Monte Cazazza
Encyclopedia
Monte Cazazza is an American
artist
and composer
best known for his seminal role in helping shape the early landscape of industrial music
through recordings with the London
-based Industrial Records
in the mid-1970s.
and the artists representing it. Later, the noise
collages and experimental sound manipulation coming out of Industrial records came to be known as industrial music
. Cazazza had built up an underground reputation as a particularly volatile performer with a potentially dangerous and antisocial aesthetic. Re/Search
Magazine's Industrial Culture Handbook
described his work as "insanity
-outbreaks thinly disguised as art events". The Futurist
Sintesi show near the end of 1975 was heralded on a promo flier as "Sex - religious show; giant statue of Jesus
got chainsaw
ed and gang raped into oblivion".
Cazazza did not limit his "performances" to the familiar dynamic of stage, audience and audience reaction. Much of his work involved acts designed for maximum shock value
. In a well known incident, while a student at the Oakland
College of Arts and Crafts, Cazazza created a cement waterfall that permanently disabled the main stairway of the building. He once created a 15'x15' screw-together metal swastika
and was known to visit his friends with a dead cat and formaldehyde
that he would use to set the cat alight.
Much of his early work is considered obscene and virtually impossible to find. He worked with both print and sound collage
, film, performance, and presentation. He was also heavily involved in the Mail art
movement of the mid-1970s to early '80s. His recordings with Throbbing Gristle
in early 1977 are highly regarded among collectors and continue to be esteemed as some of the most significant to come out of that period. Some of his early output was collected and released by The Grey Area of Mute
in 1992 under the title, The Worst of Monte Cazazza
.
Cazazza worked frequently with Factrix
, an early industrial and experimental group from San Francisco, and recorded soundtracks for Mark Pauline
and Survival Research Laboratories
. More recent activity has included co-creating the independent distribution and film company, MMFilms with Michelle Handelman and various soundtrack recordings.
Cazazza sent out photos of himself in an electric chair on the day of convicted murderer Gary Gilmore
's execution. One of these was mistakenly printed in a Hong Kong newspaper as the real execution. Cazazza was also photographed alongside COUM Transmissions
/Throbbing Gristle
members Genesis P-Orridge
and Cosey Fanni Tutti
for the "Gary Gilmore Memorial Society" postcard, in which the three artists posed blindfolded and tied to chairs with actual loaded guns pointed at them to depict Gilmore's execution.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
best known for his seminal role in helping shape the early landscape 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...
through recordings with the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
-based Industrial Records
Industrial Records
Industrial Records was a record label established in 1976 by art/music group Throbbing Gristle. The group, fronted by Genesis P-Orridge, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Chris Carter, and Peter Christopherson, were to release their experiments in non-entertainment sound and multimedia through the label; in...
in the mid-1970s.
Career
Cazazza, based primarily in San Francisco during his early career, is credited with coining the phrase "Industrial Music for Industrial People". This was later used to encapsulate the record labelIndustrial Records
Industrial Records was a record label established in 1976 by art/music group Throbbing Gristle. The group, fronted by Genesis P-Orridge, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Chris Carter, and Peter Christopherson, were to release their experiments in non-entertainment sound and multimedia through the label; in...
and the artists representing it. Later, 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...
collages and experimental sound manipulation coming out of Industrial records came to be known as 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...
. Cazazza had built up an underground reputation as a particularly volatile performer with a potentially dangerous and antisocial aesthetic. Re/Search
RE/Search
RE/Search Publications is an American magazine and book publisher, based in San Francisco, founded and edited by Andrea Juno and V. Vale in 1980. It was the successor to Vale's earlier punk rock fanzine Search & Destroy , and was started with $100 from Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti...
Magazine's Industrial Culture Handbook
Industrial Culture Handbook
RE/Search No. 6/7: Industrial Culture Handbook from RE/Search Publications, 1983 is a book about industrial music and performance art edited by V. Vale and Andrea Juno. It features interviews and articles with Throbbing Gristle, Mark Pauline, Cabaret Voltaire, NON, Monte Cazazza, Sordide...
described his work as "insanity
Insanity
Insanity, craziness or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including becoming a danger to themselves and others, though not all such acts are considered insanity...
-outbreaks thinly disguised as art events". The Futurist
Futurism (art)
Futurism was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century. It emphasized and glorified themes associated with contemporary concepts of the future, including speed, technology, youth and violence, and objects such as the car, the airplane and the industrial city...
