Hysterix

Formed when the principal members met up on the Tokyo dance music scene, where Tony Quinn was DJing at the Gold club for Yohji Yahamoto, Hysterix are not yet the most renowned of DeConstruction’s acts. However, they have not been absent through want of trying. A typical act of anarchy came in 1993 when, via a live pirate broadcast, they illegally interrupted terrestrial television to transmit the slogan ‘You’ve been Hysterixed!’. Dance magazine columns regularly overflowed with tales of their clubland ligging. They blew their record advance on tequila during an all-expenses trip to Mexico to shoot a video, which never materialised. Another five day jaunt to Florida was arranged when they pretended to be a completely different band. They joined Technotronic on their Eastern European tour, demanding payment in champagne and caviar, and persuaded Jean-Michel Jarre to let them mix his work, staying at a hotel drinking Dom Perignon at his expense and completely forgetting to deliver the tape. They have also kidnapped their manager and booking agent and left them tied up at Skegness railway station, among many other pranks. Influenced by the original disco sounds of T Connection and Earth, Wind And Fire as much as late 80s house, they were signed to their label for a full three years before a debut single, ‘Must Be The Magic’, emerged. DeConstruction had originally been impressed by the ‘Talk To Me’ 12-inch, which later saw a tremendously popular, but elusive Sasha remix. The nucleus of the group is ‘Tokyo’ Tony Quinn, Darren Black and Richard Belgrave. Their numerous female vocalists have included ex-KLF singer Maxine, though from October 1993 the band chose Sally Anne Marsh and Marie Harper. Marsh had originally been part of Tom Watkins (manager of Bros, East 17 etc) pop act Faith Hope And Charity when she was 14, alongside television ‘presenter’ Danni Behr. She also sang on Xpansions Top 10 hit, ‘Move Your Body’, in 1991, and has worked with Hyper Go-Go and Aerial. Harper, meanwhile, formerly operated on the jazz circuit. Hysterix finally looked as though they were getting their house in order for 1994, supporting D:Ream on their UK tour and garnering good press for the single.