Death in Vegas

Melding together electronic beats with rock'n'roll, punk and soul, Death In Vegas created a fearsome, driving collision of psychedelia and post-rave comedowns. Originally a DJ alongside The Chemical Brothers at the legendary London club night The Heavenly Social, Richard Fearless put together debut album Dead Elvis (1997) with the help of engineer Steve Hellier and gained attention in the US when single "Dirt" was picked up by MTV. Tim Holmes replaced Hellier soon afterwards and second album The Contino Sessions (1999) went on to become one of the most acclaimed of the year. Featuring guest vocals from Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie, The Jesus And Mary Chain's Jim Reid and, most scarily, Iggy Pop on the track "Aisha" (playing the part of an unhinged serial killer), the album made it into the UK Top 20 and was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. Liam Gallagher, Paul Weller and Hope Sandoval all featured on its follow-up Scorpio Rising (2002), but experimental fourth album Satan's Circus (2004) flopped and Richard Fearless took a hiatus from the project for several years. Death In Vegas resurfaced in 2011 with the album Trans-Love Energies, with critics hailing it as a return to psychedelic roots. He kept up the momentum on the Transmission album in 2016 while also pumping out singles like the electro-pop track "Honey" (2018) and steering his sound towards experimental techno for 2025 effort "While My Machines Gently Weep."