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Coil (band)
Encyclopedia
Coil were an English cross-genre, experimental music group formed in 1982 by John Balance
—later credited as "Jhonn Balance"—and his partner Peter Christopherson
, aka "Sleazy". The duo worked together on a series of releases before Balance chose the name Coil, which he claimed to be inspired by the omnipresence
of the coil
's shape in nature. Today, Coil remains one of the most influential and best known industrial music
groups.
The group's first official release as Coil was a 1984 12" titled How to Destroy Angels released on the Belgian Les Disque de Crepuscule's sublabel LAYLAH Antirecords. Following the 12"s success, Coil produced a series of three albums, Scatology
, Horse Rotorvator
and Love's Secret Domain
, which met with little commercial success, but were praised as innovative due to their blend of industrial music and acid house
.
As early as 1985, the group began working on a series of soundtracks, amongst them music for the first Hellraiser
movie based on the novel The Hellbound Heart by their acquaintance at that time, Clive Barker. In 1999 the group gave their first live performance in sixteen years (In New York City, both released on CD and DVD), and began a series of mini-tours which would last until 2004. Following the death of John Balance on 13 November 2004, Peter Christopherson announced via their official record label website Threshold House
that Coil as an entity had ceased to exist.
. Balance and Christopherson began working with John Gosling
on the project Zos Kia
, which resulted in four live performances and the 1984 cassette tape Transparent
. Following Gosling's departure Balance and Christopherson teamed up with Boyd Rice
, and under the alias Sickness of Snakes released the split album Nightmare Culture
with the experimental group Current 93
.
While working on their first official release, 1984's 12"How to Destroy Angels, the group settled on the name Coil. According to the sleeve notes, the single track LP
is "ritual music for the accumulation of male sexual energy" and was produced under a variety of technological, spiritual
, and meteorological conditions which the band felt to be magick
ally significant.
Since its initial release, Transparent has been reissued in CD format, while How to Destroy Angels has been remixed by Nurse with Wound
's Steven Stapleton
and released on a full length CD. Tracks from Nightmare Culture have featured on the group's Unnatural History compilation series.
for Some Bizzare
and produced Scatology
, released in 1984 as their first full length studio album. The album was largely based on the sound of industrial music
as well as the Post-punk
movement. While songs such as "Restless Day", "Panic" and "Tainted Love" are representative of a mainstream style, other tracks preview what would become Coil's unique electronic style. The single Panic/Tainted Love
became the first AIDS benefit music release, as the profits from sales of the single were donated to the Terrence Higgins Trust
. The "Tainted Love" music video, directed by Peter Christopherson, is on permanent display at The Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Horse Rotorvator
followed in 1986 as the next full length release. Although songs such as "The Anal Staircase" and "Circles of Mania" sound like evolved versions of Scatology material, the album is characterized by slower tempos, and represented a new direction for the group. The album has a darker theme than previous releases; according to Balance, "Horse Rotorvator was this vision I'd had of this mechanical/flesh thing that ploughed up the earth and I really did have a vision of it—a real horrible, burning, dripping, jaw-like vision in the night...The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
killed their horses and use their jawbones to make this huge earth-moving machine." The artwork features a photograph of the location of a notorious IRA
bombing, in which a bomb was detonated on a military orchestra pavilion. Horse Rotorvator was in part influenced by the AIDS
related deaths of some of their friends. Furthermore, the song "Ostia (The Death of Pasolini)", is about the mysterious death of Pier Paolo Pasolini
as well as what Balance described as "the number one suicide spot in the world", the white cliffs of Dover
. After the release of Horse Rotorvator Coil left Some Bizarre Records, due to the record company's debt of GB£
10,000 to the group. Gold Is the Metal with the Broadest Shoulders
followed as a full length release, marking the beginning of the label Threshold House
; that album being described in the liner notes as "not the follow up to Horse Rotorvator but a completely separate package - a stopgap and a breathing space - the space between two twins," referring to Horse Rotorvator and Love's Secret Domain
.
Love's Secret Domain
(abbreviated LSD) followed in 1991 as the next "proper" Coil album, although a few minor releases had been produced since Horse Rotorvator. LSD represents a progression in Coil's style and became a template for what would be representative of newer waves of post-industrial music, blended with their own style of acid house
. Although the album was more upbeat, it was not intended as a dance record, as Christopherson explained "I wouldn't say it's a party atmosphere, but it's more positive." "Windowpane
" and a Jack Dangers
remix of "The Snow
" were released as singles, both of which had music videos directed by Christopherson. The video for "Windowpane" was shot in the Golden Triangle
, where, Balance claimed, "the original Thai and Burmese drug barons used to exchange opium for gold bars with the CIA." Christopherson recalled "John [Balance] discovered while he was performing that where he was standing was quicksand! In the video you can actually see him getting deeper and deeper." Furthermore, Thai
friends of the group commented that they had known of several people that died where Coil had shot footage for the music video. A music video for the song "Love's Secret Domain" was also shot and is currently unreleased and unaired due to its nature: as Christopherson explained, "We shot 'Love's Secret Domain' in a go-go boy bar in Bangkok; with John [Balance] performing on stage with about 20 or 30 dancing boys, which probably won't get played on MTV, in fact!" Stolen & Contaminated Songs
followed as a full length release. However, as with Gold Is the Metal..., it is a collection of outtakes and demos from the LSD era.
Before embarking on their second wave of side projects and pseudonyms, Coil created a soundtrack for the movie Hellraiser
, although they withdrew from the project when they suspected their music would not be used. Furthermore, Coil claimed inspiration for Pinhead
was partly drawn from the piercing magazines director Clive Barker
borrowed from the group. Beginning in 1993, Coil contributed music to two of Derek Jarman
's films, Blue
and The Angelic Conversation
. In addition, they recorded soundtracks for the documentary Gay Man's Guide to Safer Sex
as well as Sarah Dales Sensuous Massage, though both remain unreleased.
Much like the pre-Coil aliases, Coil's wave of side projects represent a sort of primordial soup from which the group evolved a different style of sound. While Nasa Arab
—credited to the group's project "The Eskaton"—was Coil's farewell to the acid house
genre, the following projects, ELpH
, Black Light District
, and Time Machines
, were all based heavily on experimentation with drone
, an ingredient which would define Coil's following work. These releases also kicked off the start of Coil's new label Eskaton
.
, Windowpane & The Snow
and Unnatural History III
. In March 1998, Coil began to release a series of four singles which were timed to coincide with the equinox
and solstice
s of that year. The singles are characterized by slow, drone-like instrumental rhythms, and electronic or orchestral instrumentation. The first single, Spring Equinox: Moon's Milk or Under an Unquiet Skull
, featured two versions of the same song, the second version of which included an electric viola contribution from a newly inducted member, William Breeze
. The second single, Summer Solstice: Bee Stings
, also featured performances by Breeze, and also included the industrial
-noise
song "A Warning from the Sun (For Fritz)", which was dedicated to a friend of Balance and Christopherson's who had committed suicide earlier that year. The third single, Autumn Equinox: Amethyst Deceivers
includes the track "Rosa Decidua" which features vocals by Rose McDowall
. The single also features the song "Amethyst Deceivers
", later reworked and performed throughout most of Coil's tour, and eventually re-made into an alternate version on the LP The Ape of Naples
. The fourth single, Winter Solstice: North
, also includes a track sung by Rose McDowall, and is partially credited to the side project Rosa Mundi
. The series would later be re-released as the double-CD set Moon's Milk (In Four Phases).
Astral Disaster
was created with the assistance from new band member Thighpaulsandra
and released in January 1999 via Sun Dial
member Gary Ramon's label Prescription. Although the album was initially limited to just 99 copies, it would later be re-released in substantially different form. Musick To Play In The Dark Vol. 1
followed in September 1999 and a few months later Coil performed their first concert in 16 years. Queens Of The Circulating Library
followed in April 2000, with production credit given to Thighpaulsandra. The single track, full length drone album is the only Coil release without the assistance of Christopherson. Musick To Play In The Dark Vol. 2
followed in September 2000 and Coil began to perform live heavily, writing the music for Black Antlers
in between a series of mini-tours. Coil also released a series of live albums around this time. Constant Shallowness Leads To Evil
, a noise
-driven experimental album reminiscent of Christopherson's work with Throbbing Gristle
, was first sold at a live performance in September 2000. Coil finally released Black Antlers
in June 2004.
In contrast to many of their earlier releases, Coil's later material is characterized by a slower sound which relies more on drone
than acid house
. This change in sound was reflected in their live performances, as songs like "Ostia" and "Slur" were slowed down from their original pace as well as re-recordings of "Teenage Lightning" and "Amethyst Deceivers" which were later released on The Ape Of Naples
.
Coil performed twice at the Royal Festival Hall in 1998 (as part of a weekend curated by Julian Cope) when they first performed as the full band line-up - and the first time for the "fluffy suits" - the show was called 'Time Machines' at that point - then again in 2000 as part of the "Outro" week I curated for my departure from the South Bank - that time sharing a bill with Jim Thirlwell (as Foetus
). Both performances were full sets.
On 14 December 1999 Coil performed elph.zwölf
at Volksbuehne in Berlin. Although the performance lasted just under eighteen minutes, it marked the beginning of a new era of live performances. Coil would go on to perform close to fifty additional concerts, with varied set list
s as well as performers.
Coil's performances were surrealistic visually and audibly. Balance, Christopherson, Thighpaulsandra and Ossian Brown were known to dress in fluffy suits; an idea inspired by Sun Ra
. The suits would later be used as album covers for the release Live One; other costumes appear on the covers of Live Two
and Live Three
(straitjacket and mirror-chested hooded jumpsuit respectively). Video screens projected footage and animations created by Christopherson, while fog machines created a thick eerie atmosphere. Balance would often screech and howl during performances, which would add to the effect.
