What is the meaning behind the name Babylon Zoo?

Quote from Jas Mann:
I think it's part positive and part negative, which is what I basically went for. Like any great film, I think the title of the piece sets a sort of common ground, a philosophy of how the film sort of moves on. I mean, I deal a lot with evolution, and I deal a lot with us now, and what we were in the past and what we will be in the future, and in that whole futuristic sense of writing. The word "Babylon," I wanted to use that because it existed before Egyptian times as a paradise where everything was free, everybody was equal, and the word "Zoo," which is maybe society now, this geometric concrete jungle that we live in. This is us enslaved within our boxes. You know, our car, our home, our office. We live in boxes every single hour of the day. You deal with the two, how we evolved from paradise to a supposed modernist paradise, but is it? That's the sort of feel that I was trying to get at with the name.

 
Jas, fully named as 'Jasbinder', was born in Dudley in the West Midlands on the 24th day of April 1971; he therefore falls under the Zodiac Sign of the Bull - Taurus. Jas is one of four children given birth by Avtar Mann and Balbir Mann; his mother and father respectively. The x- ray eye's boy has two sisters older than him and one younger, which by simple calculation tells you he has no brothers.

J. Mann is Indian or to be more precise he is Punjabi, both his parents were born in villages within the Punjab, which lies in the North West of India near New Delhi. The Mann family are classed as Sikh by religion regardless of religious beliefs - religion is ascribed at birth.

Although born in Dudley, Wolverhampton has been Jas' hometown; his final years of state education was undertaken at Pendeford High School. His sporting activities shone through, he found himself to be a talented sportsman taking part in football, tennis, and cricket at various levels. However, his passion for music developed whilst still at High School; at the age of 15 he and his friend Adam Toussiant formed a partnership which they called 'The Glove Puppets'. Dedication and determination meant that evenings were spent rehearsing and playing gigs in clubs, pubs and colleges. So great was the group's commitment that they even personally funded a 7" single cut on vinyl and sold through local record shops. The single, produced on a low budget in 1987, wasn't going to bring them stardom nor fortune but it did, however, highlight that new talent was emerging. For those interested, the single was released as a Double A Side and contained the songs - 'This Head' and 'Girl in a Shell'.

The Sandkings, another Wolverhampton band with a strong following, were keen to sign Jas as their vocalist. After an enormous amount of persistence Jasbinder did waiver to there wishes. The group consisted of Jas Mann-the Voice, Dave Brown-Bass, Glenn Dodd-Guitar/Backing Voices and Terry Kirkbride-Drums/Backing Voices. This new marriage was to be of mutual benefit elevating both J. Mann and the Sandkings appearing on television with his long lockes of black hair. A number of singles and albums were released, The Sandkings was to become a household name in Wolverhampton receiving a lot of publicity but divorce was looming around the corner. Some of the singles released by The Sandkings fronted by Jas were 'Hope Springs Eternal - 1988', 'All's Well With The World - 1988',' Shake Your Head - 1991', Temple Redneck - 1991', 'Let It Grow - 1992'.

Jasbinder with his dominant personality could see things were not progressing. There were too many ideas and suggestions of which not many coincided with his; the only way to move on was to get out. With the backing of his close friends and business associates this is what was to happen and hence Babylon Zoo was created. 1995 was also to be the year that Spaceman was conceived, for the mainstream market anyway, along with the album 'The Boy With The X-Ray Eye's. At this time Babylon Zoo was signed to W.E.A. (Warner Bros.), the single had been recorded, the video's had been filmed, everything was ready to go but suddenly things halted. There were developments, the Managing Director of Warners, Clive Black, was signed over to EMI Records as there MD. Clive was so confident of Jas Mann that when the contract was drawn, it was made a condition that Jas be signed to EMI as well. All the Warner Bros. Spaceman CD's and video's had to be trashed, all the work of Babylon Zoo had also changed hands.

