Bloodsport (2002)

''The Band Continues With A Strong Electronic Feel Without Compromising The Integrity Of Good, Raw Musicianship.'' - CultureDose, 2002.

About Bloodsport:

After a few years of doing their own thing, Sneaker Pimps got together again and started to record new material. This would be their last officially released album - ''Bloodsport''. It was released in 2002 and was recorded mainly in France, between 2000-2001. It was a vast shift from their previous album ''Splinter'', this time their new output was an alternative dance record, with a slight hip-hop elements to it, covered with an overall gothic feel. Sneaker Pimps ditched their previous label ''Clean-Up Records'' and started to work towards being more independent. At this time, their website was thriving and so they demoed most of their new material as downloadable MP3 files, which garnered a lot of attention and ultimately landed a very healthy deal with the popular American hip-hop label ''Tommy Boy Records''.  By this time, people were now accustomed to the vocal change to Chris Corner and the new, upcoming album had really high public anticipation. The band had evolved, not only in sound - but in style; most ''Bloodsport'' gigs had Chris equipped with latex surgeons gloves, whilst being overshadowed by operating theater lamps on stage. The most popular single from the album was ''Loretta Young Silks''; it was inspired by the 1940's film star Loretta Young, whom mysteriously passed away on the day that the ''Bloodsport'' album was released. The music video also featured Honor Blackman from ''The Avengers'' and the track itself was featured in the British TV series: ''Queer As Folk''. Sampling once again was plentiful and original; they used Bill Withers track: ''I Wish You Well'', manipulated a synth hook from ''Visage's'' track: ''Tar'' and used a snippet of James Horner's Yamaha CS-80 drenched ''Gorky Park'' soundtrack. In 2005 an edited version of ''Bloodsport'' was used in the Columbian crime film: ''Rosaria Tijeras''. This has and still garners a lot of traffic to Sneaker Pimps, as it the 2nd most popular film in Columbian history. Things were looking good for the band, but due to the tragic events of 9/11, this put the brakes on the project. ''Tommy Boy Records'' offices were destroyed in the aftermath and they had to pause their business, due to a massive loss of revenue. This meant ''Bloodsport'' would either have to be postponed or cancelled. Thankfully, this was never the case as the band released it themselves on their own ''Splinter Recordings'' label. This was never shown on actual releases, due to all of the covers and logos being printed prior to the 9/11 tragedy. Having to fund the album themselves meant each individual member supposedly lost on average around £10,000 each. Nevertheless, it was released with 3 singles and to promote it they set out on another, lengthy tour. During this time, the group were gathering together new material for their next album (which later became the demos for the unreleased ''SP4'' set) and so some of it was played live. The man on the front of the album cover is ''DJ Groove'', from Moscow - who still DJ's to this day. Upon being released, it was pressed onto LP, and CD. The Japanese CD had an extra included from the ''Bloodsport'' sessions (see below), a live video of ''Loretta Young Silks'' (enhanced CD: screenshots below) and was released on Simon Le-Bon's own ''SYN'' record label. This collaboration lead to an official Sneaker Pimps studio recording of ''The Chauffeur'' by ''Duran-Duran'' for the ''Meli-Melo'' CD. The LP edition was a 2-LP, 180gram, red vinyl set. It was planned to re-release ''Bloodsport'' for free in 5.1 surround-sound form, but it was cancelled.

Standard CD Edition:

01: Kiro TV

02: Sick

03: Small Town Witch

04: Black Sheep

05: Loretta Young Silks

06: M'aidez

07: The Fuel

08: Bloodsport

09: Think Harder

10: Blue Movie

11: Grazes

12: After Every Party I Die *Japanese Only Bonus Track.

13: Loretta Young Silks (Live In Japan) *Japanese Only Bonus Video.

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2LP Edition:

A1: Kiro TV

A2: Sick

A3: Small Town Witch

B1: Black Sheep

B2: Loretta Young Silks

C1: M'aidez

C2: The Fuel

C3: Bloodsport

D1: Think Harder

D2: Blue Movie

D3: Grazes

For more information, please visit:


''Kiro TV'' sampled ''Ultravox's'' track: ''ROckWrok'', from 1977.

''Small Town Witch'' sampled Iggy Pop's track: ''Nightclubbing'', from 1977.

''Loretta Young Silks'' sampled Bill Withers' track: ''I Wish You Well'', from 1975

''The Fuel'' sampled James Horner's tracks: ''Following Kirwell'' and ''Irina's Chase'', from the film ''Gorky Park'', from 1983.

''Bloodsport'' sampled ''Visage's'' track: ''Tar'', from 1979.

''Blue Movie'' sampled ''The Keynotes'' track: ''Canaan's Land'', from 1973.

''O-Type'', the b-side to ''Bloodsport'' sampled both ''The Human League's'' track: ''Love Action'', from 1981 and the ''Bauhaus'' track: ''Three Shadows (Part Three)'', from 1982.

The unreleased ''Bloodsport'' sessions track: ''Polaroids'' sampled Gary Numan's track: ''Metal'', from 1979.

Bloodsport Font:

The original ''Bloodsport'' font has presumably been lost in time, so I decided to scan in an original ''Bloodsport'' tour shirt to recreate it here.


Japanese CD Screenshots:

Home Page Photo By Howard Sooley

Background Photo By Collier Schorr

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