Former Bauhaus, Love and Rockets, and Tones on Tail bandmates Daniel Ash and Kevin Haskins have finally announced East Coast dates for their Tones on Tail heavy musical project

The new band, Poptone also features Kevin Haskins’ daughter Diva Dompe, formerly of Blackblack, on bass —  has garnered rave reviews from fans two weeks into their U.S. tour.

Yesterday the band announced seven more dates this August. The dates include shows in New York City, Philly, New Jersey and Boston—and Baltimore and Richmond for the DC Area.

Note that a planned June 4th date in Vancouver has been postponed—with a second Portland concert booked in it’s place (with a make-up date expected).

Poptone tour dates:

May 30: Rio Theatre, Santa Cruz, CA
May 31: Strummer’s, Fresno, CA
June 2: Neptune, Theatre, Seattle, WA
June 3: Wonder Ballroom, Portland, OR
June 4: Wonder Ballroom, Portland, OR
June 4: Rickshaw Theatre, Vancouver, BC
June 6: Ace of Spades, Sacramento, CA
June 7: Regency Ballroom, San Francisco, CA
June 21: The Depot, Salt Lake City, UT
June 22: Gothic Theatre, Englewood, CO
June 23: Boulder Theater, Boulder, CO
June 25: Madrid Theatre, Kansas City, MO
July 6: Delmar Hall, St. Louis, MO
July 8: First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN
July 9: Metro, Chicago, IL
Aug. 3: The Stone Pony, Asbury Park, N.J.
Aug. 4: The Trocadero, Philadelphia, PA
Aug. 5: Irving Plaza, New York, NY
Aug. 8: Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA
Aug. 10: The Ballroom at The Outer Space, Hamden, CT
Aug. 11: Baltimore Soundstage, Baltimore, MD
Aug. 12: The National, Richmond, VA

Half of Bauhaus are to reunite!

David J Haskins is joining Peter Murphy on bass for the final three Mr. Moonlight shows  during the ex-Bauhaus vocalist’s expanded 16-night residency in San Francisco, which was rescheduled from June and July of this year to February of 2018.

Peter Murphy made the announcement this morning via Facebook stating that it was with a ‘great feeling of gladness’ that the former Bauhaus bassist will join him for the Bauhaus themed shows during the residency’s final nights on February 14th, 15th, and 16th.

Here is the full announcement:

“It’s with great feeling of gladness to announce that David J has accepted my invitation to join me in performing and play his, what must be said, excellent original bass parts for three Mr Moonlight Bauhaus shows at The Chapel SF on February 14, 15, and just added show on February 16. During the 35 Years of Bauhaus Mr Moonlight tour of 2013, Emilio Dizefalo (my bass and violin player) noted how unique David’s bass part are and as such now we have David in person to play. It is obviously and additionally going to be a great pleasure personally to have David to my right in these shows. See you there.” 

Meanwhile the other two Bauhaus alumni are currently touring in support of their project Poptone, which also carries a few Bauhaus tunes in its repertoire, among songs by Love and Rockets, and Tones on Tail.

Peter Murphy’s 16 night San Francisco residency:

Jan. 23: The Chapel, San Francisco, CA (Performing ‘Should the World Fail to Fall Apart’)
Jan. 24: The Chapel, San Francisco, CA (Performing ‘Should the World Fail to Fall Apart’)
Jan. 26: The Chapel, San Francisco, CA (Performing ‘Love Hysteria’)
Jan. 27: The Chapel, San Francisco, CA (Performing ‘Love Hysteria’)
Jan. 28: The Chapel, San Francisco, CA (Performing ‘Love Hysteria’)
Jan. 31: The Chapel, San Francisco, CA (Performing ‘Deep’)
Feb. 2: The Chapel, San Francisco, CA (Performing ‘Deep’)
Feb. 3: The Chapel, San Francisco, CA (Performing ‘Deep’)
Feb. 4: The Chapel, San Francisco, CA (Performing ‘Holy Smoke’)
Feb. 7: The Chapel, San Francisco, CA (Performing ‘Cascade’)
Feb. 9: The Chapel, San Francisco, CA (Performing ‘Dust’)
Feb. 10: The Chapel, San Francisco, CA (Performing ‘Ninth’)
Feb. 11: The Chapel, San Francisco, CA (‘Stripped’ tour show)
Feb. 14: The Chapel, San Francisco, CA (Bauhaus classics with David J)
Feb. 15: The Chapel, San Francisco, CA (Bauhaus classics with David J)
Feb. 16: The Chapel, San Francisco, CA (Bauhaus classics with David J)

On October 1st, 1981 the ‘Godfathers of Goth’ Bauhaus released their second studio album Mask. The record contained the singles Kick in The Eye and The Passion of Lovers, which expanded the instruments in the band’s sonic repertoire with the latter song’s use of keyboards and acoustic guitars, and the former song’s funky rhythms and saxophones courtesy of guitarist Daniel Ash, also featured on the tracks Dancing and In Fear of Fear.

Ash also designed the album’s cover art, a precursor to his Bubbleman Designs which would later take shape on the band’s 4 LP Burning From The Inside, and with his band Love and Rockets.

The video for the album’s title track was filmed in an abandoned Victorian shoe factory in Northampton, seemingly paying homage the Hammer Horror films of the 70’s. The band were not authorized to film there, and had to sneak in and out for the production.

Mask is a definite Gothic Rock and Post-Punk record—highlighting the cohesive songwriting of Daniel Ash, David J, Kevin Haskins and Peter Murphy, all working together at their very best.

On October 19th, 1982 the godfathers of goth Bauhaus released their third studio album The Sky’s Gone Out. The album was named after the passage in the final track of LP, which was an exquisite corpse styled collaboration between all band members:

Terry sat up and hugged the green army surplus bag around his skinny waist 
It was cold and the person beside him had faded badly 
Legs apart his eyes lit up the sky’s gone out, the sky, the sky
The sky’s gone out

The album contained the single Spirit, a cover of Brian Eno’s Third Uncle, the iconic Bauhaus tracks Silent Hedges, and All We Ever Wanted Was Everything; and the two funk inspired tracks Swing the Heartache, and In the Night, the former of which was used as the title for the band’s BBC Sessions compilation.

Watch the video for Spirit below:

Tracklisting:

1. Third Uncle (Brian Eno cover)
2. Silent Hedges
3. In the Night
4. Swing the Heartache
5. Spirit
6. The Three Shadows, Part I
7. The Three Shadows, Part II
8. The Three Shadows, Part III
9. All We Ever Wanted Was Everything
10. Exquisite Corpse

Before post-punk and Goth in the early days of Punk, British film director, DJ and musician Don Letts pretty much ran the scene at The Roxy in London, spinning primarily reggae and ska music to patrons of all colours. with some of the white boys in the scene calling themselves skin and suedeheads before racist’s co opted the terms, which is showcased in the work of The Beat, and The Specials.

Even before that, there were proto-punk groups, such as Thin Lizzy, and Death, and later during the hardcore scene in DC there is the first band most people think of when it comes to black presentation and Punk: Bad Brains.

One would be gravely mistaken to think that there is no black representation in the fundamental part of Punk’s history. To illustrate this fact,  all one need do is take a look at photographer Michael Putland’s 1980 portrait ‘Ladies Tea Party’ that features Pauline Black, and Poly Styrene, along with Debbie Harry, Viv Albertine, and Siouxsie Sioux, and Chrissie Hynde.

But what about Post-Punk and Goth?  Some people assume there is no representation in the scene at all, and that the scene is primarily Caucasian—with some Latin and Asian representation as Goth and Post-Punk have been historically popular in countries such as China, Japan, Mexico, and Chile, for example.

Photo by Adilson Lusitano

Certainly there were black post-punk fans hanging out at clubs such as Danceteria in NYC, or The Batcave in London, and if you were to head over to those cities now, you would likely find representation across several generations of fans.

Perhaps in the past, If you were to ask some Goth and Post-Punk fans if they have ever heard a black singer be spun at a club they frequent, 20 ago years they might list the song from the Silence of the Lambs’s soundtrack, Goodbye Horses by Q Lazarus, or maybe the theme to The Neverending Story, where singer Beth Anderson has her duet with Limahl from Kajagoogoo.

Now, in this past decade, we have been lucky to have had two projects that were extremely popular on dancefloors from Berlin to Los Angeles in the music of O Children and Light Asylum. In fact, their songs Ruins, and Dark Allies were so popular that if you were to go out and dance at your local club, these songs may have been the only ones to remain in your memory in the aftermath of party the next day.

And on that note—let’s not forget She Wants Revenge’s Tear You Apart, which became so popular it was lovingly as overplayed as anything by Bauhaus and Joy Division.

But surely there is more than just three recent bands? And a couple of songs from the soundtracks from a fantasy film and suspense thriller.

To some, it may be easier to look to music that is more New Wave, such as in Simple Minds, Fun Boy Three, Culture Club, and Thompson Twins to find black representation, but is it really so difficult to find it in Goth and Post-Punk?

On January 20th, 2018, the first post-punk single Shot by Both Sides by Magazine turns 40 years old. The track features Barry Adamson on bass. Since black musicians have always pioneered music, Goth and Post-Punk being no exception,  we decided to compose a list of poc artists new and old to encourage more diversity in the scene in the musicians whose music we listen to, and the fans who go to concerts, club nights, and festivals.

Black Singers

Recent Bands

O Children

Named after a song by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, London’s O Children’s Frontman Tobi’s bellowing baritone is as power sounded as is the look of his towering at 6 foot 8 frame. O Children’s 2010 s/t debut LP is certainly an Goth and Post-Punk essential for any record collection.

She Wants Revenge

Singer Justin Warfield, and his musical partner Adam Bravin must be making a killing in television and film licensing fees for their Los Angeles based Gothic Post-Punk revival band. I hear they have their own goth club in Hollywood’s Cloak and Dagger as well.

Light Asylum

Light Asylum are a Brooklyn-based electronic music duo consisting of Shannon Funchess and Bruno Coviello.

Mount Sims
The stage name of Matthew Sims, a Berlin-based American DJ, performance artist and producer.

Lost Tribe

A Deathrock/Post Punk Revival band from Richmond, Virginia. Now Defunct, LOST TRIBE, featured singer Davey Bales and released Solace on Mass Media Records in the US and Avant! Records in Europe.

The Wraith

Current Deathrock band featuring Davey Bales, formerly of Lost Tribe and Shadow Age, who has also recently released a of poetry, “Dead Flowers.”

Shadow Age
Another great Richmond Post-Punk band featuring singer Aaron Tyree

Infidel
Vancouver Deathrock and Post-Punk band.

Contemporary Post-punk acts

Algiers

Post-punk and soulful Gospel from singer/guitarist Franklin James Fisher ? Yes please! Atlanta Georgia’s Algiers are doing something new with the sound only touched upon by The Birthday Party and Gun Club.

Bloc Party

London Post-Punk revival act Bloc Party fronted by Kele Okereke, experiments with post-punk, indie, electronica, and house, while taking influence from acts such as Pixies, Joy Division, Sonic Youth and The Smiths.

