CABARET VOLTAIRE
Members:
Alan Fish – Drums, Percussion
Richard Kirk – Guitar, Saxophone, Clarinet, Synthesizer
Stephen Mallinder – Vocals, Bass-guitar
The precursors of the synthetic beat Stephen Mallinder, Richard Kirk and Christopher Watson came together in Sheffield, Yorkshire in the year 1974. They replaced guitars and drums with synthesizer and rhythm-computers to get a surreal sound-collage as well as obscure sound-worlds between Pop, Punk and Electronic.
They named after the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich, which was a meeting-place for the Dadaists. They appeared the first time in May 1975. They had to interrupt their concert because the audience threw beer-cans and plastic-cups at them. In London it wasn’t much better, when they were the supporting-group of the Buzzcocks. They always used video-, movie- and slide-projections for accompanying their music, which showed expressive visions with hardly digestible rhythm-accessions. At this time their music was connected with the American psychedelic-rock of the 60s. The quite archaic-simple arrangement, based on developed electronic in the tradition of “Can” and “Brian Eno”, hardly suited for using their uncomfortable industrial-sound for the concerts they gave. They expanded its rhythm-formulas in order to obtain large effects with the simplest meanings.
In 1980 a friend of the band recorded “Live at the YMCA” on a simple tape. Well, you could recognize that because of the quality. In the same year “The voice of America” reached the attention of the audience. This album showed that each member was more connected with the life-style of the 80s.
The technical trance-music experienced its first success with the album “Red Mecca”, which controlled the indie-charts for weeks in the year 1981. For the album “2X 45” they used a saxophone as well as a clarinet. When this LP got released, one member of the band had to get replaced. Chris Watson started again to work as an electronic engineer. From this time on Alan Fish was the drummer of this band.
1982 was an interesting year for the whole band. They did a benefit-concert as the band named “Pressure Company”. Then they had two concerts in Japan to create their Live-album. During a stay in New York they rewrote their most famous song like for example “Yashar”.
In New York they also recorded “The Crackdown”. This LP oriented itself on modern disco-music and dance-music. They enlarged its fan-community.
In the same year, 1982, the rough and hoarse voice of Stephen Mallinder was audible on his solo-production “Pow-Wow”, on which Bass-guitar and drum-combinations dominated. Richard H. Kirk released the double-LP “Time high fiction” in the beginning of 1983, which had material on it that emerged between 1979 and 1982. This LP reminded very much on the very beginning of Cabaret Voltaire. On the album “Micro-Phonies” only were involved Kirk and Mallinder. “Drinking Gasoline” appeared as a double-LP in 1985 and was originally planned as a video-soundtrack. In the beginning of 1987 the Sampler “The golden moments of Cabaret Voltaire” got released, on which you could listen to material of the earlier noise-phase of this band. At the same time the LP “Hoodoo talk” came in the trade. This time Kirk worked together with the singer Peter Hope, who interpreted this LP with his frightening voice and nightmare-custody Lyrics. Finally in the end of the year “Code” presented new songs of Cabaret Voltaire. Until 1990, there only was one Sampler of the British eccentrics with the title “Eight Crépuscule”. Then they the grouping of “Listen up with Cabaret Voltaire” also offered rare and until then unreleased material.
The compilation “The living legends” was similar important and showed that this music of Cabaret Voltaire had enormous influence on the industrial-dance-sound of the last decade. When in general it became supposed, that the dance-band would no longer exist, the Cabs surprised its fans and the media with “Groovy, Laidback and Nasty”.
1991 Cabaret Voltaire turned away again of the more popular sounds. After the LP “Percussion Force” it became quiet around the duo, the album “Technology: Western Reworks” only consisted of newly mixed Songs of 1983 – 1986.
After that there was no new information, about the band and what was going on, written by the media.
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