John Balance's problem with alcohol would often reflect the way in which the Coil performances were carried out. His drinking problem became so well known that during the 2003 All Tomorrow's Parties
performance a fan asked if there is any "blood in his alcohol", a reference to the Coil song "Heartworms". Balance replied that there is no "alcohol in my blood at the moment", later adding "I've got horse tranquillizer
for later". The performance, including the dialogue, was released on ...And The Ambulance Died In His Arms
.
Many Coil performances were released, including the widely available releases of Live Four
, Live Three
, Live Two
, Live One and ...And The Ambulance Died In His Arms
, as well as several very limited editions such as Selvaggina, Go Back Into The Woods
and Megalithomania!
. Video recordings of several concerts were released on the DVD box set Colour Sound Oblivion in 2010.
Coil's final performance was at DEAF (Dublin Electronic Arts Festival), Dublin City Hall in Ireland.
was released in April 2005, the name having been chosen by Balance before his death.
Several tribute albums were released in memory of Balance including the compilations Full Cold Moon, The Loneliest Link In A Very Strange Chain (which had been started before Balance passed and was originally due to be called "Never", but switched titles after the tragic event), Coilectif: In memory ov John Balance and homage to Coil
, ...It Just Is and X-Rated: The Dark Files. The album How He Loved The Moon (Moonsongs For Jhonn Balance)
by Balance collaborator David Tibet
was released under his group Current 93
. A live album
by Throbbing Gristle
was also dedicated to Balance. On 23 December 2005, a memorial concert was held for Balance. Performers included Christopherson's new solo effort The Threshold HouseBoy's Choir
, Alec Empire
and CoH
.
The final studio album, The Ape of Naples, saw release on 2 December 2005. In August 2006 the rare CD-R releases The Remote Viewer
and Black Antlers were "sympathetically remastered" and expanded into two disc versions, which included new and recently remixed material. A comprehensive 16-DVD boxset, titled Colour Sound Oblivion was released in July 2010. A "Patron Edition" was pre-orderable in November 2009 and was sold out in three hours. Christopherson had also discussed the possibility of releasing Coil's entire back catalogue on a single Blu-ray disc.
In November 2006, the official Coil website posted the following announcement: "Following the success of Thai pressings of The Remote Viewer and Black Antlers, and after many requests, we are planning to expand the CD catalog still further." A few days later Duplais Balance
and Moon's Milk In Six Phases were announced. Furthermore, an expanded vinyl version of The Ape Of Naples, which includes the album The New Backwards
has been released and a two disc version of Time Machines
has been announced.
Six years after the death of John Balance, Peter Christopherson died in his sleep on November 24, 2010.
-like autographs in the packaging of their albums, Coil claimed that this made their work more personal for true fans, turning their records into something akin to occult
artifacts. This practice was markedly increased in the later half of Coil's career. However, Balance expressed interest in having regular Coil albums in every shop that wanted them. Some critics have accused Coil and its record company of price gouging
. In 2003, Coil began re-releasing many rare works, mostly remixed, into general circulation. They also launched a download service, where a large amount of their out-of-print music is available.
s, including the Moog synthesizer
. Coil are among the few artists who have been granted permission to use the one-of-a-kind experimental ANS photoelectronic synthesizer
(see ANS
). Other instruments the group incorporated into their music included the theremin
and electronic shakuhachi
. During Coil's later period, marimba
player Tom Edwards joined the group and performed on the live albums Live Two
and Live Three
, as well as on the studio album The Ape of Naples
.
Coil utilized techniques such as the cut-up technique
, ritual drug use
, sleep deprivation
, lucid dreaming
, sidereal sound, granular synthesis
, tidal shifts, John Dee
-like methods of scrying
, instrument glitches
, SETI
synchronization and the chaos theory
.
beliefs and were sometimes labeled satanic
. John Balance explicitly referred to himself as a "Born Again Pagan" and described his Paganism as a "spirituality within nature."
Peter Christopherson, however, described the beliefs of Coil as unassociated: "We don't follow any particular religious dogma. In fact, quite the reverse, we tend to discourage the following of dogmas, or false prophets, as it were. And we don't have a very sympathetic view of Christian
s up to this point. The thing we follow is our own noses; I don't mean in a chemical sense."
, noise
, ambient
and dark ambient
, neo-folk, spoken word
, drone music
, and minimalism, creating what Balance explicitly referred to as "magick
al music". Balance described the early Coil work as "solar" and the later work as "moon musick".
John Balance
was the founder of Coil and was the primary vocalist and composer of Coil's music. Peter Christopherson
was the chief producer. William Breeze
was Coil's electric viola player between 1997 and 2000. Ossian Brown
had been a Coil collaborator since about 1992 and joined the group in 2000, touring extensively with them and working on several recordings up until the final Coil album The Ape Of Naples. Tom Edwards participated in Coil's live incarnation, and was Coil's marimba
player from 2000 on. John Gosling
performed with the initial live incarnation of Coil and on Transparent
. Danny Hyde
has been a Coil collaborator since the beginning and throughout most of the group's career. His contributions include production and co-writing some material. Massimo & Pierce of Black Sun Productions
were members of Coil Live in 2002. However, they were stage performers, never contributing musically other than reading the poetic introduction to "Ostia" during live performances. Drew McDowall
began collaborating with Coil in 1990 and was officially inducted in 1995. He left the group sometime between 1999 and 2000. Drew's ex-wife, Rose McDowall, provided vocals for several Coil tracks including "Wrong Eye", "Rosa Decidua" and "Christmas Is Now Drawing Near". She also collaborated with Coil for the short lived project Rosa Mundi
. Cliff Stapleton played Hurdy Gurdy on several live performances, but also in the studio for Coil at various points throughout the 2000s. Thighpaulsandra
became an official member on 26 January 1999 and participated until the final album, The Ape Of Naples. Most notably, he created the entire instrumental for the album Queens Of The Circulating Library. Jim Thirlwell was a member during the Scatology era. Stephen Thrower
worked as a full time member of Coil from 1987 to 1992. Mike York was part of the Coil Live
collective for a limited time.
, Bryon Gysin and Austin Spare. Furthermore, the group were friends with Burroughs and owned some of Spare's original artwork.
John Balance encouraged fans to trade, discuss and discover new and different forms of music, stressing the importance of variety. Music that Coil expressed interest in is diverse and wide-ranging, from musique concrète
to folk music
to hardcore punk
to classical. Among the musicians Coil expressed interest in were early electronic, experimental and minimalistic artists: Harry Partch
, La Monte Young
, Karlheinz Stockhausen
(once referred to by Balance as "an honorary member of Coil"), Alvin Lucier
, and Arvo Pärt
. Coil also expressed interest in krautrock
groups including Cluster
, Amon Düül II
, Can
, Kraftwerk
and Tangerine Dream
. Rock musicians and groups Coil have expressed interest in are: Angus Maclise
, Captain Beefheart
, Flipper
, Leonard Cohen
, Lou Reed
, Nico
, Pere Ubu
, The Birthday Party
, The Velvet Underground
and The Virgin Prunes. Coil expressed an interest in the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky
, and in 1986 used a sample of a piece of his music on the Horse Rotorvator
song "The Anal Staircase". Furthermore, on the album Black Antlers
Coil dedicated a song to Sun Ra
and covered a song by Bam Bam.
Coil's influence on electronic music has become more evident since the death of Balance with electronic musicians from all over the world collaborating on a series of tribute albums. Some notable artists who appeared on these albums are Alec Empire
, Chris Connelly and K.K. Null (see ...It Just Is). Nine Inch Nails
front man Trent Reznor
has also expressed his influence by the group. The track "At The Heart Of It All" (found on Scatology) later became the name of an Aphex Twin
track on Nine Inch Nails remix album Further Down the Spiral
. It is possible that Trent Reznor named the track as a reference to Coil, since Coil also provided remixes for Further Down the Spiral.
Furthermore, in 2010, Reznor, Mariqueen Maandig
and Atticus Ross
started a new band called How To Destroy Angels
, the same title as Coil's first single.
Primary, full-length, Coil studio albums:
Official
Interviews
John Balance
John Balance , born in Mansfield, England, was the founder of the experimental music group Coil, along with his partner Peter Christopherson...
—later credited as "Jhonn Balance"—and his partner Peter Christopherson
Peter Christopherson
Peter Martin Christopherson, a.k.a. Sleazy was a musician, video director and designer, and former member of the influential British design agency Hipgnosis....
, aka "Sleazy". The duo worked together on a series of releases before Balance chose the name Coil, which he claimed to be inspired by the omnipresence
Omnipresence
Omnipresence or ubiquity is the property of being present everywhere. According to eastern theism, God is present everywhere. Divine omnipresence is thus one of the divine attributes, although in western theism it has attracted less philosophical attention than such attributes as omnipotence,...
of the coil
Coil
A coil is a series of loops. A coiled coil is a structure in which the coil itself is in turn also looping.-Electromagnetic coils:An electromagnetic coil is formed when a conductor is wound around a core or form to create an inductor or electromagnet...
's shape in nature. Today, Coil remains one of the most influential and best known industrial music
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
groups.
The group's first official release as Coil was a 1984 12" titled How to Destroy Angels released on the Belgian Les Disque de Crepuscule's sublabel LAYLAH Antirecords. Following the 12"s success, Coil produced a series of three albums, Scatology
Scatology (album)
Scatology is the first LP and a second album produced by Coil.Scatology was released in three different formats with two different covers...
, Horse Rotorvator
Horse Rotorvator
Horse Rotorvator is the second LP released by the British industrial group Coil. It was named one of the Top 100 Albums of the 1980s by Pitchfork Media who ranked it 73rd.-Editions:...
and Love's Secret Domain
Love's Secret Domain
Love's Secret Domain is the third album by Coil and was released in 1991. The album marked a departure from the brooding synthesizers and melodies of their first two albums, focusing more on acid house sampling. The singles released from the album were "Windowpane" and "The Snow"...
