Bang Bang Machine
Encyclopedia
Bang Bang Machine were a cult indie band from Evesham
, Worcestershire
in England
. They formed in 1989 and split up in 1996 after record company troubles.
, Goth
, pop
, ambient
and dance
. They were sometimes classed as a Shoegaze band, but musically fell between the Britpop
and Grunge
camps.
Their most famous song, "Geek Love", was inspired by the book
by Katherine Dunn
about a family of freaks
in a travelling circus. The artist David Hughes
, who drew the Geek Love book cover, also illustrated the band's Eternal Happiness album cover. "Geek Love" also uses audio samples from the controversial Tod Browning
film Freaks
. "Geek Love" on CD regularly sells for £25-£35 on www.ebay.co.uk. In 2007 "Geek Love" was voted number 16 on the cult radio station
B92's "Top 20 best singles ever" on www.firerecords.com.
"Geek Love" was championed by BBC Radio One DJ John Peel
as a perfect example of a band self-financing their debut single; he famously stated, "Even if they never made another record, they'll have achieved more than most of us do in our entire lives." It was voted number one in his Festive Fifty
in 1992. The band also recorded a Peel session, but this has never been released.
The band were known for creating moving songs about unusual topics. Their song "16 Years" was about the Stefan Kiszko
case, where an innocent man was jailed for a crime he did not commit.
They appeared on the Channel 4
programme The Word
doing a live version of their song "Technologica" in 1993. They were also featured in Deadline comic and Volume magazine. They did cover versions of T. Rex
's "Life's a Gas" and Psychic TV
's "Godstar
."
Steve Eagles now plays with the jazz-psycho-funk-poetic-punk band Blurt
and teaches guitar. Lamp is a DJ in Brighton and qualified as a sound engineer. Stan Lee married Elizabeth Freeth in 2005; in 2007 their baby son was born. Stan Lee A.K.A. Marc Angel now plays with Psychowrath, a new incarnation of Wrathchild
. In 2007 articles appeared in The Evesham Journal and The Worcester News about possible future one-off gigs.
Evesham
Evesham is a market town and a civil parish in the Local Authority District of Wychavon in the county of Worcestershire, England with a population of 22,000. It is located roughly equidistant between Worcester, Cheltenham and Stratford-upon-Avon...
, Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. They formed in 1989 and split up in 1996 after record company troubles.
Career
The band experimented with different styles of music, for which reason the media found them hard to categorise. Musically they covered alternative rockAlternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
, Goth
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
, pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, ambient
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
and dance
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
. They were sometimes classed as a Shoegaze band, but musically fell between the Britpop
Britpop
Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s...
and Grunge
Grunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...
camps.
Their most famous song, "Geek Love", was inspired by the book
Geek Love
Geek Love is a novel by Katherine Dunn, published completely by Alfred A. Knopf in 1989. Dunn published parts of the novel in Mississippi Mud Book of Days and Looking Glass Bookstore Review...
by Katherine Dunn
Katherine Dunn
Katherine Dunn is a best-selling novelist, journalist, voice artist, radio personality, book reviewer, and poet from Portland, Oregon.- Personal life :...
about a family of freaks
Freaks
Freaks is a 1932 American Pre-Code horror film about sideshow performers, directed and produced by Tod Browning and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, with a cast mostly composed of actual carnival performers. The film was based on Tod Robbins' 1923 short story "Spurs"...
in a travelling circus. The artist David Hughes
David Hughes
David Hughes may refer to:*David Hughes , interim president and CEO of Amtrak, 2005–2006*David Hughes , English astronomer specialising in comets*David Hughes , Swedish bass guitarist...
, who drew the Geek Love book cover, also illustrated the band's Eternal Happiness album cover. "Geek Love" also uses audio samples from the controversial Tod Browning
Tod Browning
Tod Browning was an American motion picture actor, director and screenwriter.Browning's career spanned the silent and talkie eras...
film Freaks
Freaks
Freaks is a 1932 American Pre-Code horror film about sideshow performers, directed and produced by Tod Browning and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, with a cast mostly composed of actual carnival performers. The film was based on Tod Robbins' 1923 short story "Spurs"...
