The Space Brothers

The Space Brothers are a UK trance music act comprising Ricky Simmonds and Stephen Jones, noted for producing under a variety of pseudonyms such as Chakra, Lustral, Ascension, Essence, Ultrahigh and The Realm.

Their debut production "Stay With Me" (released as Ultrahigh) garnered club interest and dented the lower echelons of the UK Top 40 in late 1995. Whereas "Stay With Me" epitomised the hand-bag sound, their next release "I Am" (as Chakra) was to showcase a darker, ethereal and more progressive trance based sound. "I Am" caught the ears of Sasha and John Digweed (the latter of whom submitted a remix of the track alongside Nick Muir in their Bedrock guise). "I Am" peaked at number #24 on the UK singles chart in January 1997, a year that was going to prove hugely successful for the Space Brothers, who signed a number of record deals and began releasing vocal trance classics en masse.

Despite having signed to Paul Oakenfold's Perfecto imprint for the release of "Someone" - the Space Brothers elected to make Manifesto Records their home, and their first single "Shine", soared into the UK charts. The second Space Brothers release arrived in the shape of "Forgiven (I Feel Your Love)" in November 1997. It spent a total of seven weeks in the UK chart over the course of the festive period that year.

1998 witnessed the temporary abandonment of the Space Brothers moniker, and Simmonds & Jones instead elected to focus on the output of their other sobriquets Essence, Lustral and Force Majeure.

The following year saw a striking return to form, with the release of "Legacy" in July 1999. Featuring the sultry vocals of Kate Cameron as well as a stratosphere cruising retweak by Matt Darey, the single consolidated it's position as bona fide trance anthem by landing squarely in the UK chart.

Shortly after this release the Space Brothers unveiled their debut album "Shine" (indeed, they were believed to be the first trance outfit to have accomplished this feat). To complement the album a remix disc was included in the package featuring a whole host of reworked Space Brothers tracks (most unreleased) woven together by Paul Oakenfold.

The Space Brothers sobriquet has been largely inactive since this time; however, Simmonds & Jones have continued to release tracks under guises such as Ascension, The Realm, Chakra, Quadraphonic and Lamai.

In late 2002 a new Space Brothers track "One More Chance" appeared as a 12" and digital download release. A commercial issuing did not ensue. Recent promos circulated have featured remixes of "Everywhere I Go" and "Forgiven" (as remixed by Ian Knowles and DJ Demand) on the Liverpool based 3 Beat subsidiary Boss, which proved to reignite interest in the Space Brothers' output.

2006 saw Simmonds and Jones launching the online download music store www.audiojelly.com where all their productions and side projects are available along with a broad range of other dance artists and releases.