, which met with little commercial success, but were praised as innovative due to their blend of industrial music and acid house
Acid house
Acid house is a sub-genre of house music that emphasizes a repetitive, hypnotic and trance-like style, often with samples or spoken lines rather than sung lyrics. Acid house's core electronic squelch sounds were developed around the mid-1980s, particularly by DJs from Chicago who experimented with...
.
As early as 1985, the group began working on a series of soundtracks, amongst them music for the first Hellraiser
Hellraiser
Hellraiser is a 1987 British and American horror film based upon the novella The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker, who also wrote the screenplay and directed the film. Hellraiser explores themes of sadomasochism and morality under duress and fear. The film spawned a series of sequels...
movie based on the novel The Hellbound Heart by their acquaintance at that time, Clive Barker. In 1999 the group gave their first live performance in sixteen years (In New York City, both released on CD and DVD), and began a series of mini-tours which would last until 2004. Following the death of John Balance on 13 November 2004, Peter Christopherson announced via their official record label website Threshold House
Threshold House
Threshold House is one of several record labels created by Coil to release their own work and that of affiliated projects. Associated labels include Eskaton and Chalice. It is also the name for the ....
that Coil as an entity had ceased to exist.
Beginning (1982–1984)
Coil was formed in 1982 following Christopherson's departure from Psychic TVPsychic TV
Psychic TV or PTV, is a video art and music group that primarily performs psychedelic, punk, electronic and experimental music...
. Balance and Christopherson began working with John Gosling
John "Zos Kia" Gosling
-Biography:John Gosling , currently known as Mekon is a British big beat and Industrial musician and electronica producer....
on the project Zos Kia
Zos Kia
Zos Kia was a British musical group initially formed by John "Zos Kia" Gosling along with John Balance and Min...
, which resulted in four live performances and the 1984 cassette tape Transparent
Transparent (album)
Transparent is the first release by the band Coil. It was a collaboration with Zos Kia and credited to "Zos Kia/Coil".The cassette version was released in 1984 on Nekrophile Rekords with catalogue number NRC 05. The CD version was released in 1997 on the label "Threshold House" with catalogue...
. Following Gosling's departure Balance and Christopherson teamed up with Boyd Rice
Boyd Rice
Boyd Blake Rice is an American experimental sound/noise musician using the name of NON since the mid-1970s, archivist, actor, photographer, author, member of the Partridge Family Temple religious group, co-founder of the UNPOP art movement and current staff writer for Modern Drunkard...
, and under the alias Sickness of Snakes released the split album Nightmare Culture
Nightmare Culture
Nightmare Culture was a 12" split vinyl by Current 93 and Sickness Of Snakes. This was the only release for "Sickness Of Snakes" as members John Balance and Peter Christopherson formed Coil by the time this record was originally pressed...
with the experimental group Current 93
Current 93
Current 93 is an eclectic British experimental music group, working since the early 1980s in folk-based musical forms. The band was founded in 1982 by David Tibet .-Background:Tibet has been the only constant in the group, though Steven Stapleton has appeared on...
.
While working on their first official release, 1984's 12"How to Destroy Angels, the group settled on the name Coil. According to the sleeve notes, the single track LP
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
is "ritual music for the accumulation of male sexual energy" and was produced under a variety of technological, spiritual
Spirituality
Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...
, and meteorological conditions which the band felt to be magick
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
ally significant.
Since its initial release, Transparent has been reissued in CD format, while How to Destroy Angels has been remixed by Nurse with Wound
Nurse with Wound
Nurse with Wound is the main recording name for British musician Steven Stapleton. Nurse with Wound was originally a band, formed in 1978 by Stapleton, John Fothergill and Heman Pathak...
's Steven Stapleton
Steven Stapleton
Steven Peter Stapleton is a British musician and the only constant member of experimental improv outfit Nurse with Wound...
and released on a full length CD. Tracks from Nightmare Culture have featured on the group's Unnatural History compilation series.
Scatology, Horse Rotorvator, and Love's Secret Domain (1984–1992)
Following the underground hit How to Destroy Angels, Coil left L.A.Y.L.A.H. AntirecordsL.A.Y.L.A.H. Antirecords
L.A.Y.L.A.H. Antirecords is a defunct Belgian record label, started by Marc Monin, notable for releasing early work from several renowned industrial/experimental artists such as Coil, Nurse With Wound, Current 93 and Laibach. L.A.Y.L.A.H...
for Some Bizzare
Some Bizzare Records
Some Bizzare Records is a British independent record label owned by Stevo Pearce. The label was founded in 1981, with the release of Some Bizzare Album, a compilation of unsigned bands including Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, The The, Neu Electrikk and Blancmange.-1981-1989:One of the first bands that...
and produced Scatology
Scatology (album)
Scatology is the first LP and a second album produced by Coil.Scatology was released in three different formats with two different covers...
, released in 1984 as their first full length studio album. The album was largely based on the sound of industrial music
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
as well as the Post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
movement. While songs such as "Restless Day", "Panic" and "Tainted Love" are representative of a mainstream style, other tracks preview what would become Coil's unique electronic style. The single Panic/Tainted Love
Panic/Tainted Love
Panic/Tainted Love is a 12" released in 1985 - and later on in 1990, a CD - single by Coil.The Tainted Love section of the album includes a cover of the song "Tainted Love", originally performed by Gloria Jones and then to become popular again around 1981 after a synthpop cover-version was...
became the first AIDS benefit music release, as the profits from sales of the single were donated to the Terrence Higgins Trust
Terrence Higgins Trust
Terrence Higgins Trust is a British charity that campaigns on various issues related to AIDS and HIV. In particular, the charity aims to reduce the spread of HIV and promote good sexual health ; to provide services on a national and local level to people with, affected by, or at risk of...
. The "Tainted Love" music video, directed by Peter Christopherson, is on permanent display at The Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Horse Rotorvator
Horse Rotorvator
Horse Rotorvator is the second LP released by the British industrial group Coil. It was named one of the Top 100 Albums of the 1980s by Pitchfork Media who ranked it 73rd.-Editions:...
followed in 1986 as the next full length release. Although songs such as "The Anal Staircase" and "Circles of Mania" sound like evolved versions of Scatology material, the album is characterized by slower tempos, and represented a new direction for the group. The album has a darker theme than previous releases; according to Balance, "Horse Rotorvator was this vision I'd had of this mechanical/flesh thing that ploughed up the earth and I really did have a vision of it—a real horrible, burning, dripping, jaw-like vision in the night...The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are described in the last book of the New Testament of the Bible, called the Book of Revelation of Jesus Christ to Saint John the Evangelist at 6:1-8. The chapter tells of a "'book'/'scroll' in God's right hand that is sealed with seven seals"...
killed their horses and use their jawbones to make this huge earth-moving machine." The artwork features a photograph of the location of a notorious IRA
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
bombing, in which a bomb was detonated on a military orchestra pavilion. Horse Rotorvator was in part influenced by the AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
related deaths of some of their friends. Furthermore, the song "Ostia (The Death of Pasolini)", is about the mysterious death of Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pier Paolo Pasolini was an Italian film director, poet, writer, and intellectual. Pasolini distinguished himself as a poet, journalist, philosopher, linguist, novelist, playwright, filmmaker, newspaper and magazine columnist, actor, painter and political figure...
as well as what Balance described as "the number one suicide spot in the world", the white cliffs of Dover
White cliffs of Dover
The White Cliffs of Dover are cliffs which form part of the British coastline facing the Strait of Dover and France. The cliffs are part of the North Downs formation. The cliff face, which reaches up to , owes its striking façade to its composition of chalk accentuated by streaks of black flint...
. After the release of Horse Rotorvator Coil left Some Bizarre Records, due to the record company's debt of GB£
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
10,000 to the group. Gold Is the Metal with the Broadest Shoulders
Gold Is The Metal With The Broadest Shoulders
Gold Is the Metal with the Broadest Shoulders was the third album released by Coil in the year 1987. It is not a proper follow-up to 1986's Horse Rotorvator, but more a collection of outtakes and demos from the Scatology, Horse Rotorvator and Hellraiser soundtrack sessions...
followed as a full length release, marking the beginning of the label Threshold House
Threshold House
Threshold House is one of several record labels created by Coil to release their own work and that of affiliated projects. Associated labels include Eskaton and Chalice. It is also the name for the ....
; that album being described in the liner notes as "not the follow up to Horse Rotorvator but a completely separate package - a stopgap and a breathing space - the space between two twins," referring to Horse Rotorvator and Love's Secret Domain
Love's Secret Domain
Love's Secret Domain is the third album by Coil and was released in 1991. The album marked a departure from the brooding synthesizers and melodies of their first two albums, focusing more on acid house sampling. The singles released from the album were "Windowpane" and "The Snow"...
.
Love's Secret Domain
Love's Secret Domain
Love's Secret Domain is the third album by Coil and was released in 1991. The album marked a departure from the brooding synthesizers and melodies of their first two albums, focusing more on acid house sampling. The singles released from the album were "Windowpane" and "The Snow"...
(abbreviated LSD) followed in 1991 as the next "proper" Coil album, although a few minor releases had been produced since Horse Rotorvator. LSD represents a progression in Coil's style and became a template for what would be representative of newer waves of post-industrial music, blended with their own style of acid house
Acid house
Acid house is a sub-genre of house music that emphasizes a repetitive, hypnotic and trance-like style, often with samples or spoken lines rather than sung lyrics. Acid house's core electronic squelch sounds were developed around the mid-1980s, particularly by DJs from Chicago who experimented with...
. Although the album was more upbeat, it was not intended as a dance record, as Christopherson explained "I wouldn't say it's a party atmosphere, but it's more positive." "Windowpane
Windowpane (album)
Windowpane was a single released by the band Coil in 1990. It was released on 12" vinyl and CD. A video was created by Peter Christopherson for this song. "Windowpane" appears here truncated, missing the backwards vocals as they appear on the end of the song on Love's Secret Domain. The "Astral...