Sintesi show near the end of 1975 was heralded on a promo flier as "Sex - religious show; giant statue of Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
got chainsaw
Chainsaw
A chainsaw is a portable mechanical saw, powered by electricity, compressed air, hydraulic power, or most commonly a two-stroke engine...
ed and gang raped into oblivion".
Cazazza did not limit his "performances" to the familiar dynamic of stage, audience and audience reaction. Much of his work involved acts designed for maximum shock value
Shock value
Shock value is the potential of an action , image, text, or other form of communication to provoke a reaction of disgust, shock, anger, fear, or similar negative emotions.-Shock value as humor:...
. In a well known incident, while a student at the Oakland
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
College of Arts and Crafts, Cazazza created a cement waterfall that permanently disabled the main stairway of the building. He once created a 15'x15' screw-together metal swastika
Swastika
The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
and was known to visit his friends with a dead cat and formaldehyde
Formaldehyde
Formaldehyde is an organic compound with the formula CH2O. It is the simplest aldehyde, hence its systematic name methanal.Formaldehyde is a colorless gas with a characteristic pungent odor. It is an important precursor to many other chemical compounds, especially for polymers...
that he would use to set the cat alight.
Much of his early work is considered obscene and virtually impossible to find. He worked with both print and sound collage
Sound collage
In music, montage or sound collage is a technique where sound objects or compositions, including songs, are created from collage, also known as montage, the use of portions of previous recordings or scores...
, film, performance, and presentation. He was also heavily involved in the Mail art
Mail art
Mail art is a worldwide cultural movement that began in the early 1960s and involves sending visual art through the international postal system. Mail Art is also known as Postal Art or Correspondence Art...
movement of the mid-1970s to early '80s. His recordings 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...
in early 1977 are highly regarded among collectors and continue to be esteemed as some of the most significant to come out of that period. Some of his early output was collected and released by The Grey Area of Mute
Mute Records
Mute is an independent record label based in the UK. It was founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller and featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Goldfrapp, Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Erasure and Fad Gadget.-Beginnings:...
in 1992 under the title, The Worst of Monte Cazazza
The Worst of Monte Cazazza
The Worst Of Monte Cazazza is compilation of tracks by Monte Cazazza and associated acts.-Track listing:#Bart Alberti, M.D.: "Psychiatric Review" - 2:10#Monte Cazazza: "To Mom On Mother's Day" - 3:26#*Featuring : Throbbing Gristle...
.
Cazazza worked frequently with Factrix
Factrix
Factrix was an American pioneering industrial group from San Francisco, formed in 1978 by Bond Bergland, Cole Palme, and Joseph T. Jacobs, and was praised by Carlo McCormick as "one of the great bands of their era, prescient and influential."...
, an early industrial and experimental group from San Francisco, and recorded soundtracks for Mark Pauline
Survival Research Laboratories
Survival Research Laboratories is a machine performance art group credited for pioneering the genre of large-scale machine performance. After about 30 years in San Francisco, California, SRL spent most of 2008 moving to Petaluma, California....
and Survival Research Laboratories
Survival Research Laboratories
Survival Research Laboratories is a machine performance art group credited for pioneering the genre of large-scale machine performance. After about 30 years in San Francisco, California, SRL spent most of 2008 moving to Petaluma, California....
. More recent activity has included co-creating the independent distribution and film company, MMFilms with Michelle Handelman and various soundtrack recordings.
Cazazza sent out photos of himself in an electric chair on the day of convicted murderer Gary Gilmore
Gary Gilmore
Gary Mark Gilmore was an American criminal, and murderer, who gained international notoriety for demanding that his own death sentence be fulfilled following two murders he committed in Utah. He became the first person executed in the United States after the U.S...
's execution. One of these was mistakenly printed in a Hong Kong newspaper as the real execution. Cazazza was also photographed alongside COUM Transmissions
COUM Transmissions
COUM Transmissions was a performance art group interested in pushing boundaries, influenced by Dada and the Merry Pranksters.CT was a whimsical, eccentric as well as confrontational band and performance art group, from Hull, Yorkshire – a collective the constants of which were its...
