Lunatic Calm were a UK-based electronic music group, who despite a wide-ranging sound palette, were best known for their high impact, industrial-tinged compositions. Formed in 1996 and comprising of Simon "sHack" Shackleton and Howard "Howie" Saunders, they released two well received albums, as well as several singles and a wide range of remixes. The two had known each other since an early age, and prior to forming Lunatic Calm, they also played in several bands with Thom Yorke (Radiohead frontman), namely Headless Chickens and 'Flicker Noise'. Their debut album 'Metropol' was often compared to the likes of The Prodigy, although it ranged from downtempo slices of detailed urban trip-hop to turbo-charged electronic filth. Record company MCA failed to support the band and they switched their attentions to the American market where they enjoyed a series of successful tours with the likes of Crystal Method. The most notable track from that album, and the one for which they will always be best known is "Leave You Far Behind," which has appeared on numerous movie soundtracks including The Matrix, Charlie's Angels, and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation amongst many others. They also had a number of tracks used on video games, and did numerous remixes for artists such as Bush, DJ Scissorkicks, and Curve.
Their second album, 'Breaking Point' was finally released in 2001 after several years of wrangling with record companies, and as the album was due to hit the shops, the record label, 'City of Angels' went under, and without label support the band were unable to continue and went their separate ways. However, sHack has been highly active as a solo producer & DJ ever since, operating primarily under the name 'Elite Force', but also under aliases such as 'Killer Elite', 'Futurecore', 'Double Black', 'pHrack R' and 'Zodiac Cartel'. He currently runs his own 'Used & Abused' record label, having also run the 'Fused & Bruised' imprint between 1996 - 2002, and is often cited as one of the leading proponents of the emergent 'Tech-Funk' movement, fusing House, Breaks, Electro & Techno. Some of his songs (both remixes and new tracks) have appeared on the Crystal Method remix albums, Community Service and Community Service II amongst others.