" and a Jack Dangers
Jack Dangers
Jack Dangers is an electronic musician, DJ, producer, and remixer best known for his work as the primary member of Meat Beat Manifesto. He lives in San Francisco.-Career:...
remix of "The Snow
The Snow
The Snow is a track by the British group Coil, available on the album Love's Secret Domain and also released as a 12" vinyl, cassette and CD EP. A music video of "The Snow " was directed by Peter Christopherson....
" were released as singles, both of which had music videos directed by Christopherson. The video for "Windowpane" was shot in the Golden Triangle
Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia)
The Golden Triangle is one of Asia's two main illicit opium-producing areas. It is an area of around that overlaps the mountains of four countries of Southeast Asia: Burma, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Along with Afghanistan in the Golden Crescent and Pakistan, it has been one of the most...
, where, Balance claimed, "the original Thai and Burmese drug barons used to exchange opium for gold bars with the CIA." Christopherson recalled "John [Balance] discovered while he was performing that where he was standing was quicksand! In the video you can actually see him getting deeper and deeper." Furthermore, Thai
Thai people
The Thai people, or Siamese, are the main ethnic group of Thailand and are part of the larger Tai ethnolinguistic peoples found in Thailand and adjacent countries in Southeast Asia as well as southern China. Their language is the Thai language, which is classified as part of the Kradai family of...
friends of the group commented that they had known of several people that died where Coil had shot footage for the music video. A music video for the song "Love's Secret Domain" was also shot and is currently unreleased and unaired due to its nature: as Christopherson explained, "We shot 'Love's Secret Domain' in a go-go boy bar in Bangkok; with John [Balance] performing on stage with about 20 or 30 dancing boys, which probably won't get played on MTV, in fact!" Stolen & Contaminated Songs
Stolen & Contaminated Songs
Stolen & Contaminated Songs was the first of two albums recorded and produced by the band Coil in 1992. This CD includes outtakes and unreleased songs from Love's Secret Domain album....
followed as a full length release. However, as with Gold Is the Metal..., it is a collection of outtakes and demos from the LSD era.
Soundtracks and side projects (1993–1998)
Coil separated their works into many side projects, publishing music under different names and a variety of styles. The pre-Coil aliases, Zos Kia and Sickness of Snakes, formed the foundation of a style that would evolve to characterize their initial wave of releases.Before embarking on their second wave of side projects and pseudonyms, Coil created a soundtrack for the movie Hellraiser
Hellraiser
Hellraiser is a 1987 British and American horror film based upon the novella The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker, who also wrote the screenplay and directed the film. Hellraiser explores themes of sadomasochism and morality under duress and fear. The film spawned a series of sequels...
, although they withdrew from the project when they suspected their music would not be used. Furthermore, Coil claimed inspiration for Pinhead
Pinhead (Hellraiser)
Pinhead is a fictional character from the Hellraiser series. Created by Clive Barker and portrayed by Doug Bradley, Pinhead is a prominent figure in the series, mostly featured as the main antagonist....
was partly drawn from the piercing magazines director Clive Barker
Clive Barker
Clive Barker is an English author, film director and visual artist best known for his work in both fantasy and horror fiction. Barker came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories which established him as a leading young horror writer...
borrowed from the group. Beginning in 1993, Coil contributed music to two of Derek Jarman
Derek Jarman
Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman was an English film director, stage designer, diarist, artist, gardener and author.-Life:...
's films, Blue
Blue (1993 film)
Blue is the twelfth and final feature film by director Derek Jarman, released four months before his death from AIDS-related complications...
and The Angelic Conversation
The Angelic Conversation (film)
The Angelic Conversation is a 1985 arthouse drama film directed by Derek Jarman. Its tone is set by the juxtaposition of slow moving photographic images and Shakespeare's sonnets read by Judi Dench...
. In addition, they recorded soundtracks for the documentary Gay Man's Guide to Safer Sex
Gay Man's Guide to Safer Sex
Gay Man's Guide To Safer Sex is the name of a safer sex instructional documentary produced by Mike Esser and Tony Carne of Pride Video in association with the Terrence Higgins Trust in 1992. The film was directed by David Lewis and featured a soundtrack by John Balance and Peter Christopherson of...
as well as Sarah Dales Sensuous Massage, though both remain unreleased.
Much like the pre-Coil aliases, Coil's wave of side projects represent a sort of primordial soup from which the group evolved a different style of sound. While Nasa Arab
Nasa Arab
Nasa Arab was the only release ever to be credited to "Coil Vs. The Eskaton". "The Eskaton", however, is Coil, so the release is basically, though not officially, just by Coil. The 12" release was limited to 2500 copies....
—credited to the group's project "The Eskaton"—was Coil's farewell to the acid house
Acid house
Acid house is a sub-genre of house music that emphasizes a repetitive, hypnotic and trance-like style, often with samples or spoken lines rather than sung lyrics. Acid house's core electronic squelch sounds were developed around the mid-1980s, particularly by DJs from Chicago who experimented with...
genre, the following projects, ELpH
Born Again Pagans
Born Again Pagans was the only release attributed to "Coil Vs. ELpH", though another album Worship The Glitch would be attributed to "ELpH Vs. Coil". "ELpH" is a name that Coil used for a few releases, so this CD is basically, though not officially, a Coil release. In the CD booklet track one is...
, Black Light District
A Thousand Lights In A Darkened Room
A Thousand Lights In A Darkened Room is the only release by the group Black Light District. Although this is not an official Coil release, "Black Light District" was merely an alias for the group...
, and Time Machines
Time Machines
Time Machines is Coil's landmark drone music album, released under the alias Time Machines. It consists of four tracks which are composed of a single tone, called a drone. Each tone represents a certain hallucinogenic chemical...
, were all based heavily on experimentation with drone
Drone music
Drone music is a minimalist musical style that emphasizes the use of sustained or repeated sounds, notes, or tone-clusters – called drones. It is typically characterized by lengthy audio programs with relatively slight harmonic variations throughout each piece compared to other musics...
, an ingredient which would define Coil's following work. These releases also kicked off the start of Coil's new label Eskaton
Eskaton
Eskaton is a defunct vanity record label created by Coil, exclusively for albums put out by the group and their friends. Its brother labels are Threshold House and Chalice....
.
Late Coil (1998–2004)
After the wave of experimental side projects, Coil's sound was completely redefined. Before releasing new material, the group released the compilations Unnatural History IIUnnatural History II
Unnatural History II was the second in a series of three compilation albums by Coil. Unlike Stolen & Contaminated Songs and Gold Is The Metal With The Broadest Shoulders, Unnatural History II collects songs from more than a single era of Coil's work.-Compilation origins:"Red Weather" originally...
, Windowpane & The Snow
Windowpane & The Snow
Windowpane & The Snow was a CD released by the band Coil. This release compiles the two EPs, Windowpane and The Snow. The original versions of the songs "Windowpane" and "The Snow" appear on the album Love's Secret Domain....
and Unnatural History III
Unnatural History III
Unnatural History III was the third in a series of three compilation albums by Coil. Unlike Stolen & Contaminated Songs and Gold Is the Metal with the Broadest Shoulders, Unnatural History III collects songs from more than a single era of Coil's work...
. In March 1998, Coil began to release a series of four singles which were timed to coincide with the equinox
Equinox
An equinox occurs twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the center of the Sun being in the same plane as the Earth's equator...
and solstice
Solstice
A solstice is an astronomical event that happens twice each year when the Sun's apparent position in the sky, as viewed from Earth, reaches its northernmost or southernmost extremes...
s of that year. The singles are characterized by slow, drone-like instrumental rhythms, and electronic or orchestral instrumentation. The first single, Spring Equinox: Moon's Milk or Under an Unquiet Skull
Spring Equinox: Moon's Milk or Under an Unquiet Skull
Spring Equinox: Moon's Milk or Under an Unquiet Skull is part one of the four part Seasons collective created by Coil. A first edition, released on spring equinox 1998, consisted of a limited 7" of 1000 copies on milky white vinyl and 55 copies on yellow vinyl and a CD-EP, which was deleted on...
, featured two versions of the same song, the second version of which included an electric viola contribution from a newly inducted member, William Breeze
William Breeze
William Breeze was born in Paris, France on 12 August 1955 and is an American musician and occultist, best known as a member of Coil and as the current international leader of Ordo Templi Orientis...
. The second single, Summer Solstice: Bee Stings
Summer Solstice: Bee Stings
Summer Solstice: Bee Stings is part two of the four part Seasons collective created by Coil.The 7" was limited to 1300 copies on honey yellow vinyl and 50 copies on green vinyl. the CD version was unlimited, but deleted on autumn equinox 1998, when the third part of the series was released...
, also featured performances by Breeze, and also included the industrial
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
-noise
Noise music
Noise music is a term used to describe varieties of avant-garde music and sound art that may use elements such as cacophony, dissonance, atonality, noise, indeterminacy, and repetition in their realization. Noise music can feature distortion, various types of acoustically or electronically...
song "A Warning from the Sun (For Fritz)", which was dedicated to a friend of Balance and Christopherson's who had committed suicide earlier that year. The third single, Autumn Equinox: Amethyst Deceivers
Autumn Equinox: Amethyst Deceivers
Autumn Equinox: Amethyst Deceivers is part three of the four part Seasons collective created by Coil.This was first released on autumn equinox 1998 as a limited edition of 1000 7" on dark red vinyl and 40 copies on light blue vinyl. the cdep release was unlimited, but deleted on winter solstice...
includes the track "Rosa Decidua" which features vocals by Rose McDowall
Rose McDowall
Rose McDowall is a Scottish musician, most notably as a vocalist in the pop band Strawberry Switchblade.-History:...
. The single also features the song "Amethyst Deceivers
Amethyst Deceivers
Amethyst Deceivers is a song by Coil which appears on several of their releases. The name refers to a type of mushroom, Laccaria amethystea.*1998 Autumn Equinox: Amethyst Deceivers - Original release of the song....
