Tarantula

Anscenic Forum Post @ Dogs On Acid (2004/09/05)

'Tarantula' is one of Pendulum's most widely recognized tunes from their 'Hold Your Colour' LP, due to its energetic, dance-floor oriented, but easy-to-digest flow and sound design. The song heavily emphasizes and builds its structure in correlation to MC-style vocal performances by Colin "MC $pyda" Griffith, Jonathan "Tenor Fly" Sutter and Daniel "Shabba D" Burton. Aside from Rob's heavy, gritty bass-, and drumlines, Tarantula also includes brass instruments being played by Pablo Mendlessohn, Tim Smart, Jonathan Shendyand James Morton. It is stated, that Daniel "DJ Fresh" Stein contributed as well, though unlike his involvement with the origins of the song, his role in production hasn't been clarified so far.

## Process of reveal and musical development

Around end of 2004's summer, Spyda visited Fresh's flat, to have a recording session with Pendulum, on which day the original Tarantula vocals were put down. On the 5th of September in 2004, in a thread of Fresh's Drum and Bass forum, Dogs On Acid, a fan approached Rob with a question regarding the rumoured Pendulum album's progress. He replied, letting him know, that they've made a new tune with MC Spyda, and that he thinks that the album is about halfway done. After which a few days later the song ended up getting played out by Pendulum at the Leisure Plaza on the 11th of September.

Over the next few months, numerous iterations of Tarantula have been made for, and played out by different DJs, including Fresh,Bad Company, Andy C and possibly more, that we are unaware of. As testing of the tune continued, the iteration we refer to as '2004 October 'Pendulum' Later Version', seemed to be the most preferred version by Pendulum, which they continued to play out until the new version appeared on the April of 2005. After which, Tarantula was no longer being updated (to our knowledge), and was well on its way to charts as soon as it got released on Tarantula / Fasten Your Seatbelt Single on the 27th of June, 2005. It was also included in Pendulum's Hold Your Colour LP on the 25th of July.

## Lyrics

### **MC Spyda:**

Black tarantula, time for the massive come sing ya

Black tarantula, don't play with my style I might sting ya

Black tarantula, you want me inject me bacteria

And if ya body goin' stiff and your spine goin' numb

Now come fi get some!

Massive! Time fe fill up your lungs with some air right now!

### **Tenor Fly:**

Shotta, hitter, serial killer

Go-a your funeral and all drink out your liquor

When you are bury we a-stand next to vicar

Fling on some dirt and make your bury a little quicker

Shouldn't test the youth them in the Tommy Hilfiger

Hug up ya mama, say sorry to ya poppa

All-a get number for ya little sister

A through we cold like Alaska, freezer

### **MC Spyda:**

And if ya body goin' stiff and your spine goin' numb

*Me have 'nuff lyrics*, now come fi get some!

### **Tenor Fly:**

*What you called? Me noeven know your name*
*You no come nowhere inna the badbwoy hall of fame*
*How you want fe diss all the youths dem pon the main*

### **MC Shabba:**

*Junglist, when me come inna the place and pick up the mic*

## Trivia

* It is not clear if Fresh had any involvement with its production, however he did take active part in testing the tune, as well as he was the person who introduced Pendulum to the Mo' Fire vocal session CD, where the Tenor Fly and MC Shabba D vocals originate from.
* Tarantula was featured in the Australian television drama series Underbelly, in an episode of the UK series Skins and CSI: Miami, and in the soundtrack for the video game MotorStorm: Pacific Rift.
* S.A.S. (Streets All Salute) somehow have obtained an Instrumental Version of Tarantula, which then they used in their album track, similarly titled 'S.A.S. - Tarantula'.
* Tenor Fly unfortunately passed away on the 17th of June in 2016. The event spawned numerous tributes to the legendary MC, including Mafia & Fluxy's Tarantula (Tribute to Tenor Fly), featuring MC Spyda and Top Cat.
* Tarantula's raw acapella got played out by Pendulum's Paul Harding, on the 4th of April, 2017 at Pirate Station History, and also at the majority of Pendulum DJ sets after.
* The 2005 April 'Final' Version's vinyl was mastered by Jack Adams, while its album version got mastered by Stuart Hawkes at Metropolis.

## Downloads

* Tarantula (2004 September 'Pendulum' Version) @ Leisure Plaza 2004-09-11 played by Pendulum
* Tarantula (2004 September 'DJ Fresh' Version) @ Xsound Podcast 2004-10-06 played by DJ Fresh
* Tarantula (2004 October 'Pendulum' Earlier Version) @ SeOne 2004-11-06 played by Pendulum
* Tarantula (2004 October 'Pendulum' Later Version) @ Fatal Messarosh (CZ) 2004-10-22 played by Pendulum
* Tarantula (2004 October 'DJ Fresh' Version) @ Slammin Vinyl 2004-12-31 played by DJ Fresh
* Tarantula (2004 October 'Pendulum' Later Version) @ Broken Transmission 2005-02-05 played by Bad Company
* Tarantula (2004 October 'Pendulum' Later Version) @ Vienna 2005-01-30 played by Pendulum and XO
* Tarantula (2004 October 'Andy C' Version) @ SeOne 2004-11-16 played by Andy C
* Tarantula (2004 October 'Andy C' Version) @ One Nation Valentines 2005-02-05 played by Andy C and DJ Hype
* Tarantula (2005 April 'Adam F Version) @ Kings Of The Jungle Double Impact 2005-04-30 played by Adam F
* Tarantula (2005 April 'Andy C Version) @ Accelerated Culture 2005-05-01 played by Andy C
* Tarantula (2005 April 'DJ Hype' Version) @ ? played by DJ Hype
* Tarantula (2005 April 'Mampi Swift' Version) @ Dreamland 2005-05-03 Played by Mampi Swift 2005-05-03
* Tarantula (2005 April 'Final' Version) - Instrumental Intro
* Tarantula (2005 April 'Final' Version) - Acapella @ Pirate Station History 2017-03-04 played by Pendulum

## Needed Research Edit

We would greatly appreciate, if you helped us find out:

* Where to find Fresh's One Nation Valentines set from November 2004
* Where to find a recording of 2005 April 'Fresh' Version
* Where and when did DJ Hype play his 2005 April 'DJ Hype' Version
* If there are any others Spyda sang additional lyrics for
* If there are any other recordings, rips of alternate versions of this song