My Bloody Valentine
Encyclopedia
My Bloody Valentine are an alternative rock
band formed 1983 in Dublin, Ireland. The band's founding members are guitarist/singer Kevin Shields
and drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig. The lineup during the band's late 80s/early 90s heyday included singer-guitarist Bilinda Butcher
and bassist Debbie Googe
after the band settled in London.
As My Bloody Valentine's music progressed, their use of distortion, pitch bending
, and digital
reverb
resulted in a sound that came to be known as shoegazing
. The group's 1991 critically acclaimed album Loveless
took two years to make mostly due to funding problems. Following Loveless, My Bloody Valentine became inactive, with Shields recording and shelving several albums' worth of follow-up material. In 2007, Shields announced that the band had reunited and were recording new material.
The name of the band is taken from the 1981 horror film of the same name
.
band named The Complex. Toward the end of 1983, Shields and O'Ciosoig formed their own band with singer Dave Conway. Conway, who went by the stage name Dave Stelfox, suggested names such as Burning Peacocks before they settled on My Bloody Valentine. The band was completed by Conway's girlfriend Tina, who played keyboards.
Gavin Friday
of Dublin post-punk
band The Virgin Prunes gave the group contacts that secured them a show in the Netherlands
. Based on getting that one gig, the band moved to Holland and ended up staying for three months. Due to a lack of opportunities and a lack of correct documentation, the band then moved to Berlin, where they recorded the mini-LP
This Is Your Bloody Valentine
. The record failed to have the expected impact, and, after four months, the band left Berlin, returning to Holland briefly before settling in London around the middle of 1985. Conway was the main songwriter in the early line-up, with Shields describing the process: "for each song he'd write about 3 pages of lyrics and usually me and Colm would pick out the bits we liked and David would sing that".
, they invited her to audition, and, ultimately, to join the band, fitting in rehearsals around her day job.
At this point the band were rehearsing at Salem Studios, which was connected to the record label Fever Records. Impressed by what they heard, Fever agreed to release an EP
. On the strength of this, Googe left her job, and the EP, titled Geek!
was released in April 1986. The band soon began to play on the London gig circuit, but the record failed to make as much of an impact as the band had hoped. With the band's slow progress, Shields contemplated moving back to New York, where some of his family were living.
However, Joe Foster, an associate of Creation Records
, had decided to set up his own label, Kaleidoscope Records, and persuaded the group to record for him. The EP, The New Record by My Bloody Valentine
, was the result, released in October 1986. The band also began to step up their live appearances, developing a small following and venturing outside London for gigs supporting bands like the Membranes.
The band's next record was Sunny Sundae Smile
, an EP released in March 1987 by Lazy Records, a label set up by The Primitives
with their manager Wayne Morris. The label had been interested in My Bloody Valentine for a while, and the band turned to them this time due to Foster's indifference. The band then spent a few months performing in London and managed to secure a support slot with the Soup Dragons. During the shows with the Soup Dragons, Conway announced his decision to leave the band; he had been suffering with a gastric illness for a while and had become disillusioned with music. Conway has since pursued a career as a writer.
Conway's departure left the band without a vocalist, a situation they decided to remedy by placing advertisements in the music press. This process proved torturous, Shields noting, "It was pretty dangerous, I made the mistake of mentioning The Smiths
because we liked their melodies, the whole thing was disastrous and excruciating, you should have seen some of the fruitballs we got."
The band eventually turned to recommendations and experimented with having two vocalists: Bilinda Butcher
and Joe Byfield. It soon became apparent that Byfield was unsuited to the band, and Shields took on second vocalist duties alongside Butcher; he noted she "sounded all right and she could sing one of our songs which sounded fine, we just had to show her how to play guitar." Shields was initially reluctant to take on a vocal role, but stated in 1988 "I've always sung in the rehearsal room, I've always made up the melodies." With the new line-up in place, the band intended to leave the My Bloody Valentine moniker behind, but according to Ó Cíosóig "we never could think of a good enough name".
Under pressure from Lazy Records to produce an album, the band compromised, citing the need for time to stabilize their line-up. The band agreed to record an EP followed by a mini LP. The EP, Strawberry Wine, consisted of three tracks and was released in November 1987. The mini-LP, titled Ecstasy, followed soon after in December. The EP has been described as "certainly the better of the two releases." Ecstasy has been criticized as showing "a group who appeared to have run out of money halfway through recording," which was indeed the case. Ecstasy also suffered from production difficulties, as Shields described errors in mastering the recordings. These hardships were not surprising as the band were funding the studio time themselves; The deal with Lazy was that the label would do the promotion, the band paying for the recording.