", later reworked and performed throughout most of Coil's tour, and eventually re-made into an alternate version on the LP The Ape of Naples
The Ape Of Naples
The Ape of Naples is the final album from Coil. It was released after the death of lead vocalist John Balance, who died on 13 November 2004. The title of this album was originally intended to be "Fire of the Mind"....
. The fourth single, Winter Solstice: North
Winter Solstice: North (album)
Winter Solstice: North is the final release of the four part seasons collective created by Coil. Vocalists Rose McDowall and Robert Lee contribute to the song "Christmas Is Now Drawing Near", a traditional Catholic song. The song features Rosa Mundi....
, also includes a track sung by Rose McDowall, and is partially credited to the side project Rosa Mundi
Rosa Mundi
Rosa Mundi was the name of a very short lived electronic music supergroup which consisted of Rose McDowall, John Balance and possibly Peter Christopherson. The group is only credited for one song, "The Snow Man" which appeared on the compilations The Final Solstice, The Final Solstice II as well as...
. The series would later be re-released as the double-CD set Moon's Milk (In Four Phases).
Astral Disaster
Astral Disaster
Astral Disaster is an album by Coil, which has been released in two distinct versions.The original pressing of the album was released in an edition of 99 copies on 12" vinyl via the record label Acme/Prescription with catalogue number Drug 8...
was created with the assistance from new band member Thighpaulsandra
Thighpaulsandra
Thighpaulsandra is a Welsh experimental musician and multi-instrumentalist known mostly for performing on synthesizers and keyboards. As Tim Lewis, he began his career working with Julian Cope. A collaboration with Cope in 1993 followed, as the experimental duo Queen Elizabeth...
and released in January 1999 via Sun Dial
Sun Dial
Sun Dial is a British space rock band formed in 1990 by Gary Ramon.-History:The precursor to Sun Dial was Ramon's the Modern Art, formed in the mid-'80s with a loose lineup that never played gigs but did see the release of two studio albums...
member Gary Ramon's label Prescription. Although the album was initially limited to just 99 copies, it would later be re-released in substantially different form. Musick To Play In The Dark Vol. 1
Musick To Play In The Dark Vol. 1
Musick to Play in the Dark Vol. 1 is a CD in its third pressing, as well as a 12" vinyl, by Coil.Musick to Play in the Dark Vol. 1 was one of two albums attributed purely to a style called "moon music", which signified their change from a "solar" to a "moon" group. Musick to Play in the Dark Vol. 2...
followed in September 1999 and a few months later Coil performed their first concert in 16 years. Queens Of The Circulating Library
Queens Of The Circulating Library
Queens of the Circulating Library is a 2000 album by the experimental British group Coil. It is unusual in the sense that it is perhaps the only release without participation from Peter Christopherson. On this album, Coil were: "Thighpaulsandra & John Balance with Dorothy Lewis as the queen of the...
followed in April 2000, with production credit given to Thighpaulsandra. The single track, full length drone album is the only Coil release without the assistance of Christopherson. Musick To Play In The Dark Vol. 2
Musick To Play In The Dark Vol. 2
Musick to Play in the Dark Vol. 2 is an album by Coil currently in its third pressing in CD format; it was also released in double 12" vinyl format....
followed in September 2000 and Coil began to perform live heavily, writing the music for Black Antlers
Black Antlers
Black Antlers was originally released in CD-R format by Coil in 2004 in a limited edition. The album was later re-edited by Peter Christopherson and expanded to include a second CD of two new tracks, as well as a new track on the first disc. The second edition was released in 2006 August on the...
in between a series of mini-tours. Coil also released a series of live albums around this time. Constant Shallowness Leads To Evil
Constant Shallowness Leads To Evil
Constant Shallowness Leads To Evil is a CD by Coil, released the same year as Queens of the Circulating Library. Like Queens, this album comes packaged in a pink c-shell case....
, a noise
Noise music
Noise music is a term used to describe varieties of avant-garde music and sound art that may use elements such as cacophony, dissonance, atonality, noise, indeterminacy, and repetition in their realization. Noise music can feature distortion, various types of acoustically or electronically...
-driven experimental album reminiscent of Christopherson's work with Throbbing Gristle
Throbbing Gristle
Throbbing Gristle were an English industrial, avant-garde music and visual arts group that evolved from the performance art group COUM Transmissions...
, was first sold at a live performance in September 2000. Coil finally released Black Antlers
Black Antlers
Black Antlers was originally released in CD-R format by Coil in 2004 in a limited edition. The album was later re-edited by Peter Christopherson and expanded to include a second CD of two new tracks, as well as a new track on the first disc. The second edition was released in 2006 August on the...
in June 2004.
In contrast to many of their earlier releases, Coil's later material is characterized by a slower sound which relies more on drone
Drone music
Drone music is a minimalist musical style that emphasizes the use of sustained or repeated sounds, notes, or tone-clusters – called drones. It is typically characterized by lengthy audio programs with relatively slight harmonic variations throughout each piece compared to other musics...
than acid house
Acid house
Acid house is a sub-genre of house music that emphasizes a repetitive, hypnotic and trance-like style, often with samples or spoken lines rather than sung lyrics. Acid house's core electronic squelch sounds were developed around the mid-1980s, particularly by DJs from Chicago who experimented with...
. This change in sound was reflected in their live performances, as songs like "Ostia" and "Slur" were slowed down from their original pace as well as re-recordings of "Teenage Lightning" and "Amethyst Deceivers" which were later released on The Ape Of Naples
The Ape Of Naples
The Ape of Naples is the final album from Coil. It was released after the death of lead vocalist John Balance, who died on 13 November 2004. The title of this album was originally intended to be "Fire of the Mind"....
.
Coil Live
Coil's live incarnation has a distinct legacy of its own. The first live shows took place in 1983, but after only four performances, fifteen years would pass before they would play live again.Coil performed twice at the Royal Festival Hall in 1998 (as part of a weekend curated by Julian Cope) when they first performed as the full band line-up - and the first time for the "fluffy suits" - the show was called 'Time Machines' at that point - then again in 2000 as part of the "Outro" week I curated for my departure from the South Bank - that time sharing a bill with Jim Thirlwell (as Foetus
Foetus (band)
Foetus is the primary musical outlet of industrial music pioneer J. G. Thirlwell. Until 1995 the band underwent various name changes, all including the word foetus. Monikers adopted at different times include Foetus Under Glass, You've Got Foetus On Your Breath and Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel...
). Both performances were full sets.
On 14 December 1999 Coil performed elph.zwölf
Elph.zwölf
elph.zwölf is one of two releases credited purely to ELpH, although the name is merely an alias for the group Coil. This CD was number twelve in the series 20' to 2000, published on the German label Raster-Noton....
at Volksbuehne in Berlin. Although the performance lasted just under eighteen minutes, it marked the beginning of a new era of live performances. Coil would go on to perform close to fifty additional concerts, with varied set list
Set list
A set list, or setlist, is a document that lists the songs that a band or musical artist intends to play, or has played, during a specific concert performance...
s as well as performers.
Coil's performances were surrealistic visually and audibly. Balance, Christopherson, Thighpaulsandra and Ossian Brown were known to dress in fluffy suits; an idea inspired by Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra was a prolific jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his "cosmic philosophy," musical compositions and performances. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama...
. The suits would later be used as album covers for the release Live One; other costumes appear on the covers of Live Two
Live Two
Live Two was a CD by Coil which documents their live performance on 15 September 2001 at DK Gorbunova in Moscow, Russia. This CD was one of four releases in a series. Its counterparts are Live Four, Live Three and Live One...
and Live Three
Live Three
Live Three was a CD by Coil which documents their live performance on 6 April 2002 at Teatro delle Celebrazioni in Bologna, Italy. This CD was one of four releases in a series. Its counterparts are Live Four, Live Two and Live One...
(straitjacket and mirror-chested hooded jumpsuit respectively). Video screens projected footage and animations created by Christopherson, while fog machines created a thick eerie atmosphere. Balance would often screech and howl during performances, which would add to the effect.
John Balance's problem with alcohol would often reflect the way in which the Coil performances were carried out. His drinking problem became so well known that during the 2003 All Tomorrow's Parties
All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)
All Tomorrow's Parties is a music festival which takes place at Camber Sands holiday camp in East Sussex and Butlin's holiday camp in Minehead, Somerset, England....
performance a fan asked if there is any "blood in his alcohol", a reference to the Coil song "Heartworms". Balance replied that there is no "alcohol in my blood at the moment", later adding "I've got horse tranquillizer
Ketamine
Ketamine is a drug used in human and veterinary medicine. Its hydrochloride salt is sold as Ketanest, Ketaset, and Ketalar. Pharmacologically, ketamine is classified as an NMDA receptor antagonist...
for later". The performance, including the dialogue, was released on ...And The Ambulance Died In His Arms
...And the Ambulance Died in His Arms
...And the Ambulance Died in His Arms was an album recorded live during Coil's performance at All Tomorrow's Parties on April 4, 2003. This album was the last planned release by Coil before the death of John Balance...
.
Many Coil performances were released, including the widely available releases of Live Four
Live Four
Live Four was a compilation CD of live Coil songs. This CD was the first of four releases in a series. Its counterparts are Live Three, Live Two and Live One. This album was later released as part of Coil's box set The Key To Joy Is Disobedience.The performance dates for "Bang Bang" and "An...
, Live Three
Live Three
Live Three was a CD by Coil which documents their live performance on 6 April 2002 at Teatro delle Celebrazioni in Bologna, Italy. This CD was one of four releases in a series. Its counterparts are Live Four, Live Two and Live One...
, Live Two
Live Two
Live Two was a CD by Coil which documents their live performance on 15 September 2001 at DK Gorbunova in Moscow, Russia. This CD was one of four releases in a series. Its counterparts are Live Four, Live Three and Live One...
, Live One and ...And The Ambulance Died In His Arms
...And the Ambulance Died in His Arms
...And the Ambulance Died in His Arms was an album recorded live during Coil's performance at All Tomorrow's Parties on April 4, 2003. This album was the last planned release by Coil before the death of John Balance...
