Hardcore icons Gorilla Biscuits came together in the late '80s to add their two cents to the straight-edge scene in New York City. Ironically enough though, their name came from the street term for Quaaludes. The group went through various members in their time together, but the band's "definitive" lineup was the team of vocalist Anthony Civarelli, bassist Arthur Smilios, drummer Luke Abbey, and guitarists Walter Schreifels and (eventually) Alex Brown; John "Porcell" Porcelly (guitar) and Sammy Siegler (drums) also served in the Biscuits' ranks. No last names were used on any of their recordings; in fact, Civarelli went by the name "Civ" at the time. They were very reactionary, trying to move the movement away from the militant rules that many hardcore straight-edge fans had created around their favorite bands. The main goal was to try and include anyone who wanted to take on their political views without worrying about the aesthetics, something that made them unpopular with many in the movement. They managed to tour the U.S. once and Europe twice, and release two albums on Revelation Records (a 1988 self-titled 7" and 1989's highly influential 'Start Today') before Schreifels left the group to form the melodic hardcore/metal band Quicksand in 1990. Gorilla Biscuits were officially broken up, playing a final gig together in 1992, but in reality the remaining members turned around and formed CIV, a pop-punk combo that scored a minor hit with "Can't Wait One Minute More" when they reappeared on a major label in 1994. Gorilla Biscuits reunited in 2005 during the Save CBGB's campaign (when the famed venue was on the brink of closure), which ultimately led to the band embarking on a subsequent nationwide tour. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Spring 1978, St Quentin, the bandA 3 Dans Les WCis formed after a punk concert: Reno (vocals), Janine (keyboards), Eric (bass), Gégène (drums) and Jeannot (guitar), playing a punk rock full of keyboards and distortion, -think of Velvet Underground, Devo, Stranglers...
Attracted by the noise, a concert organiser, offers them to open a rock festival where Bijou, Starshooter, Téléphone will perform. At the end of 78 they self-produced their first single: 'Contagion', took part in the first French punk compilation: '125 Grammes De 33 1/3 Tours'.
At the beginning of the 80's they sign with CBS, rename themselves WC3, record a single, 'Captain' Valium' and a 6-track maxi: 'Poupée Be.Bop'. In 82 they release the album 'Moderne Musique' and replace the drummer by a drum machine. In 83 they play with The Lords of the New Church. They self-destructed in 1984 on the first date of their tour after the release of their most accomplished and most sulphurous album: 'La Machine Infernale'.
In 2006 the label Seventeen (Metal Urbain, Guilty Razors, MKB) re-released the first single 'Contagion' + the first unreleased demos of the band remastered in the form of a CD. The track "Contagion" will be part of the 'BIPPP' compilation of French synth-punk bands of the 80's. [SOURCE: NORDWAVES]
The 1988 single "The Promise" is When in Rome's biggest commercial success and sole claim to fame. The three-piece group released just one self-titled album and faded into obscurity. When in Rome's Clive Farrington, Andrew Mann, and Michael Floreale reportedly started out in an earlier Manchester band, Leisure, who featured Corinne Drewery, who would go on to front another one-hit wonder group, Swing Out Sister. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Violent Onsen Geisha, a one-man band consisting of cinema and music journalist Masaya Nakahara from Tokyo, is one of those musical entities that defy categorization. Violent Onsen Geisha offers up everything from brutal assaults of feedback noise in the realms of Merzbow and Masonna to a tacky Casio keyboard to collages of plunderphonic sound bites from movies and old records, mostly in English, to someone plunking amateurishly on a bass or a keyboard and mouthing tones or grunting. One could compare Violent Onsen Geisha to Negativland with an industrial edge, or Ground Zero, or maybe even as a Japanese update to LAFMS (L.A. Free Music Society) bands like Le Forte Four, and still not quite get at the strange way Nakahara twists through his collages of sound, with strange segues and abrupt changes. Moving from one style to another in a schizophrenic haze, VOG's irreverent mishmash of junk culture ripped apart in a blender offers something similar to the early Boredoms. Confusing, repulsive, hilarious, and fascinating at the same time. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Toto Lotto came from Frankfurt/Main, which is the financial capital of Germany. During the 1970's it was also a center of left-wing activities. Toto Lotto were rooted in this political scene and they mixed punk with musical knowledge derived from bands like Henry Cow. Toto Lotto had a lot of energy like James Chance although they sure could play their instruments and knew jazzrock. Christoph Anders later went on to play with Heiner Goebbels, Alfred Harth and Chris Cutler as Cassiber. [SOURCE: BROTBEUTEL]
One of the earliest San Francisco punk bands, The Sleepers were also one of the first U.S. outfits to stretch the boundaries of the style into what is recognized today as "post-punk." Featuring the deep vocals and inscrutable lyrics of singer Ricky Williams (formerly a drummer with Crime), the Sleepers' material stressed ominous atmosphere, throbbing bass lines, and quirky instrumental shifts that challenged the rigid bash-'em-out structures of early punk. Particularly in their later days, their recordings looked forward to elements of goth rock, in both Williams' increasingly Bowie-esque vocal delivery and the sophisticated electric guitar textures. The Sleepers' obscurity is mostly attributable to their sparse output, which was limited to a 1978 EP, a single, and a 1981 LP, all on small labels with limited distribution. Williams, an instable character who was thrown out of an embryonic lineup of Flipper for being too weird, later sang with the Toiling Midgets, and died in 1992. Drummer Tim Mooney, also a member of Toiling Midgets, went on to work with American Music Club. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Pink Turns Blue are a post-punk band from Berlin, Germany. Formed in 1985, they were part of the first generation of gothic rock in Germany, and released their first LP, 'If Two Worlds Kiss' with a sound reminiscent of new wave with very dark undertones and use of synthesizers, and went to become part of the developing sub-genre of dark wave.
