Cabaret Voltaire (band)

Cabaret Voltaire

Richard H. Kirk, Stephen Mallinder, Chris Watson
Background information
Origin Sheffield, England
Genres
Years active 1973–1994; 2014 – present
Labels
Associated acts
Members Richard H. Kirk
Past members

Cabaret Voltaire are an English music group formed in Sheffield in 1973 and initially composed of Stephen Mallinder, Richard H. Kirk, and Chris Watson[1] The group was named after Cabaret Voltaire, a nightclub in Zürich, Switzerland that served as a centre for the early Dada movement.

The early work of Cabaret Voltaire consisted primarily of Dada-influenced performance art, and the group would eventually develop to become a pioneer of industrial music in the mid-1970s along with contemporaries such as Throbbing Gristle. Finding an audience during the post-punk era, they integrated their experimentalist sensibilities with new wave, dance, techno, and wider forms of pop music.[2][3] They are often characterized as among the most innovative and influential electronic groups of their era.[4]

History

The band formed in Sheffield in 1973 and experimented widely with sound creation and processing. Some of these early experiments were first documented on the Industrial Records cassette 1974-1976 (1980), then later on the triple album CD set Methodology '74/'78: The Attic Tapes (Mute 2002). They eventually turned to live performance, often sharing the bill with Joy Division.[5] In one incident, Mallinder was hospitalised with a chipped backbone after the band had objects thrown at them. However, the arrival of punk rock brought a more accepting audience for their industrial, electronic sound and they were championed by Sheffield punk fanzine Gunrubber edited by Paul Bower of local band 2.3.[6]

In 1978, Cabaret Voltaire signed to Rough Trade Records. With Rough Trade they released several acclaimed musically experimental singles and EPs, including Extended Play, "Nag Nag Nag" and "Three Mantras", and albums such as The Voice of America in 1980, and Red Mecca in 1981. The 27 June 1978 edition of NME had a review by Andy Gill who said "I firmly believe Cabaret Voltaire will turn out to be one of the most important new bands to achieve wider recognition this year. Wait and see." [7] And, certainly, years later they were seen as one of the bands that instigated the electronic music scene.

Watson left the band in 1981 to work for Tyne Tees Television and went on to found The Hafler Trio with Andrew M. McKenzie before becoming a BBC sound engineer and then a soloist. On 25 June 1981 the band performed on the John Peel show and performed 4 songs recorded by the BBC Black Mask, Greensborough, Walls of jerico and Jazz the Glass.[8]

During this time, Cabaret Voltaire toured Europe, Japan and America without major record label support, releasing Hai!, a live album recorded in Japan, in 1982.

In late 1982, Cabaret Voltaire decided consciously to turn in a more commercial direction. The group enlisted American dance music producer John Robie to remix "Yashar", a track from their 1982 album 2x45. The 12-inch single was released by Factory Records in May 1983, and received extensive play in dance clubs. In August 1983, the album The Crackdown was released on Some Bizzare / Virgin Records and reached number 31 in the UK Albums Chart[9] - over 60 places higher than their previous (and then only) chart placing. In 1984, the singles "Sensoria" and "James Brown" from the album Micro-Phonies (also on Virgin) charted on the UK Indie Chart, as well as getting play in the underground dance scene.

In 1987, the band released Code, on several tracks of which Bill Nelson played guitar. This was followed by the house-influenced Groovy, Laidback & Nasty in 1990. A series of completely instrumental works under the Cabaret Voltaire name were released on Instinct Records in 1993 and 1994. The last Cabaret Voltaire release to feature Mallinder on vocals was the Body and Soul album in 1991.

Since the mid-late 1980s, Kirk began a solo career under several names, including Electronic Eye and Sandoz, while Mallinder relocated to Perth, Australia and records with a collaborator under the name Sassi & Loco and, more recently, in another collaborative effort the Kuling-Bros. Mallinder also helps run his own Offworld Sounds label and contributed to synthesizer and programming on Shaun Ryder's solo album Amateur Night at the Big Top.

In 1996, Mallinder reported to Inpress magazine's Andrez Bergen that "I do think the manipulation of sound in our early days - the physical act of cutting up tapes, creating tape loops and all that - has a strong reference to Burroughs and Gysin; in terms of the Dada thing, there's a similarity between the Dadaists' reaction to the bourgeoisie and the war and our own position - we felt alienated from popular culture ourselves. I think those kinds of attitudes become embedded within you, but I'm not sure how it relates now..."[10]

Hopes of a Cabaret Voltaire reunion were raised when Kirk dropped hints in the late 1990s, the most significant being in the notes of a reissue of Radiation, but this never happened. In a special 'Depeche Mode/History of Electro-pop' edition of Q magazine, Kirk suggested he is still considering resurrecting the Cabaret name, but this time he plans to "Get some young people involved".[11]

In 2001, Watson appeared in the documentary film Made in Sheffield, where he discussed the early years of Cabaret Voltaire. Since that time, Kirk has resurrected the Cabaret Voltaire name and has released new albums with New Zealand band Kora called Kora! Kora! Kora! and Sheffield band, The Tivoli called National Service Rewind. The new material was recorded at Western Works studios.

The experimental 'Sensoria Festival of Film and Music' is named after the Cabaret Voltaire song, and has become an annual event held in Sheffield since 2008.[12]

In July 2014, Berlin Atonal reported that Cabaret Voltaire were to perform at the festival.[13] The performance - the first in twenty years - will see a setlist of all new material performed by a line-up "consisting solely of machines, multi-screen projections and Richard H. Kirk", the lone remaining member of the 'group'.

Band members

Discography

Studio albums

Boxset

Remix albums

Live albums

Compilation albums

Singles and EPs

Selected compilation appearances

Related projects

See also

References

  1. ↑ Gimarc, George (2005). Punk diary : the ultimate trainspotter's guide to underground rock : 1970 - 1982. San Francisco: Backbeat Books. p. 17. ISBN 0-87930-848-6.
  2. ↑ Bland, Benjamin (18 June 2014). "Cabaret Voltaire - #7885 (Electropunk to Technopop 1978-1985)". [Drowned in Sound]]. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
  3. ↑ Bush, John. "Cabaret Voltaire". Allmusic. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
  4. ↑ Bush, John. "Cabaret Voltaire". Allmusic. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
  5. ↑ "Cabaret Voltaire - Band Profiles". Uncommon People. 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
  6. ↑ "Made in Sheffield: A decade of Documenting Sheffield Music: Gunrubber excerpts.". www.sheffieldvision.com. Retrieved 2015-08-24.
  7. ↑ Punk Diary - the ultimate Trainspotters guide to underground rock. Backbeat Books. p. 144. ISBN 0-87930-848-6.
  8. ↑ Punk Diary - the ultimate Trainspotters guide to underground roc. Bakbeat Books. p. 487. ISBN 0-87930-848-6.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 89. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  10. ↑ Vintage Cab Sav, Andrez Bergen. Zebra, Inpress, 1996.
  11. ↑ "Smuggled Sounds: Cabaret Voltaire: The Three Mantras". 13 November 2006. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
  12. ↑ "Sensoria 2010". 2010.sensoria.org.uk. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  13. ↑ "Cabaret Voltaire to play first gig in 20 years at Berlin festival". NME.com. Retrieved 6 July 2014.

External links

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