The CD's and video's had to be re-recorded under the new label, in the meantime Spaceman was aired on local radio in Manchester, it had not, at this stage been released as a single. One of the listeners of the radio station were the people who were making the next Levi's advert - they chose this as their soundtrack for their campaign. The Levi's Jeans ad was shown on UK television towards the latter end of 1995.

George Michael, after a five-year absence, had released his first record 'Jesus to a Child' which topped the charts. Spaceman the single was officially released onto the British market a week later, on 15th January 1996. The single overwhelmed the UK market, over 500,000 copies were sold in the first week of sales. It broke records by becoming the fastest selling debut single in British pop history, toppling George from the number 1 spot.

The Manager at Virgin Megastore in Birmingham said Babylon Zoo was selling 9 copies to every 1 of George Michael's; George therefore sold approximately 56,000. Sales for Spaceman started on the Monday and by first thing Thursday it was a fact that Babylon Zoo was Numero Uno. The single stayed firm in the top slot for an incredible 5 weeks' (in the UK charts), more copies had to be cut due to enormous demand.

Spaceman, the track expressed the need to keep true to oneself despite outside peer pressure, in the same way that a visitor from another planet would be free from earthly influences. It is about recognising that we all have our 'spaceman' - a projection of our inner soul. of how we feel about ourselves. Our outer personalities are so easily affected by our social environments, but we must stay true to ourselves and not compromise our 'spaceman'. "I write about what it would feel like to be a person from another planet, rather than romanticising science fiction "explains Jas. Babylon Zoo has a vision of personal liberation that encourages the asking of questions without preaching a set of proscribed answers.

Jas says, "You don't have to listen to me, turn it off, rip up the paper, break my record; I'm not here to patronise the individual and say - you have to like me". The music, artwork and visual ideas were all generated from a studio in Wolverhampton - New Atlantis Productions.

Jean Francois CecilIon, President and C.E.O. of EMI Records Group U.K. and Ireland stated "Babylon Zoo's phenomenal success proves that British music is red hot. Our companies around the world are gearing up for a No 1 hit".

Clive Black, EMI UK's Managing Director at the time and the man responsible for signing the act to EMI commented, "The success of Spaceman has been literally out of this world! It looks like being EMI's biggest selling single since The Beatles in the 60's and our factories are working day and night to keep up with the huge demand. This is just the start .... "

On 5th February 1996 Babylon Zoo released their debut album on EMI U.K. which went in at number 6 in the album charts. The title 'The Boy With The X-Ray Eyes' comes from a nickname Jas was given when young. The album was recorded for the most part in Jas' own studio, The New Atlantis, in his hometown of Wolverhampton. In addition to writing and producing the album he also played all the instruments on the record, often using surprisingly lo-fi techniques to achieve the overall sophisticated and thoroughly modern result.

The super-charged guitar sound that runs through the album is produced by plugging a cheap second-hand guitar and amp straight into the mixing desk. The distorted vocals of Jas Mann's alter-egos, the different voices of his multiple personalities on the album are enhanced by a toy megaphone and objects to hand in his bedroom, rather than exorbitant production tools. But these unstudied simple effects fuse to create a high quality, powerful sound.

"Like an actor, the album is a platform for my personal feelings about my surroundings and the people around me", Jas Mann's personal catharsis is interpreted on 'The Boy With The X-Ray Eye's through expressing his various inner voices and with the rest of the band musically facilitating the analysis.

The album is a soundtrack without a film, a modern opera without a script and the band are actors playing games with the roll'n'roll dinosaur. Welcome to part one; this is the genesis of the world according to Babylon Zoo.

On 15th April Jas Mann and Babylon Zoo unlocked the chains and cages and unleashed a new single called 'Animal Army'. Replete with an elephant wake-up call, lion and leopards roaring, the song describes the private jungle that lives in Jas' imagination.

Animal Army taken from the album was the follow up to the fastest selling debut single of all time. Both Spaceman and the album charted all around Europe - Spaceman hitting the No 1 slot in 20 countries, totting up sales of over 1 million in this country. The Boy With The X-Ray Eye's reached the Top 20 in 17 countries including Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

Babylon Zoo released the title track of their debut album, The Boy With The X-Rays as a single on 16th September 1996. The video to this track was filmed with the band playing on the roof of Canary Wharf in London. During the month of September the band toured Europe playing in Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Holland and finally finishing off in the UK in London's Astoria on Thursday 26th September 1996.