The band originally was a duo consisting of Thomas Elbern (vocals and guitars), Mic Jogwer (vocals, bass and keyboards) and a drum machine. In 1985, Elbern was part of an NDW-ensemble called Seltsame Zustände but wanted to form a new band in Cologne and was looking for musicians via an ad. The music student Mic Jogwer answered, and they had several small appearances around Cologne under the name Pink Turns Blue (named after the Hüsker Dü song "Pink Turns to Blue"). Musically they were oriented towards post-punk bands like early The Cure, The Chameleons or The Sound. In early 1986, art student and drummer Marcus Giltjes joined the band. The trio won a 'new talent award' from Germany’s biggest radio station WDR which included as a prize a studio session with producer and radio host Volkmar Kramarz.
In June 1987, Mic Jogwer switched from bass to guitar and Ruebi Walter, who joined the band in 1986 as a keyboard player, moved to bass. In August the band were signed by the newly found record label Fun Factory! The band recorded a few new songs and remixed existing material from 1986 for their debut album 'If Two Worlds Kiss', released in October 1987. From October 1987 to March 1988, the band toured and the song "Walking On Both Sides" got them TV appearances and was played on the radio. They were invited to tour with the controversial Yugoslavian band Laibach, and Jogwer became friends with their soundman Janez Križaj. Križaj invited Pink Turns Blue to record their second album in Ljubljana. To pay for the recordings, the band smuggled Western studio equipment across the border.
In August 1988, the single 'Touch The Skies' was released, and Pink Turns Blue played their first concerts in England, France, Switzerland and the Netherlands. In October, their second album 'Meta' was released which carried the keyboard heavy The Cure sound to extremes and which sold 2,300 units within 8 weeks. As second single, 'Your Master Is Calling', was released which got them TV appearance in Tele 5, was on rotation of many radio stations and is their most popular song to date.
The third album 'Eremite' also was recorded with Janez Križaj in Ljubljana and was finished in August 1989. However, their record label Fun Factory got into financial difficulties and Pink Turns Blue switched to the Rough Trade Records sub-label Our Choice, which released the album in April 1990. "Michelle" was remixed in Manchester and released in October as a single. Early 1990, Ruebi Walter’s younger brother Reinhold joined on keyboards, and drummer Marcus Giltjes left the band.
The fourth studio album, 'Aerdt' (Art+Earth), was recorded between January and February 1991 in Ljubljana by Mic Jogwer and Ruebi Walter as a duo. A drum machine was used. The album was released in August. The band performed the songs live with a conventional setup supported a hired drummer.
In spring 1991, after finishing the album 'Aerdt', Mic Jogwer and Ruebi Walter moved to London. The song "Seven Years" from Aerdt was re-recorded in a dance version and released as a single in September. In early 1992, two more dance oriented singles followed: 'Overloaded' and 'Star'.
In May 1992 Pink Turns Blue recorded their fifth album, 'Sonic Dust', with their new English drummer Louis Pavlou, and it was released in August. In December 1992, Pink Turns Blue recorded their sixth album, 'Perfect Sex', with David M. Allen, the producer of The Cure and Sisters Of Mercy. It was released after some delay in 1994. Louis Pavlou left the band to join The Cure to record "Wild Mood Swings".