. "Geek Love" on CD regularly sells for £25-£35 on www.ebay.co.uk. In 2007 "Geek Love" was voted number 16 on the cult radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
B92's "Top 20 best singles ever" on www.firerecords.com.
"Geek Love" was championed by BBC Radio One DJ John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
as a perfect example of a band self-financing their debut single; he famously stated, "Even if they never made another record, they'll have achieved more than most of us do in our entire lives." It was voted number one in his Festive Fifty
Festive Fifty
The Festive Fifty was originally an annual list of the year's fifty best songs compiled at the end of the year and voted for by listeners to John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show...
in 1992. The band also recorded a Peel session, but this has never been released.
The band were known for creating moving songs about unusual topics. Their song "16 Years" was about the Stefan Kiszko
Stefan Kiszko
Lesley Susan Molseed was an eleven-year old girl from Turf Hill, Rochdale, Greater Manchester, who was murdered on Rishworth Moor in West Yorkshire....
case, where an innocent man was jailed for a crime he did not commit.
They appeared on the Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
programme The Word
The Word (TV series)
The Word was a 1990s Channel 4 television programme in the United Kingdom.-Format:Its presenters included Mancunian radio presenter Terry Christian, comedian Mark Lamarr, Dani Behr, Katie Puckrik, Jasmine Dotiwala, Alan Connor, Amanda de Cadenet and "Huffty"...
doing a live version of their song "Technologica" in 1993. They were also featured in Deadline comic and Volume magazine. They did cover versions of T. Rex
T. Rex (band)
T. Rex were a British rock band, formed in 1967 by singer/songwriter and guitarist Marc Bolan. The band formed as Tyrannosaurus Rex, releasing four folk albums under the name...
's "Life's a Gas" and Psychic TV
Psychic TV
Psychic TV or PTV, is a video art and music group that primarily performs psychedelic, punk, electronic and experimental music...
's "Godstar
Godstar (Psychic TV album)
Godstar is the name of a song and several releases by Psychic TV in 1985. The releases feature the band The Angels of Light. Two compilations, Godstar: Thee Director's Cut and Godstar: The Singles - Pt. 2, were later released...
."
Steve Eagles now plays with the jazz-psycho-funk-poetic-punk band Blurt
Blurt
Blurt is a British musical group founded by the poet, saxophonist and puppeteer Ted Milton in 1979 in Stroud, Gloucestershire; with Milton's brother Jake Milton, formerly of psychedelic group Quintessence, on drums and Peter Creese on guitar...
and teaches guitar. Lamp is a DJ in Brighton and qualified as a sound engineer. Stan Lee married Elizabeth Freeth in 2005; in 2007 their baby son was born. Stan Lee A.K.A. Marc Angel now plays with Psychowrath, a new incarnation of Wrathchild
Wrathchild
Wrathchild were an English heavy metal band. Formed in 1980, the group was an early band of the glam metal genre, starting off before other bands of the genre such as Mötley Crüe...
. In 2007 articles appeared in The Evesham Journal and The Worcester News about possible future one-off gigs.
Singles
- "The Geek" EP
- "Evil Circus" EP
- "Technologica" EP
- "Geek Love" EP
- "Give You Anything"
- "Breathless"
- "Love It Bleeds"
- "Show me Your Pain"
External links
- Discography
- BBM MySpaceMySpaceMyspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
fan page: http://www.myspace.com/bangbangm - BBM MySpaceMySpaceMyspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
group: http://www.groups.myspace/BANGBANGMACHINE - BBM Last.FMLast.fmLast.fm is a music website, founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. It has claimed 30 million active users in March 2009. On 30 May 2007, CBS Interactive acquired Last.fm for UK£140m ....
group: http://www.last.fm/group/BANG%2BBANG%2BMACHINE - BBM fan site: http://www.plasticfreakshow.multiply.com