Faithless are an English band that formed in 1995, with its core members being Rollo, Sister Bliss and Maxi Jazz. Faithless’ first album Reverence was conceived as a mixtape which covers many genres, encapsulating house, hip-hop, folk and classical music. The album was released on Rollo’s label, Cheeky Records. Their first show at Camden’s Jazz cafe to showcase Reverence was a sell-out, and a global tour ensued as the record went up the charts all over Europe. The singles “Insomnia” and “Salva Mea” each selling over a million copies, and album going either platinum or gold in every European territory.
The second studio album, ‘Sunday 8PM’, contained the global hit “God is DJ” and established Faithless as a major touring force in 1998. Emotive videos were directed by featured vocalist Jamie Catto, featuring the band’s transcendent live shows, and helped bring Faithless’ live prowess to the attention of music fans. They were nominated for Best British Dance Act at the Brit Awards in 1999. In 2001, their third album ‘Outrospective’ was the first to be released on major label Sony BMG and captured the dreamy synergy between sadness and mad delirium giving rise to hit singles “We Come 1” and a tribute to Muhammed Ali. In 2002, they performed on the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury, with another nomination for best British Dance Act at The Brit Awards in the same year.
In 2004, their fourth album ‘No Roots’ debuted at number 1 in the UK, conceived as a conceptual continuous piece of music in one key, with strong lyrical gravitas it featured vocals from Dido, new collaborator L.S.K, and the late Nina Simone. Dave Grohl cited Faithless’ hit protest song “Mass Destruction” as the song he most wished he had written during an interview with O magazine, and the lyrics were quoted in the US Senate. A powerful video directed by award-winning directing team Dom & Nick alluded to abuses of power during the Iraq War to chilling effect, tracing the connection from childhood bullying to terrorism and genocide. Their fifth album, ‘To All New Arrivals’, inspired by the birth of Sister Bliss’ son, and Rollo’s young family born into uncertain futures was released in 2006, exploring themes of global poverty, immigration, conflict and belonging, through the concept of “new arrivals”. The first single “Bombs”, with its anti-war message and video directed by award-winning director Howard Greenhalgh, was not playlisted on daytime MTV or BBC Radio 1.
Their sixth album ‘The Dance’ was released in May 2010, after a four-year recording break for the band, on their own label “Nate’s Tunes” – and was 2nd in the UK album charts. Faithless again graced the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury in 2010, celebrating sold-out arena and stadium tours across Europe. In that year alone, they played to over one million people and sold over 400,000 records. In 2015, Faithless released a remix album under the banner of ‘Faithless 2.0’. The album contained tracks from their 25-year career, encompassing seventeen top 40 singles, six Top 10 albums and they embarked on a tour to celebrate the album released. In 2015 and 2016, the band played a series of live dates under the Faithless 2.0 banner, featuring Maxi Jazz and a full live band. Jazz left the group for the final time in 2016.
After a seven-year recording hiatus, the seventh Faithless studio album ‘All Blessed’ was released in October 2020. The release came in the middle of the COVID19 pandemic, with the themes of the album weaving around immigration, identity, empathy and lack of it. The first track that was officially released from the album came on the same weekend as the album release, Synthesizer, a love letter to electronic music. The album features vocals from newcomers Nathan Ball and spoken word artist & poet Suli Breaks, along with Caleb Femi. Rollo said of the album, “We want to give them something else – something that could breathe.” It continued their top 3 chart success in the UK and Europe.
