they played psychedelic folk. They are a totally different band,
although they're constantly misspelled with an 'a', which doesn't help.


Page written and maintained by Rami Markus Maunula.
Yours truly needs to be eternally thankful to Mikko Hyyryläinen, Harry Visser and of course Tel "Cert X" Sutton.

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