Hybrid (Welsh band)

1999: Wide Angle

Hybrid released their first album, Wide Angle, in 1999 – a combination of progressive house and nu skool breaks with vocals and symphonic textures. They hired the Russian Federal Orchestra for the string sections. Julee Cruise supplied many of the vocals for Wide Angle. The album was produced and written by the duo along with the third original band member, Lee Mullin. The music's cinematic feel and scope have led to comparisons with Massive Attack and Underworld. Hybrid also supported Moby during a live tour in 2000.

2003: Morning Sci-Fi

Hybrid released their second album, Morning Sci-Fi, in 2003. They added semi-permanent vocalists and guitarists, Adam Taylor and Tim Hutton (both on the album and when performing live) with a guest appearance from New Order alumnus Peter Hook. This album had a generally darker feel to it than Wide Angle, though still retaining the cinematic undertones for which Hybrid are known. In addition to this, Morning Sci-Fi features a more diverse range of influences than its predecessor — Chris Healings stating in an interview that, "We've been listening to absolutely anything other than dance music. I suppose that is because dance music is so ingrained into what we do naturally. We've been listening to stuff like Doves, Radiohead, Soulwax, New Order and lots of jangly indie guitar bands and classical music, particularly the work of Arvo Pärt and Alexander Gretchaninov."

In 2004, Hybrid were invited by noted Hollywood film composer Harry Gregson-Williams, to work on the soundtrack for the film Man on Fire. The film marked not only Hybrid's first foray into film music, but also the duo's first collaboration with Harry Gregson-Williams, who continuously invited them to work on the soundtrack for movies like The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Total Recall. This also marked the first collaboration with the late film director Tony Scott. A collaboration which continued throughout the remainder of his career, until his death in 2012.

2006: I Choose Noise

On April 2006, Hybrid played at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on 29 April 2006. Later, the same year, Hybrid released their third studio album, I Choose Noise. The album featured the return of the epic symphonic sound and grand orchestral scope of Wide Angle. It featured Perry Farrell, John Graham (A fellow music producer, going by the name Quivver), Judie Tzuke and Kirsty Hawkshaw. Harry Gregson-Williams also appeared on the album, composing most of the album's string sections. Film composer Stephen Barton was also involved with the production of the album. The album didn't spawn any singles, however many of the tracks would later go on to be heavily played by DJ's, as well as heavily featured in advertisements. In addition, 2 of the album's tracks "Dogstar" and "Dreamstalker" would later be re-recorded with Perry Farrell for his Satellite Party project. The project also featured another re-recording of his song "Orbit," which was previously unreleased. These recordings were later released on the album Ultra Payloaded, released in 2007.

On 8 March 2007, Hybrid kicked off their US Spring 2007 Live Tour in support of their third album I Choose Noise. Hybrid was joined by John Graham, Peter DiStefano and, a new female vocalist, Charlotte James. Later that same year, Distinct'ive Records released a compilation album: Hybrid Remixed. It consisted of remixes of several compositions by Hybrid, with remixes by various artists, including Deadmau5, Jerome Sydenham, The Cinematic Orchestra and The Orb, as well as a rare b-side track, named "Sleepwalking", originally meant for I Choose Noise. Despite this however, Hybrid had nothing to do with the release, as it was meant to be their last release with Distinct'ive. However, despite being managed by Hope Recordings, Hybrid still released their next few releases with Distinctive.

In 2007, the duo composed their first original soundtrack, for the film Catacombs. However, nothing of Hybrid's contributions were ever released, despite heavy fan demand, as of 2012.

2008 saw the release of Soundsystem 01. The album is a double-disc mix collection with the first CD being based around actual film scores fused with ambient electronica, and the second containing more upfront, club-oriented music represented by remixes of music by the likes of Sasha, Quivver and Elite Force. Later that same year, Hybrid released a new single, entitled "The Formula of Fear", which featured Charlotte James on the vocals. Hybrid also contributed an original track "Komuru", to the Survival International charity album, Songs for Survival.

