The band released three
EPs on Flaw Recordings before signing to
Warp Records for their debut album,
Prince Blimey (1996). In 1997, Red Snapper (along with the
Foo Fighters) supported
the Prodigy on their
Fat of the Land tour in the UK. For their follow-up
Making Bones they were joined by
jungle MC Det, trumpeter
Byron Wallen and singer Alison David. The latter was replaced by Karim Kendra by their third album,
Our Aim Is to Satisfy (2000). In early 2002, Red Snapper announced their dissolution. Also in 2002, the various artists compilation album ''It's All Good
was released. It included a previously unreleased track, "Ultraviolet", which was also included on Red Snapper'', a compilation of unreleased and rare Red Snapper tracks released by
Lo Recordings in 2003. Later in 2003, an album of
remixes was released,
Redone, which included tracks remixed by the Snapper themselves. Ayers and Felix Tod were credited as The Creation, Thair remixed "Ultraviolet", and the "Odd Man Out" (Odd Man remix) was done by Friend, Gavin Clark and Ted Barnes. The last track included vocals. Later the Flameboy Records (owned by Jake Williams, former RS keyboard player) released a four-track vinyl called "RedOne", which included three tracks from
Redone and a previously unreleased Red Snapper track entitled "Drill", featuring MC Det.
Reunion Red Snapper reformed in 2007 – this was posted on their MySpace page: ''After 6 years apart concentrating on different projects, Red Snapper return. Ali has been working with
Beth Orton and his new band
Clayhill. David has been focusing on writing music for TV with his work featuring on the highly acclaimed BBC show 'The Tribe'. Rich has been working with Jakeone on their band Toob, with Rennie Pilgrem and the TCR Allstars and
Bomb the Bass.'' In late 2007, the band decided to rejoin after a
jam session. They returned to the recording studio to work on new material for their sixth album. Saxophonist Tom Challenger played at the sessions and became a member of the band. Red Snapper appeared at the
Bloc Weekend in March 2008. The band released
Pale Blue Dot (Lo Recordings) on 2 October 2008. In May 2011 the band released
Key, their seventh album on
V2 Benelux with band members Rich Thair (drums), Ali Friend (double bass/vocals) and David Ayers (guitar) – this time, they are joined by jazz saxophonist Tom Challenger and guest vocalists Gavin Clarke (
UNKLE, Clayhill) and
Mercury Prize nominee
Eliza Carthy. The band followed up the album with an extensive tour of Europe throughout the summer of 2011. On 1 September 2014, Red Snapper released the album
Hyena on
Lo Recordings. It features music inspired by a soundtrack that the group composed to accompany the film
Touki Bouki. In 2016, the band toured
Belarus and played at the
Canary Wharf Jazz Festival.
NUMBER In 2019, Friend and Thair formed Number (stylised as NUMBER), a post-punk/disco-funk band also featuring vocals by Dan Carney, Heloise Gerstein and Luisa Tunstall-Behrens. Their debut single "Face Down in Ecstasy" was released in April 2019 with their album
BINARY released a year later by Sunday Best Recordings. ==Discography==