Greater Than One

Greater Than One is an English electronic music band, founded by husband and wife Michael Wells and the late Lee Newman in 1985. They released many albums under this name, and also under the names Tricky Disco, GTO, John + Julie, Church of Extacy, Signs of Chaos, T.D.5, Salami Brothers, Killout Squad, Technohead and L.E.D.. Only a few of their singles were commercially successful. Since Newman's death on 4 August 1995 from cancer, Wells continues to release music under some of these names, and also as The Man and S.O.L.O. 

In 1985, Newman and Wells met at the Royal College of Art in London, formed Greater Than One, and released their first album 'Kill the Pedagogue' on cassette. During the late 1980s they organised art installations and exhibitions accompanied by their own music. They formed their own label Kunst=Kapital and released four further albums under this alias between 1987 and 1990. 

Their first hit single was the trance record "Pure" as GTO on Chrysalis Records, a club hit around Europe, closely followed by "Tricky Disco" as Tricky Disco on Warp Records, which peaked at number 14 in the UK Singles Chart in July 1990.

They used many aliases because, releasing so much material, they feared the press would not write about it all, if they knew it all came from the same band. Their aliases also allowed them to release different types of material on different record labels. The single "Double Happiness" as John and Julie appeared on XL Recordings; the 12 inch single "Listen to the rhythm flow" as GTO was released on Jumping Man Records in 1991; the 1993 'Tip of the Iceberg' album as GTO was released on REACT, and the 1995 album 'Headsex' as Technohead appeared on Mokum Records. 'Headsex' contained their biggest hit, "I Wanna Be a Hippy". However, Newman later died that year in August, after a brief battle with cancer. Two Technohead follow-up singles followed in 1996. "Happy Birthday" and "Banana-na-na".

Wells has recorded many singles and three more albums since, including two Tricky Disco singles in February 2007 and two Technohead singles in 2010 and 2014, both of which were released on Mokum Records. In 2019, Wells returned to Mokum Records to release the song "Hands Up!" in order to commemorate the label's 200th release and also to release the "Wasted EP" as MOK202. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA] 

Mussolini Headkick

English industrial rock / EBM band. Members have included King Butcher’s John Butcher, being produced by Revolting Cocks’ Luc Van Acker. The lyrics, as can be inferred from the group’s name, are largely political, with a military bent. Their early sound was a lot more rock, but they moved in the EBM direction after a couple of albums. 

Those generally intimidated by industrialists' relentless amelodic pounding may find this group's debut easier to face: the most off-putting thing about 'Themes for Violent Retribution' is the (anti-fascist) cover's swastika. While this part-time party starring Luc Van Acker and singer / keyboard manipulator John Butcher does employ the form's standard tools -stern beats, found sounds and distorted chants- Mussolini Headkick keeps things reasonably musical with an undercurrent of techno-dance conservatism and, on Side B, actual songs with verses, choruses and rough melodies. 

The harsher 'Blood on the Flag', again produced by Van Acker, delves more deeply into the punishing power of electronic percussion and chaotic noise, as Butcher angrily shouts his military-minded political lyrics in topical songs like "Kabul," "Homeland" and "War Drum." With the exception of two near-songs ("Cracking Up" and "Holy War"), the shards of musical intelligence here crop up only as accents, playing a similar role to the audio vérité sound bites. [SOURCE: DISCOGS] 

Lead Into Gold

Lead into Gold derives its name from the mystical practice of alchemy. The band is basically a solo project for Paul Barker, a talented and avant-garde bassist who joined forces with Alain Jourgensen in the late '80s to create several influential and powerful Ministry records. Paul and Roland Barker, as well as frequent future collaborator Bill Rieflin, played in a Seattle-based band called The Blackouts. When The Blackouts inked with Wax Trax! Jourgensen (already operating under the Ministry moniker) immediately partnered with Barker and the pair unleashed a multitude of vehicles including RevCo, 1000 Homo DJs, and Lard. Jourgensen and Barker dubbed themselves Hypo Luxa and Hermes Pan (respectfully and respectively) after a pair of free-wheeling Greek prostitutes. In the midst of this plethora of pounding, Lead into Gold emerged as Barker's baby. He wrote and sang each cut on the full-length 'Age of Reason', as well as the extended singles, 'Faster Than Light', 'Idiot', and 'Chicks and Speed: Futurism'. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC] 

Pailhead

Pailhead was a short-lived side project of Al Jourgensen of Ministry that featured Dischord Records founder and former Minor Threat frontman Ian MacKaye on vocals. The band's sound was a combination of industrial beats and hardcore punk, presaging what Ministry would later do with Jello Biafra in another side project, Lard. 

