While at art college in Reading, Liam met David Westlake and Joe Wilson, who would both contribute to the first three albums and join the band on tour. When F.R.I.S.K. performed a gig with this line-up they later recorded some demos with Chris singing - these were considered the next stage in the evolution of Chis and Liam's professional partnership; another in an ever-improving set of smaller projects intended for a few thousand records at most. Drafting in Ian Pickering in 1995 to help with lyrics, they recruited Kelli Dayton for vocal duties after seeing her singing in a pub in Reading. The name 'Sneaker Pimps' itself was taken from a Beastie Boys article about a man they hired to track down classic shoes.
The first single Roll On preceded the first album, followed by Spin Spin Sugar, Post-Modern Sleaze, 6 Underground and Tesko Suicide. The album contains a myriad of 90s pop-culture references (such as film Thelma and Louise) coupled to dark double entendres and puns on drug taking and suicide. It was wildly successful everywhere: in America it remains their only real hit. In 2005, the song "Post-Modern Sleaze" (from the Becoming X album) was used as the theme song for Matroesjka's, an acclaimed Flemish drama series about Eastern European prostitutes and Belgians involved in the related sex trade.
Becoming X was "toured to death" over two years, particularly in America where the toll on Chris led to mental instability chronicled in the song Low Five. Depending on who you believe, Kelli Dayton left the band in 1998 or was sacked, going on to a solo career as Kelli Ali. The band trialled new vocallists, demoing some new songs with Icelandic chanteuse Emilíana Torrini, but coupled with the feeling that these demos fit Corner's voice better, and the fear of being identified with the fad for trip-hop acts, Corner became the singer. The Line of Flight studio was moved from Hartlepool to London and production on the next album started immediately.
1999's Splinter features the back of Chris' head, symbolizing the break with Kelli and his not feeling up to the responsibility of being a 'front man'. Dayton's departure, while lamented by many, was positively received by some critics who felt that it gave the band a more honest, emotional timbre and a more uniquely identifiable sound, especially with regard to the rawer and more personal quality of the lyrics. The album's production retains the sampled style of Becoming X while being edgier, less beat-driven, and at times more psychedelic. Due to wrangles with Virgin Records, the album was self-released on their own Clean Up label and not released in the US. Without significant promotion, and the lack of obvious singles that Becoming X had shown, the album was not as successful, but the favourable critical response led the band to set up their own club night in London. Called 'Home Taping' and hosted at the [venue]ICA[/venue], it invited celebrities and musicians to submit their own cassette mixes for the night's entertainment, and the odd live set by the band. Allegedly, one was even received by Madonna.
For 2002's Bloodsport, the band decamped to France and Germany, recording in a farmhouse while capturing the trans-European essence of Berlinesque "new-wave punk". Liam Howe was unavailable, so long-term associate and friend Chris Tate was brought in for synthesizer duties. The album was a glossier affair than before and included Flood on production duties rather than the band. On Bloodsport's release (including this time the US via Tommy Boy Records) the album was a comparative flop, but made the Austrian top twenty. Its singles were more successful in both the UK and Europe.
Sneaker Pimps recorded demos, previewed live in Russia and on European radio in 2003 for an unknown movie soundtrack and a fourth album tentatively titled 'Recall' or 'Songs of Imaginary Beings'. The album was never released; Chris and Liam purportedly shelved the tracks as a Sneaker Pimps album for several reasons. One, they contained some very emotional songs penned by Corner that were felt to be more suitable for a solo project, and two, in some cases were simply not being good enough to be released. The band eventually drifted apart during protracted sessions for the 4th album: many of the 'SP4' demos leaked and have been rereleased by Chris Corner's solo project IAMX on 2004's Kiss and Swallow and 2006's The Alternative. Another solo project, not including Corner or Howe, was the nu-rave and Madchester influenced Trash Money.
In late 2006, it emerged that seven new demos had been found and leaked from a portable music player left in a Russian bar. The demos, including "Rush", "Samaritan", "Sun Ate The Moon", "The Shutdown" and "Satellite" all sung by a new female singer believed to be Paris Hampton and referred to by fans as 'SP5. The band did not comment on the leaking of this material until 2015 when Liam Howe confirmed that "the Magnificent 7" had been recorded by Sneaker Pimps exploring a new, poppier sound.
Joe and David left the band to work in film production and academia. Liam Howe went on to have a successful career in music production, while Chris moved to Berlin and later Los Angeles as IAMX enjoyed a sustained alternative career, releasing Kingdom of Welcome Addiction in 2009, Dogmatic Infidel Comedown Ok in 2010, Volatile Times in 2011, The Unified Field in 2013, Metanoia in 2016, Everything is Burning in 2017, Unfall in 2018, Alive in New Light in 2019 and Echo, Echo in 2020. Ian Pickering launched his new project The Noise who Runs in 2020.
Chris and Liam continued to tease working together on new projects throughout various IAMX eras, including a session initially planned as Sneaker Pimps material becoming the Liam-produced IAMX mini-album "Everything is Burning".
