Kirk Brandon
Encyclopedia
Kirk Brandon is an English
musician
.
, South London
, with the formation of punk
group The Pack, in which he was the singer/songwriter
.
The Pack consisted of Brandon, Scottish
born drummer
Rab Fae Beith and two Canadian
brothers
, Simon and Jon Werner on guitar
s. The last live gig
by The Pack took place at a sold out 101 club in Clapham.
Brandon then formed the post punk new wave
band Theatre of Hate
in 1980 recruiting Stan Stammers
on bass guitar
, Nigel Preston
on drum
s, Billy Duffy
on guitar and John 'Boy' Lennard on saxophone
. Theatre of Hate had their largest hit
from the Westworld
album
with the single
"Do You Believe In The Westworld?", which achieved #40 in the UK Singles Chart
in January 1982, while the album rose to #17 in the UK Albums Chart
in March 1982.
Theatre of Hate disbanded in 1983. Brandon and Theatre of Hate bassman Stammers were joined by Lascelles James on saxophone and Chris Bell on drums to form Spear of Destiny
. The new band adopted a more melodic and less aggressive sound, distancing themselves from post-punk and moving a little more towards mainstream pop
.
While continuing to explore the political ideas that he wrote about in Theatre of Hate, Brandon's lyrics
for Spear of Destiny dealt more frequently with the classic pop themes of love and romance. Many line-up changes followed with the band swelling to a 6 piece and then contracting back to a 4 piece. The band's reputation as a live act never translated itself into record sales, and Spear of Destiny only scored one Top 20 hit.
In 2003 Brandon did a solo tour as support to The Alarm
on their 'Poppyfields' tour. His set included some new material played on an acoustic guitar
with electric pick up, as well as some material from his time with Theatre of Hate and Spear of Destiny.
In recent years he has performed in the punk supergroup
, Dead Men Walking
, before reforming and touring with Spear Of Destiny in 2007 and 2008.
in Devon.
In 1987 Brandon contracted Reiter’s syndrome which resulted in him not being able to walk for over a year.
In his 1995 autobiography
Take It Like A Man, Boy George
wrote of a romantic relationship with Brandon, prompting Brandon's unsuccessful High Court
action against George.
During the trial, George claimed that Brandon had been the love of his life and that he still loved him. In 2010, BBC Television
produced Worried About The Boy, a 90 minute dramatisation of Boy George's rise to fame in the early 1980s which included his relationship with Brandon. George was portrayed by the actor Douglas Booth
and Brandon was portrayed by Richard Madden
.
In January 2008, Brandon sued GlaxoSmithKline
UK over personal injuries as a result of taking the anti-depressant drug Seroxat. Earlier last year, Brandon was awarded the full extent of his claims.
In August 2009, Brandon had a series of heart attacks which led him to have an eight hour operation at the Royal Sussex County Hospital
, Brighton, East Sussex where his aortic valve was replaced with a pig's valve.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
.
Musical career
Brandon's music career started in 1978, in ClaphamClapham
Clapham is a district in south London, England, within the London Borough of Lambeth.Clapham covers the postcodes of SW4 and parts of SW9, SW8 and SW12. Clapham Common is shared with the London Borough of Wandsworth, although Lambeth has responsibility for running the common as a whole. According...
, South London
South London
South London is the southern part of London, England, United Kingdom.According to the 2011 official Boundary Commission for England definition, South London includes the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark, Sutton and...
, with the formation of punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
group The Pack, in which he was the singer/songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
.
The Pack consisted of Brandon, Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
born drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
Rab Fae Beith and two Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
brothers
Sibling
Siblings are people who share at least one parent. A male sibling is called a brother; and a female sibling is called a sister. In most societies throughout the world, siblings usually grow up together and spend a good deal of their childhood socializing with one another...
, Simon and Jon Werner on guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s. The last live gig
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
by The Pack took place at a sold out 101 club in Clapham.
Brandon then formed the post punk new wave
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 Theatre of Hate
Theatre of Hate
Theatre of Hate were a post-punk band formed in Britain in 1980.Led by singer-songwriter and ex-member of punk band The Pack, Kirk Brandon, the original group also consisted of: guitarist Steve Guthrie, bassist Stan Stammers , saxophonist John Lennard and drummer Luke Rendle from Crisis/The...
in 1980 recruiting Stan Stammers
Stan Stammers
Stan Stammers is best known as the bass player for British post punk band Theatre of Hate, Spear Of Destiny and Plastic Eaters co. founded with Robdaly. In 1999 Stammers and Plastic Eaters gained an artist sponsorship from Adidas. Stan uses Wal basses produced by renowned bass manufacturer ...
on bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, Nigel Preston
Nigel Preston
Nigel Preston was a British drummer . He was a founding member of The Cult. He also played and recorded with Sex Gang Children, Theatre of Hate, The Gun Club and The Baby Snakes...
on drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
s, Billy Duffy
Billy Duffy
Billy Duffy is an English guitarist and songwriter, best known as the guitarist in The Cult.-Early days:He grew up in Manchester, where he began playing guitar at the age of fourteen...
on guitar and John 'Boy' Lennard on saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
. Theatre of Hate had their largest hit
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
from the Westworld
Westworld (Theatre of Hate album)
Westworld is the only studio album released by Theatre of Hate prior to the band's dissolution in 1982. Released by Burning Rome Records in 1982, Westworld has been re-issued three times since, most recently on Compact Disc by Snapper Music in 1997....
album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
with the single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
"Do You Believe In The Westworld?", which achieved #40 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
in January 1982, while the album rose to #17 in the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
in March 1982.
