The Darkside

Biography

The Darkside was originally formed by guitarist & vocalist Nick Hayden who had previously played drums for Spacemen 3. The band formed in the Spacemen's hometown of Rugby. Hayden then asked Pete Bain (AKA Bassman), who had left Spacemen 3 just before their 1989 LP Playing With Fire, to join the band. Bain was then joined in the new outfit by his former bandmate, drummer Sterling Roswell (AKA Rosco). The group debuted in 1990 with the E.P. 'Highrise Love' and a UK tour followed but shortly bef...

The Darkside was originally formed by guitarist & vocalist Nick Hayden who had previously played drums for Spacemen 3. The band formed in the Spacemen's hometown of Rugby. Hayden then asked Pete Bain (AKA Bassman), who had left Spacemen 3 just before their 1989 LP Playing With Fire, to join the band. Bain was then joined in the new outfit by his former bandmate, drummer Sterling Roswell (AKA Rosco).


The group debuted in 1990 with the E.P. 'Highrise Love' and a UK tour followed but shortly before a gig at Oxford's Jericho Tavern, Hayden left the band and decided to stay in Oxford where he started a new band called Flite 118 which played many of the songs he had written for The Darkside. Hayden's departure forced Bain to take over on vocals. The group were signed to Beggars Banquet Records offshoot Situation Two throughout their existence.

The Darkside released an LP, All That Noise. With Rosco moving to keyboards, the group recruited Craig Wagstaff, whom they had known while in Spacemen 3. The Melomania LP then followed in 1992. With the departure of guitarist Kevin Cowen following the LP's release, Bain then assumed guitar duties for the EP Mayhem to Meditate. When Situation Two rejected the demos cut for a third LP, the band disintegrated.

Since the band's split, Bain has recorded several albums under the Alphastone name and guested on several of former bandmate Peter Kember's E.A.R albums. Rosco recently issued the well-received solo LP Ubik under his real name Sterling Roswell. Flite 118 enjoyed some success mainly on the local Oxford music scene along with bands such as Ride and On A Friday (who later became Radiohead but after a brief line up change Hayden decided to quit playing in bands altogether. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.