THE NORTH RIDING PROJECT

James set out to build a “fantasy band” from the ground up.  He hired four guys with “a great look and a great attitude” but no musical experience and stuck them in a room with instruments for two years.  “Because they knew nothing,” James explains, “they had the ability to come up with a sound that was new.”  The group name, adapted from that of a Russian street gang, means “burn, burn satellite”.  James recalls reading that Little Richard, after seeing Sputnik flying over the earth, threw away all his jewels and gave up rock & roll. “I took that as a good omen,” he says.

Handelman/Sputnik