TV On The Radio

An art-rock band from Brooklyn that are friends with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Their influences ranging from Bad Brains, Earth, Wind & Fire, Nancy Sinatra, Serge Gainsbourg, Brian Eno, Prince, to Wire and Siouxsie and the Banshees.
During the U.S. tour for their second album Return to Cookie Mountain, the band performed a few covers with Bauhaus singer Peter Murphy and Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor.

The Weeknd

Classic Bands

ESG

Emerald Sapphire & Gold are a highly influential NYC band that Factory Records head Tony Wilson from approached after their performance at Hurrahs Nightclub, and three days later they began recording with engineer Martin Hannett, where They recorded “Moody” and “You’re No Good” in the first take. Hannett had three minutes left on the master tape, so he had the band record “UFO”.

A Certain Ratio

“all the energy of Joy Division but better clothes.”

Factory Records ACR is one of the most important post-punk bands, with a unique dance-oriented sound, which drew heavily on disco, funk, and they are still going strong.

Majesty Crush

A Detroit area shoegaze band featuring Odell Nails of Spahn Ranch (see below). You may have seen him before, as he is in the Cocteau Twins fever newscast!

Glorious Din

A legendary San Francisco post-punk band fronted by the amazing Eric Cope, who is such a fan of post-punk music, he even named his son after Ian Curtis. Extremely underrated and essential, this band will become one of your favorites, and is one of the most important on this list.

Spahn Ranch

The collaboration of Brad Horowitz, Odell Nails, and singer Bob Sterner in the post-punk band Spahn Ranch.

A band soaked in gothic minimalism that perhaps if they were from the UK would have qualified them as being positive-punk, the band released their only album Thickly Settled in 1986, and on Insight Records run Eric Cope of Glorious Din and after adding bassist Hobey Echlin would go onto to perform with bands such as Killing Joke, Swans, and Psychic TV.

Colourbox

Perhaps best known for their track Tarantula, that was later covered by their label 4AD’s project This Mortal Coil, Colourbox. The band was formed by brothers Martyn and Steve Young, Ian Robbins, and vocalist Debbion Curry, who left the band and with singing duties being taken over by the amazing Lorita Grahame.

AR Kane

A British musical duo formed in 1986 by Alex Ayuli and Rudy Tambala. In the late 1980s, the duo coined the term “dream pop” to describe their sound, which makes this an essential band for any shoegaze fan worth their salt.

The Veldt
Early 90s shoegaze band from North Carolina that recorded an album in London with Cocteau Twins’ Robin Guthrie.

Black Musicians

Classic Bands

Barry Adamson (Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Visage, Magazine)

Manchester’s Barry Adamson, as mentioned above, appeared on the first post-punk single Shot by Both Sides by Magazine. He would then go to to join Visage with Magazine guitarist John McGeoch, and while McGeoch would go on to be a legend with Siouxsie and the Banshees,  Adamson would go on to play bass on the first 4 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds albums, and later helping with the music of the David Lynch film Lost Highway.

Too much to write about Barry here! Needless to say he is one of the most important figures in post-punk history.

Eddie “Twiggy” Branch (Peter Murphy, UK Decay)
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Eddie “Twiggy” Branch from Northampton joined the Luton Positive Punk band UK Decay as their bass player just in time to record  1981’s For Madmen Only , later going on to join Peter Murphy’s 100 Men solo band. es, that is him in the video for Cut’s You Up.

Ray Mondo (Sex Gang Children, Southern Death Cult)
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Raymond Taylor-Smith aka Ray Mondo, originally from Sierra Leon was a drummer for Ritual, Death Cult, and Sex Gang Children.

Andy Anderson (The Cure)

Drummer Andy Anderson was enlisted to join The Cure in 1983, while original drummer Lawrence Tolhurst moved onto synths. Andy appeared on the side project The Glove’s LP Blue Sunshine, as well as the collection of singles Japanese Whispers, and The Top. Andy has also collaborated with Iggy Pop, Peter Gabriel, Sham 69, and more!

Allan Dias (PIL)

Allan Dias was Public Image Limited’s bassist from 1986 to 1992, performing on three albums, ‘Happy?’, ‘9’ and ‘That What is Not’. Self taught, and coming from a jazz background, Dias, along with guitarist John McGeoch were the backbone of the “new” PiL.

Kid Congo Powers (The Gun Club, the Cramps and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds).

Brian Tristan aka Kid Congo Powers is a guitarist and singer that is best known as a member of The Gun Club, The Cramps and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

Despite being of Mexican descent, we thought him an essential representstion of poc on this list.

Zeke Manyika (Orange Juice)

Zimbabwe’s Zeke Manyika is a percussionist, vocalist, and songwriter that performed with Glasgow’s Orange Juice from 1982-1984, notably featured hit single Rip it Up. Zeke has also collaborated with Matt Johnson’s band The The.

Gail Ann Dorsey (Bowie, Tears for Fears, Gang of Four)
A session musician working with a wide variety of arists, most notably David Bowie, she makes this list because she also has worked with Tears For Fears, The The, and Gang of Four.

Strange Boutique

Singer and punk veteran Monica Richards band prior to forming Faith and The Muse.

Any we missed?

There surely are more black artists we have overlooked, especially those who were members of smaller bands throughout the years. In the goth scene we would like to give a shoutout to Steve Williams (Altered States, Nine Day Decline etc), and Geoff Bruce (Sunshine Blind, Faith and the Muse), as well as Mexican American artistSteven Archer of Ego Likeness.

There are some other newer bands we would also like to mention that have black representation among their ranks:

Fearing

Ganser

Cult of Youth

Martyr Whore

One more thing…

No, not that Martin Gore is half black (yes, this is true). We just want to thank Prince, and Terrance Trent Darby for being such a gateway drug to post-punk and goth, for everyone of all complexions.

Also, the first cover of Joy Division ever was done by none other than Grace Jones who also at that time covered The Normal’s Warm Leatherette.

 

Bauhaus’ drummer Kevin Haskins will be doing a facebook live Q&A while he signs copies of his book BAUHAUS UNDEAD: The Visual History and Legacy of Bauhaus.

The book BAUHAUS UNDEAD: The Visual History and Legacy of Bauhaus, exhibits an extensive personal collection of Haskins’ ranging from show fliers, photos, hand written lyrics and more—that Kevin Haskins has diligently saved since the band’s beginnings—along with  with personal anecdotes as well as stories from the band’s peers.

The book will be officially released in March of 2018 via Cleopatra Records, with copies copies already beginning to ship this December for fans that pre-ordered the book here.

You can read our interview with Kevin here, along with an excerpt about Nick Cave and The Birthday Party.

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The book can be pre-ordered now in standard and signed editions.

We are sad to learn that groundbreaking pioneer of Industrial music, percussionist, and poet Stefan Joel Weisser aka Z’EV has passed away.

Z’EV had famously opened for Bauhaus along with Tuxedomoon during the Godfathers of goth’s first headlining tour, and was heavily influential on industrial music acts such as Test Dept and Einstürzende Neubauten, being one of the first to experiment with sounds from found objects and handmade instruments.

Z’EV had been ill recently, and had taken to crowdfunding to raise money for his medical treatments. sadly however, his death has now been reported on various musician friends and colleagues social media pages.

“Just received word that long time friend Z’EV just died. Cause uncertain at this time, but he had spitting up blood recently. He spent last winter in our guest bedroom pursuant to the train derailment he was airlifted from, because his doctor told him he met get not survive a winter in Chicago. And the man we met at Denver international airport was a shadow of the person I’ve known for over four decades. His spirit was still tough as nails but physically he seemed devastated and had difficulty ascending the stairs to his room. Three and a half months later much of his strength seemed restored; he had survived the winter and the outlook seemed good. We had recently heard from him that he was doing some shows in Mexico and was going to spend this winter in Santa Fe. I’d assumed that even if he would never be 100% again he was at least back on his game. I had convinced him to release a box set of recordings through a German company that would chronicle his entire career and that I would write the perfect liner notes for it. I would say that Z’EV was to the avant garde what Iggy Pop was to rock and roll: total intensity, energy and raw power and he often left the stage in the early eighties cut up and bleeding from the injuries he received from his own instruments. I’d made extensive notes for my text and look forward to promoting the life and career of a man I thought was one of the most under appreciated figures in modern music. A linguist, an ethnic musicologist, a scholar, a mystic; but a man who could distil all this into a performance so intense that it could captivate an audience in a punk rock venue. That was his unique gift. He was one of the most talented people I have ever met. And there has never been any performer akin to him.”–Boyd Rice

Z’EV is featured in the recent documentary Industrial Soundtrack For The Urban Decay along with Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, SPK, Test Dept, NON and more.

Following the unfortunate delay in his 15 night residency in San Francisco due to delays in processing his US Visa, there is some good news for Peter Murphy and Bauhaus fans in Europe.

It has been announced that Bauhaus bassist David J Haskins will be joining Peter Murphy in celebrating 40 years of Bauhaus—not only during the residency dates that have been rescheduled for late June, but for at least one European date as well at the W-Festival in Belgium.

Peter Murphy and David J are set to perform on August 15th, the first night of the 4 day festival, which also features performances from acts like Chameleons Vox, Modern English, DAF, Altered Images, Heaven 17, Nouvelle Vague, Marc Almond, Shriekback, Clan of Xymox, Trisomie 21, and more.

For ticket information, visit the festival’s official website here.

No dates in addition to the W-Festival performance have been announced as of yet, but it is likely that more will be added in the coming weeks.

2013 marked the last Bauhaus milestone with the Mr. Moonlight Tour: 35 years of Bauhaus, where Peter Murphy toured with his own backing band, which did not include the Haskins brothers or guitarist Daniel Ash.

It has become more unlikely that this year we will see a full reunion of all four member of Bauhaus on one stage in celebration the band’s 40th anniversary, given Daniel Ash and former Bauhaus drummer Kevin Haskins’ commitment to their new Tones On Tail related project Poptone, for which they are set to release a Part Time Punks session later this year.

Kevin Haskins himself is marking his former band’s 40th anniversary with the release on March 16th of his book Bauhaus – Undead “The Visual History and Legacy of Bauhaus.

Additionally, David J has released a new edition of his memoir Who Killed Mister Moonlight? Bauhaus, Black Magic, and Benediction.

Meanwhile, see the rescheduled dates for Peter Murphy’s San Francisco residency below:

PETER MURPHY RESIDENCY AT THE CHAPEL: RESCHEDULED DATES

JUNE:

• 06/26 – Should The World Fail To Fall Apart
• 06/28 – Mr. Moonlight
• 06/29 – Mr. Moonlight
• 06/30 – Mr. Moonlight

JULY :

• 07/04 – Cascade (early show) / Holy Smoke (late show)
• 07/06 – Dust (early show) / Ninth (late show)
• 07/07 – Love Hysteria (early/late shows)
• 07/08 – Stripped
• 07/12 – Deep / Love Hysteria
• 07/13 – Deep
• 07/14 – Deep
• 07/15 – Deep

The post Peter Murphy and David J to celebrate 40 Years of Bauhaus with a European Festival Date appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

In celebration of the release of Kevin Haskin’s book Bauhaus Undead: The Visual History and Legacy of Bauhaus, we are sharing a photo session recently unearthed by UK photographer Justin Thomas, who did a photoshoot with Haskins and singer Peter Murphy.