RIGHT OR SARONG?
The silver sarong worn in the Spaceman video was made by Jas' mom. It was given away in one of the competitions - the lucky winner was a Ms Alexandra Firkins from Halesowen, England. After Top Of The Pops performance wearing the sarong and bindi many celebrities have followed fashion - let us not forget who set the trend. Often copied but never beaten.

GUNS AND ROSES
During a visit to Poland, on stepping out of the plane Jas was speedily approached by three gigantic, chunky looking Military type chaps holding machine guns in their hands. Jas looked at them in a shocked and despairing manner; a million thoughts went through his mind. Jas froze in bewildermere, what was going on; there were these giants briskly pacing towards him with their hands firmly gripping the machine guns. Jas' mind was just full of fuzzy colours, it didn't make sense, he uttered "Oh sugar, I'm a gonna", or words to that affect. Thud, one of the Polish Policeman stood right in front of Jas; he delved deep into his pocket and pulled out a pen and photograph - "Can I have your autograph!". Phew, that was an underpants dirtying experience but, luckily there wasn't a stain on Jas' underpants
- he doesn't wear any!!!! (or does he).

GETTING TO THE POINT
Being famous has its goods points but bad ones are very much a part of life. We were not told in which country, but whilst going for a meal in a restaurant a mad woman came charging at Jas with a knife in her hand. It was thanks to the quick thinking of the security personnel that prevented what may have had fatal consequences. Jas did receive a slight nick from the knife but nothing life threatening.

RECORDED INDEPENDENTLY
Jas was involved in the Movie Independence Day, no he did not star in it or direct it; he recorded a track for it. The track was not played in the movie itself but was put on the Independence Day CD.

NO REST FOR THE WICKED
1996 was the best and most exciting year of Jas Mann's life, so far. However, as you may know from physics - to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction; well the reaction was stress and exhaustion due to the extensive amount of travelling and touring. In the fifty-two weeks of the year Jas visited fifty two countries, a tiresome task in itself but to make matters worse he fell ill in India. The change in water made Jas sick throwing his electrolytic levels out of balance. Reluctantly the UK April 1996 gigs had to be cancelled under doctors orders to R&R (Rest and Recuperate).

IT'S A COVER UP
It's always a challenge recording a cover version; this was one of Jas' interests in taking on a song from the 1970's. Eighteen months ago or so he spent time in the studio with David Essex, a heart-throb from that generation, recording his song 'I'm Gonna Make You A Star'. Although the track was recorded it was never released for some unbeknown reason perhaps for the better. Also at this time there were strong rumours that Jas Mann and Robbie Williams, the ex-Take That member, might be teaming up to do this number but once again nothing transpired. However, more recently whilst working on the new Album, the vocalist Ian Hunter surprisingly from the 70's band, 'Mop The Hoople', approached Clive Black (Babylon Zoo's Manager) with one of their golden oldies called 'Honaloochie Boogie'. Clive didn't need persuading, his vision told him this was perfect for Jas - and was he right!! We have heard a rough mix which is an excellent cover of the original, which incidentally reached number 12 in the charts hack in June 1973.

ILL'TALY
Christmas 1996 was a very bad time for J. Mann, the night before Jas was due to fly back from Italy to spend a well deserved Xmas break he fell seriously ill. Three weeks in an Italian Hospital felt like a lifetime, family and friends rushing to his side to best comfort his fearful thoughts. It's a time I think we would all like to put behind us but unfortunately our minds will not erode those memories. Even with this experience Jas has a special place in his heart for Italy, it's a place he has always been welcomed with open arms. The many friends he has made have shown him a lot of love and affection; a couple of his closer friends include the Italian Radio DJ, Ringo and the Italian Footballer Paolo Maldini.

