Biography

1986
Girls Under Glass were founded by Thomas Lücke (singer), Hauke Harms (electronics & keyboards) and Zaphor aka Volker Zacharias (guitars) as an offshoot of the gothic rock

Gothic rock

Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...

 formation Calling Dead Red Roses.

1987
Debut album was recorded: Humus. For this record Dr. Fluch joined the band and played bass guitar.

1989
Girls Under Glass supported bands such as Fields of the Nephilim

Fields of the Nephilim

Fields of the Nephilim are an English gothic rock band formed in Stevenage, Hertfordshire in 1984. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Carl McCoy, saxophonist Gary Whisker, Tony Pettitt on bass, guitarist Paul Wright and drummer Alexander "Nod" Wright...

, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry and were just big stars in the German gothic-wave-scene. At this point of time the band was playing together with two guest musicians (Marcel Zürcher, drummer of Abwärts, Schwansee, Shanghaid Guts) and Olaf von Ridder (bassplayer). Flowers (second album was recorded). Members: Thomas Lücke (vocals) Zaphor (guitars) Hauke Harms (keyboards), Axel Ermes (bassplayer). Axel joined the band and was integrated into the real band line-up. Axel and Zaphor played at this point of time parallel in the German cult band Cancer Barrack.

1990
Zaphor left Cancer Barrack and concentrated on the third GUG album. Main singer Thomas Lücke left the band and Zaphor took over the singers part. Rodney Orpheus of The Cassandra Complex

The Cassandra Complex (band)

The Cassandra Complex are an electronic rock group formed by Rodney Orpheus and Paul Dillon in 1980 in Leeds, England, later expanding to a trio with the addition of Andy Booth.-History:...

 produced the third GUG album called Positive and started a friendship with Zaphor. Zaphor joined The Cassandra Complex studio's live line-up, and worked together with Rodney for many years. 1990 was really a year of changes and re-starts.

1991
Project Pitchfork

Project Pitchfork

Project Pitchfork is an electronic musical group from Hamburg, Germany.-History:Project Pitchfork was formed by Peter Spilles and Dirk Scheuber. Having agreed to work together, they then picked the project's name by picking a word at random from the dictionary. The demo K.N.K.A. was recorded...

 were playing their first gigs as support band for the Positive-tour.

1992
Darius the 4th album was recorded. This is the first CD recorded with a real drummer (Marcus Giltjes, ex Pink Turns Blue). As a new guitar player Girls Under Glass welcomed Raj Sen Gupta.

1993
Christus was recorded, also with Raj Sen Gupta plus Markus Giltjes. For the following tour Raj left the band and Girls Under Glass worked together with Robert Wilcocks of Sleeping Dogs Wake and Cobalt 60 for the next 3 years.

1995
Crystals & Stones was recorded as a trio again (Volker, Axel & Hauke) The band recorded this album in their new own studio. Die Krupps did a remix of "Die Zeit", which became a club hit in Germany. For this record the band was touring with Robert Wilcocks again. Additional drums on tour were played by Tippi Agogo (musician from Vancouver and close friend to The Legendary Pink Dots

The Legendary Pink Dots

The Legendary Pink Dots are an Anglo-Dutch experimental rock band formed in London in August 1980. Although far outside the mainstream , LPD have released more than 40 albums, have a devoted worldwide following, and tour frequently.-Overview:The Legendary Pink Dots formed in August 1980 in London...

 and Skinny Puppy

Skinny Puppy

Skinny Puppy is a Canadian industrial musical group, formed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1982. The group is widely considered to be the founders of the electro-industrial genre....

 musicians-scene).

1996
First shows in France and Spain.

1997
Firewalker was recorded. The hardest record GUG ever made. Totally inspired by the American industrial metal & electro music scene such as NIN

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...

, KMFDM

KMFDM

KMFDM is an industrial band led by German multi-instrumentalist Sascha Konietzko, who founded the group in 1984 as a performance art project...

, Stabbing Westward

Stabbing Westward

Stabbing Westward was an American industrial rock and alternative rock band. They formed in 1985 in Chicago, Illinois and began recording in the 1990s. The band announced a dissolution in 2002.- Early years :...

