Gothic bands and art, vol. 4 (Sisters of Mercy) - Bacon Electric!

I thought this was known stuff, but since you insist, Iet's see it.

The red image that decorates the Sisters 1982, 7" single "Body Electric/Adrenochrome" is a 
monochromatic image of a Francis Bacon painting.

This art piece is entitled "Head VI" and was painted by the great Irish-born British existentialist artist in 1948. It is a part of a series named "Heads in a room" and it is a grotesque pictorial comment on Velazquez's portrait of Pope Innocent X made in 1644.

That's it. Interesting...
Stories within stories...
Art was a serious reference point for many traditional goth bands artwork.

Off to XXX...

Hi everyone!
I'm still in Amsterdam for business and I 'll be back on the 20th...
Till then take a vintage picture to remember...

Gothic bands and art vol.3 (Christian Death)

We have talked about the great impression the Pre-raphaelites had on gothic rock imagery in previous posts.
Here's another example again on the same theme of Ophelia. 
In 1985 Christian Death released an EP titled "The Wind Kissed Pictures". 
On the cover a John Everett Millais painting against a dull red background. At least that's for the early vinyl pressings on the italian label Supporti Fonografici, as later the cover was changed...

The painting in question is indeed titled "Ophelia" and was painted between 1851-52 by one of the great artists of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, John Everett Millais. It's subject was taken by a description in the Shakespearean play "Hamlet". Ophelia's death has been praised as one of the most poetically written death scenes in literature.
As a model for the unfortunate daughter of Polonius, a girl named Elizabeth Siddal was used. The myth goes that another artist of the movement Dante Gabriel Rossetti was present when she posed in a hot bath at Millais studio for the purposes of this painting, and fell in love with her. She later became his muse and wife but her ill-health betrayed her soon...

The Pre-Raphaelites took their name due to their denial of the mature phase of Raphael works and their desire to depict nature in a more accurate way. That is obvious in this painting if you take a closer look at the vegetation details that surrounds the poor lady. 
Some suggest that through the plants a careful eye can discern a hidden skull...

In 1995 Nick Cave w/ Kylie Minogue were inspired by the painting also as it's so obvious in the video of "Where the Wild Roses Grow"...
Check video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDpnjE1LUvE

Aleister, Mercury and Mephisto Walz

Mephisto Walz are/were (?) an interesting US band formed by Barry Galvin, a former Christian Death member, in 1985. We 'll talk extensively on them some other time.
In 2003 they released a single "Nightingale" as a forerunner of their 2004 album "Insidious" on Fossil Dungeon records.
The cd version of this release had printed in the inlay and on the cd itself this symbol.

This very one is a mixture of two well known glyphs in the world of symbolism.
The first is of course the symbol of planet Mercury but also of the element, an ancient symbol for what the alchemists refer to as First Matter. It has been very often been used in goth band imagery. See it here along other planetary glyphs.

The second is the unicursal hexagram, a symbol that represents "a high level of self-confidence and belief that one can achieve the highest of goals and become a divine figure".

It is one of the most used glyphs by Thelema, the spiritual philosophy -now turned official religion- that occult magician and philosopher Aleister Crowley, a very controversial personality indeed, created in the early 20th century...

To complete for today see the inlay spreads of Mephisto Walz's maxi cd and note the wonderful cover...

Stay tuned for more!

The Danse Society logo (part VII)

Danse Society was curiously an underrated act. They started as a Bauhaus influenced band only to display soon an array of great, dreamy sound-scapes that turned into great and haunting songs....
I repeat - they were great, they should have been BIG!
They formed in Barnsley, England around 1980 and through their short spanned early life (as they' ve reformed lately), they bore a strange symbol, that of a crown of thorns.

The crown of thorns was worn by Jesus on his final moments and in christian iconography it is often represented with the three nails of the cross. 
Danse Society used it from 1982 to 1985. The members of the band who reformed around 2010 decided apparently that this symbol represents them so it is again to be seen in their current websites, shows and releases.

Their first release to bear it was the 12" of "Somewhere" in 1983.
It was also the main motif on the cover of their splendid LP "Heaven is Waiting in 1984.