As Thomas told Indie Through The Looking Glass:

“I think this was a session for Japanese mag Music Life. I dragged Count Dracula reluctantly out into the grey daylight of mid February 1981.

I got him and his sidekick climbing walls, swinging on lampposts & jumping into building sites, before sending him back to his crypt.

A few months later I photographed him at The Lyceum in a frightening black woolen onesie that his mum probably knitted for him.”

His sidekick is Bauhaus drummer Kevin Haskins and I love these photos, they seem so care free.”

For more of Justin Thomas’ work and to buy prints…

Read our interview with Bauhaus’ Kevin Haskins Here

The post Rare and Unseen Photos of Bauhaus from 1981 appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Legendary Bauhaus drummer Kevin Haskins talks honestly and openly to the band’s official historian Andrew J. Brooksbank about his incredible new creation: Undead “The Visual History and Legacy of Bauhaus”

I have a very clear memory of discussing the band and its image a lifetime ago with my friend whilst wandering one night through this (Carlisle) city’s neon lights…we agreed on one thing, and that was that “Bauhaus is art”

It was never just about the music you see, for me, my friend and many, many others Bauhaus really was the whole package. It was the image, it was the clothes, it was the lyrics and of course it was the music but more than anything it was the art that intrigued me. I remember been curiously fascinated by the image of the shadowed bat that adorned their debut single Bela Lugosi’s Dead (from D.W. Griffith’s The Sorrows Of Satan – 1926) that my brother had in our shared bedroom back in 1979. The noise that came from the grooves of that record were spellbinding and that noise still resonates and makes the hair at the back of my neck stand on end every time I hear it, even today some 39 years later. For many Bela simply was and is Bauhaus.

Undead is a celebration, its’ a celebration that exposes and lays bare the very foundations of what this band created. Taking in hand made flyers, sleeve art, set lists, ephemera, backstage passes, contracts, photographs and posters fused by a series of personal recollections of his time with this hugely influential band.

Conducted as a series of conversations, we talked about the inception of this tome. We talked of the highs, the lows and almost everything in-between. Having lived with this for almost as long as Kevin it was very interesting to finally talk about the thing in the present tense rather than something in the future….

How did you begin to create this book, what was the starting point….

KH: Well early on in the process I kept running in to this larger than life character, Jeff Anderson of ainr.com. On our third meeting I asked him what he did for a living and I discovered that he makes beautiful and very creative books and box sets for the likes of Pink Floyd, Beck, Fleetwood Mac, NIN, Pixies and Sigur Ros. I felt that this was too synchronistic to pass by and basically he became my guide through the entire artistic process. Jeff bought in Kaylee Carrington and Donny Phillips who archived all the content and laid out the design of the book. I met with the three of them and showed them hundreds of bits of paper and photographs and they were blown away at the content! They then left with everything and I never saw them again! (Just kidding). They took it all away and periodically Donny would send me different styles of layout which Jeff and I would critique. During this time I set about writing all the stories. This was an interesting process as I had never written anything such as this before. I read a few books by my contempories and realized that one had to be as natural and authentic as possible. I also found it best to write down the stories as they poured out from my rusty memory banks in order to get it all down. Then I would go back edit them.

Have you run it chronologically?

KH: I made a decision very early in the process to not lay it out chronologically as I felt that that would get in the way of the visual flow of the book.

Was this creation (the book) a lightbulb moment for you or had you been mulling this over for some time and what sparked its inception?

KH: Well my good friend Matt Green who works at Cleopatra Music and Film suggested the idea. I have to extend him great thanks, as really if he had not suggested it, then all the contents would still be sitting in various storage containers around the globe. Matt knew of my very large container full of memorabilia and suggested I make good use of it.

There was much humour to the band, sadly this, for the most part, was lost on certain areas of the press are you confident you have captured every aspect of the band with the pages of Undead?

 KH: It’s a good question because that was one of my intentions. In the large part, the press portrayed us as extremely serious and pretentious artists (which we were of course!) however we all possessed a healthy sense of humour. I feel that I covered that in the stories that I wrote which I expect will be quite revealing to most readers.

Bauhaus has been crying out for something like this that gives a true representation of the band, do you feel you have captured this as well as you could ?

KH: I truly think that I have. No stone went unturned, as my long suffering layout artist will testify to! I think the book was “finished” about 18 times before it was actually finished. I kept finding little gems that just had to go in to the book which is one reason why it took over two years to complete. I really wanted this to be the definitive coffee table book about the band and I feel that I have achieved just that.

Of course a solo venture by its very nature is rarely just that, at what point did you think that outside help could benefit this project and who did you approach and why?

KH: Well aside from the aforementioned artistic direction from Jeff Anderson, Kaylee Carrington and Donny Phillips, I secured physical contributions from yourself, Vincent Forrest and Gabor. You fine gentlemen are all avid collectors and archivists of everything Bauhaus and beyond. If my memory serves me correctly I probably reached out to you first in order to literally get the dates and geography correct. After assisting greatly in that respect you offered up items from your own personal extensive collection. Approximately 100 emails passed between us during the process which gives one some idea of how many hours you spent searching through your huge collection of ephemera. There exists a tight network of collectors and I’m sure it was you who also referred me to Vincent and Gabor. When I began the book I had no intention of reaching out to anyone, however I’m so pleased that I did! You fine chaps would send me material that I had no idea even existed!

It’s funny because I remember one of the very first of your e-mails, where you asked me if I could talk about my thoughts and memories from a given list of key gigs, none of which unfortunately I had actually attended! But I what I did do was give you my recollections of two early ones that I had witnessed; Daze of Future Past festival (Leeds Queens Hall September ’81) and Tiffany’s (also Leeds April ’82)….although you didn’t use these I did enjoy hauling a drag net through my memory and it was great to listen to the bootlegs of those respective shows again. So, did Undead have any direct input from David, Daniel or Peter or is this pretty much your own work?

KH: This is pretty much all my own work other than contributions from Vincent Forrest, Gabor and obviously yourself and artistic direction from Jeff Anderson, Kaylee Carrington and Donny Phillips.

How did the deal with Cleopatra come about and what went wrong with the original deal?

KH: Well as I mentioned before; my good friend Matt Green who works at Cleopatra Music and Film first suggested the idea that I make a book and after making the decision to self- publish, I went off on my merry way! After two years of hard work and after placing it on pre- sale, it unfortunately failed! Basically I made a book that was too large, too heavy, very expensive to manufacture, and very expensive to mail. Consequently I didn’t gain enough orders to be able to afford to get the book made, and had to refund all the money. Therefore anyone who ordered the original version will need to order it again, but this time directly from Cleopatra’s website: bauhaus-undead

 So over the following months I reached out to several art book publishers and came very very close to making a deal, but it was pulled at the last minute. So in February 2017 I was back at square one. Well not exactly because I did have the art files and stories all completed to go to the printing press, but no way to finance it. One night I met at Matt’s apartment to go out that night to see a band. Whilst there he showed me a book that he had just produced, that had just been released on Cleopatra. He said that the band received a very favourable deal. I had a light ball moment and asked him if I could also get a very favourable deal! After consulting with the head honcho the deal was granted.

When the original concept failed, I can only imagine what you must have felt like, what spurred you on? I remember sharing the heartache to some degree when you shared it, it must have been so disheartening for you, where on earth did you get the strength to see it through as I’m sure many would have given up.

KH: When the original concept failed I was devastated! It was very stressful and hugely disappointing, and I had a mini meltdown. Once I had refunded everyone and had recovered, I was determined to get the book out. I had put so much blood sweat and tears in to it, and the content was so good, that the thought of giving up never occurred to me. My family and friends were all very supportive and gave me great encouragement to see it through. I couldn’t let them and our fans down.

Surely you must have felt like giving up, not only with the mammoth task you had undertaken (the work that was involved in creating the product) but more so with the other unseen areas of the project; having to talk to shipping companies / production companies / layout & design people etc you must be an expert now!

 KH: LOL! Yes, I know way more than I want to know about book production: publishing, shipping companies, fulfilment companies, debossing, website legal terminology, shipping containers, page thickness, Hi Res files, packaging supplies, printers, binding, customs duties, book publicists, setting up an LLC, cover fabrics, contracts, ocean freight and the cost of mailing a book to Timbuktu.

Are there any elements of the band that you have deliberately ostracised yourself from or felt it would perhaps be more prudent to leave out?

KH: There’s a lot of negativity in the world, in news, media and books. I decided at the outset to not air dirty laundry and rake band members over the coals. What’s the point? Other than to make yourself appear superior. There’s one thing to relate fact but another to add personal attacks. So I set out to make this a celebration of the band. I didn’t want to drag up dirt and sully our legacy, rather I wanted to focus on the love we had for music and for each other, and the great times we shared.

 What did Peter, David and Daniel think to your concept?

KH: They all gave me their good wishes and blessings.

Can you talk a little about the idea you had of adding a vinyl album to the project and why did you drop the notion?

KH: The idea came from you as far as I can recall. I know you own a very impressive bootleg collection. So I listened through many, many songs, but at the end of the day there was not enough material that I felt mirrored the high standard of the content of the book. So I decided that it should exist on its own merits.

I thought that concept actually came from you actually? I can recall during that period in the project (August 2016) I was actually away on a family holiday and I took a large handful of your chosen shows with me and would often steal away in the late evening listening through some of those shows to find the definitive versions, and them mailing them over to you, I remember my wife questioning me as to what on earth I was doing bringing a stack of CD’s and then staying up until some ungodly hour listening to them! I was very disappointed when you dropped this idea, although not entirely surprised either, that said, you must be absolutely thrilled to finally see the project through to its completion, any regrets or disappointments?

KH: I am extremely excited for the day that I actually hold the book in my hands. Even though the first attempt at getting it out in to the world failed, I’m a believer that everything happens for a reason. For example after the pre- sale failed, I added several amazing bits of content that wouldn’t be in the book had the first pre- sale succeeded so, no regrets.

Has the format and cost of the book changed from the original self published version?

Yes it has. As I mentioned before the original book was very oversized at 13” by 19” with a slip case. It was very expensive to manufacture and extremely heavy to mail out! This time round we are making a more standardized book which is 13” by 10”, however it still has the same page count. My intention was to make a decent sized book that is more affordable. I am signing as many copies as I can before my hand disintegrates which will be priced at $98.98 and unsigned at $69.98.

So with the book finally available on Cleopatra website, you must be thrilled that its finally here, of course when the last one failed it left fans slightly bemused to say the least…

KH: Yes, the pre-sale this time around was different from the failed one in so much as the book has definitely been manufactured! I couldn’t bear the idea of going down that (self publishing) road again for my sake and the customers. In doing a deal with my publisher; Cleopatra Music And Film, they front the cost of getting thousands of books made, so this time there will actually be a book to mail out! The other reason that I wanted to go with a good publishing company is for distribution. Come March 16^th, the book will become available on Amazon and book stores around the world. Therefore if someone can’t afford the cost of it being mailed to them from Cleopatra’s webstore, they will soon be able to buy the book with little or no extra cost. I should add that come that date, signed copies of the book will not be available anymore.