IVAN NO-VELLO
Although 1997 was a quieter year for Babylon Zoo, it did give the band some official recognition by nominating it for the Ivan Novello Awards. Disappointingly though it wasn't to be, the award was picked up by the one and only Girls of Spice.

ALBUM TO TITLE
KING KONG GROOVER, the entitled second Album was not chosen without competition; other titles included 'Silver Surfer', and "Chrome Invader'. It was not legally possible to adopt Silver Surfer due to copyrights; this name depicts a comic character and hence there may have been too many complications in attempting to use this title. And Chrome Invader, well this came second to King Kong Groover - personal choice I guess. The first single on the Album KKG and the first to be released on 28th September (in the United Kingdom) is titled All The Money's Gone. In brief, this track makes the observation that when someone comes into money; for example winning The Lottery, there are so many friends, so many people that want to be associated with you. However, when that money dwindles away, your so-called friends vanish - 'they play dead, it's a crazy world'. True friends are always there no matter what your circumstances.

SINGLED OUT
The video to this single, different from the previous ones - yet again, which is animated in its entirety took 7 months from conception to completion. However the drawings, paintings and filming took around the 3-month mark employing 7 full-time animators. Although the Chrome Caped Crusader went to Art College he did not part-take in the animation side; his input was the imagination and the script. When we look at the video, the characters within, the tracks on the Album and the booklet that comes with it, we can see a jigsaw puzzle coming together. 'All The Money's Gone' video portrays the characters Chrome Invader/King Kong Groover, Leopard Prince and Aroma Girl. Both Chrome Invader and Aroma Girl are other tracks featured on the Album; where the video fades to a close at the end of the song, the story line is continued as a comic strip which will be found in the King Kong Groover booklet. Sounds exciting? Well it is, a well thought out idea but you eager beavers will have to wait until October for that to become available. We have just learned that you guys are in for a real treat, the brand new single will also feature another cool track from the Album - 'Chrome Invader'. Both of these songs are brilliant; the release will include 2 CD's and a cassette which will also incorporate 'All The Money's Gone' mixes from Tin Tin Out, Space Raiders and Wiseass. Watch out for the wicked looking Silver Album sleeves.

TOUR DE FRANCE MONTFORD HALL
"The Eagle has landed" - The 11th of August '98 saw the return of Jas Mann and Babylon Zoo. The band's new single, 'All The Money's Gone', was performed to a packed house at The De Montford Hall in Leicester. The band along with other various artists received a rapturous and warm hearted welcome which was fantastic, as the gig was held in aid of raising money for various charity's - I suppose the song title 'All The Money's Gone' was pretty apt for the occasion. The crowds inside the hall, and outside where external speakers had been installed, were privileged to hear Honaloochie Boogie, also from the forthcoming Album. And of course it would not have been fair if Spaceman had been missed from this line up of songs. All in all it was a good night for Babylon Zoo, Jas being mobbed and hounded for autograph and interviews.

