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Industrial, Electronica, Psychedelic |
Coil was initially established in London in 1983 as an experimental solo outlet for ex-Psychic TV member John (later
"Jhonn")Balance, but became a fully-fledged experimental sonic manipulation unit only a year later, thanks to keyboardist
/programmer Peter Christopherson (Sleazy). The legendary co-founder of Throbbing Gristle and later, Psychic TV
becamerapidly John Balance's new companion , though they were to split as a couple a year afterwards; "this, without
damaging ourtrue and deep musical and human friendship in any way" as stated Peter Christopherson in an interview in 2007).
...read more
Coil was initially established in London in 1983 as an experimental solo outlet for ex-Psychic TV member John (later
"Jhonn")Balance, but became a fully-fledged experimental sonic manipulation unit only a year later, thanks to keyboardist
/programmer Peter Christopherson (Sleazy). The legendary co-founder of Throbbing Gristle and later, Psychic TV
becamerapidly John Balance's new companion , though they were to split as a couple a year afterwards; "this, without
damaging ourtrue and deep musical and human friendship in any way" as stated Peter Christopherson in an interview in 2007).
After debuting with the 17-minute "ritual" recording "How to Destroy Angels", Balance and Sleazy recruited the aid
ofPossession’s Stephen Thrower, J.G. “Foetus” Thirlwell, and The Virgin Prunes’ Gavin Friday to record their full-length 1984
bowScatology, an intense, primal work of sculpted industrial noise thematically devoted to the concepts of alchemy
andtransmutation, that would be also used for several future works ("Gold is The Metal").
Coil spent the next period of its existence exploring visual media. In late 1984 they recorded a rendition of Tainted
Love(originally recorded by Gloria Jones, but made popular by Soft Cell in the 80s), producing a widely banned,
hallucinogenicvideo clip featuring Marc Almond as the Angel of Death; despite considerable controversy at home, the video
ultimately foundits way to the archives of the Museum of Modern Art.
After spending several years working with filmmaker Derek Jarman on the feature The Angelic Conversation, Coil issued
aremixed edition of their soundtrack, though their participation was never to appear on the final cut of the film.
Following 1986’s rare Nightmare Culture, a collaboration with Boyd Rice produced as split release with Current
93,Christopherson and Balance invited Stephen Thrower to join the group in a full-time capacity.
As a trio, they recorded 1986’s LP Horse Rotorvator, introducing orchestral, jazz, industrial and middle Eastern textures
intothe mix; this album included "The Anal Staircase" and "Ostia", an homage to Italian poet Pasolini and one of
theirmasterpieces.
In 1987, Coil issued "The Unreleased Themes for Hellraiser", a collection of atmospheric gothic instrumentals commissioned
forbut ultimately cut from the Clive Barker horror film, followed by compilation album Gold Is the Metal (With the
BroadestShoulders), a remixed history of the group’s first several years of work.
Unnatural History, another career overview in three volumes, effectively ended the first phase of the band’s career up
to1990.
Coil resurfaced a year later with Love’s Secret Domain, their music reflecting then the strong influence of the acid
houseculture. Another long layoff brought on by financial difficulties ended in 1995, when the group - now consisting of
Sleazy,Balance, and Drew McDowell - signed to Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor’s Nothing Records to release Backwards, an
albumwhich was never officially released, although it is available in a number of bootleg versions ( this, will finally be
"transmutated"as "The New Backwards" lately, in 2010).
Additionally, they recorded the LP Worship the Glitch, issued under the name COIL and ELpH, and in 1996 cut "Black
LightDistrict-A Thousand Lights in a Darkened Room", another compilation of new -and not so new- material.
Musick To Play in the Dark", volume one and two, would be another milestone in their career and for many fans, their
absolutepeak, closing down beautifully a decade of intense creativity.
In 1999 Coil started to work with multi-skilled keyboardist Thighpaulsandra, and re-started to perform live after a 16-yearsgap
empty of live appearances. They released six albums and a few semi-bootlegs ("Selvaggina go to the wood",
"Porto"...)encompassing the various shows they performed during the intense period 2000-2004.
Coil have released lots of material in very limited semi-official editions, and have distributed quite a few CD's and CD-R,
onlyavailable at their live performances.
In 2003 COIL started a project to re-issue these tracks and other studio ones, but this came to only one "official" CD issue
:"The Remote Viewer". A huge boxed DVD edition was to appear, though, and finally 7 years after (see further).
Dramatically, Jhonn Balance’s long-time struggle with alcoholism and various drugs which damaged his brain, led to his
deathon 13th November, 2004. He fell from the second floor window at his home, while drunk, and died a short time after.
Coil’s last live performance took place at Dublin’s City Hall on 23 October 2004 and would appear on one of the 16-DVDs
Boxset “Colour Sound Oblivion”, a huge work of video mastering finally issued in a lush and very limited wooden box collection
in2011.
Quite a number of songs were already finished before the death of Jhonn, and were released in 2005 then 2010, as a
lastfarewell to Jhonn : "The Ape of Naples" and "The New Backwards", consisting of nicely re-worked but mainly older material.
Peter Christopherson passed away peacefully in his sleep on November 25, 2010. Instead of sending flowers in memory
ofPeter Christopherson, people were asked to donate money to help children affected by AIDS in Thailand, the country he
lovedand died in. « hide |
Similar Bands: Time Machines, Psych TV, ElPh
Contributors: GiaNXGX, oswing, Pestiferous, ThroneOfAgony, Royd Rage, Terrifyer, Ponton, fireaboveicebelow, AshMcAuliffe, joshuatree, Hep Kat, KILL,
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