Theatre of Hate disbanded in 1983. Brandon and Theatre of Hate bassman Stammers were joined by Lascelles James on saxophone and Chris Bell on drums to form Spear of Destiny
Spear of Destiny (band)
Spear of Destiny is a British rock band, established in 1982 by singer and songwriter Kirk Brandon and bassist Stan Stammers. It has had an ever-changing line-up through the years.-Biography:...
. The new band adopted a more melodic and less aggressive sound, distancing themselves from post-punk and moving a little more towards mainstream pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
.
While continuing to explore the political ideas that he wrote about in Theatre of Hate, Brandon's lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
for Spear of Destiny dealt more frequently with the classic pop themes of love and romance. Many line-up changes followed with the band swelling to a 6 piece and then contracting back to a 4 piece. The band's reputation as a live act never translated itself into record sales, and Spear of Destiny only scored one Top 20 hit.
In 2003 Brandon did a solo tour as support to The Alarm
The Alarm
The Alarm are an alternative rock band that emerged from North Wales in the late 1970s. They started as a mod band and stayed together for over ten years. As a rock band, they displayed marked influences from Welsh language and culture...
on their 'Poppyfields' tour. His set included some new material played on an acoustic guitar
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
with electric pick up, as well as some material from his time with Theatre of Hate and Spear of Destiny.
In recent years he has performed in the punk supergroup
Supergroup (music)
In the late 1960s, the term supergroup was coined to describe "a rock music group whose performers are already famous from having performed individually or in other groups"....
, Dead Men Walking
Dead Men Walking
Dead Men Walking are a UK based rock band with a multi national line-up, who have toured the UK, Ireland and the U.S.-Career:They have released four albums: Live At Guildford , Live At Leeds , Live At Darwen , and Graveyard Smashes Volume 1...
, before reforming and touring with Spear Of Destiny in 2007 and 2008.
Personal life
Kirk Brandon attended Churston Ferrers Grammar SchoolChurston Ferrers Grammar School
Churston Ferrers Grammar School is a selective coeducational Grammar School with Academy status, situated in the village of Galmpton in Torbay, South Devon...
in Devon.
In 1987 Brandon contracted Reiter’s syndrome which resulted in him not being able to walk for over a year.
In his 1995 autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
Take It Like A Man, Boy George
Boy George
Boy George is a British singer-songwriter who was part of the English New Romantic movement which emerged in the early 1980s. He helped give androgyny an international stage with the success of Culture Club during the 1980s. His music is often classified as blue-eyed soul, which is influenced by...
wrote of a romantic relationship with Brandon, prompting Brandon's unsuccessful High Court
High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
action against George.
During the trial, George claimed that Brandon had been the love of his life and that he still loved him. In 2010, BBC Television
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
produced Worried About The Boy, a 90 minute dramatisation of Boy George's rise to fame in the early 1980s which included his relationship with Brandon. George was portrayed by the actor Douglas Booth
Douglas Booth
Douglas Booth is an English actor.Booth rose to prominence following his portrayal of Boy George in the BBC Two television drama Worried About the Boy. He has more recently appeared in Christopher and His Kind...
and Brandon was portrayed by Richard Madden
Richard Madden
Richard Madden is a Scottish stage, film, and television actor, known for his work in theatre and for his roles in both film and television.- Background :...
.
In January 2008, Brandon sued GlaxoSmithKline
GlaxoSmithKline
GlaxoSmithKline plc is a global pharmaceutical, biologics, vaccines and consumer healthcare company headquartered in London, United Kingdom...
UK over personal injuries as a result of taking the anti-depressant drug Seroxat. Earlier last year, Brandon was awarded the full extent of his claims.
In August 2009, Brandon had a series of heart attacks which led him to have an eight hour operation at the Royal Sussex County Hospital
Royal Sussex County Hospital
The Royal Sussex County Hospital is an acute teaching hospital in Brighton, England. Together with the Princess Royal Hospital , it is administered by the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust...
, Brighton, East Sussex where his aortic valve was replaced with a pig's valve.
Websites
- Kirk Brandon's Official Site
- Kirk Brandon interview from 2003
- Kirk Brandon interview (BBC)
- Spear of Destiny Myspace site
- Theatre of Hate Myspace site
- Dead Men Walking Myspace site