Lost in the Woods
by Darryl Webber, 6 Sep 2018 / © 2018 Essex Chronicle
Essex dance band Sunscreem’s third album was never released but now, 21 years later, is set to see the light of day, at last. Darryl Webber investigates a curious tale of music business shenanigans with a happy ending.
Legendary Essex dance band Sunscreem return to the Bassment, Chelmsford, this Thursdray (September 8) to play the first in a regular series of gigs, the Emjay Sessions, energized after their euphoric performance at the summer’s Fling festival. Not only that, the band are excited by the prospect of playing tracks from an album they recorded 20 years ago but never got released and has such a troubled history that they’ve only revisited it recently.
The story of that album, Out Of The Woods, is a cautionary tale of record label failure, of prolonged legal wranglings and of persistence finally paying off with the good news being that, after 20 years, it will finally be released this year.
You have to step back in time to the mid 1990s for some context. Sunscreem were riding the crest of the wave of some incredible success, with techno anthems like Love U More and Pressure propelling them into charts worldwide. In 1996, the released what was to be their final album for Sony, Change or Die. It spawned three Top 40 singles in the UK and secured number one and two in the US dance charts with When and Looking At You, respectively.
Life seemed to be peachy and Sunscreem, spearheaded by the creative partnership of Lucia Holm and Paul Carnell, were already working on their third album, Out Of The Woods, when they left Sony.
They signed to independent dance label Pulse-8 and completed the album and released a single, Catch, which was a huge hit in the US and became a favourite in gay clubs. They follow that up with a remix of Cover Me which was another top five hit in the US dance charts. It all boded very well for the release of Out Of The Woods which was waiting to be mastered.
Then came the galling news that Pulse8 were in financial trouble and went bankrupt in 1997, leaving Sunscreem unable to release the album. Worse still, a legal wrangle with the album’s producer left Lucia and Paul facing financial ruin and the prospect of losing their home and studio. Understandably, the band were at their lowest ebb at this point.
Help came from an unlikely source. Paul was down in his local pub, no doubt drowning his sorrows, when a chance conversation with a stranger led to Paul telling him his woes. The stranger told Paul he had a hotshot lawyer friend who might be able to help, and sure enough, the hotshot lawyer sprung into action and the legal claim against Sunscreem was dropped.
The band had won but the experience had left them bruised and their enthusiasm for the album had, understandably, waned. Instead of trying to release it, they decided to move on and concentrate on other projects. So the album never got a proper release but there was a constant demand for it from fans over the years with a bootleg of the unmastered promo doing the rounds.
In recent years, Paul and Lucia have revisited Out Of The Woods and fallen in love with it again, deciding to finally finish it and release it, some 21 years after it was originally intended.
Paul and Lucia have mastered each track, without changing the original vocals or sounds, so it really will be the album they were meant to release in 1997. It will feature 13 tracks and carry the original album artwork (pictured right).
Out Of The Woods will be released in the next few weeks with the date to be announced at the gig, but you’ll be able to hear tracks from it during the band’s performance at the Bassment, which is sure to be a night ripe with memories and emotion for everyone involved.
Thankfully, unlike many music industry stories, this is one with a happy ending.
- Sunscreem play the Emjay Sessions at the Bassment, Chelmsford on Saturday, September 8. Support comes from Indigo Face as well as DJ sets from Sunscreem collaborator Dave Valentine and Black Chapel.
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