, as well as several very limited editions such as Selvaggina, Go Back Into The Woods
Selvaggina, Go Back Into The Woods
Selvaggina, Go Back Into The Woods was originally released in CD-R format by Coil in a limited edition of 230 copies. The release is a live performance in Jesi, Italy on 11 June 2004...
and Megalithomania!
Megalithomania!
Megalithomania! was an official CD-R release by Coil limited to a pressing of 230 copies, 123 of which were available in their box set The Key To Joy Is Disobedience...
. Video recordings of several concerts were released on the DVD box set Colour Sound Oblivion in 2010.
Coil's final performance was at DEAF (Dublin Electronic Arts Festival), Dublin City Hall in Ireland.
Deaths of John Balance & Peter Christopherson
John Balance died on 13 November 2004 after having fallen from a second floor landing in his home. Peter Christopherson announced Balance's death on the Threshold House website and provided details surrounding the tragedy. Balance's memorial service was held near Bristol on November 23 and was attended by approximately 100 people. On 25 November 2004 Christopherson announced he was in agreement with Balance's partner, Ian Johnstone, that any releases, either as Coil or solo work that Balance was working on at the time of his death, would be put on hold. They decided that time was needed to mourn Balance's passing, recuperate from the loss, and assess the quality of the unreleased work. It was also decided that existing video, audio and other works that were in various states of completion at the time of Balance's death would eventually be released under the name Coil, and all other planned appearances and releases would be canceled. The already-planned live album ...And The Ambulance Died In His Arms...And the Ambulance Died in His Arms
...And the Ambulance Died in His Arms was an album recorded live during Coil's performance at All Tomorrow's Parties on April 4, 2003. This album was the last planned release by Coil before the death of John Balance...
was released in April 2005, the name having been chosen by Balance before his death.
Several tribute albums were released in memory of Balance including the compilations Full Cold Moon, The Loneliest Link In A Very Strange Chain (which had been started before Balance passed and was originally due to be called "Never", but switched titles after the tragic event), Coilectif: In memory ov John Balance and homage to Coil
Rotorelief
Rotorelief is a record label for artists with record pressings, fine art and graphic arts editions in any format. The label seeks to propose unexpected artists and concepts, often hard to classify in the industrial and experimental fields....
, ...It Just Is and X-Rated: The Dark Files. The album How He Loved The Moon (Moonsongs For Jhonn Balance)
How He Loved the Moon (Moonsongs for Jhonn Balance)
How He Loved The Moon is a 2005 tribute album to John Balance by the English group, Current 93.-2X12":Limited edition of 1200 copies pressed on black vinyl. Packaged in a full-color gatefold sleeve and printed inner sleeves....
by Balance collaborator David Tibet
David Tibet
David Tibet is a British poet and artist who founded the music group Current 93, of which he is the only full-time member. He had earlier collaborated with Psychic TV and 23 Skidoo...
was released under his group Current 93
Current 93
Current 93 is an eclectic British experimental music group, working since the early 1980s in folk-based musical forms. The band was founded in 1982 by David Tibet .-Background:Tibet has been the only constant in the group, though Steven Stapleton has appeared on...
. A live album
Live December 2004 A Souvenir of Camber Sands
Live December 2004 A Souvenir Of Camber Sands is a live album by Throbbing Gristle released on the night of the performance. The performance and CD are both dedicated to John Balance who died in November 2004. The CD-R set was on sale minutes after Throbbing Gristle finished performing. Leftovers...
by Throbbing Gristle
Throbbing Gristle
Throbbing Gristle were an English industrial, avant-garde music and visual arts group that evolved from the performance art group COUM Transmissions...
was also dedicated to Balance. On 23 December 2005, a memorial concert was held for Balance. Performers included Christopherson's new solo effort The Threshold HouseBoy's Choir
The Threshold HouseBoy's Choir
The Threshold HouseBoys Choir was a musical guise for Peter Christopherson, announced in 2005 as a follow up endeavor to his former group Coil. Despite the name, it was a solo project which relied heavily on computer generated vocals, of which he was formally credited as the "director." The name...
, Alec Empire
Alec Empire
Alec Empire is a German musician who is best known as a founding member of the band Atari Teenage Riot. Also a prolific and distinguished solo artist, producer and DJ, he has released well over a hundred albums, EPs and singles and remixed over seventy tracks for various artists including Björk...
and CoH
CoH (musician)
CoH is the musical alias of Ivan Pavlov , a Russian-born sound artist and engineer. He has lived in Sweden since 1995. After Pavlov moved to Sweden, he adopted the alias CoH which can be read in Cyrillic as well as in Latin alphabet and means in Russian sleep or dream...
.
The final studio album, The Ape of Naples, saw release on 2 December 2005. In August 2006 the rare CD-R releases The Remote Viewer
The Remote Viewer
The Remote Viewer was originally released in CD-R format by Coil. The three track album was released in 2002 May in an edition of 500 copies. The initial three copies were signed and numbered, then auctioned off. The album was later re-edited by Peter Christopherson and expanded to include a second...
and Black Antlers were "sympathetically remastered" and expanded into two disc versions, which included new and recently remixed material. A comprehensive 16-DVD boxset, titled Colour Sound Oblivion was released in July 2010. A "Patron Edition" was pre-orderable in November 2009 and was sold out in three hours. Christopherson had also discussed the possibility of releasing Coil's entire back catalogue on a single Blu-ray disc.
In November 2006, the official Coil website posted the following announcement: "Following the success of Thai pressings of The Remote Viewer and Black Antlers, and after many requests, we are planning to expand the CD catalog still further." A few days later Duplais Balance
Duplais Balance
Duplais Balance is a box set by Coil, first available for preorder in November and offered for sale in "mid December". The box set was produced in a limited edition of 250 .According to the official merchant, the box set contains the following:...
and Moon's Milk In Six Phases were announced. Furthermore, an expanded vinyl version of The Ape Of Naples, which includes the album The New Backwards
The New Backwards
Backwards was a studio bootleg recording by Coil. The origin of the source of "Backwards" is believed to have been a leak of the studio demo, in the form of a cassette . However, the entire demo was broadcast when Dutch Radio4, a radio station in Amsterdam, had Coil as in studio guests to coincide...
has been released and a two disc version of Time Machines
Time Machines
Time Machines is Coil's landmark drone music album, released under the alias Time Machines. It consists of four tracks which are composed of a single tone, called a drone. Each tone represents a certain hallucinogenic chemical...
has been announced.
Six years after the death of John Balance, Peter Christopherson died in his sleep on November 24, 2010.
Limited editions
Coil's distribution and marketing techniques sometimes included releasing a limited number of albums making them collectors' items among devotees. Including things such as "art objects", blood stains and sigilSigil (magic)
A sigil is a symbol created for a specific magical purpose. A sigil is usually made up of a complex combination of several specific symbols or geometric figures, each with a specific meaning or intent.- Name and origin :...
-like autographs in the packaging of their albums, Coil claimed that this made their work more personal for true fans, turning their records into something akin to occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
artifacts. This practice was markedly increased in the later half of Coil's career. However, Balance expressed interest in having regular Coil albums in every shop that wanted them. Some critics have accused Coil and its record company of price gouging
Price gouging
Price gouging is a pejorative term referring to a situation in which a seller prices goods or commodities much higher than is considered reasonable or fair. In precise, legal usage, it is the name of a crime that applies in some of the United States during civil emergencies...
. In 2003, Coil began re-releasing many rare works, mostly remixed, into general circulation. They also launched a download service, where a large amount of their out-of-print music is available.
Instruments and creative methods
Coil incorporated many exotic and rare instruments into their recordings and performances. The group expressed particular interest in modular synthesizerModular synthesizer
The modular synthesizer is a type of synthesizer consisting of separate specialized modules connected by wires to create a so-called patch. Every output generates a signal – an electric voltage of variable strength...
s, including the Moog synthesizer
Moog synthesizer
Moog synthesizer may refer to any number of analog synthesizers designed by Dr. Robert Moog or manufactured by Moog Music, and is commonly used as a generic term for older-generation analog music synthesizers. The Moog company pioneered the commercial manufacture of modular voltage-controlled...
. Coil are among the few artists who have been granted permission to use the one-of-a-kind experimental ANS photoelectronic synthesizer
ANS synthesizer
The ANS synthesizer is a photoelectronic musical instrument created by Russian engineer Evgeny Murzin from 1937 to 1957. The technological basis of his invention was the method of graphical sound recording used in cinematography , which made it possible to obtain a visible image of a sound wave, as...
(see ANS
ANS (box)
ANS is an box set created and produced by Coil. The album uses a strange and esoteric photoelectric synthesizer known as the ANS synthesizer. It was built around half a century ago and still to this day sits where it was originally conceived; in the Moscow State University...
). Other instruments the group incorporated into their music included the theremin
Theremin
The theremin , originally known as the aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device...
and electronic shakuhachi
Shakuhachi
The is a Japanese end-blown flute. It is traditionally made of bamboo, but versions now exist in ABS and hardwoods. It was used by the monks of the Fuke school of Zen Buddhism in the practice of...
. During Coil's later period, marimba
Marimba
The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys ...
player Tom Edwards joined the group and performed on the live albums Live Two
Live Two
Live Two was a CD by Coil which documents their live performance on 15 September 2001 at DK Gorbunova in Moscow, Russia. This CD was one of four releases in a series. Its counterparts are Live Four, Live Three and Live One...
and Live Three
Live Three
Live Three was a CD by Coil which documents their live performance on 6 April 2002 at Teatro delle Celebrazioni in Bologna, Italy. This CD was one of four releases in a series. Its counterparts are Live Four, Live Two and Live One...
, as well as on the studio album The Ape of Naples
The Ape Of Naples
The Ape of Naples is the final album from Coil. It was released after the death of lead vocalist John Balance, who died on 13 November 2004. The title of this album was originally intended to be "Fire of the Mind"....
.
