Spacehog

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Spacehog was a glam rock band from the 1990s and 2000s, heavily influenced by David Bowie, Queen, and T. Rex. The group comprised of Royston Langdon (bass and vocals), Antony Langdon (guitar and vocals), Richard Steel (guitar), and Jonny Cragg (drums).

Though all the band members hailed originally from Leeds, England, the band was formed in New York City in 1994 when Antony Langdon met Cragg by chance, in a café where Cragg had a job killing rats. Soon after, Langdon's brother Royston joined the band, and Spacehog were born. The band signed in 1994 with Seymour Stein to Sire Records. Later when the band's original guitarist dropped out, Antony Langdon called his friend Richard Steel to join the band.

On October 24, 1995, Spacehog released their debut album, Resident Alien. It went gold on the Billboard charts, selling over 500,000 copies and spawned the hit single and video "In the Meantime" as well as the single "Cruel to be Kind". "In the Meantime" received heavy video and radio play. The band's second album, The Chinese Album, was released on March 10, 1998. Though it did not sell as well as Resident Alien, the band's popularity continued to increase as Spacehog opened for popular acts like Pearl Jam and Supergrass. The Chinese Album featured a more "artsy" sound, with the Pink Floyd-like piano on the opening track and Michael Stipe of R.E.M. contributing vocals to the song "Almond Kisses".

As a result of internal and contractual troubles, the band's third album, The Hogyssey was not released until April 10, 2001. In the meantime, the band had canceled plans for a movie and switched labels to Artemis Records. The album received good reviews and included the title track, a funkified version of Richard Strauss's "Also sprach Zarathustra", and the single "At Least I Got Laid", which received some radio play.

In 2002, Spacehog quietly broke up and the band members went their separate ways. In 2004, Royston Langdon would team up with the remaining members of Blind Melon to form the band The Quick. Later they would run into problems touring with the name, and they decided on renaming the band The Tender Trio. Ultimately, The Tender Trio would break up on March 2nd, 2006. Richard Steel would later resurface with the band Morningwood. Royston, Antony and Christian Langdon have pooled their resouces to form Arckid. As of June 2006, they have recorded eight songs with Bryce Goggin at Trout Studios in Brooklyn. Johnny Cragg, now sporting a moustache, joined The Twenty-Twos as their drummer post-Spacehog. Now, Cragg is back to the Langdon brothers' side in the newly formed Arckid

Discography

• Albums
• *Resident Alien (Sire, 1995)
• *The Chinese Album (Sire, 1998)
• *The Hogyssey (Artemis, 2001)

References