2010: Disappear Here

Besides collaborating with Harry Gregson-Williams, 2009 saw Hybrid focusing on the production of their fourth album. The album was originally finished in 2008, however the group described the album as indie rock and as a result, weren't sastified with the album, which led them to restart the production completely. After several months of silence, their fourth album Disappear Here was finally finished and released on 29 March 2010. The album was made with Andrew Skeet and the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra at Smecky Music Studios. A video recording of the track from the forthcoming album, entitled "Break My Soul", was also released which was filmed and edited by the band. Unilke their previous album, Disappear Here spawned several singles, and also rose to #2 at the iTunes electronic charts. The album was re-released in the same year, entitled Disappear Here: Widescreen Edition, which contained special edits, remixes and orchestral versions.

2010 also saw more collaborations with Harry Gregson-Williams. the duo helped finish the score for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and yet another Tony Scott production: Unstoppable. This would prove to be the last collaboration with Tony Scott, with the director's death in 2012.

On 15 March 2011 Hybrid released the song "Blind Side" for free, as promotion for the single, which itself was officially released on 22 August 2011. The single was their first release for their new label Kill City Records. Beyond this, Hybrid spent most of 2011 focusing on film score work. The group submitted two original tracks for the film Fast Five. They also helped finish the score for Cowboys & Aliens and were working on the original soundtrack for the video game Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, which was released in May 2012.

2012-2016: Classics and Healings' departure

Hybrid are currently working on completing their 5th studio album. Charlotte is also the Music producer on the movie Interlude In Prague [6] which focusses on the fictional underbelly of Prague in 1786/1787 focussing on the work of Mozart during this time and Mike and Charlotte are working on the film's composer score later in the year. The duo have recently written scores for Jim Gillespie's Take Down which is set to be released later this year [7].

Besides the aforementioned video game soundtrack, August 2012 saw the release of Classics out on Distinctive Records. The album was a greatest hits compilation, compiling the biggest hits from Hybrid's career. The album was released in a standard one disc edition, as well as a deluxe edition, consisting of 4 discs. The deluxe edition featured many alternative mixes and orchestral versions, as well as unreleased material, including much of the music that was made for advertisement agencies.

In 2013, Hybrid finished working on a few soundtracks. One was for the video game Driveclub, where the band did all of the music, in addition to creating a new single for the game, entitled: "Be Here Now". They also finished work on a direct-to-video film: Dead in Tombstone. Their work (unlike for the previous film, Catacombs) was released by Back Lot Music on 15 October 2013. In 2014, the band finished a score for the science fiction film Vice, which was released on 30 May Meanwhile, the band states that they are still hard at work on a 5th album which, originally scheduled for release in December 2014, has been delayed with no firm release date.

The band announced in 2016 that Healings has left the group in the summer of 2015.

Use of Hybrid's music

Hybrid's extensive music for TV, film and games can be found at their dedicated scoring website, www.hybridscores.com

Over the years, Hybrid's studio material from their first three albums and their singles, have been heavily used for television, film and video games. Hybrid composed the soundtrack for the 2007 film Catacombs, and have also helped Harry Gregson-Williams score Man on Fire, Déjà Vu, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Other notable uses includes:

Studio albums

Remix compilation albums

Promo releases

Singles

DJ-mix albums

Compilation albums

Various remixes

Hybrid has produced over 100 remixes of more than 40 artists, including Radiohead, Alanis Morissette, U2, Filter, BT, DJ Rap, The Orb, Jean Michel Jarre, Gouryella, The Future Sound of London, UNKLE, Moby and The Crystal Method.

Filmography

Throughout their career, Mike and Chris became friends with noted film composer Harry Gregson-Williams; a friendship that eventually led them to be invited to arrange and program the soundtrack for the Tony Scott movie, Man on Fire. This subsequently led the band to become invited to contribute to the soundtracks for several Tony Scott productions, until his death in 2012, although they have also contributed music, and other associated soundtrack roles, for various other directors. While Hybrid's contributions mostly extends to arranging and programming music and sounds, they have also contributed entire soundtracks to a few movies, as well as a few video games.