Chakk

Chakk existed between 1981 and 1987. Their first single, Out of the Flesh, was recorded with Richard Kirk at Cabaret Voltaire's Western Works Studio and mixed and engineered by Alan Cross, a member of the band who had studio training. The track reached No. 3 in the UK Indie Chart in the Autumn of 1984. The next single You/They Say, released on their own FON label the following March, was also an Indie Chart top 10 and lead to publishing and recording deals with MCA Music and MCA Records.

The size of the advance they got from MCA Records is something of a legend since it was large enough to finance the building of Sheffield's first large commercial recording studio, FON Studios, completed in the summer of 1985. The studio was designed by Alan Cross, Mark Brydon and a friend of the band Marcus O'Hagan - all three had backgrounds in Architecture.

Chakk's original sound was centred around Alan Cross' four track tape machine, some home built echo and effects boxes and a small mixing desk. They had always believed that the most important instument a band could use was the studio itself.

FON became a successful commercial studio after the recording of Chakk's album Ten Days in an Elevator (1986), and was a focal point for local sound engineering talent. Robert Gordon, Alan Fisch, Steve Cobby and Phil Jones, to name just a few, all spent time honing their skills there. Alan Cross used various pseudonyms such as DJ Chakk and Alana Gold to record, produce and remix other acts at FON outside of his role in Chakk.

Chakk left MCA after their album failed to sell in sufficient quantities to satisfy the record label accountants and, back on the Fon label, released the Time Bomb EP in autumn 1986. The band decided to split in the following year. FON Studio continued until 1996.