If you are in Los Angeles March 16th: Lethal Amounts & Cleopatra Present: Undead~Bauhaus Book Signing

Meanwhile, Kevin is set to join Bauhaus guitarist Daniel Ash on the road again for another series of Poptone dates:

Poptone tour dates:

• May 10: The Belly Up, Solana Beach, CA
• May 11: The Glass House, Pomona, CA
• May 13: Teragram Ballroom, Los Angeles, CA
• May 15: The Regency, San Francisco, CA
• May 16: The Catalyst, Santa Cruz, CA
• May 18: Neptune Theatre, Seattle, WA
• May 19: Wonder Ballroom, Portland, OR
• May 20: Rickshaw Theatre, Vancouver, BC

BAUHAUS UNDEAD: The Visual History and Legacy of Bauhaus is out now!

• Order Here (US and Canada)
• International Orders (UK)
• International Orders (DE)

Read More from Kevin Haskins on Bauhaus Undead at Post-Punk.com

And See Rare Photos of Kevin Haskins and Peter Murphy of Bauhaus circa 1981 Here

The post BAUHAUS Exhumed—An Interview with Kevin Haskins appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Peter Murphy and David J reunited in Mexico last night after 12 years apart—for the first in a series of Summer Festival dates celebrating 40 years of their seminal post-punk band Bauhaus—a group who undeniably set the mold for gothic rock.

While the other half of the Bauhaus lineup Daniel Ash and Kevin Haskins are only performing select Bauhaus tracks in their Tones on Tail, and Love and Rockets heavy project Poptone, The bass and voice of the haus of bau graced the festival stage in Mexico to perform a set of 12 Bauhaus classics ahead of their twice rescheduled run of shows in San Francisco this summer.

The scene was not unlike the what fans saw during the 2006 tour with Nine Inch Nails, with the sun was still shining bright at the Roxy Festival in Guadalajara, Mexico, while Peter Murphy and David J opened their set with the trademark “Double Dare”,  leading into “In the Flat Field,” “God In An Alcove”,  “Silent Hedges,” “Boys”, “She’s In Parties”, “Kick In The Eye”,  “Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” “Stigmata Martyr,” “The Passion Of Lovers”,  “Dark Entries” and  the standard set closer of Bauhaus’s fantastic cover of David Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust.”

Below, check out the setlist from yesterday’s concert, with inclusion of some video via Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook:

A plena luz pero creó su propia oscuridad. Lo amo #petermurphy @bauhaus @roxyfest

A post shared by Gabriela (@gabriela_la_ociosa) on Apr 21, 2018 at 4:58pm PDT

#RoxyFest #rock #petermurphy #guadalajara

A post shared by Daniel Molina (@oscar.molina.horta) on Apr 21, 2018 at 4:37pm PDT

Había una banda Dark que hacía Funk. #bauhaus #petermurphy #roxyfest

A post shared by Mario Nicolas (@nick.howling) on Apr 21, 2018 at 8:43pm PDT

#DavidJ #PeterMurphy @petermurphyofficial #roxyfest #livemusic #musicfest #musicfestival

A post shared by Jhoana Mora (@chicapin2) on Apr 22, 2018 at 2:43am PDT

Antes de que llegue la noche #PeterMurphy hace vibrar #RoxyFest2018 #FestivalDeMúsica #Guadalajara #JackDanielStage pic.twitter.com/eippUjSYfW

— FuxiónMx (@MxFuxion) April 21, 2018

Maestro, genio, figura. Mucho que aprenderle esta tarde a @petermurphy en el @RoxyFest.#RoxyFest2018 #RoxyFest pic.twitter.com/71Oyl37p9m

— Caperuzo (@Caperuzomx) April 21, 2018

@petermurphyofficial and @davidjhaskins on maiden Ruby Tour bus voyage #petermurphy

A post shared by Peter Murphy (@petermurphyofficial) on Apr 21, 2018 at 12:33pm PDT

The post Watch David J and Peter Murphy Perform Bauhaus Songs After 12 Years Apart appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Much has been written about Daniel Ash and Kevin Haskins‘ numerous projects, but the ink has yet to dry on their latest celebratory outing, Poptone. So the story goes, Ash was dozing with his headphones on and woke with a start at 4 a.m. to the telltale sounds of Motorhead’s “Ace of Spades.” The jarring urgency of the moment is what inspired him to get back on the road, this time drawing heavily upon (but not limited to) the work of short-lived project Tones on Tail. Enlisting Haskins on drums, the trio is rounded out by Diva Dompe, Haskins’ daughter, a formidable force fit to fill the shoes of both David J and Glenn Campling.

After a wildly revered tour, which pitted much of Tones on Tail’s transitional back catalog against Ash-sung Bauhaus and Love and Rockets highlights, Poptone cut their debut album with LA’s Part Time Punks. Due out across various formats on Cleopatra Records on June 8th, the record captures thirteen classic songs from the band’s repertoire, a testament to the strength and timelessness of the material. They’re also slated to tour again, kicking off a short stint of west coast dates this Friday, May 11th.

We were able to catch both Kevin and Daniel for two separate but parallel conversations about the band’s past, present, and future.

While Poptone celebrates your entire catalog as a songwriter, it draws heavily upon Tones On Tail, which I’ve always felt is the freshest and most vital, yet most criminally underrated project you’ve been a part of. How has it been revisiting this material live considering how much of it was created in a studio?

Daniel Ash: Well, it wasn’t quite a studio project – we would be in a room rehearsing the tracks before we got into the studio actually. A few tracks were created in the studio perhaps, but for the most part we’d be in a rehearsal-type situation, with some experimentation done after the fact – there were some tracks that would take on a different flavor. Things like backwards echoes and reverbs would be added afterwards, but the core of the song was written and played in the rehearsal room beforehand.

Out of the three bands, Tones on Tail is my favorite because we were completely free to do whatever we wanted. My plan on that band was to do music that sounded like it came from another planet but you could also tap your foot to it – in other words, it’s commercially viable. I think we achieved that. I think the band has aged well – it’s very simply recorded – but I think most of that stuff could have been recorded last week. It’s very fresh sounding even though in essence, it’s 30 years old. You can’t really put it into a category, which I love.

It’s funny because “Go!” probably has the most cross-genre appeal of anything you’ve done, including “So Alive.” I’ve heard “Go!” at sporting events, for example…

DA: Wow, yeah! It’s ironic, because it was a B-side. The DJs in the clubs would flip it over and play the other track, and it became a big hit in Germany for six weeks. It’s one of those magic moments in the studio, but for us, I saw it as a B-side. I was more into “Lions” at the time, you know, because again, ironically when I was younger, I preferred slow tracks. Now that I’m older, I prefer faster tracks – it’s very strange!

Kevin, I recall reading that Bauhaus – Undead was meant to be a celebration of your work with Bauhaus in light of years of negativity – is Poptone meant to keep that positive vibe going?

Kevin Haskins: Very much so, yeah. We all get on really well and have a lot of fun doing it. We’ve been rehearsing the past few days after not seeing each other for several weeks and we’re really enjoying dipping into the back catalogue and realizing what a great collection of songs that Daniel wrote. We’re bringing in possibly six new ones – we didn’t plan on doing that.

Any hints as to what the new songs will be?

KH: We didn’t want to talk about it until we were sure these songs would work in the set, but I’ll just say that “Haunted When the Minutes Drag” and “Burning Skies” are working out very well.

Otherwise, we’ve pretty much exhausted everything we can reproduce live with Tones on Tail on the last tour – so it’s going to be more Love and Rockets this tour. I think it was rather Tones heavy last year, and now it’ll be more of an even balance.

I love the guys at Part Time Punks and I’m excited to hear the recordings you made with them. It really feels like they’re tapping into the same level of support and enthusiasm that John Peel was back when. I’d love to hear more about the session. 

DA: We originally recorded a couple of nights in LA in the spring, in last April, as a sort of a tester for us. The capacity was 250 people per night and we recorded both gigs. As the tour went on, the original idea was to put these recordings out as a live album, but as the tour progressed through the year, we were playing a lot better as time went on. When we listened back to those tapes in comparison to what we were doing into the middle of the year, and the stuff we were doing later was better in essence. We decided to go into that radio station and recorded a session. It’s all live in the studio. 1-2-3-GO!

KH: I’ve DJed for Nigel before, and we kept in touch. Occasionally we’ve discussed recording a session, so I thought it would have been prudent to do it while we were on tour. The crew would be there and everything would be all set up. I just thought it would be great instead of doing five or six songs, let’s do as many songs as we can in the time we have. It definitely reminded me of those Peel sessions where you only have six or seven hours, but it takes three hours to set everything up – especially now with all the electronic drums and computers and keyboards. So, we ended up with about two hours in the end and I said, “let’s just play as if we were playing live.”

We didn’t get everything, but we got most of the key songs down.

How has social media and streaming helped grow or sustain your music over the years?

KH: Well, I think any form that your music is put out there, it all helps to keep the legacy going and keep you in the public eye. We don’t get paid very much for streaming, it’s true, but there is the plus that your presence on those platforms is important for new generations – it helps reveal you to them.

DA: The bottom line is that it’s the new way of doing things. I sort of reacted against it a few years back – thought it was too many cooks, everybody having a go, too much stuff out there and you tend to disappear, but I’ve changed my mind on it completely. I think it’s a good thing because you can reach so many more people. In the old days, if you didn’t get a record deal, you were done, what were you going to do if you didn’t have a record deal? You’d just be playing at the bar at the end of the road and that was it. Now, kids can get on their iPhone, make a great video, put it on YouTube and it reaches so many people, so I’ve come to the conclusion now that all of those formats are great. I love it. I used to hate it but now I completely see its effect and I see its power and I’m embracing it, just like everything else.

I don’t think any medium is the solution, you know? There’s no one service or one way of doing that covers everybody – but it is incredibly useful when you’re seeking out hard-to-find material or trying to discover things on your own. Much easier than when I was getting into music in a big way, at least…

DA: Yeah, I mean, if you want to discover ANY band if you’ve heard the name, you just go on YouTube and there it is, and it’s great. This is the world we live in – everything is speeding up. It’s sped up SO much. I don’t know where it’s going to end. There IS concern that the generation growing up now – the ten year olds with their iPhones, they walk down the street don’t even look up, even to cross the road, and it’s freaky. I don’t know how it’s going to affect the psyche of these young kids – it’s SO different.

It’s funny me saying this though, because when talking to friends my age, I start laughing because we sound just like our dads and granddads when they were talking about TV or whatever and saying, “when I was a kid I used to be climbing trees and mountains and going for a swim at four in the morning, and now you kids just sit there and watch TV,” and now we’re saying the same thing about the so-called millennials and their iPhones. There are pros and cons to every generation though, it’s just the way it is, so I try to keep an open mind on the whole thing.

I remember when I was getting into your music, how difficult it was to even find a Bauhaus CD, so I’m envious of the way things are now in a way.

