Steel Pulse first came together at school where the original members decided to form a band. The band was originally from in Handsworth, Birmingham, UK. In 1975 they quickly secured a one-off singles deal with Anchor Records. The release wasn't really representative of the band's future sound or direction, however, being more a pop song and whilst the band has explored a number of different styles over the years, they are perhaps Britain's premier reggae band.
The band attracted attention through their extensive gig schedule, which became even busier when punk hit its stride in 1977. They also performed at many Rock Against Racism gigs during this period.
Signing to Island Records in 1978, they released their debut album Handsworth Revolution, featuring the hit single Ku Klux Klan, which has stayed in the bands live set to this day.
As stated, initially Steel Pulse started out playing concerts with punk bands as part of the Rock Against Racism movement, which was popular in the late seventies. However, subsequent releases and touring took the band further afield than the UK and particularly to America where the band were even nominated for a Grammy award.
Steel Pulse has released a number of albums over the years, the key ones being Handsworth Revolution, Earth Crisis and the Grammy-award-winning Babylon The Bandit. The band was also invited to play at Bill Clinton's presidential inauguration in 1993.
Rastanthology II is the follow-up or next volume, if you will, to the successful Rastanthology release of 1996. The second volume of Rastanthology contains a cross-section of tracks drawn from the band's career, which has become one of the most successful in the reggae field.