, Gravity Kills

Gravity Kills

Gravity Kills is an American industrial rock band from Jefferson City, Missouri. Their music was described by one critic as "a blending of eerie industrial rock with a pop-infused melodic chorus and a bit of hard-core head banging."...

, etc. Girls asked ex-KMFDM drummer Rudi Naomi to join the band for the tour. GUG toured together with Deathline Int'l, a German-American-electro-act.

1998
Equilibrium was recorded. GUG calmed down a bit and found their way back to the more Gothic and Wave orientated style. Later issued in the United States by Van Richter Records.

1999
The seminal anthology record Nightmares for the United States was compiled. The record includes the biggest hits of GUG's career as well as out of print and new unreleased tracks including a cover

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of the classic track "Halloween

Halloween (1978 film)

Halloween is a 1978 American independent horror film directed, produced, and scored by John Carpenter, co-written with Debra Hill, and starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut and the first installment in the Halloween franchise. The film is set in the fictional midwestern...

" theme by John Carpenter

John Carpenter

John Howard Carpenter is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres in his four-decade career, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction.- Early life :Carpenter was born...

. Released by Van Richter Records.

2001
Minddiver was recorded, the first album on their own label Aragon Records. It includes a cover version

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of Madonna

Madonna (entertainer)

Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...

's "Frozen". GUG made their first appearance in London (UK), co-headlining the famous GOTHAM – Festival with Clan Of Xymox European Tour together with Fair Sex. Frozen was later re-released as the title track on another album by Van Richter Records. In addition to the Madonna cover, this album also featured a Das Ich

Das Ich

Das Ich is a German electronic music group formed in 1989. The group, fronted by Stefan Ackermann and Bruno Kramm, were one of the prominent founders of and contributors to "Neue Deutsche Todeskunst" a musical movement in the early 1990s...

 remix of Wings sung by Sandra Bammer (of Sister My Sister) entitled Frozen (Das Ich).

2002
European Tour had been recorded on 16 Tracks. Released on Aragon as first real live album

Live album

A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...

 Live in Light & Darkness.

2003
GUG paused for a bit more than 1 year. No gigs or studioworks.

2004
New material was written and recorded. Producer JP Genkel joined the production and recorded the album Zyklus in his IMPULS studio, Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

. Zyklus was released in February, 2005 on Metropolis Records

Metropolis Records

Metropolis Records is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania based record label, distributor, and mail-order store specializing in the post-industrial field such as electro-industrial, synthpop, futurepop, darkwave, and gothic musical genres....

.

2006
Focus released as a DVD . This is the first GUG DVD, Which was filmed during the 2005 Wave Gothic Treffen "WGT" in Leipzig, Germany after a chance meeting backstage between GUG and filmmaker/photographer Jeffrey Delannoy through their common friend Carsten Clatte (frontman of La Casa Del Cid and guitarist for Wolfsheim, and Goethes Erben.) Delannoy having seen the band a few times over the years was enthusiastic about producing the work in such an atmosphere as the WGT. GUG added to the production, creating a "20 Years Girls Under Glass" retrospective documentary film with interviews, reactions from other artists like Ronan Harris (VNV Nation), Peter Spilles (Project Pitchfork), Rodney Orpheus (Cassandra Complex)… backstage impressions, and other bonus materials.

Discography

• Humus (1988)
• Ten Million Dollars (1989)
• Flowers (1989)
• Random (1990)
• Positive (1990)
• Never Go (1990)
• Live At Soundgarden (1991)
• Darius (1992)
• Christus (1993)
• Down in the Park (1994)
• Exitus (1995)
• Crystals & Stones (1995)
• Die Zeit (1995)
• Firewalker (1997)
• Nightmares (1999)
• Equilibrium (1999)
• Minddiver (2001)
• Frozen (2001)
• Erinnerung (2002)
• Light and Darkness (2003)
• Ohne Dich (2004)
• Zyklus (2005)
• Touch Me (2005)
• Focus (DVD) (2006)

External links

• http://www.girlsunderglass.de/
• http://www.metropolis-records.com/artists/?artist=GuG