DA: We were so left of center, we were so alternative, it was ridiculous. It was an irony there, because me personally, I’m a REAL fan of commercial music- there’s nothing better than a three-and-a-half-minute hit single. I love that stuff, and yet I was in the most alternative band you could get. I wanted Bela to be a big hit, but it ain’t gonna be because it’s nine-and-a-half-minutes long. It’s the weirdest thing, I have huge admiration for anyone who can write a hit single. I think it takes a lot more talent to do that than to make an album of obscure, weird, elitist alternative rock.

Which is funny, because your guitar playing strays from that theory as well – you don’t play any solos, for example, and your playing is much more textural and minimal.

DA: I’m just a ball of contradictions, aren’t I? I give up! I just like, say one thing and then say something else. Someone asked me the other day if I was an introvert or an extrovert and quite honestly, I said BOTH, depending on the time of day…

How would you say your playing has progressed over the years? Each of your styles are both instantly recognizable, and in some cases, change radically from track to track.

KH: Well, I started drumming when I was twelve, and I would just play along to all sorts of different bands’ records and I’d pick up little things by doing that. Then I had drum lessons where I learned a jazz beat, a pop beat, bossa nova – it was bossa nova I used on “Bela Lugosi’s Dead.” I’d also play along to Ringo Starr and Faces drummer Kenney Jones – I’d navigate towards simple drummers. When Bauhaus started, the first Banshees drummer Kenny Morris, and Joy Division’s drummer, Stephen Morris, were favorites. They were a big influence on me at the time.

When we’re writing and recording, even if you just listen to another song, it all goes into your brain and it’s filed away and I’ll find things coming out of nowhere. It’s really organic the way it happens. If I set out to do anything, it was to be as innovative and as unique as possible. I always tried to come up with something different to the previous song – I felt contrast was important.

DA: Well, it hasn’t really! I just do the same thing I’ve always done, ha ha! The big change for me, what made me sound totally different from other people – I remember when I was in art school, all the kids wanted to sound like Jimi Hendrix. No way was I going to do that for two reasons: Number 1, he’s already done that and got that sound,  and Number 2, I’m much too lazy to learn to play like that. So I thought I’d go the other way and keep very innocent and not learn many chords and scales and all that, so that hopefully would make my guitar style sound very different. The main thing that changed for me is because I got a hold of an e-bow very early on and that little gizmo in my hand there changed the way I played guitar completely. It opened it up for me to get my own sound. There’s a lot on the records that you think might be a keyboard, but it’s not…

Having played live for so many years, how has the experience changed for you? Do you still get the same thrill? 

KH: Oh, definitely. In fact, I thought that I was done with touring eight years ago, and I didn’t realize how much I missed it. I’m loving playing drums again. It takes more effort and practice because of my age, which isn’t surprising, but I still enjoy the whole thing. It keeps me fit too, which is great!

Has it gotten easier with all the new technology?

KH: I met with Roland and they gave me a really good deal on a TD-50, which has a lot of built-in sounds, but you can put your own sounds in there. I started triggering samples in the late 80s, because in the studio we’d come up with different snare drum sounds. I really love sampling and triggering all these sounds. It became an important part of the song structure. So I’m still doing that now – I’m using six pads and a trigger on the snare, and that’s basically what I’ve been spending hours on every morning this week before going into rehearsal. I have to go and try to find the samples, and if not, I have to try and re-create them, which is really difficult.

I enjoy it though, it’s a challenge and it’s creative. Live, it makes the songs sound more like the records and there are more of the elements – the cherries on the cake.

What’s your take on the Poptone tour so far, how has the response been?

DA: It’s been a blast, yeah. Touch wood, we rehearsed for eight weeks solid and it paid off. There weren’t any bum gigs, I mean, we were consistent. Hopefully it’s going to be the same this year. It’s a great little unit we’ve got – the crew, the band, we all get on great, it’s like one big happy Partridge Family on the road.

KH: The audiences have been AMAZING, another element of it that I didn’t predict. Especially as our demographic is older now, and as you get older, you tend to want to stay at home, but we’ve been getting a LOT of people to come and see us, and the enthusiasm is really wonderful. I feel very grateful and blessed that we have fans that still want to come and see us and have a good time. It’s such a celebration of the music and it’s a wonderful thing.

I’m sure you’ve been asked this a lot, but I know these things are always fluid – any plans to write or record new material together?

KH: Personally, I’d like to, but Daniel’s kind of hesitant – he sees it purely as a retrospective project. That’s how it started out, and it’s working really well as that. That’s what he wants to do with it, but I keep hope open all the time that maybe he’ll change his mind.

DA: Well, it sounds crazy, but yeah the original idea was to do put this thing together for a limited amount of time and play a LOT of Tones on Tail songs because the demand was there – we’d only done two very small tours in England and one in the US back in the ’80s. We’d done reunions with the other two bands several times, so this time we wanted to just do the Tones stuff. People wanted to hear that, and that’s what we’re doing now.

As far as new stuff, in the time off we had between Christmas and now, I came up with this song called “Alien Love,” which you can check out on my website. It’s a couple of tracks as a download or a limited personalized CD. I put that together on the break just to test myself and see if I could still write stuff basically because it’s been a while. I was satisfied, it was great fun doing it, so please do check it out!

Will Poptone be sticking around for a while?

KH: We have this west coast tour we’re about to go on and we’re also setting up an east coast tour for July. We’ll keep going where the interest is. We went to Mexico this year, and we’d love to go to Europe and South America and wherever else people will invite us.

DA: You know, we really don’t know. We’d like to do Europe, etc., but it’s all down to finances and whether or not we get the right offers in order for us to carry on. We’ll have been through the States twice now, so we can’t really come back and play again for another year or two…so it’s either going to be Europe or festivals.

After July, the whole thing’s up in the air!

Check out the Poptone tracklist and tour dates below:

Poptone- Poptone LP/CD

1. Heartbreak Hotel
2. Ok This Is The Pops
3. Mirror People
4. Movement Of Fear
5. Happiness
6. No Big Deal
7. Lions
8. Love Me
9. Performance
10. Christian Says
11. Ball Of Confusion
12. Go!
13. Slice Of Life

Pre-order via Bandcamp | Cleopatra Records

Poptone Tour Dates:

• 5.10.18 – Solano Beach, CA – Belly Up
• 5.11.18 – Pomona, CA – The Glass House
• 5.13.18 – Los Angeles, CA – Teragram Ballroom
• 5.15.18 – San Francisco, CA – The Regency Ballroom
• 5.16.18 – Santa Cruz, CA – The Catalyst
• 5.18.18 – Seattle, WA – Neptune Theatre
• 5.19.18 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom
• 5.20.18 – Vancouver, BC – Rickshaw Theatre

All photos by Paul Rae.

The post Now We Lustre – An Interview With Poptone’s Daniel Ash and Kevin Haskins appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Goth and post-punk icon Peter Murphy has announced today that he has to postpone for a third time his planned 15 night residency in San Francisco that was rescheduled for later this month. This prolonged ordeal began in 2017 with Murphy’s first postponement’s cause being the result of nodules on his vocal chords, and the second postponement being cited as a delay in processing his visa.

Murphy originally born a British national, but now a citizen of Turkey, is required to have an itinerary of live performances planned before an US artist visa application can proceed, with the normal application time usually taking no more than 4 months.

The seemingly unending delay of his US visa approval is attributed to what his management describes as being a backlog of Turkish applications due to strained diplomatic relationships between the two countries.

Read our article on US artist visa policy and how it is killing underground music.

Meanwhile, following a performance in Mexico celebrating 40 Years of Bauhaus, Murphy has  stated that he plans to perform more festival gigs and dates with Bassist David J Haskins. The duo have effectively formed reunion of half the members of Bauhaus, while the other half—Kevin Haskins and Daniel Ash—perform as Poptone.

The next scheduled gig of Murphy and David J is at the W Festival in Belgium on August 15th.

Here is the full message from The Chapel about the third rescheduling of the Peter Murphy residency, now set to begin on March 5th 2019 (See Full Dates Below):

“IMPORTANT NEWS FROM THE CHAPEL REGARDING PETER MURPHY RESIDENCY

It is with extreme sadness and great disappointment on the part of everyone involved, especially Peter Murphy, that we regrettably have to reschedule his career spanning residency to March 2019.

Since the rescheduling of January and February’s dates due to his Visa being inexplicably delayed in approval, Peter, his team, his immigration attorneys, and The Chapel management have been working continuously to try to secure Peter’s visa, as he has always done with great success over his 40 year career. All parties involved have approached this issue from every possible angle, even receiving substantial assistance from several congressional offices.

Peter’s circumstances have not changed since the granting of his last US visa for the “Stripped” tour of 2016, and as has been seen by anyone who attended his recent festival headlining show in Mexico with David J, Peter is in great voice and the band is sounding better than ever. Peter is so excited to perform this residency of full album shows for his fans and has been preparing and rehearsing now for 18 months. He is sorely disappointed that a further delay will take place, and that his loyal fans and the great many people invested in this project will be put out by this situation once again.

Multiple efforts have been made to leave no stone unturned to try to get to the bottom of what is causing the visa delay and to try to find a way to resolve this, including a recent second application. We have been unable to get information for what has been described as “random administrative processing” and no word on a timeline of when a decision is expected, despite the implications to Peter’s incredible fans and the livelihoods of the many people involved on both the production and venue side.

We eagerly awaited confirmation on the visa and had decided on a deadline of this week, and we held the utmost hope that his visa would be issued and we could give you a positive update. However, although it is still possible that his visa could be issued in time, we feel we have to cut it off now and make this decision.

We fully understand and commiserate with the financial implications for all concerned. The Chapel remains firm in its commitment to Peter to see through this momentous undertaking they conceived together back in December 2016.

We realize this is an extraordinary inconvenience to everyone who holds tickets to these shows, and to have gone through this many changes is completely unprecedented and we cannot apologize enough. We will do anything we can to make either the transfer of tickets to new dates or refunds as easy as possible.

The new dates are listed below. There will be exciting incentives created by Peter for all who hold tickets to make the shows even more unique and special. Also, Peter will soon be announcing worldwide dates for his 40th year Bauhaus anniversary tour with David J, John Andrews, and Marc Slutsky. A personal announcement regarding the residency is also forthcoming.

Ticketfly will be sending out an email on Monday to all ticket holders with more information about the new dates and refunds. Full refunds will be granted to those who seek them, and thank you for bearing with us during this incredibly difficult and frustrating time.

You can reach us at info@thechapelsf.com, or by phone at 415-551-5157 with any equestions you might have.”

PETER MURPHY – The Chapel Residency March 2019

• 3.5 – Should the World Fail to Fall Apart
• 3.8 – Love Hysteria 8pm / Love Hysteria 11pm
• 3.9 -Deep
• 3.10 – Deep
• 3.11 – Deep
• 3.14 – Deep / Love Hysteria encore
• 3.15 – Cascade 8pm / Holy Smoke 11pm
• 3.18 – Stripped
• 3.19 – Dust 7pm / Ninth 10pm
• 3.21 – Mr. Moonlight
• 3.22 – Mr. Moonlight
• 3.23 – Mr Moonlight

The post Peter Murphy SF Residency Postponed for Third Time appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Bauhaus co-founders Peter Murphy and David J Haskins are set to celebrate the band’s 40th Anniversary with a “Ruby Celebration” tour, named after the gemstone issued for 40 year wedding anniversaries.