While Alain Jourgensen was living in London, he met Ian MacKaye. MacKaye had been in Washington D.C. punk bands The Teen Idles, Minor Threat, Skewbald/Grand Union, Egg Hunt and Embrace and was on the verge of forming Fugazi, while Jourgensen was taking his band Ministry into new territory -away from the more pop sound of 'With Sympathy' and toward the harder sound of 'The Land of Rape and Honey'. The two found common ground both musically and politically and decided to collaborate on a project that would fuse elements of industrial music with hardcore punk.

Pailhead released the single 'I Will Refuse / No Bunny' (released in both 7" and 12" formats) in 1987 and the 4-song EP 'Trait' in 1988, both on the Wax Trax! record label. The CD edition of 'Trait' also incorporates both sides of the 'I Will Refuse / No Bunny' single. The drummer for "No Bunny" was Eric Spicer of Naked Raygun. These tracks were later re-released on Ministry's odds-and-ends compilation 'Side Trax'. MacKaye stated that he has never played live with the band. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA] 

1000 Homo DJs

1000 Homo DJs was a Ministry side-project that featured Jello Biafra (of Dead Kennedys and Lard) and Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails). According to legend, the group's name was suggested by Wax Trax! Records co-founder Jim Nash who, in addressing Al Jourgensen's concern over a remix, reassured Jourgensen that only "a thousand homo DJs would hear it" and the name stuck. 

The group's first single, 'Apathy' (1988), contains "Apathy" and "Better Ways", which were both originally intended for Ministry's album 'The Land Of Rape And Honey', but ended up being rejected for not fitting in with the more aggressive sound of that album. Their second single, 'Supernaut' (1990), contains the title track "Supernaut" (a Black Sabbath cover) and "Hey Asshole", which were both recorded specifically for the project. The cover art was designed to closely resemble Black Sabbath's 'Master of Reality' album cover. A subsequent compilation called 'Supernaut' (with the same cover artwork) compiles all four tracks from both singles and was available on CD and cassette (and on vinyl in the UK.) The track "Supernaut" was originally recorded with lead vocals by Trent Reznor, but could not be released in 1990 due to legal problems with Reznor's label TVT Records. The story goes that Al distorted the vocals and claimed them as his own, although he, himself, has signaled that they are actually his own vocals. Years later, the original Reznor vocal version was released on the Wax Trax! 'Black Box' compilation. [SOURCE: DISCOGS] 

Zero Kama

Zero Kama was a ritual industrial project from Vienna, Austria, formed in 1984 by Michael DeWitt (owner of Nekrophile Rekords). The album 'The Secret Eye of L.A.Y.L.A.H.' is one of the earliest and most influential ritual ambient releases. The music on this recording was exclusively played with homemade instruments made ​​of human skulls and bones. Before Zero Kama, DeWitt was involved with the project Korpses Katatonik, playing old school industrial music. 

The recording of 'The Secret Eye of L.A.Y.L.A.H.' took place at the Secret Temple of Laylah from 5th to 28th of May 1984. Dedicated to the symbol of Laylah, meaning night and death, as well as to its numerical equivalent, Oz, a goat or unrestrained sexual force of creation, thus showing the identity of the basic two opposite forces in this generous universe of beauty and strength, in which the lovers may find ecstasy in Pan. In November 1987 Michael DeWitt made ​​a remix of the recording, which was released in 1988 on LP by French label Permis de Construire. 

The project Zero Kama also appeared on a few compilations, and recorded a live performance in September 1985 in Arnhem, Netherlands. A planned release of a musical/ritual rendition of "The Book of the Law" was planned, but only one track ended up being completed. [SOURCE: LAST.FM] 

Ya Ya Choral

Beginning life as an experimental electronic outfit, Sydney band Ya Ya Choral became a much-admired, if commercially unsuccessful, hard rock outfit over the course of a decade. 

