Alpinestars

Alpinestars were an electronic duo formed in 1999 at Manchester, UK by Richard Woolgar and Gly Thomas. The band came into being when the promoters of a local club challenged the pair to compose an hour's worth of music. Influenced by New Order and Depeche Mode, the two took the name Alpinestars from Thomas' mountain bike and proceeded to meet the challenge. Not only was the performance a success, but Alpinestars the act quickly released an EP Less Vegas EP, in 1999. Within a year, they also issued the subsequent EPs Silicon Chick EP and Kitzbuhel Weekend EP, leading up to their debut full-length B.A.S.I.C, in early 2001. In mid-2002, they released the follow-up, White Noise, which saw a much greater emphasis on vocals and live instrumentation and featured a guest appearance by Placebo singer Brian Molko on Carbon Kid. Alpinestars has not released anything significant since White Noise, although a third album entitled Time Spent With Machines was recorded with Dimitri Tikovoi and Rob Kirwan in 2005 in Flood's studio in Kensal Green, London. It has yet to be released by their label Riverman. Since then Glyn Thomas has reputedly reinvented himself as Lucien Caine, producing music that is quite different from Alpinestars, and also produced early demos for acoustic musicians Stephen Fretwell and Liam Frost.