I recently discovered an a christian children's colorbook with this very similar depiction of the crown!





















See how it's used today by the band on their website: http://www.thedansesociety.co.uk/

Gothic Rock forefathers pt.I (Black Sabbath)

I almost completed a new upload on Danse Society's logo...
I was planning to upload it today when suddenly yesterday night as I was with friends at a local band's gig I overheard a discussion of some youngsters who debated over the origin's of our genre...
I won't produce here their sayings and arguments but... come on people get to know where you "come" from...!
Now this blogpage is not about lengthy argumentations. The term gothic in itself exists since the 13th century...
How can one though claim he "knows" gothic rock without acknowledging that they've been some bands and artists especially in the '70s, who "prepared" mostly aesthetically the ground for the original gothic rock era of the '80s.
The almighty Mick Mercer sites some in his books, now it's summer read a little bit... 


One of them was definitely Black Sabbath, whether you like it or not.  
Their imagery had it all. Gothic attire, crosses, black letters, crows, odd black-clad figures, dark moods, isolation, silence, weird landscapes, allusions about sex and death and the lot.
Here are but a few pictorial examples as a token...

1970's self titled LP cover spread

1976's "We sold our soul to R'n'R" comp LP back cover

1973's "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" LP back cover

Anyone still believes that the Sisters and the Mission thought of cathedrals as perfect photo shooting scenery?

A remote island for Killing Joke

As known to older fans and mentioned also in the history page of KJ's official website, in 1982, Jaz Coleman under the influence of occultism and especially of the works of Aleister Crowley, got the idea that the Apocalypse was imminent. 
First him (on the day of the 3rd anniversary of Killing Joke's formation) and then other members of Killing Joke travelled to Iceland and remained there for several months.
The following press clippings depict the musical press reaction to this odd event...

Read more on this event by Jaz himself as he describes them in the Holland Park lectures:
http://www.killingjoke.org.uk/aid/odic/hp2.html


Thanks to S.Savage.G for the above clippings. 

Bauhaus clippings

Here are some Bauhaus magazine ad clippings I recently received from a friend.

The first is a magazine ad (Zig Zag?) concerning the release of their third single "Terror Couple Kill Colonel" from 1980. The song referred to Paul Bloomquist (a high ranking US Viet Veteran) who was killed by a bombing attack in Frankfurt in 1972.

Note at the bottom the 9 UK dates to promote the single.

The second is from their 1981's LP album "Mask". It reached no. 30 in the UK charts.

The illustrations on the cover were drawn by Daniel Ash. He later used this style also for purposes of "Tones on Tail" material. 

Check also here the live dates at the bottom and the vertical extract taken from the inner sleeve poem (first line) on the left.

The last one in colors that match their sixth single sleeve. As you can read initial 20.000 (!) copies contained a lyric sheet. 

This 7" reached no. 56 in the british charts back then. It's also notable that Nick Cave's band The Birthday Party were the opening act on the promotional tour...

"Dancing in catacombs

 dancing in Tuxedo drags..."

Walk away...

Hi, to all.
Have to travel for a week so I'm leaving you with a nice little photo of the Mission
circa "Children" (1988).
Note Mick's Misfits T-shirt with Pushhead's illustration from "Die, die my darling" single cover.
Will be back with new stuff towards the end of June...


Stay cool


Y

The Marionettes (Less known Bands)

Totally underrated band formed in England around 1986 under the initial name "the Screaming Marionettes". They released two singles under this name in 1987 and 1989, whose tracks appeared later in their first LP as "the Marionettes".

A quator revolving mostly around the eccentric looks of Sean Cronin (lead vocalist) and Baz Downes (bass) who wrote most of the music and lyrics. They released four LPs and a fistfull of 7",12"and EP's until 1998.

The first two albums, "Ave Dementia" (1990) and "The Book of Shadows"(1992) were an example of absolutely awesome gothic rock full of guitars, dark vocals and passion styled with a pinch of punk. Excellent goth-n-roll really worth listening to if you haven't yet! 