In 2019, singer Simonne Jones was confirmed as the new featured singer of Sneaker Pimps which then began recording their new album together in earnest. Finally in May 2021, 18 years after their last album was released, the Squaring the Circle era was announced with two new singles, "Fighter" and "Squaring The Circle," which were released in July.
A remix album 'Rework Collection 1' was released in August, and their fourth full studio record 'Squaring The Circle' was released on September 10th, 2021 on Chris Corner's label UNFALL Productions. 'Squaring The Circle' features material recorded with both Simonne and Chris on lead vocals.
More remix albums and a re-release of the band's older records is also planned, with the band regaining copy and distribution rights of 'Becoming X' and 'Splinter' via One Little Independent Records and the ongoing negotiations of a re-release of 'Bloodsport' with Tommy Boy Records.
Half Life
Sneaker Pimps Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It's funny how your bee sting touch never leaves me whole
It's not enough to stay here almost trying
You keep your last laugh watch this dying
It's just half time vertigo
And if you want an answer I don't know
If you had completed me
Don't think I'd compete with you
With half of me to take
Half life nothing I'd call home
It's lucky how these phantom limb bee stings never show
It's not enough to leave this falling kindly
You burn my star down twice as brightly
It's just your half light undertow
But if you need forgiveness I don't know
Half light breaks with nothing wrong
Just a corner of my bed where you don't belong
It's kind of you to notice no one's dying
You choked your last laugh almost crying
It's just your half life long to know
And if you need a reason so it goes
The lyrics of "Half Life" by Sneaker Pimps showcase themes of emotional incompleteness, lost love, and the struggle to move on from damaging relationships. The reference to "half life" is a metaphor for the lingering remnants of a past relationship that haven't completely disappeared. The line, "Half life wastes before it goes," suggests that this emotional limbo is a slow burn, dissipating gradually over time. The singer is haunted by the former partner's touch, which is described as a "bee sting" that never fully heals, leaving them feeling incomplete. They admit that their attempts to move on and find new happiness have been half-hearted; they haven't fully committed to trying to move on, and are stuck in a state of vertigo, unsure of which direction to go.
Despite the temptation to return to their old partner, the singer acknowledges that their relationship was never complete, and that they are ultimately better off without them. The chorus repeats the idea that being with the former partner would only result in the singer having "half of me to take," suggesting that they would be sacrificing their own identity and desires by staying in an incomplete relationship. The second verse continues to explore the theme of the singer's uncertainty, both about their own feelings and the intentions of the former partner. The line "If you had completed me, don't think I'd be pleased with you" suggests that the singer knows they were never truly happy in the relationship, and that their former partner can't offer them anything they truly need. The final verse repeats the idea that the singer is better off alone, and acknowledges that even though they have moments of weakness and longing for their former partner, they ultimately know that it's for the best.
Line by Line Meaning
Half life wastes before it goes
The time we spend together is finite and fleeting.
It's funny how your bee sting touch never leaves me whole
The effect you have on me is both pleasurable and painful, and never truly satisfies me.
It's not enough to stay here almost trying
Our relationship is not fulfilling enough to sustain us.
You keep your last laugh watch this dying
You take pleasure in knowing that our relationship is deteriorating.
It's just half time vertigo
Our relationship feels disorienting and confusing, like we're only at the halfway mark.
And if you want an answer I don't know
I don't have the answers to what went wrong in our relationship.
If you had completed me
If we were truly compatible and fulfilled each other's needs,
Don't think I'd be pleased with you
I wouldn't necessarily be happy with you.
Don't think I'd compete with you
I wouldn't feel the need to compete with you.
With half of me to take
If only part of me was involved in the relationship.
Half life nothing I'd call home
Our relationship has no sense of permanence or stability.
It's lucky how these phantom limb bee stings never show
It's fortunate that the emotional pain of our relationship isn't physically visible.
It's not enough to leave this falling kindly
Our relationship isn't good enough for us to part on good terms.
You burn my star down twice as brightly
You intensify my feelings, both good and bad.
It's just your half light undertow
Your influence on me is pulling me down and making me feel uncertain.
But if you need forgiveness I don't know
I'm not sure I can forgive you for the way our relationship has gone.
Half light breaks with nothing wrong
Our relationship is ending without anything overtly causing the break-up.
Just a corner of my bed where you don't belong
The physical space we shared no longer feels like it's yours.
It's kind of you to notice no one's dying
It's good that we're able to end things amicably and without too much sadness or drama.
You choked your last laugh almost crying
You're finding it difficult to say goodbye and are almost emotional about it.
It's just your half life long to know
You'll always carry the memory of our relationship with you, but it wasn't meant to last forever.
And if you need a reason so it goes
If you need a justification for our break-up, that's the way it is.
Lyrics © DOMINO PUBLISHING COMPANY, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: CHRIS CORNER, IAN PICKERING, LIAM COVERDALE-HOWE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind