Danielle Dax
Encyclopedia
Danielle Dax is an experimental
musician and producer most active from the late-1970s to the mid-1990s. She was born in Southend-on-Sea
, Essex
.
Dax was to make her 'pop' musical debut in 1979 just three weeks of joining the group Amii Toytal and the Croixroads - this was a pseudonym for the Lemon Kittens - as keyboardist, flautist and saxophonist. It was their first gig and took place at Reading University's Student Union 'Airport' Bar; apparently, this was a concert that local musical legend Mike Cooper was instrumental in helping to put on. Karl Blake from the Lemon Kittens had met her some three weeks earlier after he read an article about her in a local newspaper, the Reading Evening Post, in which she was trying to drum up support for a local fledgling arts group by pavement drawing. Blake was in urgent need of an artist as he had just been told that Step Forward wanted to put a record out, so he attended the next meeting of Dax's arts group and was introduced to her. Upon learning that she could also play saxophone and flute, he immediately recruited her for the band; in addition, he also got her to agree to do the cover artwork for the planned release. She ended up doing the cover artwork for all of Lemon Kittens releases.
During Dax's time in the avant garde New Wave music
band Lemon Kittens, she was included on the League of Gentlemen
's 1981 eponymous album, performing vocals (credited as "Hamsprachtmusic") on the song "Minor Man". However, that song was not included on the album when it was released on CD (entitled God Save The King). Her artwork was retained for the cover. She also painted the cover for Robert Fripp
's solo album, Let the Power Fall. Dax supplied vocals to an unreleased track by the Bombay Ducks in which she sang a duet with Robert Wyatt, although they never met. The duet was done in studio, separately.
In early 1982, after the Lemon Kittens went into "extended hibernation", Dax embarked on her solo career, recording and producing the albums Pop-Eyes
(1983), Jesus Egg That Wept
(1984), and Inky Bloaters
(1987), as well as various EPs, on the label Awesome Records. In 1988, she signed with Sire Records
, which released her double album Dark Adapted Eye
, which contained material from her previous recordings, such as the well-known song "Big Hollow Man", and included some new and unreleased recordings of old favourites such as "Cat-House", "White Knuckle Ride", "When I Was Young", "House Cat", "Whistling for His Love", and "Touch Piggy's Eyes".
In 1984, she made her first film appearance as the Wolfgirl (a non-speaking role) in The Company of Wolves
by Neil Jordan
. In 1988, her film credits came to include writing music for the short avant-garde film Axel by Nigel Wingrove
.
In 1989, Dax appeared on the Channel 4
show Star Test, where she was interviewed for 30 minutes by computer.
In 1990, she released her one major-label studio album, Blast the Human Flower, produced by Stephen Street
, except for the tracks "Bayou" and "Daisy", which they produced together. The album's single, "Tomorrow Never Knows", joined "Blue Christmas" (her cover of an Elvis Presley tune), "Kites" by Simon Dupree and the Big Sound (during the Lemon Kittens period) and "Hate On Sight", a track by Shock Headed Peters (included on her Comatose etc. release) as an addition to her covers of other artists' work. Her last two album releases were in 1995 and consisted of a career retrospective double-album entitled Comatose Non Reaction: The Thwarted Pop Career of Danielle Dax and an EP
of new avant-garde
and almost completely instrumental material called Timber Tongue (both on her own Biter Of Thorpe label). Dax's career in the music business then went on indefinite hiatus and is often referred to as a 'retirement'.
Since 1996, she has worked in interior design and has appeared several times on the BBC
interior design show Homefront
, where she won their Designer of the Year Award. She is also a qualified garden designer and has worked on numerous projects in that field.
According to her official MySpace
page (maintained by long-time friend and former bandmate, Karl Blake
), she has done spoken-word performances of her old material in the United Kingdom
and in mainland Europe
, with backing music written especially for these by herself and long-term musical collaborator David Knight. There is also some talk of new material being written. In the 1990s, her first three albums were re-released on CD by her own label, Biter of Thorpe.
Dax's visual art repertoire, aside from stage set design, costumes, logos and customised instruments, also includes the original artwork (a collage of surgical photographs) for her album Pop-Eyes. The artwork was later pulled from the album after its first run, after some record stores cited it as "grotesque". The replacement cover art, which itself was later replaced by the original art, was done by Holly Warburton, who subsequently did the cover-art for Dax's albums Jesus Egg That Wept, Inky Bloaters and Dark Adapted Eye. Dax also supplied artwork for two Shock Headed Peters releases, the 12" EPs "The Kissing Of Gods", and "Life Extinguisher", as well as covers for the group Bombay Ducks (Dance music) and The Reflections (Slugs and Toads). In 2009, she supplied the cover for the CD Temporal Bends by Unica Zurn [a two piece group featuring the aforementioned David Knight plus Steven Thrower], for which she also supplied lyrics and vocals for one track ("Jack Sorrow").
Also - on cassettes on her Daark Inc. label - see the entry for Karl Blake.
recorded a version of the single "Cat House" for her Your Love album.
The Damned also included "Cat House" very occasionally in their live repertoire.
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
musician and producer most active from the late-1970s to the mid-1990s. She was born in Southend-on-Sea
Southend-on-Sea
Southend-on-Sea is a unitary authority area, town, and seaside resort in Essex, England. The district has Borough status, and comprises the towns of Chalkwell, Eastwood, Leigh-on-Sea, North Shoebury, Prittlewell, Shoeburyness, Southchurch, Thorpe Bay, and Westcliff-on-Sea. The district is situated...
, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
.
Biography
Dax's first performance on stage in London was when she was a pre-teen. She sang in Benjamin Britten's opera, Noye's Fludde (Noah's Flood), at the Royal Albert Hall. Preceding this, the first time Dax had trod the boards was at the age of three as an Orange Jelly Baby on the Southend Bandstand.Dax was to make her 'pop' musical debut in 1979 just three weeks of joining the group Amii Toytal and the Croixroads - this was a pseudonym for the Lemon Kittens - as keyboardist, flautist and saxophonist. It was their first gig and took place at Reading University's Student Union 'Airport' Bar; apparently, this was a concert that local musical legend Mike Cooper was instrumental in helping to put on. Karl Blake from the Lemon Kittens had met her some three weeks earlier after he read an article about her in a local newspaper, the Reading Evening Post, in which she was trying to drum up support for a local fledgling arts group by pavement drawing. Blake was in urgent need of an artist as he had just been told that Step Forward wanted to put a record out, so he attended the next meeting of Dax's arts group and was introduced to her. Upon learning that she could also play saxophone and flute, he immediately recruited her for the band; in addition, he also got her to agree to do the cover artwork for the planned release. She ended up doing the cover artwork for all of Lemon Kittens releases.
During Dax's time in the avant garde New Wave music
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
band Lemon Kittens, she was included on the League of Gentlemen
League of Gentlemen (band)
The League of Gentlemen was a band active during March–December 1980 that featured guitarist Robert Fripp of King Crimson fame. Other members included bass guitarist Sara Lee , keyboardist Barry Andrews and percussionist Johnny Toobad, replaced late in the band's tenure by Kevin Wilkinson...
's 1981 eponymous album, performing vocals (credited as "Hamsprachtmusic") on the song "Minor Man". However, that song was not included on the album when it was released on CD (entitled God Save The King). Her artwork was retained for the cover. She also painted the cover for Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp is an English guitarist, composer and record producer. He was ranked 42nd on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and #47 on Gibson.com’s "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". Among rock guitarists, Fripp is a master of crosspicking, a technique...
's solo album, Let the Power Fall. Dax supplied vocals to an unreleased track by the Bombay Ducks in which she sang a duet with Robert Wyatt, although they never met. The duet was done in studio, separately.
In early 1982, after the Lemon Kittens went into "extended hibernation", Dax embarked on her solo career, recording and producing the albums Pop-Eyes
Pop-Eyes
Pop-Eyes is the first solo album by Danielle Dax, a British experimental musician and former member of The Lemon Kittens. It was originally recorded in 1982 and released in 1983 on the Awesome Records label...
(1983), Jesus Egg That Wept
Jesus Egg That Wept
Jesus Egg That Wept is the second solo album by Danielle Dax, a British experimental musician and former member of The Lemon Kittens. It was originally recorded and released in 1984 on the Awesome Records label...
(1984), and Inky Bloaters
Inky Bloaters
Inky Bloaters is the third solo album by Danielle Dax, a British experimental musician and former member of The Lemon Kittens. It was originally recorded between 1985 & 1987, and released in 1987 on the Awesome Records label. This was the last album by Dax released on the Awesome label before...
(1987), as well as various EPs, on the label Awesome Records. In 1988, she signed with Sire Records
Sire Records
Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
, which released her double album Dark Adapted Eye
Dark adapted eye
Dark Adapted Eye is a compilation album by Danielle Dax, a British experimental musician, formerly of The Lemon Kittens. Released in 1988 on Sire Records on LP, cassette and CD, it consisted of material from albums and singles released on her own label, Awesome Records, and was the first release...
, which contained material from her previous recordings, such as the well-known song "Big Hollow Man", and included some new and unreleased recordings of old favourites such as "Cat-House", "White Knuckle Ride", "When I Was Young", "House Cat", "Whistling for His Love", and "Touch Piggy's Eyes".
In 1984, she made her first film appearance as the Wolfgirl (a non-speaking role) in The Company of Wolves
The Company of Wolves
The Company of Wolves is a 1984 gothic fantasy-horror film directed by Neil Jordan, and starring Sarah Patterson and Angela Lansbury.The film is based on the werewolf story of the same name in Angela Carter's short story collection The Bloody Chamber...
by Neil Jordan
Neil Jordan
Neil Patrick Jordan is an Irish filmmaker and novelist. He won an Academy Award for The Crying Game.- Early life :...
. In 1988, her film credits came to include writing music for the short avant-garde film Axel by Nigel Wingrove
Nigel Wingrove
Nigel Wingrove , is the founder of the horror film company Redemption Films and the Salvation Group and creator of the online alternative female collective, Satanic Sluts...
.
In 1989, Dax appeared on the Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
show Star Test, where she was interviewed for 30 minutes by computer.
In 1990, she released her one major-label studio album, Blast the Human Flower, produced by Stephen Street
Stephen Street
Stephen Street is an English music producer best known for his work with The Smiths in the 1980s, as well as Blur and The Cranberries in the 1990s. Street also collaborated with Morrissey on some of his most popular work after The Smiths broke up, playing instruments and co-writing songs...
, except for the tracks "Bayou" and "Daisy", which they produced together. The album's single, "Tomorrow Never Knows", joined "Blue Christmas" (her cover of an Elvis Presley tune), "Kites" by Simon Dupree and the Big Sound (during the Lemon Kittens period) and "Hate On Sight", a track by Shock Headed Peters (included on her Comatose etc. release) as an addition to her covers of other artists' work. Her last two album releases were in 1995 and consisted of a career retrospective double-album entitled Comatose Non Reaction: The Thwarted Pop Career of Danielle Dax and an EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
of new avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
and almost completely instrumental material called Timber Tongue (both on her own Biter Of Thorpe label). Dax's career in the music business then went on indefinite hiatus and is often referred to as a 'retirement'.
Since 1996, she has worked in interior design and has appeared several times on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
interior design show Homefront
Homefront (TV series)
Homefront was an interior design "makeover" TV show airing on the BBC, on par with American television's This Old House and Martha Stewart...
, where she won their Designer of the Year Award. She is also a qualified garden designer and has worked on numerous projects in that field.
According to her official MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
page (maintained by long-time friend and former bandmate, Karl Blake
Karl Blake
Karl Blake is a vocalist, bassist, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. Most of his own music can be described as progressive-experimental and sometimes psychedelic.-Musical career:...
), she has done spoken-word performances of her old material in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and in mainland Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, with backing music written especially for these by herself and long-term musical collaborator David Knight. There is also some talk of new material being written. In the 1990s, her first three albums were re-released on CD by her own label, Biter of Thorpe.
Dax's visual art repertoire, aside from stage set design, costumes, logos and customised instruments, also includes the original artwork (a collage of surgical photographs) for her album Pop-Eyes. The artwork was later pulled from the album after its first run, after some record stores cited it as "grotesque". The replacement cover art, which itself was later replaced by the original art, was done by Holly Warburton, who subsequently did the cover-art for Dax's albums Jesus Egg That Wept, Inky Bloaters and Dark Adapted Eye. Dax also supplied artwork for two Shock Headed Peters releases, the 12" EPs "The Kissing Of Gods", and "Life Extinguisher", as well as covers for the group Bombay Ducks (Dance music) and The Reflections (Slugs and Toads). In 2009, she supplied the cover for the CD Temporal Bends by Unica Zurn [a two piece group featuring the aforementioned David Knight plus Steven Thrower], for which she also supplied lyrics and vocals for one track ("Jack Sorrow").
with Lemon Kittens
- Spoonfed & Writhing (cover art only)
- We Buy a Hammer for DaddyWe Buy a Hammer for DaddyWe Buy a Hammer for Daddy is an album by British experimental rock group Lemon Kittens, consisting then of musicians Karl Blake and Danielle Dax. It was engineered by David Mellor and released in 1980 on Steven Stapleton's and John Fothergill's United Dairies record label. It was re-released on CD...
(multi-instrumentalist, vocals) - Cake Beast (three track 12" EP)
- (...those that bite the hand that feeds them sooner or later must meet...) The Big Dentist (multi-instrumentalist, vocals)
Also - on cassettes on her Daark Inc. label - see the entry for Karl Blake.
Solo
- Pop-EyesPop-EyesPop-Eyes is the first solo album by Danielle Dax, a British experimental musician and former member of The Lemon Kittens. It was originally recorded in 1982 and released in 1983 on the Awesome Records label...
(1983, Awesome) - Jesus Egg That WeptJesus Egg That WeptJesus Egg That Wept is the second solo album by Danielle Dax, a British experimental musician and former member of The Lemon Kittens. It was originally recorded and released in 1984 on the Awesome Records label...
(1984, Awesome) - Inky BloatersInky BloatersInky Bloaters is the third solo album by Danielle Dax, a British experimental musician and former member of The Lemon Kittens. It was originally recorded between 1985 & 1987, and released in 1987 on the Awesome Records label. This was the last album by Dax released on the Awesome label before...
(1987, Awesome) - The Chemical WeddingThe Chemical Wedding (Danielle Dax album)The Chemical Wedding is an album by Danielle Dax, a British experimental musician, formerly of The Lemon Kittens.- Track listing :# "Touch Piggy's Eyes" - also on Dark Adapted Eye, Comatose-Non-Reaction...
(1987, Awesome) - The Janice Long Session EPThe Janice Long Session EPThe Janice Long Session EP is an EP by Danielle Dax, a British experimental musician and former member of The Lemon Kittens. It is also known as the BBC Sessions and was recorded on 1 December 1985, and was first transmitted on 14 January 1986...
(1987, Strange Fruit) - The BBC Sessions (1988, Strange Fruit/Dutch East India Trading)
- Dark Adapted EyeDark adapted eyeDark Adapted Eye is a compilation album by Danielle Dax, a British experimental musician, formerly of The Lemon Kittens. Released in 1988 on Sire Records on LP, cassette and CD, it consisted of material from albums and singles released on her own label, Awesome Records, and was the first release...
(1988, Sire) - Blast The Human FlowerBlast the Human FlowerBlast the Human Flower is an album by British experimental musician Danielle Dax. It was her first album recorded while signed to Sire Records....
(1990, Sire) - Timber Tongue (1995, Biter Of Thorpe)
Compilations
- Up Amongst the Golden Spires* (1987, Vap Inc. Japan)
- Comatose Non-Reaction; the thwarted pop career of Danielle Dax (1995, Biter Of Thorpe)
Cover version
In 1989, the Finnish model and artist Kata KärkkäinenKata Kärkkäinen
Katariina Souri is a Finnish author, artist, columnist and Playboy's Playmate of the Month for December, 1988. She has been a writer after her brief Playboy career. On January 25, 2010 Kata Kärkkäinen announced that she changed her name to Katariina Souri.-Novels:*Minä ja Morrison, 1999...
recorded a version of the single "Cat House" for her Your Love album.
The Damned also included "Cat House" very occasionally in their live repertoire.