Ya Ya Choral's first release was the EP 'Such a Dutch Man' on M Squared in 1982, followed by the 'What's a Quaver?' album in July 1983. Guitarist Michael Filewood, formerly of Systematics, replaced Patrick Gibson for their next single, 'Two Lines', on the Red Eye label in August 1985. The next year they were featured on ABC-TV's BeatBox program and videos for "Who's the King?" and "Lonesome No More" received national airplay. 

Although the group broke up in 1986, Fiona Graham, Michael Tee, and Michael Filewood revived proceedings in 1987 with a new lineup that included Joanna Urbanik on bass and Dave Kelly on drums. With a new sound that mixed hard rock and pop, support rose as they toured with bands such as Lime Spiders, The Radiators, and Sunnyboys. Their next EP, 'Grunts', was released on their own Maelstromm label in October 1988, later released as 'Extra Grunt'. Their debut album, 'One Small Step for Mankind', was released in March 1989. Spurred on by a positive reaction from the U.K. heavy metal press, Ya Ya Choral toured the U.K. later that year. A momentary name change to Fear of Angels occurred in 1990, but they reverted to Ya Ya Choral soon after. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC] 

Whipping Boy

Whipping Boy was an American hardcore punk, psychedelic, and experimental-metal band from Palo Alto, California. The band was created in 1981 by lead singer Eugene Robinson and guitarist Steve Ballinger, students from Stanford University, and rounded out by the rhythm section of Sam Smoot, and David Owens, also students. Their sound featured lightning-fast melodies, tight, chunky rhythms, and violently incoherent vocals. They espoused a radically anti-government view that caught the attention of the Dead Kennedys' Jello Biafra and led to his support. They were featured on a punk compilation 'Not So Quiet on the Western Front'. Their first LP, 'The Sound of No Hands Clapping' was produced by DK's Bassist, Klaus Flouride. The band enjoyed moderate success, and national tours in 1982 and 1983 were capped by the release of the psychedelic 'Muru Muru' in 1983. This abrupt change in style was not welcomed by Whipping Boy's fanbase. After another national tour, several personnel changes followed. In 1984 Ron Isa on bass, Steve Shaughnessy on drums, and Niko Wenner on guitar and backing vocals joined original members Robinson and Ballinger. Not long after, Ballinger left and Bart Thurber joined on guitar, though Ballinger appeared on the next LP 'The Third Secret of Fatima'. This third record was another relative stylistic change, and also involved Fluoride. After several further lineup changes and a 7" record of a live-in-the-studio recording at radio station KFJC entitled 'Crow', the band went on hiatus in 1989. Incendiary front man and lyricist Eugene Robinson, drummer Dan Adams, and guitarist Niko Wenner have shifted their focus to the avant-garde noise-rock band Oxbow, where Adams currently plays bass and multi-instrumentalist Wenner composes and produces. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA] 

Virgin Dance

Virgin Dance was a nu pop - post punk band formed in Liverpool in 1983. They released four singles in 1983 - 1984 and then they disbanded. Their only permanent members were Edwin Hind (vocals), ex-Modern Eon drummer Cliff Hewitt and Kenny Duggan (guitar). Keyboardist Dave Knowles left after their debut single to join Here's Johnny and was replaced by Dixie and bassist Graham McMaster was replaced by Bernie Putt after their debut single and the latter was replaced by Barry Cowell. [SOURCE: DISCOGS] 

Toukaseibunshi

Hironari Iwata began his solo project Toukaseibunshi ("Transparent Molecules") in 1985. In the same year he formed a second unit called Haiginsha, and began collaborating with Merzbow and Agencement. Iwata also ran the independent label Angakok, releasing several albums on cassette and curating a compilation that featured some the most radical musicians of the period including H.N.A.S., Asmus Tietchens, P16.D4, DDAA, etc. But in 1988 he suddenly ceased all musical activities. He returned to public attention twenty-one years later in 2009, when PSF Records released an edited reissue of his early album, 'Meta-Inorganicmatter Meta-Newlon'. 'Stratosphere Sound' is Iwata’s latest work, underpinned by his feelings of poignancy and deep passion towards his own music. [SOURCE: NORTHERN HERITAGE & FREAK ANIMAL RECORDS]