The tour sees the two as half of the quartet in the group hailed as The Godfathers of Goth playing their debut album In The Flat Field in its entirety, as well as promising an extended encore of Bauhaus classics during dates scheduled this autumn across Europe and Australia.

The tour follows an appearance by the duo of Murphy and Haskins performing the music of Bauhaus in Mexico this past April, that the pair will follow up with an appearance at the W-Festival in Belgium next month.

Meanwhile, the other two members of Bauhaus, Daniel Ash, and Kevin Haskins, have just finished another round of touring as their new band Poptone,  also recently releasing a live album recently featuring tracks culled from the live catalog of Bauhaus, Love and Rockets, and Tones On Tail.

Additionally—according to a press release issued by Bauhaus frontman Peter Murphy, we can expect later this year “a series of coloured vinyl Bauhaus reissues” to celebrate the band’s “Ruby” Anniversary.

A special edition of “Bela” in a red velvet inner sleeve perhaps?

See Bauhaus “Ruby Celebration” dates below:

• Oct. 18 – Wellington NZ@ San Fran
  
• Oct 19 – Christchurch @ NZ@ Foundry
  
• Oct 20 – Auckland AU @ Powerstation
  
• Oct 22 – Adelaide AU @ Governor Hindmarsh
  
• Oct 25 – Brisbane AU @ The Zoo
  
• Oct 26 – Melbourne AU @ Max Watts
  
• Oct 27 – Sydney AU @ The Factory
  
• Oct 28 – Perth AU @ The Capitol Theatre
  
• Nov 6 – St Petersburg RS @ Aurora Hall
  
• Nov 7 – Moscow RS @ Glavclub
  
• Nov 9 – Belgrade RS @ Dom Omladine Beograda
  
• Nov 10 – Frankfurt DE @ Das Bett
  
• Nov 12 – Zurich CH @ Mascotte
  
• Nov 14 – Paris FR @ Bataclan
  
• Nov 18 – Madrid ES @ La Riviera
  
• Nov 19 – Barcelona ES @ Razzmataz
  
• Nov 21 – Rome IT @ Orion Live Club
  
• Nov 22 – Milan IT @ Fabrique
  
• Nov 23 – Munich DE @ Ampere
  
• Nov 24 – Bochum DE @ Christuskirche
  
• Nov 26 – Wroclaw POL @ A2
  
• Nov 27 – Berlin DE @ Columbia Theater
  
• Nov 28 – Hamburg DE @ Knust
  
• Dec 4 – Manchester UK @ O2 Ritz
  
• Dec 5 – Glasgow UK @ SWG3
  
• Dec 6 – Northampton UK @ Roadmender
  
• Dec 8 – Leeds UK @ Leeds Beckett SU
  
• Dec 9 – London UK @ O2 Forum Kentish Town
  
• Dec 11 – Copenhagen DK @ Store Vega
  
• Dec 12 – Stockholm SW @ Nalen
  
• Dec 14 – Athens GR @ Gazi Music Hall
  
• Dec 15 – Thessaloniki GR @ Principal Club Theater

 R

The post Peter Murphy and David J to embark on Bauhaus 40th Anniversary “Ruby Celebration” Tour appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

On January 26th, 1979, Bauhaus entered Beck Studios in Wellingborough, England and created their gothic rock masterpiece “Bela Lugosi’s Dead”. The song would take the greater part of the year to see its release when it was issued by Small Wonder Records on August 6th.

During that session 4 other tracks were recorded, but went unreleased such as the Ska Reggae inspired song  “Harry”, (named after Blondie’s Debbie Harry) which would emerge later on the Kick in Eye (Searching For Satori EP), and the CD version of Mask. Another track “Bite My Hip” would later be re-recorded as “Lagartija Nick”. Other unreleased tracks on the EP are the extremely “Some Faces”, and the original version of “Boys”, which was re-recorded for the original 12 inch’s b-side.

To celebrate the Godfathers of Goth’s 40th anniversary, Leaving Records and Stones Throw Records are set to issue this unreleased treasure as The Bela Session.

The Bela Session comes out on vinyl on November 23rd, and is the first official vinyl reissue of “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” in over 30 years.

Check out the the nine-and-a-half minute remaster of “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” which can be streamed below.

Pre-orders for The Bela Session are available from Bandcamp and Stones Throw, and come with free download of the newly remastered “Bela Lugosi’s Dead”.

A special red vinyl version of The Bela Session will be exclusively available through Vinyl Me, Please’s member store. Additionally, Beggars Arkive have plans to reissue Bauhaus’ entire catalog on colored vinyl later this year to further celebrate the band’s 40th anniversary. More details as they come.

See the tracklist and artwork for the Bela Session’s below.

The Bela Session Artwork:

The Bela Session Tracklist:

1. Bela Lugosi’s Dead
2. Some Faces *
3. Bite My Hip *
4. Harry
5. Boys (Original) *

* = Previously unreleased

Peter Murphy and David J are hitting the road together this Autumn to celebrate Bauhaus’ 40th anniversary, “The Ruby Celebration Tour”.

Ruby Celebration Tour Dates:

• 10/18 – Wellington, NZ@ San Fran
• 10/19 – Christchurch, @ NZ@ Foundry
• 10/20 – Auckland, AU @ Powerstation
• 10/22 – Adelaide, AU @ Governor Hindmarsh
• 10/25 – Brisbane, AU @ The Zoo
• 10/26 – Melbourne, AU @ Max Watts
• 10/27 – Sydney, AU @ The Factory
• 10/28 – Perth, AU @ The Capitol Theatre
• 11/06 – St Petersburg, RS @ Aurora Hall
• 11/07 – Moscow, RS @ Glavclub
• 11/09 – Belgrade, RS @ Dom Omladine Beograda
• 11/10 – Frankfurt, DE @ Das Bett
• 11/12 – Zurich, CH @ Mascotte
• 11/14 – Paris, FR @ Bataclan
• 11/18 – Madrid, ES @ La Riviera
• 11/19 – Barcelona, ES @ Razzmataz
• 11/21 – Rome, IT @ Orion Live Club
• 11/22 – Milan, IT @ Fabrique
• 11/23 – Munich, DE @ Ampere
• 11/24 – Bochum, DE @ Christuskirche
• 11/26 – Wroclaw, PL @ A2
• 11/27 – Berlin, DE @ Columbia Theater
• 11/28 – Hamburg, DE @ Knust
• 12/02 – Northampton, UK @ Roadmender
• 12/04 – Manchester, UK @ O2 Ritz
• 12/05 – Glasgow, UK @ SWG3
• 12/06 – Northampton, UK @ Roadmender
• 12/08 – Leeds, UK @ Leeds Beckett SU
• 12/09 – London, UK @ O2 Forum Kentish Town
• 12/11 – Copenhagen, DK @ Store Vega
• 12/12 – Stockholm, SW @ Nalen
• 12/14 – Athens, GR @ Gazi Music Hall
• 12/15 – Thessaloniki, GR @ Principal Club Theater

The post Bauhaus Celebrate 40th Anniversary with Vinyl Reissue of Bela Lugosi’s Dead as “The Bela Session” EP appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

As previously promised with the announcement of the Bela Session EP, the Beggars Arkive imprint will continue the celebration of the 40th anniversary of Bauhaus this autumn with special limited-edition, colored-vinyl reissues of the Godfathers of Goth’s 4 studio LPs, as well as the 1982’s confiscated live bootleg that began an album  Press Eject and Give Me the Tape and the best of collection Crackle, which is now celebrating its 20th anniversary.

The new vinyl pressings were mastered from HD audio files that were transferred from the original tapes. The first set of reissues are set for release on October 26th with the band’s 1980 debut album In the Flat Field coming on bronze vinyl and 1981’s Mask on yellow vinyl.

Next up, on November 23, is 1982’s The Sky’s Gone Out being issued on violet vinyl and the live album Press Eject and Give Me the Tape on white vinyl.

Lastly, on December 7th, 1983’s Burning on the Inside will be issued on blue vinyl and the 1998 compilation Crackle (now including a “Tomb Raider” mix of “Bela Lugosi’s Dead”) is being re-released on “ruby ” vinyl, which is certainly a nod to the band’s 40th Anniversary celebration.

All of the vinyl reissues are available for pre-order on the Beggars Arkive website.

Bauhaus previously announced the release of a special edition Bela Session’s EP, included the Band’s debut single along with 4 other tracks, 3 being unreleased, all recorded during their original recording session at Beck Studios on January 26th, 1979.

Additionally, Bauhaus’ Peter Murphy and David J are hitting the road together this Autumn to celebrate Bauhaus’ 40th anniversary billed as the “The Ruby Celebration Tour”.

Below, see the tracklists and cover art of the new Bauhaus vinyl reissues.

Tracklist: Bauhaus, In the Flat Field (Bronze Vinyl)

1. “Double Dare”
2. “In The Flat Field”
3. “A God In An Alcove”
4. “Dive”
5. “The Spy In The Cab”
6. “Small Talk Stinks”
7. “St.Vitus Dance”
8. “Stigmata Martyr”
9. “Nerves”

Tracklist: Bauhaus, Mask (Yellow Vinyl)

1. “Hair of the Dog”
2. “The Passion of Lovers”
3. “Of Lilies and Remains”
4. “Dancing”
5. “Hollow Hills”
6. “Kick in the Eye”
7. “In Fear of Fear”
8. “Muscle in Plastic”
9. “The Man with the X-Ray Eyes”
10. “Mask”

Tracklist: Bauhaus, The Sky’s Gone Out (Violet Vinyl)

1. “Third Uncle”
2. “Silent Hedges”
3. “In the Night”
4. “Swing the Heartache”
5. “Spirit”
6. “The Three Shadows, Part I”
7. “The Three Shadows, Part II”
8. “The Three Shadows, Part III”
9. “All We Ever Wanted Was Everything”
10. “Exquisite Corpse”

Tracklist: Bauhaus, Burning From the Inside (Blue Vinyl)

1. “She’s In Parties”
2. “Antonin Artaud”
3. “Wasp”
4. “King Volcano”
5. “Who Killed Mr. Moonlight”
6. “Slice Of Life”
7. “Honeymoon Croon”
8. “Kingdom’s Coming”
9. “Burning From The Inside”
10. “Hope”
11. “Lagartija Nick ”
12. “Here’s The Dub”
13. “Departure”
14. “The Sanity Assassin”

Tracklist: Bauhaus, Press Eject and Give Me the Tape (White Vinyl)

1. “In the Flat Field” (February 1982 at The Old Vic, London)
2. “Rose Garden Funeral of Sores” (February 1982 at The Old Vic, London)
3. “Dancing” (October 1981 at The Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool)
4. “The Man With X-Ray Eyes” – November 1981 at Hammersmith Palais, London
5. “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” (February 1982 at The Old Vic, London)
6. “The Spy in the Cab” (October 1981 at The Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool)
7. “Kick in the Eye” (October 1981 at The Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool)
8. “In Fear of Fear” (October 1981 at The Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool)
9. “Hollow Hills” (February 1982 at The Old Vic, London)
10. “Stigmata Martyr” (October 1981 at The Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool)
11. “Dark Entries” (October 1981 at The Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool)
12. “Terror Couple Kill Colonel” (December 1981 at Le Rose Bon Bon, Paris)
13. “Double Dare” (December 1981 at Le Rose Bon Bon, Paris)
14. “In the Flat Field” (December 1981 at Le Rose Bon Bon, Paris)
15. “Hair of the Dog” (December 1981 at Le Rose Bon Bon, Paris)
16. “Of Lillies and Remains” (December 1981 at Le Rose Bon Bon, Paris)
17. Waiting for the Man” (October 1981 at Fagins, Manchester)

Tracklist: Bauhaus, Crackle: Best of Bauhaus (Ruby Vinyl)

1. “Double Dare”
2. “In the Flat Field”
3. “The Sanity Assassin”
4. “The Passion of Lovers”
5. “She’s in Parties”
6. “Kick In The Eye” (Single remix)
7. “Ziggy Stardust”
8. “Dark Entries”
9. “Hollow Hills”
10. “Mask”
11. “Silent Hedges”
12. “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” (Tomb Raider mix)
13. “Terror Couple Kill Colonel”
14. “Spirit” (Single version)
15. “Burning From The Inside”
16. “Crowds”

The post Bauhaus to Reissue 6 albums on Colored Vinyl for Their 40th Anniversary appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

For your post-punk and goth Halloween needs, artist Matthew Lineham has you covered!