In November 1994, the unplugged album 'Muzak' was released which was recorded by Mic Jogwer and his sound engineer colleague Marc Williams in his London flat. It contains a selection of Pink Turns Blue songs performed with acoustic instruments.
In 1995, Pink Turns Blue disbanded. Mic Jogwer later remarked that with the move to London, the band lost its musical orientation and spread itself too thin. Mic Jogwer made a career in the music and media industry producing CD ROMs and websites.
In April 2001, Mic Jogwer produced three songs with Violetta Superstar, the band of Brigid Anderson which was released in October 2001 on a compilation CD ('Die Fiesen Diven'). The two formed an electronic duo called Orden and started to write songs together and recorded some Demos. Early 2003, Thomas Görnert, the manager of the Wave-Gotik-Treffen in Leipzig, requested a performance of Orden and he addressed Mic Jogwer’s band Pink Turns Blue. Jogwer and Andersen persuaded Thomas Elbern, Reini Walter and Louis Pavlou into a one-off Re-Union show and Pink Turns Blue performed at the Wave-Gotik-Treffen in June 2003. Following this, the band reformed and played as headliners at M'era Luna 2004. The restart was announced in combination with a greatest hits album called 'Re-Union'.
The seventh studio album 'Phoenix' was recorded in Berlin in winter 2004/2005, mixed by Janez Križaj in Ljubljana and released in April 2005. The album received 'album of the months awards' in three music magazines (Sonic Seducer, Orkus, Zillo) and spent eight weeks on chart position 3 in the German Alternative Charts. The eighth album, 'Ghost', which came about in the same setting in fall/winter 2006/2007 followed in May 2007. The release was presented at the Wave-Gotik-Treffen 2007 and again got 'album of the month awards', made it to chart position 37 of the annual German Alternative Charts.
In November 2009 the band recorded their ninth album 'Storm' with the single 'Storm Rider / Run From Me' which made it to chart position 2 in the German Alternative Charts. 'Storm' also got critical acclaim from the mainstream press and brought international attention and festival invitations. In April 2016 Pink Turns Blue released their tenth studio album 'The AERDT – Untold Stories' with their 'Club EP' staying on chart position 3 for eight consecutive weeks in the German Alternative Charts. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]
Nasmak was an experimental new wave band from Nuenen in the Netherlands was founded in 1978 (as Nasmaak). Both nationally and internationally, Nasmak achieved success with a combination of the traditional guitar/bass/drums line-up and experiments with sound, such as the use of a squat box and tapes.
In 1978 the band started a collaboration with Truus de Groot who partly worked under the name + Instruments. In 1980 their first album, 'Nasmak Plus Instruments/Instruments Plus Nasmak' appeared, which was very well received and was named best record of the European continent in years by John Peel. Nasmak was the first Dutch band to do a Peel Session in London.
Singer Truus de Groot moved to New York in 1981 and founded +Instruments, including Lee Ranaldo on guitar. In 1982 Nasmak came up with '4our Clicks'. The band disbanded in 1984. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]
God Bullies were an American noise rock band from Kalamazoo, Michigan. They were active from 1986–1995, briefly reunited in the early 2000s and most recently in the summer of 2010 to coincide with the Amphetamine Reptile Records' 25th Anniversary concert. This 2010 Tour was known as the "War On Peace" tour and featured core members David B. Livingstone (lead guitar), Mike Hard (vocals), Mike Corso (bass) and Adam Berg (drums). This lineup also featured longtime friend of the band and Mike Hard collaborator (Thrall and The Brain Saw), Johnnie Johnson on additional guitar.
Although God Bullies never found any mainstream success, creepy anthems like "Let's Go To Hell", "Ordinary Man" and "Cemetery", paired with frontman Mike Hard's theatrical delivery and over-the-top stage antics, earned the band a large cult following. God Bullies toured extensively throughout the US and Europe with artists including Hole, The Melvins, Helmet, Tar, Surgery, Cows and Helios Creed. The band has also released material with Alternative Tentacles and Sympathy The Record Industry, but the bulk of their releases were with Amphetamine Reptile Records.
After the disbandment in 1995, Mike Hard went on to form Thrall. The majority of Thrall's releases were with Alternative Tentacles. Thrall eventually ran its course, and Hard reunited with God Bullies guitarist David Livingstone and drummer Adam Berg to form Th3y N3v3r Sl33p. This project also featured original Thrall bassist "Queen Bee" Karen Neal. Th3y N3v3r Sl33p went on hiatus in early 2011. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]
