This group in the mid-1990s of the last century "blew up" all the charts and tops of radio stations. Perhaps there is no one who would not understand what group they mean when they say Ready To Go. The Republica team quickly became popular and just as quickly disappeared from the heights of the musical Olympus. It cannot be said that this is a group of one composition, but, unfortunately, there are no more successful tracks.
Creation of the Republica team
In 1994, tired of constant experimentation and changing bands, talented keyboardist Tim Dorney and his colleague Andy Todd created a band.
Incorporating all the popular movements of that time, popular electronic dance movements and the legacy of such famous "opponents" and anarchists as The Sex Pistols, the guys invented a new and mixed direction - techno-pop-punk-rock.
Tim Dorney (formerly of Flowerd Up) and Andy Todd (former producer of Bjork and Barbra Streisand) understood what they wanted from the new team. However, everything stopped on the selection of a vocalist. After a long search and unsuccessful auditions, they managed to find the real diamond - Samantha Sprakling (Saffran).
The beauty, whose appearance shows oriental roots, had a rich creative past by the time she met the founders of the team. A native of Nigeria, she managed to collaborate with the bands N-Joi and The Shamen.
She also starred in the videos of several popular bands, became the author of the singles One Love (1992) and the track Circles (1993). The vocalist spent the longest time playing one of the main roles in the popular musical Starlight Express.
After the start of rehearsals, the band began to material for a serious statement about themselves on the big stage. At this time, Johnny Mail joined the band, who took on the role of guitarist and David Barbarossa, who became the band's full-time drummer.
After a stubborn and difficult period of addiction, disputes and disagreements, the band's first single Out of this World (1994) was released. The next track Bloke was released in 1995. The band then began to practice material in British underground clubs and dance floors.
Rise of popularity
Despite all efforts and a gradually increasing army of fans, the group did not find real success. The breakthrough came in the spring of 1996. Then the band released another studio track Ready To Go.
The composition instantly took the 13th position of the British national chart, becoming a real hallmark of the young team, thanks to which he received the long-awaited popularity both at home and abroad.
In the same year, the first studio album of the group Republica was released. PH came out thanks to the music label Deconstruction Records. Several songs from the disc immediately got into rotation on local radio stations. This made it possible to reach the 4th position in the national chart at the end of the year. Another achievement can be considered a position in the conservative Billboard Top 200 for new trends. This only increased the interest of music lovers in the band.
The unusual sound of the group stood out sharply against the background of many groups with female vocals. Saffran in 1997 received an offer from the leaders of the alternative group The Prodigy to record a track for the new album The Fat of the Land. This is how the track Fuel My Fire appeared, which was known to many connoisseurs of the work of this band. In the future, several more popular bands invited the vocalist to record joint compositions.
The second studio work Speed Ballads was released in autumn 1998. The disc shows a noticeable change in the sound of the band. The number of rhythmic "fighters" has decreased. But there are much more melodic tracks that reveal the vocal abilities of the soloist and the breadth of the musical views of the rest of the group. The new disc could not repeat the commercial success of the first work. Then a difficult period began in the life of the group.
Breakup and sabbatical
After the release of Speed Ballads, Andy Todd left the band, which was caused by internal disagreements between the musicians. Following this, the label on which the group recorded songs became bankrupt. And this was the last drop of patience of its participants. The team announced a creative break, while emphasizing that there was no talk of a breakup.
In 2002, BMG released a collection of the group's hits, but the soloist spoke out against the record, explaining to journalists that no one asked the musicians' opinions and their consent to release the record. During the vacation, Saffran managed to work with such bands as The Cure and Junkie XL.
The group again performed in full strength only in 2008, at the Contra Medium festival, which took place in Windsor. Despite the fact that it was announced about the reunion and the beginning of work on new material, the result of rehearsals was only one single by Christiana Obey, which was released in 2013. There were no more studio works from the team. Musicians only appeared at concerts and festivals around the world.
