About 'A'





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​'A’ was formed in the late 1980s, as ‘Grand Designs’, and changed its name to ‘A’ in 1993. The band cited their influences as: Rush , The Beach Boys, Van Halen and The Beastie Boys.


At the time Jason had a job creating music for TV ads. He bought a studio, which he also used to produce some demos for the band. ‘A’ landed a deal with London Records in 1996, and released records under their own “Tycoon Records” subsidiary. In 1997 they recorded their debut album How Ace Are Buildings over three months in California. Perry co-produced the album with Thom Wilson, most famous for producing The Offspring’s “Smash”. ‘A’ began to build up a loyal following in the UK, touring with the likes of The Sex Pistols, Jesus Jones and their heroes Faith No More
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After the album was released, bassist Stevie Swindon parted ways with the band and was replaced by their friend and satanist Daniel P Carter. In 1998 How Ace Are Buildings was re-released on ltd edition vinyl, with a bonus record featuring live tracks, remixes, clips from interviews, answering machine messages and general silliness. The record was produced, engineered, mixed and mastered by Jason.
In 1999 they released their second album ‘A’ Vs Monkey Kong ‘, which had a more mature sound than their debut, and is regarded by many as their finest hour.
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With its release they began touring internationally for the first time. The single “I Love Lake Tahoe”, about their love of snowboarding at Lake Tahoe was a big hit in Germany, and in 2000 the band embarked on a worldwide tour with The Bloodhound Gang. Jason produced many of the B-sides from this period.

The third album was Hi-Fi Serious, recorded in Germany with producer Al Clay in 2001. The first single, “Nothing”, was the heaviest thing the band had recorded to date, and went crashing into the UK top 10. This was followed by top 20 hit “Starbucks”. The band spent 2002 touring worldwide, appearing at many of the world’s major festivals, and won a Kerrang award for best British band. This was the bands most successful period to date.

After a brief delay, the fourth studio album was recorded in early 2004 in Seattle, with producer Terry Date. Again, the album marked a more mature sound for the band, and was regarded as containing the bands strongest material. Around the time the album was completed, the bands UK label, London Records, was bought out by Warner Music. Unfortunately this meant the album was shelved for the rest of the year.

 'A'