/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...
members Genesis P-Orridge
Genesis P-Orridge
Genesis Breyer P-Orridge is an English singer-songwriter, musician, writer and artist. P-Orridge's early confrontational performance work in COUM Transmissions in the late 1960s and early 1970s along with the industrial band Throbbing Gristle, which dealt with subjects such as prostitution,...
and Cosey Fanni Tutti
Cosey Fanni Tutti
Cosey Fanni Tutti is best known as a performance artist and for her time in Throbbing Gristle and Chris & Cosey....
for the "Gary Gilmore Memorial Society" postcard, in which the three artists posed blindfolded and tied to chairs with actual loaded guns pointed at them to depict Gilmore's execution.
Solo
- To Mom On Mother's Day (7") (Industrial Records) (1979)
- At Leeds Fan Club/Scala, London/Oundle School (Cass) (Industrial Records) (1980)
- Something For Nobody (7") (Industrial Records) (1980)
- California Babylon (LP) (Subterranean Records) (1982)
- Stairway To Hell/Sex Is No Emergency (7") (Sordide Sentimental) (1982)
- The Worst of Monte CazazzaThe Worst of Monte CazazzaThe Worst Of Monte Cazazza is compilation of tracks by Monte Cazazza and associated acts.-Track listing:#Bart Alberti, M.D.: "Psychiatric Review" - 2:10#Monte Cazazza: "To Mom On Mother's Day" - 3:26#*Featuring : Throbbing Gristle...
(CD) (The Grey Area) (1992) - Kill Yur Self (12") (Telepathic Recordings) (1996)
- Power Versus Wisdom, Live (CD) (Side Effects) (1996)
- The Cynic (CD) (Blast First Petite) (2010)
with Psychic TV
- Dreams Less SweetDreams Less SweetDreams Less Sweet is the second proper album by Psychic TV. The album was released in Holophonic sound.-1983 12" vinyl pressing:Side A:#"Hymn 23"#*Synthesizer : Andrew Poppy#"The Orchids"#*Oboe: Jessica Ilbert#"Botanica"#"Iron Glove"...
(LP) (CBS) (1983) - Godstar (12") (Temple Records) (1985)
- Mouth Of The NightMouth of the NightMouth Of The Night is a soundtrack album composed, produced and recorded by the band Psychic TV as commissioned by Micha Bergese of MANTIS Dance Group to compliment one of their ballets....
(LP) (Temple Records) (1985) - Themes 3Themes 3-Track listing:Side A#"Culture"#"News"#"Drama"#"Nature"#"Science"Side B#"Implant"#"Analgesia"#"Catalepsy"#"Reverie"#"Placebo"#"Induction"...
(LP) (Temple Records) (1986) - Live In HeavenLive in HeavenLive In Heaven is a live album by Psychic TV. The album was recorded live at Heaven, Charing Cross, London. It was released in a limited edition of 3,000 12" vinyl copies.-Personnel:*Bass, Clarinet - Mouse*Guitar - Monte Cazazza...
(LP) (Temple Records) (1987) - Allegory and SelfAllegory and SelfAllegory And Self is a LP released by Psychic TV in 1988 that comprises a varied selection of their work.Several versions have appeared, including the original picture disc and black vinyl versions in 1988 on Temple Records, Fundamental Records and on pink marbled vinyl...
(LP) (Temple Records) (1988) - A Real Swedish Live ShowA Real Swedish Live ShowA Real Swedish Live Show is an 12" vinyl live album by Psychic TV using the name Psychick Television. This is the 16th in a series of 23 PTV live-albums and was recorded at Kolingsborg in Stockholm on December 06, 1984.-Credits:...
(LP) (Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth Scandinavia) (1989) - City Ov London/City Ov GlasgowCity Ov London/City Ov GlasgowCity Ov London/City Ov Glasgow is a live album by Psychic TV comprising two concerts. The Glasgow concert was previously available on Live In Glasgow...
(CD) (Temple Records) (1991) - Live In Glasgow Plus (CD) (Temple Records) (2003)
- Godstar: Thee Director's Cut (CD) (Temple Records) (2004)
with The Love Force
- "Climax", "Six Eyes From Hell", and "Liars (Feed Those Christians To The Lions)" on the album The Worst Of Monte CazazzaThe Worst of Monte CazazzaThe Worst Of Monte Cazazza is compilation of tracks by Monte Cazazza and associated acts.-Track listing:#Bart Alberti, M.D.: "Psychiatric Review" - 2:10#Monte Cazazza: "To Mom On Mother's Day" - 3:26#*Featuring : Throbbing Gristle...
(CD) (The Grey Area) (1992)
with Esperik Glare
- "A City in the Sea" on the 7" As the Insects Swarm (7") (Static Hum Records) (2008)