Formed in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England, the 90s pop group Babylon Zoo are the creation of their singer, writer and producer Jas Mann (b. Jasbinder Mann, 24 April 1971, Dudley, West Midlands, England). At the age of three he moved to India, staying in the Himalayas for two years before returning to England. By his own admission he was a precocious young man, preferring science fiction books and BBC television's Doctor Who series to school work. He decided to concentrate on music after being expelled from art school in Birmingham and failing trials for Warwickshire County Cricket Club. His first band, the Sandkings, enjoyed a little success in UK indie circles in the early 90s and supported the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays on tour, but the other members did not share Jas Mann's 'vision'. His new creation, Babylon Zoo, was signed to Phonogram Records after Clive Black heard their first three-track demo tape in May 1993. When Black moved to Warner Brothers Records in 1993, he took Mann's contract with him. An album had been prepared and sleeves for a single, 'Fire Guided Light', were printed, but Babylon Zoo's debut was put on hold again when Black moved once more to EMI Records in 1995. However, promotional copies of 'Spaceman' had already been distributed, and it was chosen to tie in with a new Levi's jean advertisement after a company director heard the track on Manchester radio. Originally written as the music to Mann's own 'B-movie' Spaceman Sub-Organic Mutation the advertisement concentrated on the speeded up vocal section at the beginning and the end of the song (actually the product of the Arthur Baker remix). When released as a single on 15 January 1996, after the group had been signed to a seven-album deal with EMI, it entered the UK chart at number 1 - becoming the fastest-selling debut record in UK chart history. Appearances on UK television's Top Of The Pops featured several backing musicians, but these were seen as a mere sideshow compared to their leader. The original musicians who worked with him had been sacked for 'their aggressiveness towards females'. 'Spaceman', said Mann, was about one's need to be true to oneself - just as a visiting alien would be free from peer pressure. This idea arose from Jas Mann's own family background: part Asian, part Native American Indian. The Boy With The X-Ray Eyes was produced at Mann's New Atlantis Productions music/artwork/video centre and included new age tracks such as the self-explanatory 'Is Your Soul For Sale?' and 'I'm Cracking Up I Need A Pill'. Towards the end of 1996 'Spaceman' was approaching UK sales of 1 million and was the biggest selling single of the year. The comparative failure of the album and follow up singles did however pose questions about their survival into 1997.

Babylon Zoo is where the playful, hyper- productive Jas Mann reconciles the grim and fabulous contradictions of his past and wraps them in leaves and flexi-chrome. The name itself joins the Babylonian colour riot of his childhood years in India to the bleak urban Zoo of his adolescence in Wolverhampton. It's just a name but it's also a banner of convenience beneath which Mann can pop it up with a parade of aggressive melodies and play a serious game of cultures chaos cillage. Well, pretensions haven't done him much harm so far. The Boy With The X- Ray Eyes, so named because of his startling blue peepers, couldn't have dreamed up a better start.

Babylon Zoo's January '96 first single, Spaceman, made it the fastest selling British debut ever, and EMI's most rocket-propelled song since The Beatles "She Loves You ". As well as passing a million sales in the UK, it swiftly took up number one position across most of Europe.

Jas was born in Britain to Sikh parents and raised between the Temple and the television set. "I think I took all the positive things from cultures rather than taking the negative side", he says of his Anglo-Asian past. "I liked the fact that I wasn't one dimensional. I like things like that, it keeps the soul excited. And I want that to be a great positive influence coming from my music".

Jas' first musical adventure was fronting the end of the 80's groovadelic indie band The Sandkings. They toured extensively with The Wonder Stuff and The Happy Mondays and Jas gained a solid reputation as their stage diving teenage sex god singer. But two years in a van was enough. Jas' need to find visual as well as musical means of expression found him back in Wolverhampton in the early 90's, collaborating with friends on an art studio project.

Looking for a way out of their industrialised zoo, and inspired by Francis Bacon, they set up the artificial environment of New Atlantis Productions, filling a disused building with kinetic art, silver leopards and aerial photos of where they lived. Against this chaotic art background, in his self constructed studio with its indoor rainforest, Jas put together his own, unique musical environment bringing together Apple Macs, Marshall stacks, art and rock 'n 'roll, light and shade, metal guru-isms and organic truisms to paint a reflective sound picture of his 21st century cusp experiences.

Playing all the instruments himself, he poured Brit TV Sci-fi, B-Movies, Mondrian, Orwell, HG Wells, animal liberation, philosophy and fun into the melting pot and came up with the set of vaulting, cataclysmic future-soul, astral rock anthems which comprise his post Bowie, post Grunge, post Impressionist and preternaturally excellent debut album The Boy With The X-Ray Eyes.

"The way I see music is I create it, I feel it and then throw it out there and it's finished", says Jas. "If people want to buy into Babylon Zoo and buy into the whole perspective that's behind it. it's there. If they don't and they just want to see the fascia, then they can just see that, and that's just as important. It is five dimensional music. there are different aspects, and you can see through them and find different things in them. At the same time, the main reason for doing it is to be successful."