FREEKSTARCHIVE

DEADBEAT RADICALS / FREEKSTAR ARCHIVE

DEADBEAT RADICALS - FREEKSTAR

Last updated 2023-06-10
Deadbeat Radicals (also known as Freekstar), was an eclectic postmodernist "attitude pop" group that began in February 2000, based in Newcastle, England.
Though the band was originally formed as Deadbeat Radicals, in early 2004 the name was changed to their short-lived new title Freekstar.

  • Sharon Wilson — lead vocalist and songwriter.
  • Tim Hutchinson — guitarist, songwriter, programmer.
  • Ed Sonsino, Mark Hankin — bassist.
  • Mark Cliff — drummer.
  • Ley Graham — backup vocalist, keyboardist.

Though the group never made it to any sort of mainstream popularity during their lifetime, Freekstar has a few claims to their 15 minutes of fame.
Their original music was in the 2003 sitcom Radio Free Roscoe, it was featured heavily in the obscure 2004 Mac-only video game ToySight by Strange Flavour, and in a very bad horror-comedy B-movie titled Freak Out.

Regardless of popularity, the group went on to make tons of original music, and plenty of physical media releases. They got some recognition from music publications and magazines, who generally had positive things to say.

They were signed to two different record labels during the Deadbeat Radicals era — namely Bluefire Records, and Org Records. These record deals were not enough to sustain the group financially, so during the Freekstar era, they opted to release their music independently through internet platforms like MySpace, and TuneTribe.

In 2005, the group supposedly ran out of money, and could no longer afford to do live performances, or press CDs. This caused the group to disband, and no new music was produced or released after that point.

In 2007, Freekstar made their final (documented) public appearance, when lead singer and songwriter Sharon (under the stage name Roxy) appeared for an interview in the second issue of a local music internet zine titled THE DOSE.

In this interview, Sharon expresses grief that the band she loved so much never took off how she wanted. She showed interest in making a grand comeback, but that comeback unfortunately never came.

It's not too late! Sharon Wilson, if you're out there, please make yourself known! YOU ARE BULLETPROOF!

🟢FOUND SONG LIST🟢

These songs have been preserved, and can be downloaded freely.
A lot of these songs were only ever released as low-quality MP3s, but I will host FLACs whenever possible.

Source Song Download
Believe EP Believe 16-bit FLAC
Believe EP Strange Thing / Creapo (sic) 16-bit FLAC
Believe EP Cosmonaut 16-bit FLAC
Crazy Town EP Crazy Town 16-bit FLAC
Crazy Town EP White Trash 16-bit FLAC
Crazy Town EP Freeks (Scarmichael Remix) 16-bit FLAC
Little Yellow Mini EP Little Yellow Mini / Zoom 16-bit FLAC
Little Yellow Mini EP Jim's Mix (Jim's Super Stereoworld) 16-bit FLAC
Little Yellow Mini EP Ed's Mix (DBR) 16-bit FLAC
Little Yellow Mini EP Who Is Sid Mix (Robbie Bronniman- DBA) 16-bit FLAC
Snakebite City Eleven Something Cool About This / Cool 16-bit FLAC
ToySight Little Yellow Mini (Jaffa Mountain Remix) 128kbps MP3
ToySight Weirdo 192kbps MP3
ToySight Fly Circles Around You / Blow Out 160kbps MP3
ToySight Dum (sic) 160kbps MP3
ToySight Satelite (sic) 160kbps MP3
ToySight Something Cool About This (Jaffa Mountain Remix) 128kbps MP3
AirBurst Extreme Suicidal Skater Girl (Instrumental) 192kbps MP3
AirBurst Extreme AirBurst (You Fly) 160kbps MP3
Unknown Trouble in Paradise 192kbps MP3
MySpace Bulletproof 128kbps MP3
MySpace Car Crash Kid 128kbps MP3
MySpace Freaks 128kbps MP3
MySpace Rebel 128kbps MP3
MySpace Suicidal Skater Girl 128kbps MP3
MySpace Swivel It 128kbps MP3
MySpace World of Pain 128kbps MP3
Radio Free Roscoe Sunshine YouTube

🔴LOST SONG LIST🔴

These songs are known to exist, but are not preserved.

