The Utopia Strong

British prog-electronica outfit the Utopia Strong— improbably anchored by six-time world snooker champion Steve Davis on modular synth— fuse prog, Krautrock, and contemporary electronica across their self-titled 2019 debut album.

During the 1980s Davis ruled the snooker table. While the sport was ruled by hard-partying figures such as Alex "Hurricane" Higgins and Jimmy White, his wholesome, buttoned-down, no-frills persona earned him savage ridicule as the planet’s most tedious individual, most memorably via the British satirical puppet series Spitting Image, which mockingly crowned him “Mr. Interesting.” He ultimately silenced the mockery by securing six world titles at the table. Away from that strait-laced public image, however, he was a keenly engaged music enthusiast whose affinities for prog rock, jazz-funk, and soul were well known in discerning circles. Out of his own funds he famously brought French prog legends Magma to London’s Bloomsbury Theatre for three sold-out performances, and he later carved out a parallel career as a respected DJ through the program Interesting Alternative on Essex community station Phoenix FM.

His co-host on that broadcast was veteran Gong and Cardiacs guitarist Kavus Torabi, first encountered at a Magma concert. Davis’s wide-ranging tastes soon expanded further into contemporary electronica; in 2016 he began working with the modular synth. After DJ’ing together at the 2017 Glastonbury Festival, Davis and Torabi connected with Coil’s Michael J. York, and the three resolved to start a group. Proceeding without fixed goals or stylistic templates, they generated an immersive, hypnotic voyage that blended prog, Krautrock, and contemporary electronica. Rocket Recordings issued their self-titled debut album in 2019. Although primarily instrumental, the record included a guest vocal from Mediæval Bæbes’ Katharine Blake.