Like several other similar acts after enjoying some success in the gothic club realm, they moved towards a more metal sound with their last two LP's "Rise" (1995) and "Carousel"(1998).


Baz Downes passed a few years ago and Sean Cronin is out there somewhere... lost in the drift...


Check their discography on: http://www.discogs.com/artist/Marionettes%2C+The

Andrew's interview in Classic Rock magazine 2011

Found this Von's interview recently and thought you would find it interesting (as I presume we're probably all SOM fans!).  The man despite his (many) flaws has become a legend...
Hope you can read it. Sorry for the mediocre image quality...
Enjoy!

'80s dark wave from North Greece!

21rst April is internationally celebrated as Record Store Day.
Greek record shop "Lotus" in North Greece (Thessaloniki) has for the occasion released this very interesting set of 45's as a boxset or as separate items.
Under the general title "Dark Wave, Post Punk & Proto-Electro from North Greece", it's a series of 3 -vinyl only- 7" singles, each with studio and live recordings from '80s greek underground bands of the area.
Superbly packaged it's an important and respectable effort worth checking and having...
Read some of the press release:

  In an effort to take active part in the recently established Record Store Day celebration, whilst also participating in the formation of the puzzle that captures the underground music of Greece in the 80s, we decided to issue three 7'' singles.

  All bands featured on these editions stem from the north of the country and, in our view, constitute primary examples of the post-punk sound, as well as, some of the most distinct aesthetic directions set out at the time, not only musically, but also in broader cultural and social directions, as they were all part of a culture which diffused both in the streets and in the social life.

For more info check here:

http://www.lotus.gr/

Hear the tracks here:

http://soundcloud.com/lotus-releases

Box set cover

Singles covers

Rip-offs!

Yes, there are some cases where we can note serious rip-offs even among our tribe!
See some of many examples, but keep in mind that noticing it does not mean I don't like the bands in question :
As mentioned in an older upload Bauhaus ripped of completely the famous 1919 German art school's logo... 
(see September 13th 2011 upload) http://80sgothicrock.blogspot.com/2011/11/80s-goth-bands-logos-pti.html
Seth Artaud is the champion of copy-pasters...
"I wanna be Eldritch in the place of Eldritch and Mc Coy in the place of Mc Coy, 
at all costs..."
First of all the band's name. Merciful Nuns is almost saying Sisters of Mercy (was an order of catholic nuns) in a different way.
Sorry guys, it's well done but naming a track "Temple of Hadit" after SOM's mighty "Temple of love" is a bit of an obvious copy...
"Tower of Faith" after the Mission's "Tower of Strength"?
"Body of Light" after SOM's "Body and Soul"?
Name an LP "Lib. I" when the various versions of F.o.t. Nephilim's "Psychonaut" in 1989 had "Lib.I", "Lib II", "Lib III"?
Let alone the artwork for which I'll only show this:

Judge for yourselves...


69 Eyes of the New Church...
We know they liked Steve Bator's gang...
The Lords logo appeared in 1982 and slightly changing and distorting does not conceal that it's the same font in the same arrangement...

Tones on Tail merciful mode...
Great act but the sleeve on this 1984 release could be more original than imitating SOM's releases design and font...

 

Death Cult and a weird & famous photographer

Tim Page is a self taught English photojournalist whose work became famous mainly due to his Vietnam war shots. He was the sort of guy who would walk without a care in the frontline and do all sort of dangerous things for a good photo. Careless and captured by the excitement of battle and the drugs he used to take, he would frequently venture where other professionals would not. 
Wikipedia reports that he was wounded four times in battle in the '60s - one of them almost sending him to an early grave. His daring and unusual personality -worth investigating- is rumored to have inspired the photojournalist's character in Coppola's masterpiece "Apocalypse Now" in 1979.
Why do we bother with him?
He's the one who shot the aerial photo that appears on Death Cult's "Brother's Grim" EP cover in 1983.
Not a surprising choice knowing Ian Astbury's fascination with the 1970's and the Nam saga...
See his page here:
http://www.timpageimage.com.au/v4/