Coil utilized techniques such as the cut-up technique
Cut-up technique
The cut-up technique is an aleatory literary technique in which a text is cut up and rearranged to create a new text. Most commonly, cut-ups are used to offer a non-linear alternative to traditional reading and writing....
, ritual drug use
Recreational drug use
Recreational drug use is the use of a drug, usually psychoactive, with the intention of creating or enhancing recreational experience. Such use is controversial, however, often being considered to be also drug abuse, and it is often illegal...
, sleep deprivation
Sleep deprivation
Sleep deprivation is the condition of not having enough sleep; it can be either chronic or acute. A chronic sleep-restricted state can cause fatigue, daytime sleepiness, clumsiness and weight loss or weight gain. It adversely affects the brain and cognitive function. Few studies have compared the...
, lucid dreaming
Lucid dreaming
A lucid dream is a dream in which one is aware that one is dreaming. The term was coined by the Dutch psychiatrist and writer Frederik van Eeden . In a lucid dream, the dreamer can actively participate in and manipulate imaginary experiences in the dream environment. Lucid dreams can seem real and...
, sidereal sound, granular synthesis
Granular synthesis
Granular synthesis is a basic sound synthesis method that operates on the microsound time scale.It is based on the same principle as sampling. However, the samples are not played back conventionally, but are instead split into small pieces of around 1 to 50ms. These small pieces are called grains...
, tidal shifts, John Dee
John Dee (mathematician)
John Dee was an English mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, occultist, navigator, imperialist and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I. He devoted much of his life to the study of alchemy, divination and Hermetic philosophy....
-like methods of scrying
Scrying
Scrying is a magic practice that involves seeing things psychically in a medium, usually for purposes of obtaining spiritual visions and less often for purposes of divination or fortune-telling. The most common media used are reflective, translucent, or luminescent substances such as crystals,...
, instrument glitches
Glitch (music)
Glitch is a term used to describe a genre of electronic music that emerged in the mid to late 1990s. The glitch aesthetic is characterized by a deliberate use of glitch based sonic artifacts that would normally be viewed as unwanted disturbances reducing the overall sound quality and are thus...
, SETI
SETI
The search for extraterrestrial intelligence is the collective name for a number of activities people undertake to search for intelligent extraterrestrial life. Some of the most well known projects are run by the SETI Institute. SETI projects use scientific methods to search for intelligent life...
synchronization and the chaos theory
Chaos theory
Chaos theory is a field of study in mathematics, with applications in several disciplines including physics, economics, biology, and philosophy. Chaos theory studies the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, an effect which is popularly referred to as the...
.
Religious views
Coil had many associations with PaganPaganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
beliefs and were sometimes labeled satanic
Satanism
Satanism is a group of religions that is composed of a diverse number of ideological and philosophical beliefs and social phenomena. Their shared feature include symbolic association with, admiration for the character of, and even veneration of Satan or similar rebellious, promethean, and...
. John Balance explicitly referred to himself as a "Born Again Pagan" and described his Paganism as a "spirituality within nature."
Peter Christopherson, however, described the beliefs of Coil as unassociated: "We don't follow any particular religious dogma. In fact, quite the reverse, we tend to discourage the following of dogmas, or false prophets, as it were. And we don't have a very sympathetic view of Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
s up to this point. The thing we follow is our own noses; I don't mean in a chemical sense."
Members and style
Coil's worked in such genres as industrialIndustrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
, noise
Noise music
Noise music is a term used to describe varieties of avant-garde music and sound art that may use elements such as cacophony, dissonance, atonality, noise, indeterminacy, and repetition in their realization. Noise music can feature distortion, various types of acoustically or electronically...
, 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 dark ambient
Dark ambient
Dark ambient is a subgenre of ambient music that features foreboding, ominous, or discordant overtones. Although it had its roots in the 1970s, Dark ambient emerged in the 1980s and 1990s with the introduction of newer, smaller, and more affordable Effects units, synthesizer and sampling technology...
, neo-folk, spoken word
Spoken word
Spoken word is a form of poetry that often uses alliterated prose or verse and occasionally uses metered verse to express social commentary. Traditionally it is in the first person, is from the poet’s point of view and is themed in current events....
, drone music
Drone music
Drone music is a minimalist musical style that emphasizes the use of sustained or repeated sounds, notes, or tone-clusters – called drones. It is typically characterized by lengthy audio programs with relatively slight harmonic variations throughout each piece compared to other musics...
, and minimalism, creating what Balance explicitly referred to as "magick
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
al music". Balance described the early Coil work as "solar" and the later work as "moon musick".
John Balance
John Balance
John Balance , born in Mansfield, England, was the founder of the experimental music group Coil, along with his partner Peter Christopherson...
was the founder of Coil and was the primary vocalist and composer of Coil's music. Peter Christopherson
Peter Christopherson
Peter Martin Christopherson, a.k.a. Sleazy was a musician, video director and designer, and former member of the influential British design agency Hipgnosis....
was the chief producer. William Breeze
William Breeze
William Breeze was born in Paris, France on 12 August 1955 and is an American musician and occultist, best known as a member of Coil and as the current international leader of Ordo Templi Orientis...
was Coil's electric viola player between 1997 and 2000. Ossian Brown
Ossian Brown
Ossian Brown is an English musician and artist.Brown is notable for being a full time member of the music groups Coil and Cyclobe.Ossian Brown's first book 'Haunted Air' was published in 2010 by Jonathan Cape in the United Kingdom, with an introduction by David Lynch and an afterword by Geoff...
had been a Coil collaborator since about 1992 and joined the group in 2000, touring extensively with them and working on several recordings up until the final Coil album The Ape Of Naples. Tom Edwards participated in Coil's live incarnation, and was Coil's marimba
Marimba
The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys ...
player from 2000 on. John Gosling
John "Zos Kia" Gosling
-Biography:John Gosling , currently known as Mekon is a British big beat and Industrial musician and electronica producer....
performed with the initial live incarnation of Coil and on Transparent
Transparent (album)
Transparent is the first release by the band Coil. It was a collaboration with Zos Kia and credited to "Zos Kia/Coil".The cassette version was released in 1984 on Nekrophile Rekords with catalogue number NRC 05. The CD version was released in 1997 on the label "Threshold House" with catalogue...
. Danny Hyde
Danny Hyde
Danny Hyde is an experimental musician and renowned remix artist. Hyde has contributed to production and mixing on many Coil albums, including Horse Rotorvator, Love's Secret Domain, The Remote Viewer, Black Antlers, and The New Backwards. Hyde has also worked with Psychic TV and Pop Will Eat Itself...
has been a Coil collaborator since the beginning and throughout most of the group's career. His contributions include production and co-writing some material. Massimo & Pierce of Black Sun Productions
Black Sun Productions
Black Sun Productions is the project of sound, visual and performance artists & activists Massimo & Pierce.-Biography:Black Sun Productions is the project of sound, visual and performance "artivists" Massimo & Pierce, also known as the Anarcocks....
were members of Coil Live in 2002. However, they were stage performers, never contributing musically other than reading the poetic introduction to "Ostia" during live performances. Drew McDowall
Drew McDowall
Drew McDowall is a Scottish musician, most notably as a member, collaborator and remixer for influential music groups...
began collaborating with Coil in 1990 and was officially inducted in 1995. He left the group sometime between 1999 and 2000. Drew's ex-wife, Rose McDowall, provided vocals for several Coil tracks including "Wrong Eye", "Rosa Decidua" and "Christmas Is Now Drawing Near". She also collaborated with Coil for the short lived project Rosa Mundi
Rosa Mundi
Rosa Mundi was the name of a very short lived electronic music supergroup which consisted of Rose McDowall, John Balance and possibly Peter Christopherson. The group is only credited for one song, "The Snow Man" which appeared on the compilations The Final Solstice, The Final Solstice II as well as...
. Cliff Stapleton played Hurdy Gurdy on several live performances, but also in the studio for Coil at various points throughout the 2000s. Thighpaulsandra
Thighpaulsandra
Thighpaulsandra is a Welsh experimental musician and multi-instrumentalist known mostly for performing on synthesizers and keyboards. As Tim Lewis, he began his career working with Julian Cope. A collaboration with Cope in 1993 followed, as the experimental duo Queen Elizabeth...
became an official member on 26 January 1999 and participated until the final album, The Ape Of Naples. Most notably, he created the entire instrumental for the album Queens Of The Circulating Library. Jim Thirlwell was a member during the Scatology era. Stephen Thrower
Stephen Thrower
Stephen Thrower is an English musician and author.Formerly a member of the music group Coil , his current music project is Cyclobe, with Ossian Brown...
worked as a full time member of Coil from 1987 to 1992. Mike York was part of the Coil Live
Coil Live
Experimental music group Coil's live incarnation has a distinct legacy of its own. The initial performances took place in 1983, however they stopped playing live for 16 years after a mere four performances. The first Coil release, a collaboration with Zos Kia titled Transparent, includes a track...
collective for a limited time.
Influence
Although Coil expressed interest in many musical groups, they rarely, if ever, claimed to be influenced by them. Coil explicitly stated the influence of such non-musical sources as William Burroughs, Aleister CrowleyAleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley , born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and The Great Beast, was an influential English occultist, astrologer, mystic and ceremonial magician, responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. He was also successful in various other...
, Bryon Gysin and Austin Spare. Furthermore, the group were friends with Burroughs and owned some of Spare's original artwork.
John Balance encouraged fans to trade, discuss and discover new and different forms of music, stressing the importance of variety. Music that Coil expressed interest in is diverse and wide-ranging, from musique concrète
Musique concrète
Musique concrète is a form of electroacoustic music that utilises acousmatic sound as a compositional resource. The compositional material is not restricted to the inclusion of sounds derived from musical instruments or voices, nor to elements traditionally thought of as "musical"...
to folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
to hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
to classical. Among the musicians Coil expressed interest in were early electronic, experimental and minimalistic artists: Harry Partch
Harry Partch
Harry Partch was an American composer and instrument creator. He was one of the first twentieth-century composers to work extensively and systematically with microtonal scales, writing much of his music for custom-made instruments that he built himself, tuned in 11-limit just intonation.-Early...
