Biography
Dubstar rose to prominence amid the Brit-pop movement by landing multiple Top 40 singles on home soil. Although their sharp melodies and incisive words stood alongside those of peers, the group stood apart through a blended style drawing from trip-hop and dance alongside jangle pop and alternative rock. Their 1995 debut Disgraceful earned Gold certification in the U.K. on the strength of the breakbeat-driven ballad “Stars” and the breezy indie pop number “Not So Manic Now,” while the 1997 follow-up Goodbye climbed into the Top 20. Activity ceased in 2000, after which lead vocalist Sarah Blackwood launched the electro-pop outfit Client. Occasional signals of new material surfaced across the ensuing years until the band resumed fully with One in 2018 and Two in 2022.
Guitarist Chris Wilkie and singer-keyboardist Steve Hillier, both based in Newcastle upon Tyne, started the Joans in 1992 before renaming the project Dubstar; Sarah Blackwood came aboard as lead singer in 1993. The trio secured a deal with the EMI-affiliated Food Records—home to Blur and Jesus Jones—in 1994 and enlisted producer Stephen Hague, whose résumé included Pet Shop Boys and New Order, for the first album. Disgraceful surfaced in 1995; its opening pair of singles grazed the Top 40, yet the cover “Not So Manic Now,” originally by the little-known Brick Supply, advanced to the Top 20. A 1996 reissue of “Stars” reached number 15, topped the Israeli chart, and became an international club staple via remixes from Way Out West and Motiv 8. After contributing “Everyday I Die” to the Gary Numan tribute album Random, Dubstar issued Goodbye in 1997. That set featured the hits “No More Talk” and “I Will Be Your Girlfriend” and peaked at number 18 in the U.K.; Polydor later released a North American edition that merged tracks from the first two albums with several remixes.
The slightly harder-edged, guitar-centric third album Make It Better arrived in 2000. Although “I (Friday Night)” entered the Top 40, the record itself failed to chart and met with cooler reception than its predecessors; Hillier had already exited before its release. Blackwood received an invitation to join Technique, a band formerly on Creation until the label folded and whose lineup included Kate Holmes, once of Frazier Chorus. Instead she and Holmes formed the electroclash duo Client, initially presenting themselves anonymously. They became the inaugural signing to Toast Hawaii, the Mute imprint launched by Depeche Mode’s Andy Fletcher, and scored singles in both the U.K.—where “Pornography” hit number 22 in 2005—and Germany. EMI compiled Stars: The Best of Dubstar in 2004. Performing as Client B, Blackwood released the 2008 EP Acoustic at the Club Bar & Dining, which mixed Client and Dubstar material with covers of the Smiths and New Order.
In 2010 Dubstar resurfaced via a cover of the Passions’ 1981 single “I’m in Love with a German Film Star,” cut for Amnesty International. Blackwood departed Client that same year yet stayed with Dubstar, now reduced to herself and Wilkie. The pair issued “Circle Turns” in 2012 as an extremely limited lathe-cut single pressed for Record Store Day at an Austrian shop. A complete return followed in 2018 with the fourth album One, issued on their own Northern Writes imprint and produced by Youth of Killing Joke, the Orb, and Paul McCartney. The singles “Hygiene Strip,” an acoustic “Not So Manic Now,” and the disco-tinged “I Can See You Outside” appeared in 2020, succeeded by “Tectonic Plates” in 2021. Two arrived in 2022, marking Dubstar’s first charting album in more than two decades.
Guitarist Chris Wilkie and singer-keyboardist Steve Hillier, both based in Newcastle upon Tyne, started the Joans in 1992 before renaming the project Dubstar; Sarah Blackwood came aboard as lead singer in 1993. The trio secured a deal with the EMI-affiliated Food Records—home to Blur and Jesus Jones—in 1994 and enlisted producer Stephen Hague, whose résumé included Pet Shop Boys and New Order, for the first album. Disgraceful surfaced in 1995; its opening pair of singles grazed the Top 40, yet the cover “Not So Manic Now,” originally by the little-known Brick Supply, advanced to the Top 20. A 1996 reissue of “Stars” reached number 15, topped the Israeli chart, and became an international club staple via remixes from Way Out West and Motiv 8. After contributing “Everyday I Die” to the Gary Numan tribute album Random, Dubstar issued Goodbye in 1997. That set featured the hits “No More Talk” and “I Will Be Your Girlfriend” and peaked at number 18 in the U.K.; Polydor later released a North American edition that merged tracks from the first two albums with several remixes.
The slightly harder-edged, guitar-centric third album Make It Better arrived in 2000. Although “I (Friday Night)” entered the Top 40, the record itself failed to chart and met with cooler reception than its predecessors; Hillier had already exited before its release. Blackwood received an invitation to join Technique, a band formerly on Creation until the label folded and whose lineup included Kate Holmes, once of Frazier Chorus. Instead she and Holmes formed the electroclash duo Client, initially presenting themselves anonymously. They became the inaugural signing to Toast Hawaii, the Mute imprint launched by Depeche Mode’s Andy Fletcher, and scored singles in both the U.K.—where “Pornography” hit number 22 in 2005—and Germany. EMI compiled Stars: The Best of Dubstar in 2004. Performing as Client B, Blackwood released the 2008 EP Acoustic at the Club Bar & Dining, which mixed Client and Dubstar material with covers of the Smiths and New Order.
In 2010 Dubstar resurfaced via a cover of the Passions’ 1981 single “I’m in Love with a German Film Star,” cut for Amnesty International. Blackwood departed Client that same year yet stayed with Dubstar, now reduced to herself and Wilkie. The pair issued “Circle Turns” in 2012 as an extremely limited lathe-cut single pressed for Record Store Day at an Austrian shop. A complete return followed in 2018 with the fourth album One, issued on their own Northern Writes imprint and produced by Youth of Killing Joke, the Orb, and Paul McCartney. The singles “Hygiene Strip,” an acoustic “Not So Manic Now,” and the disco-tinged “I Can See You Outside” appeared in 2020, succeeded by “Tectonic Plates” in 2021. Two arrived in 2022, marking Dubstar’s first charting album in more than two decades.
Albums
Singles
