Fat BABE
Hailing from Portsmouth, UK fat B.A.B.E was one of the first and foremost rap metal bands to hit the UK scene.
Formed by long time friends Mark and Steve back in early 1991/2, using a drum machine they started writing tunes that would soon change the Metal scene in Portsmouth. Not long after Mark and Steve started jamming in Marks front room they had a knock on the door. But instead of a neighbor complaining it was a neighbor (Rob) asking if he could come in and listen. After 15 minutes Rob was singing over the top of the music they were playing and fat B.A.B.E was formed.
Not long after they recorded their first demo 'Gullible' which featured an impressive picture of Steve’s stomach along with some impressive sounding tunes. A couple of the songs featured on this were 'You said' and 'Shreds' which would later appear on fat B.A.B.E's debut album 'GET A LIFE'.
In early 1993 the band decided that they wanted a real drummer. After much looking and auditions Mark saw an advert in the free ads, it was an ad from a drummer asking for some musicians to form a metal band that was fresh and exciting. Mark called the drummer straight away and spoke to Louis for the first time. After a long and excitable phone call they arranged a jam and Mark brought a demo over so Louis could listen to their songs.
The next week arrived and Louis met Mark, Steve and Rob for the first time at the jamming studio. By the end of the first song they offered Louis the job and by the time they packed up they were playing two songs of the demo along with a brand new song called 'Out of Control'.
fat B.A.B.E were entered into the prestigious battle of the bands competition at The Wedgewood Rooms in Portsmouth. Before fat B.A.B.E went on they carried Louis' massive rack mounted kit onto the stage. This confused a lot of people as soon afterwards they started their set with only the drum machine kicking into the first tune. Three tunes later Rob announced that they had someone they wanted to bring on stage and from the side of the stage appeared Louis and they played the three tunes they had played together the week before. fat B.A.B.E went on to appear in the grand final of the competition playing to over 400 people and only just missing out to another up and coming band called the 'Passion Killers'.
In 1994 fat B.A.B.E once again decided to hit the studio and record their first album 'GET A LIFE'. Whilst recording this fat B.A.B.E was lucky enough to open for 'Headswim' who had just played 'The Monsters of Rock' at Donnington. This was the start of many opening slots for big touring bands who traveled to Portsmouth, one of the other bands was 'A'. Having impressed both bands fat B.A.B.E were asked by the bands themselves to open for them again on later tours. fat B.A.B.E also put on their own successful CD launch party at the Wedgewood Rooms.
Also during this time fat B.A.B.E covered a song by a new girl band called 'The Spice Girls'. This song created a massive hype. It was being played at rock discos up and down the country and it wasn't long before Virgin records wanted to release it as a single. With all the hype in place and a string of national radio and press interviews fat B.A.B.E were due to play live their cover of 'Wannabe' on Chris Evans TFI Friday to celebrate the signing of their single deal. Just as fat B.A.B.E were going to leave for London they recieved a call from none other than Simon Fuller's lawyer stating that if we went through with the single and the appearance that we would be sued. As four local lads with not much money they decided to wimp out and cancelled their appearance on TFI Friday....
A year passed and after a lot of hard work and constant gigging all over the country fat B.A.B.E were snapped up by record label 'Holier than thou Records'. Returning to the studio in 1995 they meet Jonny 'Rocks' Mitchell of 'The Outhouse Studios' in Reading and began recording what would be their last album titled 'Backbone'. This album featured a new evolved sound which would see keyboards and an awesome DJ scratching his way through 'Hype the feeling' to great effect. The launch party at the Wedgewood Rooms for 'Backbone' to their surprise was a sell out and it was the first of five shows that fat B.A.B.E did sell out there.
In 2000 Louis decided to concentrate on his new band 'Boredline' and parted ways with fat B.A.B.E. With the rest of the guys not wanting to call it a day, D-boy who was a friend of the band was asked to take up the drum position. fat B.A.B.E continued to play gigs and write songs.
fat B.A.B.E eventually called it a day after 10 long and very exciting years, all the guys who were involved with fat B.A.B.E are life long friends.
Mark, Steve and D-boy went on to form MOFO. Louis and Rob formed a Rage against the Machine tribute who now features Rich from fat B.A.B.E on Bass. We hope you enjoyed the shortened version of events over the time we spent together along with a small selection of the many tunes and photos.
On General Release
Backbone (album) released in 1995
Feisty rap metal in the One Minute Silence Vein, the productions great, the songs
are good and there's a cool hip hop flavour". Metal Hammer