In addition to Christmas ornaments and Valentine Cards, Lineham is once again offering his “Boo-wave” Halloween decorations. The collection includes window clings, t-shirts, and pennants adorned with trick or treaters dressed as The Cure’s Robert Smith, Joy Division’s Ian Curtis, Siouxsie Sioux, Martin Gore and Dave Gahan from Depeche Mode, Morrissey, and of course the Goblin King himself David Boo-wie.

Nick Cave, Dave Vanian, and the so not goth Andrew Eldritch make cameo appearances in the Boo-wave Halloween pennant.

Order Here

See all the designs below:

The post “Boo-wave” Halloween Decorations for Goth and Post-Punk Music Fans appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Next week David J Haskins and Peter Murphy are set to embark on their Ruby Celebration Tour commemorating the 40th anniversary of their seminal gothic rock band Bauhaus.

During a stop in Berlin a month ago, our Editor met up with David J at Dream Baby Dream to discuss the 40th Anniversary of Bauhaus, along with the topics of goth, reggae, his solo work, and his return to Beck Studios in Wellingborough, where Bauhaus recorded the iconic track “Bela Lugosi’s Dead”, along with four other sounds which are included in upcoming release of Bauhaus’ Bela Session EP.

• Duende with David J “Oracle Of The Horizontal”
• David J Crocodile Tears And The Velvet Cosh
• Bauhaus The Bela Session EP
• Bauhaus Vinyl Reissues

Watch the interview below:

While editing the Berlin interview, our new writer Sär Blackthorn called David for a follow up questions where Sär discussed how David and Peter reconnected, how it was to return to Beck Studios after several decades, and perhaps supernatural during that return:

Q: How did your last show at Beck Studios go?

David: It was very nostalgic, of course, for me. I hadn’t been back there since ’84. I felt instantly at home again; it was sort of like all the years just fell away. And Dave Smith, the guy who’s taken it over, has done a really good job. He had an acoustics expert come in to look at the place and he was anticipating he might spend a lot of money in getting it up to scratch, but this guy did all his tests and said, “Don’t touch a thing because whoever put this studio together really knew what they were doing because it’s acoustically perfect”. He said it’s very unusual for these provincial studios, which usually require thousands of dollars worth of renovation, but he said it’s perfectly set up. The guy who built the studio, Derek Tompkins, he really did know what he was on about. He built a lot of the equipment himself.

“the door opened and slammed shut on its own!”

I felt his presence there very strongly and it’s strange– I put a photo up on Facebook that somebody took at sound check and it’s rather spooky because there’s all these sort of swirling, phantom-like shapes around me. And of course we had to play “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” as the final encore– we did a very different version of it. But during that, there’s a little door behind me. I wasn’t actually on stage, I had my friend and collaborator Tim Newman out front just playing these atmospheric sounds to set the scene and I was waiting to come on. I was in the control room and didn’t see this happen, but obviously people in the room did– the door opened and slammed shut on its own! I mentioned that to Dave, the owner, and he said, “Yeah, a couple weeks ago we had a band in rehearsing and this figure of a man walked through that door, passed them, and passed through the other closed door at the other end of the studio”. They feel like warm, friendly ghosts– no negative energy at all. I’m kind of attuned to that sort of thing psychically and it felt very good. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it was the ghost of Derek Tompkins.

And then the next day I stayed there and recorded a new song. It turned out so well I’ll have to include it on my next album, so now it’ll be a double album which wasn’t the intention, but it’s growing. It’s a bossa nova which “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” is also.

The show was great– it sold out, nice appreciative crowd, very attentive.

Q: How did you meet Tim Newman?

David: He took it upon himself to do some remixes of a track of mine “Pulling Arrows From Our Heels” which is on the album Estranged. He takes elements of the original tracks and then records multiple instruments over the top and he loops it. I call him a sound alchemist and he makes gold, it’s incredible. We’ve done a lot of work in the past and a lot that’s going to be released in the future. So he sent these tracks to me and I was very impressed, so I contacted him and told him “I love what you’re doing here, let’s work together”. That was about four years ago now, not long.

Q: And then Dave Stretton you’ve known since you were a teenager?

David: Forever, yeah, about 16.

Q: How often do you guys get together?

David: Once in a blue moon when I go to England. And we only reconnected a couple of years ago. Although he would occasionally show up to Bauhaus gigs in London.  I was also reunited with a real old friend who was in the same band, Dave Exton, and I hadn’t seen him since the 80s. He turned up in this amazing silver suit that he had back then in ’79 and he looked great. He was the guitar player in my old band The Submerged Tenth. So we all three reunited that night.

Q: Who were your influences at the time of your initial solo albums?

David: With the first album Etiquette of Violence, it wasn’t that personal. In fact all my albums have become more personal as I’ve gone on. So I’d be inspired by something I’d read in the newspaper, for example. I put something of my own experience into it, but it would be very fictional. That first album also contains a lot of cutups like William S. Burroughs cut-up technique and there’s a little bit of that in Crocodile Tears. And I gradually moved away from that and became more personal and lyrical. For example, like the story of infidelity– I wasn’t experiencing that, but I had friends who were going through those experiences and they would cry on my shoulder and I would take that on board and it just kind of seeps in and comes out as a song.

Q: What are your favorite songs to play live?

David: Usually it’s the newest ones because they’re very alive. But I do make the old songs live by reinterpreting them and especially when I play with invited musicians just out to be in that town that night. Maybe they’re local or just people I meet on the street who I invite in to play and improvise. And that changes those old songs and gives them new life. I’m really fond of this song “In The Wake of Lady Blue” which was on my last album, it’s just very romantic and personal like most all the songs on that are.

I really like playing “The Day That David Bowie Died” and that gets a very emotional reaction and that’s a song that’s very pure that poured out of me that night when I heard the news that he passed. I was able to record it the next day ’cause I had a studio booked in Portland actually, Revolver Studio intending to record something else which I did record, but first I recorded “The Day That David Bowie Died” and we just invited players in. Collin was saying “What else do you hear on this?” and I’d say “I hear trumpet” “Okay I know the guy” So it was like a revolving door, everybody invited everybody back after we’d mixed it and we did it all in a day. And there were tears in the control room and I knew I had something very special with that one and I think I was really tapping into the psychic energy that was really palpable that day ’cause it’s the day after– everything was about Bowie. And I play it live… I remember being int he Crystal Hotel and writing that song and it all comes very vividly to me and it’s very cathartic. The passing of a huge hero and influence, somebody that I personally met and it was lovely.

“2,000 Lightyears” I love playing. Americans don’t really understand the lyrics because it’s very English. The terminology. I had this one moment where I was playing a Living Room show which I Do a lot these days. And I wasn’t planning on doing this but I kept stopping it to explain the terminology I was using. And it made this thing about 15 minutes long. I’d be like “Do you know what the spinny is? It’s like in a park there’s an area with a lot of trees and that’s a spinny. You know, so pledging blood brotherhood down in the spinny. It’s all about North Hampton and childhood and growing up and then leaving friends, it’s very poignant, it’s about nostalgia, but it also has a kind of cynicism to a degree although it is romantic and melancholy. It has a lot of references to places in North Hampton so that’s a very personal one and I played it of course at Beck and I played it with Dave Stretton who’s part of the soul of that song because he was one of the old friends I left behind but now reunited with. Of course I’m copying the “2,000 Lightyears From Home” from The Rolling Stones, The Gold Street is the main street in NH but on the intersection of Gold Street and Horse Market street is where Bauhaus had our first rehearsal where we wrong Bela Lugosi’s Dead. I like songs that mention street names and places so it’s like going on a little journey. Like “Astral Weeks” by Van Morrison where he’s going back to Belfast and revisiting in song, lyricism and poetry there’s the places that were magical to him.

Q: When and how did Peter approach you about performing Bauhaus songs again?

David: Totally out of the blue, I just got an email asking me to play on his residency at The Chapel in San Francisco. I was really surprised and I immediately thought, well, this is an opportunity for a reconciliation because we left on really acrimonious terms. We had last spoken 12 years prior, 2006. He wanted to have a Skype talk. I very rarely use Skype, but that’s what he does and it was good because I could see him in Turkey and we had a heart to heart. And there was an elephant in the room which was the acrimonious parting. I had to be real because it was really important to get together again that we don’t leave any elephants in the room. So I said, “About this elephant in the room…” and I could see him desperately meander with his papers in front of him on his desk and he was searching for something. I knew he was searching for a cigarette. And then sure enough he appears with a cigarette, which he never lit, he just had to hold it! So it was very interesting. And then I stated the reason why we split up and I described his behavior and he was kind of shocked by that. “Really? I did that? That’s awful! I didn’t say that!” It was like I was talking about somebody else. I had the sense that he had gone through something very big. He’d changed. So he was able to own it and admit that he was impossible. “Sometimes you’re great, you’re fantastic, you’re amazing, but you can be a pain in the neck and you’re impossible”. And he accepted it, we had a laugh about it and it was very healthy.

“Now you’re stuck with me again, you poor sod!”

So when we finally did get together we just had a big hug and he kissed me on the cheek and said “Now you’re stuck with me again, you poor sod!” But we reconciled anyway, and then we just went straight into playing the set and it clicked right away. And then the gig was fantastic, it was really positive and we’ve done three more since then and they’ve been better and better and better. So it’s been very emotional and bonding. That Skype conversation was eight months ago now. That whole bonding experience is all part of it now, so when we get on stage, it’s part of the fabric of the emotion that fuels the fire of the performance and it’s a very deep, rich thing.