, La Monte Young
La Monte Young
La Monte Thornton Young is an American avant-garde composer, musician, and artist.Young is generally recognized as the first minimalist composer. His works have been included among the most important and radical post-World War II avant-garde, experimental, and contemporary music. Young is...
, Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
(once referred to by Balance as "an honorary member of Coil"), Alvin Lucier
Alvin Lucier
Alvin Lucier is an American composer of experimental music and sound installations that explore acoustic phenomena and auditory perception. A long-time music professor at Wesleyan University, Lucier was a member of the influential Sonic Arts Union, which included Robert Ashley, David Behrman, and...
, and Arvo Pärt
Arvo Pärt
Arvo Pärt is an Estonian classical composer and one of the most prominent living composers of sacred music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs his self-made compositional technique, tintinnabuli. His music also finds its inspiration and influence from...
. Coil also expressed interest in krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
groups including Cluster
Cluster (band)
Cluster is a German experimental musical group who influenced the development of contemporary popular electronic and ambient music. They have recorded albums in a wide variety of styles ranging from experimental music to progressive rock, all of which had an avant-garde edge. Cluster has been...
, Amon Düül II
Amon Düül II
-Studio Albums:-Live Albums:-Compilations:-Singles:-External links:*...
, Can
Can (band)
Can was an experimental rock band formed in Cologne, West Germany in 1968. Later labeled as one of the first "krautrock" groups, they transcended mainstream influences and incorporated strong minimalist and world music elements into their often psychedelic music.Can constructed their music largely...
, Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...
and Tangerine Dream
Tangerine Dream
Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music group founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The band has undergone many personnel changes over the years, with Froese being the only continuous member...
. Rock musicians and groups Coil have expressed interest in are: Angus Maclise
Angus MacLise
Angus MacLise was an American percussionist, composer, poet, occultist and calligrapher probably best known as the first drummer for the Velvet Underground.-Biography:...
, Captain Beefheart
Captain Beefheart
Don Van Vliet January 15, 1941 December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12...
, Flipper
Flipper (band)
Flipper is a punk band formed in San Francisco, California in 1979, continuing in often erratic fashion until the mid-1990s, then reuniting in 2005. The band influenced a number of grunge,, punk rock and noise rock bands...
, Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships...
, Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
, Nico
Nico
Nico was a German singer, lyricist, composer, musician, fashion model, and actress, who initially rose to fame as a Warhol Superstar in the 1960s...
, Pere Ubu
Pere Ubu (band)
Pere Ubu is an experimental rock music group formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975. Despite many long-term band members, singer David Thomas is the only constant...
, The Birthday Party
The Birthday Party (band)
The Birthday Party were an Australian rock band, active from 1973 to 1983.Despite being championed by John Peel, The Birthday Party found little commercial success during their career...
, The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...
and The Virgin Prunes. Coil expressed an interest in the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
, and in 1986 used a sample of a piece of his music on the Horse Rotorvator
Horse Rotorvator
Horse Rotorvator is the second LP released by the British industrial group Coil. It was named one of the Top 100 Albums of the 1980s by Pitchfork Media who ranked it 73rd.-Editions:...
song "The Anal Staircase". Furthermore, on the album Black Antlers
Black Antlers
Black Antlers was originally released in CD-R format by Coil in 2004 in a limited edition. The album was later re-edited by Peter Christopherson and expanded to include a second CD of two new tracks, as well as a new track on the first disc. The second edition was released in 2006 August on the...
Coil dedicated a song to Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra was a prolific jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his "cosmic philosophy," musical compositions and performances. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama...
and covered a song by Bam Bam.
Coil's influence on electronic music has become more evident since the death of Balance with electronic musicians from all over the world collaborating on a series of tribute albums. Some notable artists who appeared on these albums are Alec Empire
Alec Empire
Alec Empire is a German musician who is best known as a founding member of the band Atari Teenage Riot. Also a prolific and distinguished solo artist, producer and DJ, he has released well over a hundred albums, EPs and singles and remixed over seventy tracks for various artists including Björk...
, Chris Connelly and K.K. Null (see ...It Just Is). Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
front man Trent Reznor
Trent Reznor
Michael Trent Reznor is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, record producer, and leader of industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. Reznor is also a member of How to Destroy Angels alongside his wife, Mariqueen Maandig, and Atticus Ross. He was previously associated with bands Option 30,...
has also expressed his influence by the group. The track "At The Heart Of It All" (found on Scatology) later became the name of an Aphex Twin
Aphex Twin
Richard David James , best known under the pseudonym Aphex Twin, is an Irish-born electronic musician and composer described as "the most inventive and influential figure in contemporary electronic music"...
track on Nine Inch Nails remix album Further Down the Spiral
Further Down the Spiral
Further Down the Spiral is a remix album by Nine Inch Nails, and was released on June 1, 1995. It is the tenth official Nine Inch Nails release and is the companion remix disc to The Downward Spiral...
. It is possible that Trent Reznor named the track as a reference to Coil, since Coil also provided remixes for Further Down the Spiral.
Furthermore, in 2010, Reznor, Mariqueen Maandig
Mariqueen Maandig
Mariqueen Maandig Reznor is a musician and singer of Filipino descent, currently with the band How to Destroy Angels.- Career :Maandig was a vocalist for the band West Indian Girl from 2004 to 2009, performing on the albums West Indian Girl and 4th & Wall...
and Atticus Ross
Atticus Ross
Atticus Ross is an English musician, composer and producer. Ross, along with Trent Reznor, won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for The Social Network in 2011.-Early career:...
started a new band called How To Destroy Angels
How to Destroy Angels (band)
How to Destroy Angels is a musical group featuring Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor, his wife Mariqueen Maandig and Atticus Ross. Rob Sheridan is the group's art director.The group is named after a 1984 Coil single of the same name....
, the same title as Coil's first single.
Discography
Coil's rapid musical output over two decades resulted in a large amount of releases, side projects and remixes as well as collaborations.Primary, full-length, Coil studio albums:
- ScatologyScatology (album)Scatology is the first LP and a second album produced by Coil.Scatology was released in three different formats with two different covers...
(1984) - Horse RotorvatorHorse RotorvatorHorse Rotorvator is the second LP released by the British industrial group Coil. It was named one of the Top 100 Albums of the 1980s by Pitchfork Media who ranked it 73rd.-Editions:...
(1986) - Love's Secret DomainLove's Secret DomainLove's Secret Domain is the third album by Coil and was released in 1991. The album marked a departure from the brooding synthesizers and melodies of their first two albums, focusing more on acid house sampling. The singles released from the album were "Windowpane" and "The Snow"...
(1991) - ELpH vs. Coil: Worship the GlitchWorship The GlitchWorship The Glitch is the only album to be released by "ELpH vs. Coil", though an EP called Born Again Pagans is credited to "Coil vs. ELpH"...
(1995) - Black Light District: A Thousand Lights in a Darkened RoomA Thousand Lights In A Darkened RoomA Thousand Lights In A Darkened Room is the only release by the group Black Light District. Although this is not an official Coil release, "Black Light District" was merely an alias for the group...
(1996) - Time MachinesTime MachinesTime Machines is Coil's landmark drone music album, released under the alias Time Machines. It consists of four tracks which are composed of a single tone, called a drone. Each tone represents a certain hallucinogenic chemical...
(1998) - Astral DisasterAstral DisasterAstral Disaster is an album by Coil, which has been released in two distinct versions.The original pressing of the album was released in an edition of 99 copies on 12" vinyl via the record label Acme/Prescription with catalogue number Drug 8...
(1999) - Musick to Play in the Dark Vol. 1Musick To Play In The Dark Vol. 1Musick to Play in the Dark Vol. 1 is a CD in its third pressing, as well as a 12" vinyl, by Coil.Musick to Play in the Dark Vol. 1 was one of two albums attributed purely to a style called "moon music", which signified their change from a "solar" to a "moon" group. Musick to Play in the Dark Vol. 2...
(1999) - Musick to Play in the Dark Vol. 2Musick To Play In The Dark Vol. 2Musick to Play in the Dark Vol. 2 is an album by Coil currently in its third pressing in CD format; it was also released in double 12" vinyl format....
(2000) - Constant Shallowness Leads to EvilConstant Shallowness Leads To EvilConstant Shallowness Leads To Evil is a CD by Coil, released the same year as Queens of the Circulating Library. Like Queens, this album comes packaged in a pink c-shell case....
(2000) - The Ape of NaplesThe Ape Of NaplesThe Ape of Naples is the final album from Coil. It was released after the death of lead vocalist John Balance, who died on 13 November 2004. The title of this album was originally intended to be "Fire of the Mind"....
(2005) - Black AntlersBlack AntlersBlack Antlers was originally released in CD-R format by Coil in 2004 in a limited edition. The album was later re-edited by Peter Christopherson and expanded to include a second CD of two new tracks, as well as a new track on the first disc. The second edition was released in 2006 August on the...
(2006) - The New BackwardsThe New BackwardsBackwards was a studio bootleg recording by Coil. The origin of the source of "Backwards" is believed to have been a leak of the studio demo, in the form of a cassette . However, the entire demo was broadcast when Dutch Radio4, a radio station in Amsterdam, had Coil as in studio guests to coincide...
(2008)
External links
Official
- Threshold House - The official Coil website.
- Brainwashed.com/coil - Archival website
Interviews
- COIL Interview Collection
- Brainwashed interview collection
- The Wire interview with Coil. (1998 July 21)
- Heathen Harvest Interview with Coil (2004 April 1)
- Stylus interview with Peter Christopherson. (2004 April 12)
- Coil: The Million Dollar Altar interview with Peter Christopherson (2006 August 29)
- Heathen Harvest Interview with Peter Christopherson (2006 September 1)