ULTRA-SONIC released their first single "Obsession" in 1992 and have remained a major force in dance music in Scotland ever since.
Now some thirteen years later they release THE BEST OF ULTRA-SONIC - All the big tunes are there along with 'Live at Club Kinetic' plus three bonus tracks. This double CD is out now on RUMOUR RECORDS in association with CLUBSCENE RECORDS. It's also available to buy online from Rumour Records
The band are currently working on a brand new album and a single from the album is due for release April, 2004 As well as the single and album US will be releasing a DVD of their live performances.. This is because of the band rejoining their original label and original management company.
History
Very few 'dance bands' in Scotland can claim the lengthy success that ULTRA-SONIC have had over the past eleven years. They have sold well over 300,000 singles and albums and have supported the like of THE PRODIGY, MOBY and CARL COX to mention but a few. A band whose video sold 6,500 copies in four days, outselling Disney's 'The Jungle Book' as well as picking up ten awards ranging from 'Best New Band' to 'Best New Single'. Pre-sale orders for their new album were at a staggering 30,000 copies before the album was even released! All of this from a small but rapidly growing independent record label - CLUBSCENE Records.
ULTRA-SONIC were during the late 90's without doubt the No.1 band in Scotland and the only Scottish dance band to have been invited to headline two massive tours of Australia. They are also the only Scottish dance band to gig in Germany two weekends out of every month. (80 gigs at the last count) and who have been described by the head of Low Spirit as "the best dance band in the world".
In February 1992, the band signed a management deal with Bill Grainger Management (a division of CLUBSCENE - Scotland's highly respected monthly dance music magazine - and you're reading this on our new online service) This resulted in them being signed to CLUBSCENE RECORDS and led to their first record, "Obsession" being released. The track was written and produced by the boys themselves and recorded in WET WET WET's "PetSounds" studio in Glasgow . Rodger and Mallorca have both continued to write and produce all of their own material.
"Obsession" was released during November 1992 and sold over 6,000 copies in Scotland alone before being deleted, so that it could be included in the exceptionally successful ESSENTIAL CLUBSCENE Vol.1 compilation album.
The group released their second single. "The Pulse" on 7th April 1993 that went on to sell over 10,000 units. The third single "Arpeggio / Annihilating Rhythm Pt.1 & Pt.2" was released in October 1993 and entered the UK National Independent record sales chart staying there for some six weeks. Sales to date, which have been mainly in Scotland , are fastly approaching the 21,000 mark, and are testament to the bands growing and ever-increasing popularity. This track was licensed to LOW SPIRIT/POLYDOR in Germany and to date has sold a massive 56,000 units in that territory alone! Several of ULTRA-SONIC's tracks are also featured on numerous European, Australian, Japanese and UK compilation albums.
On the 20th December 1993 , ULTRA-SONIC released a full-length video containing footage of their recent gigs, by the 24th December -four days later - all 6,500 copies of the video had been sold. In some of the main stores in Glasgow , the video was outselling the Disney "Jungle Book" video.
Noted for their incredible 'high-energy' charged performances, ULTRA-SONIC have topped the bill at almost all of the biggest dance events in Scotland including: FANTAZIA, REZERECTION, EURODANCE, STREETRAVE & REVOLUTION, not to mention selling out the prestigious GLASGOW BARROWLANDS venue on a number of occasions
ULTRA-SONIC were voted 'BEST NEW BAND' in the 1992 Scottish Dance Music Awards and "Obsession" was voted '2nd BEST NEW SINGLE'. In 1993, they were voted 'BEST SCOTTISH DANCE BAND' in the M8 Magazine Awards; and 'BEST SCOTTISH BAND' in Radio Forth's "Steppin' Out" Dance Awards. The single "Annihilating Rhythm" was voted 'BEST SINGLE' of 1993. Last year the band was also voted 'BEST PA' by the national magazine DISCO CLUB INTERNATIONAL.
In polls held in Scotland and Northern Ireland, the band was acclaimed both the 'BEST BRITISH DANCE BAND' and the 'BEST DANCE BAND IN THE WORLD!' The band also topped the bill at the
prestigious MAYDAY event in Dortmund, Germany where they appeared in front of some 3000 people and as a result, they now spend two weekends every month appearing at various clubs and events all over Europe including some of the former 'Iron Curtain' countries such as Hungary and Poland.
ULTRA-SONIC made a return visit to Australia in June of 1995 during which they appeared to 'full-houses' in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Melbourne & Adelaide.
In August, the group appeared at the prestigious DANCE MATRIX '95 in Tokyo, Japan where they supported THE PRODIGY, the concer was recorded and subsequently aired for Japanese network television. Their first album "TEKNO JUNKIES" has just been released in Japan by AVEX RECORDS. Also in August, they were voted the best band to appear in Northern Ireland, at the ETERNITY Northern Ireland Dance Awards show, with the event being broadcast on the dance music programme BPM throughout the ITV networks.
In line with their continued plan of 'global domination' the band made their live debut in the United States in October 1995, where they stormed both the PALLADIUM and LIMELIGHT clubs in New York with stunning and highly charged performances, an incredible achievement for a relatively unknown British band.