Q: Do you think you and Peter will tour the U.S. for the Ruby Celebration of Bauhaus?

David: There’s a very good chance, we really want to. It was all down to Peter’s visa [delay]. We had to postpone three times at The Chapel. It was incredibly frustrating because we’d been rehearsing for it and sounded great, but he kept getting [his visa delayed]. But it’s looking extremely promising at the moment so we’re really hoping. Fingers crossed! It’s been hard for him because he converted to Islam years ago, he lives in Istanbul, so that’s not an optimum situation with the current Clown Town administration to get into the country. That’s what it’s all to do with.

Q: What is your dream bass?

David: The one I own! 1972 fretless P bass. I’ve had it since 1994. It’s the best bass I’ve ever had. It’s a dream to play; it’s got a lot of soul. I believe instruments resonate with the experiences they’ve had. All the music that’s been played with them, the experiences, just being held– instruments have a soul and I felt very connected to this one as soon as I picked it up. I haven’t got that many, but that’s my baby.

Q: Do you name your guitars?

David: The only guitar I’ve named is my nylo string classical guitar which I play when I do solo gigs. That’s a mysterious guitar because it’s from China, but it’s a Spanish style classical guitar. Nobody knows who made it or where it came from so I call it Monica after Monica Lee, the mysterious Chinese girl– that kitsch painting of the Chinese girl with the gold dress, it’s very famous. Well the model was Monica Lee, a mysterious Chinese lady in the painting.

Q: What is the craziest supernatural experience you’ve had?

(David told me the story of Genesis P. Orridge that can be found in Who Killed Mr. Moonlight.)

David: There is a follow up, though, and it’s very interesting because at that time of the fire, Genesis was full of self-loathing. I know because of conversations we had and conversations I overheard. There was a court case which he won, which we got embroiled in, because he sued Rick Reuben. He didn’t want to, but his lawyer said “Look, you’ve got $140,000 worth of medical bills and Rick Reuben is a multi-millionaire. If you sue him, he’s gonna cover that and then some and you were in his house so he is ultimately responsible.” It’s a horrible thing to have to do, but this is what happened. So he did that and then Rick, who bore no malice against us at all, he was amazing actually, really zen-like about it. All he was concerned about was that we weren’t injured. Anyway, his insurance company countered-sued Love And Rockets and they pulled every dirty deed in the book to try to get us convicted. We didn’t, but we paid a lot of money to a lawyer so we were really in a lot of debt. But Genesis won, and he won a lot of money, $1.5 million. A lot of that he spent on plastic surgery as part of his androgyny thing. And he changed very dramatically.

I went to see Psychic TV play a few years later in Hollywood. He looked extraordinary and really androgynous and dressed all in white, he looked kind of beautiful in a weird way. And somebody shouted out, “I love you, Gen!” and he went up to the mic and said, “I love me, too”. In that moment it made me shiver, because I thought of what he told me about that doll saying “I came to make you love yourself”. That whole fire happened and because of that, I think, in great part because of that doll, he wouldn’t have got the money or had that surgery and gone to this place where he did indeed love himself.

Q: What current bands are you into?

David: I do like Cigarettes After Sex. I really like Star Crawler from LA, a very young band we tried to get as opening acts on this tour. The singer sounds like a female Iggy Pop, very exciting. But they’re on tour with Wayne Kramer doing the Mc5 thing. They’re very visceral, really good. Those two bands couldn’t be more opposite so that’s a good arch.

David J and Peter Murphy begin their Ruby Celebration Tour on October 7th.

The post 40 Years of Bauhaus | An Interview with David J Haskins appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Peter Murphy has finally announced North American dates for his “40 Years of Bauhaus Ruby Celebration” tour that includes his Bauhaus bandmate David J on bass.

The tour, which had just paid visit Latin America, and Australia, has seen Peter Murphy and David J along with Marc Slutsky on drums,  and Mark “Gemini” Thwaite on guitar, perform Bauhaus’ 1980 debut album In the Flat Field in its entirety, with an extended encore of Bauhaus classics.

The tour continues November 6th in Russia, with North American dates to begin January 16th in Anaheim California.

Tickets for North American dates start going on sale Friday, November 2nd. See ticket links below.

Meanwhile, Bauhaus see’s it’s Bela Session EP come out next month, following the recent coloured vinyl reissues of In the Flat Field and Mask.

Additionally, with his visa finally in hand, Peter Murphy will finally be able to fulfill his long planned residency at San Francisco’s The Chapel in March where he is scheduled to play his solo albums in full.

More dates to be confirmed!

Peter Murphy – 2018/2019 Tour Dates

Europe:

• Tue, NOV 06 – St Petersburg, Russia *
• Wed, NOV 07 – Moscow, Russia *
• Fri, NOV 09 – Belgrade, Serbia *
• Sat, NOV 10 – Frankfurt, Germany *
• Mon, NOV 12 – Zurich, Switzerland *
• Wed, NOV 14 – Paris, France *
• Fri, NOV 16 – Porto, Portugal *
• Sat, NOV 17 – Lisboa, Portugal *
• Sun, NOV 18 – Madrid, Spain
• Mon, NOV 19 – Barcelona, Spain – Ciampino Rm, Italy *
• Thu, NOV 22 – Milan, Italy *
• Fri, NOV 23 – Maxvorstadt, Germany *
• Sat, NOV 24 – Bochum, Germany *
• Mon, NOV 26 – Stare Miasto, Poland *
• Tue, NOV 27 – Berlin, Germany *
• Wed, NOV 28 – Hamburg, Germany *
• Fri, NOV 30 – Heerlen, Netherlands *
• Sat, DEC 01 – Gent, Belgium *
• Sun, DEC 02 – Northampton, United Kingdom *
• Tue, DEC 04 – Manchester, United Kingdom *
• Wed, DEC 05 – Glasgow, United Kingdom *
• Thu, DEC 06 – Northampton, United Kingdom *
• Sat, DEC 08 – Leeds, United Kingdom *
• Sun, DEC 09 – London, United Kingdom *
• Tue, DEC 11 – København V, Denmark *
• Wed, DEC 12 – Stockholm, Sweden *
• Fri, DEC 14 – Athina, Greece *
• Sat, DEC 15 – Thessaloniki, Greece *

North America:

• Jan 16 – Anaheim CA @ City National Grove of Anaheim
• Jan 18 – Portland OR @ Roseland Theatre
• Jan 19 – Vancouver BC @ Vogue Theatre
• Jan 20 – Seattle WA @ The Neptune
• Jan 22 – Salt Lake City, Utah (Venue TBA)
• Jan 24 – San Diego CA @ The Observatory North Park
• Jan 25 – Phoenix AZ @ The Van Buren
• Jan 26 – Albuquerque NM @ Sunshine Theater
• Jan 27 – Oklahoma City OK @ Tower Theatre
• Jan 28 – Kansas City MO @ The Truman
• Jan 30 – Dallas TX @ Granada Theater
• Jan 31 – Austin TX @ Paramount Theater
• Feb 1 – San Antonio TX @ Paper Tiger
• Feb 2 – Houston TX @ White Oak Music Hall
• Feb 4 – New Orleans LA @ Civic Theatre
• Feb 6 – Miami FL @ The Ground at Club Space
• Feb 7 – Orlando FL @ Plaza Live
• Feb 8 – Atlanta GA @ The Masquerade
• Feb 9 – Carrboro NC @ Cats Cradle
• Feb 11 – Baltimore MD @ Baltimore Soundstage
• Feb 12 – Philadelphia PA @ Union Transfer
• Feb 14 – New York NY @ Terminal 5
• Feb 15 – Worcester MA @ The PalladiumSat,
• Feb 16 – Montreal QC @ Corona Theatre
• Feb 17 – Toronto ON @ Phoenix Theatre

Solo Residency:

• Mar 05, 2019 – Peter Murphy performs “Should the World Fail to Fall Apart” in its entirety – San Francisco, CA
• Mar 08, 2019 – Peter Murphy performs “Love Hysteria” in its entirety (EARLY SHOW 8 pm) – San Francisco, CA
• Mar 08, 2019 – Peter Murphy plays “Love Hysteria” in its entirety (LATE SHOW 11 pm) – San Francisco, CA
• Mar 09, 2019 – Peter Murphy performs “Deep” in its entirety – San Francisco, CA
• Mar 10, 2019 – Peter Murphy performs “Deep” in its entirety – San Francisco, CA
• Mar 11, 2019 – Peter Murphy performs “Deep” in its entirety – San Francisco, CA
• Mar 14, 2019 – Peter Murphy performs “Deep” with a special encore of selections from “Love Hysteria” – San Francisco, CA
• Mar 15, 2019 – Peter Murphy plays “Cascade” in its entirety (EARLY SHOW 8pm) – San Francisco, CA
• Mar 15, 2019 – Peter Murphy performs “Holy Smoke” in its entirety (LATE SHOW 11 pm) – San Francisco, CA
• Mar 18, 2019 – Peter Murphy performs “Stripped” – San Francisco, CA
• Mar 19, 2019 – Peter Murphy plays “Dust” in its entirety (EARLY SHOW 7 pm) – San Francisco, CA
• Mar 19, 2019 – Peter Murphy performs “Ninth” in its entirety (LATE SHOW 10 pm) – San Francisco, CA
• Mar 21, 2019 – Peter Murphy Mr Moonlight (Bauhaus) set featuring David J (original Bauhaus member) – San Francisco, CA
• Mar 22, 2019 – Peter Murphy Mr Moonlight (Bauhaus) set featuring David J (original Bauhaus member) – San Francisco, CA
• Mar 23, 2019 – Peter Murphy Mr Moonlight (Bauhaus) set featuring David J (original Bauhaus member) – San Francisco, CA

* Peter Murphy 40 Years of Bauhaus Ruby Celebration Featuring David J

The post Peter Murphy Announces North American Dates for “40 Years of Bauhaus Ruby Celebration” Tour appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Artist Matthew Lineham returns with his 2018 edition of New Wave Christmas ornaments. This year’s designs feature a shirtless Peter Murphy with his Gingerbread haus, Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore shoveling snow in nothing but a leather harness, a robot being assembled by a red shirted elf for Santa’s Kraftwerk shop, and more!

In previous years Lineham’s designs have also featured other post-punk and avant-garde music luminaries such as Robert Smith, Ian Curtis, Nick Cave, Siouxsie Sioux, Kate Bush and more!

The first set was launched in 2016, featuring references to classic Christmas staples such as How the Grinch Stole Christmas for Siouxsie, and Rudolph The Rednosed Reindeer for Robert Smith.

The 2017 set features new puns such as Joy Division’s Ian Curtis holding an Unknown Pleasures Christmas tree, Skate Bush, Joe Strummer Boy, a kippah wearing Dave Gahanukkah brandishing a menorah, and more!

Each of the die cut bendable ornaments goes for $10, but you can but each complete set of 10 for the discounted price of $50.

See each design and ordering information below:

You can order the ornaments here

The post Decorate Your Tree with Peter Murphy’s Gingerbread Haus and More with Matthew Lineham’s 2018 New-Wave Christmas Ornaments appeared first on Post-Punk.com.