Song Description
Bulletproof DBR Remixes In the Freekstar debut album Bulletproof, there supposedly are remixes of Deadbeat Radicals songs in the new Freekstar style. All of these remixes are currently lost, as the full debut release of Bulletproof has not been archived.
Zombies Confirmed by Sharon Wilson via email.
End of the Summer Confirmed by Sharon Wilson via email.
Sunshine There may have been a full version of this song outside of the context of Radio Free Roscoe, but if it exists, it is currently lost.
Weirdo (Short Version) This song was released on the Powerplay Magazine compilation CD series Power Files Chapter 14. Weirdo is normally 3 minutes and 22 seconds in length, whereas the version present in this compilation album is only 59 seconds long.
Little Yellow Mini (Fruitbat Remix) / "Fruity Mix" On the Little Yellow Mini EP, the insert references a download for the Fruitbat (of Abdoujaparov) remix of Little Yellow Mini available exclusively on the DBR website. The download page was originally here, but the actual file was never archived.
Something Cool About This / Cool This song has been recovered by Rubber Duck Shobe and is now archived. Thank you so much! Although this song is not fully lost, it desperately needs a re-rip, so I am considering it lost. I ripped this song from an official, but very poorly produced DBR Demo CD, which plagued the audio with noise, and hiss. This song is also present on Bluefire Records' compilation album Snakebite City Eleven, so there is a chance it can still be recovered!
Freeks This song has been recovered by Anonymous, and is now archived! Thank you so much! We have the Scarmichael remix of Freeks from the Crazy Town EP, but we don't have the original, non-remixed version.
Bulletproof This song has been recovered by Anonymous, and is now archived! Thank you so much! Bulletproof was released as a single CD. It was also released through Freekstar's official MySpace page, but the song is no longer playable.
World of Pain This song has been recovered by Anonymous, and is now archived! Thank you so much! The second track in the Bulletproof Promo EP. It is unknown if this song was present in any other releases.
Suicidal Skater Girl This song has been recovered by Anonymous, and is now archived! Thank you so much! We have the instrumental, because it was included in AirBurst Extreme, but we don't have the lyrical version.
Rebel This song has been recovered by Anonymous, and is now archived! Thank you so much! This song was available on Freekstar's official MySpace page, but is no longer playable.

❓UNCONFIRMED SONG LIST❓

These are some song titles I've seen referenced in internet music libraries.
These tracks are lost to the point that I cannot find proof they ever existed.

Song Source
Mental (Do You Think I'm A Freak) last.fm
Rock It Up last.fm
Jeepers Creepers last.fm

💿CD ARCHIVE💿

DBR / Freekstar released a few CDs during their lifetime.
These are the ones I was able to get my hands on, so I have preserved and archived them.

Name Cover CD Description Download
Believe EP Believe EP Cover Believe EP CD The Believe EP was released by Org Records under their Org-An-Ized Records series of EPs. It contains the songs Believe, Strange Thing, and Cosmonaut. Download bin/cue/scans
Crazy Town EP Crazy Town EP Cover Crazy Town EP CD The Crazy Town EP was released by Bluefire Records, and it contains the songs Crazy Town, White Trash, and Scarmichael's Remix of Freeks. Download bin/cue/scans
Little Yellow Mini EP Little Yellow Mini EP Cover Little Yellow Mini EP CD The Little Yellow Mini EP was released by Bluefire Records, and comes with an additional CD-ROM partition on the disk containing what they label as "Pix, Video Clips, and General DBR Clutter". Though, it only contains two short video clips, and a Flash executable that automatically cycles through photos of the band members. Download bin/cue/scans/data
DBR Demo CD (Damaged) DBR Demo Cover DBR Demo CD This CD is undocumented, and assumedly extremely limited edition, likely handed out at a DBR performance. This CD was produced very cheaply at the time, and has since succumbed to disc rot. Even though my copy is in immaculate condition, the audio it contains has very prominent noise and hiss. It contains the songs Dum, Cool, and Zoom. Download bin/cue/scans
Snakebite City Eleven Snakebite City Eleven Cover Snakebite City Eleven CD This CD was previously lost, and was recovered by Rubber Duck Shobe. Thank you so much! Snakebite City Eleven is a compilation release from Bluefire Records, which was DBR's record label for a period. This release contains the DBR song Something Cool About This, referred to on this compilation as simply Cool. Download FLAC/scans

💿🔴CURRENTLY LOST CDs🔴💿

I was not able to acquire these CDs, so they are currently unpreserved.

Name Cover CD Description
Bulletproof (Single) Bulletproof (Single) Cover Bulletproof (Single) CD This CD was a single that contained only one track; Bulletproof. This CD was self-published without a record label, using the UK production service Blue Yonder for manufacturing.
Bulletproof (Promo Copy) Bulletproof Promo Cover Bulletproof Promo CD This promotional copy of Bulletproof was printed on a holographic CD, and is assumedly very limited edition, likely handed out at a Freekstar performance. It features two songs: Bulletproof, and World of Pain.
Bulletproof (Debut) CD Image Unavailable CD Image Unavailable The debut version of Bulletproof contains the songs Bulletproof, and World of Pain, in addition to an unknown selection of remixed Deadbeat Radicals songs in the new Freekstar style. It is unknown how this debut version was distributed, but it was most likely a CD.
Power Files Chapter 14 Power Files Chapter 14 Cover Power Files Chapter 14 CD Power Files is a series of compilation CDs for Powerplay Magazine. Chapter 14 in particular contains the song Weirdo by DBR, but this version is unique, because it is only 59 seconds long. This "Short Version" of Weirdo is unpreserved, and is likely not included in any other releases.

✉CONTACT✉

My name is Evan Clue, and I'm a YouTuber. I'm probably one of the only DBR / Freekstar fans left, and I'm going stir-crazy trying to dig up everything this band ever did.
If you have any Deadbeat Radicals or Freekstar songs, CDs, media, or content that is lost, unconfirmed, higher quality than what is currently preserved, or is not on this site at all, I will happily pay you a bounty.
You can contact me (clue#1234) via Discord through my server, or you can e-mail me at kaykayclue at gmail dot com.

Edit
Pub: 23 Mar 2023 18:37 UTC
Edit: 10 Jun 2023 18:55 UTC
Views: 12560