, a band that featured Creation Records
owner Alan McGee
as a member. The performance convinced McGee that they were the Irish equivalent to American band Hüsker Dü
, and he approached the band after the show. The band decided to record a single for the label. My Bloody Valentine recorded five songs at a studio in Walthamstow
in east London in less than a week. Released as the EP You Made Me Realise
, the release was the band's first to be largely well-received by critics. The group followed with the EP Feed Me with Your Kiss
and the album Isn't Anything
(1988). The band's multi-layered guitar sound became a major influence on a number of new bands who the British music press grouped together under the shoegazing
label.
My Bloody Valentine began work on their second full-length album in February 1989. Shields said that Creation Records thought the album could be recorded "in five days"; he later recalled, "But when it became clear that wasn't going to happen, they freaked." Work continued throughout the year. Shields and McGee agreed to release an EP prior to the album's release, so the band recorded Glider
, which was released in 1990. In May 1990 the band recorded a second EP, Tremolo
(1991). The band halted work on the album in order to tour behind the release of Glider in Summer 1990.
It ultimately took My Bloody Valentine two years to finish their second album Loveless
(1991). The making of the album was rumored to have cost £250,000 and to have nearly bankrupted Creation Records, claims which Shields has denied. Reviews of Loveless were almost unanimous with praise. The NME
review of Loveless declared, "...however decadent one might find the idea of elevating other human beings to deities, My Bloody Valentine, failings and all, deserve more than your respect." However, the album failed to perform commercially. Loveless peaked at number 24 on the British album charts, and failed to chart in the United States, where it was distributed by Sire Records
. Since its release, Loveless has remained a critical favorite, with the internet music publication Pitchfork Media
naming Loveless the second greatest album of the 1990s. However, McGee dropped My Bloody Valentine from Creation Records soon after the album's release because he could not bear working with Shields again; "It was either him or me", he told The Guardian
in 2004.
in October 1992, reportedly for £250,000. The band spent their advance on constructing a studio in a house in Streatham
. The studio was completed in April 1993, but problems with the studio and attempts to repair them sent the band into "semi-meltdown" according to Shields.
The group recorded very little, which included the contribution of a cover of a James Bond
theme song to a charity compilation (We Have All the Time in the World
), and a cover of the Wire
song "Map Ref. 41 Degrees N 93 Degrees W" for the tribute album
Whore: Tribute to Wire. Unable to finalise a third album, Shields isolated himself and, in his own words, went "crazy," drawing comparisons in the music press to the behavior of musicians such as Brian Wilson
of The Beach Boys
and Syd Barrett
of Pink Floyd
. The other band members went their own ways during the period of inactivity following Loveless: Butcher contributed vocals to Collapsed Lung's
1996 single "Board Game," Googe had been sighted working as a cab driver in London
and formed the supergroup
Snowpony
in 1996, O'Ciosoig joined Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions
, while Shields collaborated with Yo La Tengo
, Primal Scream
, and Dinosaur Jr
.
Rumors spread among fans of albums being recorded and then shelved. In 1999, it was reported that Shields had delivered 60 hours of material to Island. According to sources, one was possibly influenced by jungle music
. Shields later confirmed that at least one full album of new material was abandoned. He said, "We did an album's worth of half-finished stuff, and it did just get dumped, but it was worth dumping. It was dead. It hadn't got that spirit, that life in it." Shields later said to Magnet
magazine, "We are 100 percent going to make another My Bloody Valentine record unless we die or something", and attributed the band's sparse output to a lack of inspiration.
In August 2007, internet rumors claimed that the band were negotiating a performance at the 2008 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
or were planning a world tour. Vinita Joshi, Kevin Shields' then-manager, said "there are no confirmed shows at all."
On November 15, 2007, My Bloody Valentine announced three upcoming live gigs in the UK for 2008. On June 13 and 14, the band played in public for the first time in fifteen years, offering a pair of 'Live Rehearsal' presentations at the ICA in London and officially starting their series of comeback performances.
The band went on to play a slew of festivals in Summer and Fall of 2008, which included the Roskilde Festival
(Denmark, July 3–6), Festival Internacional de Benicàssim
(Spain
, July 17–20.), Fuji Rock Festival
08 (Japan, July 25–27), Øyafestivalen
(Oslo, Norway, August 5–8) and The Electric Picnic Festival (Ireland, August 29–31), and Bestival 2008
(Isle of Wight, September 5–7). On September 19–21, My Bloody Valentine curated and performed at the 2008 All Tomorrow's Parties
festival in Monticello, New York
.
Following the festivals, the band played dates in New York, Chicago, Toronto, San Francisco, LA, and Austin in late September, early October.
Following their appearance at the All Tomorrows Parties festival, the New York Times reported that Shields was planning to complete the unfinished album: "I realized that all that stuff I was doing in 1996 and 1997 was a lot better than I thought."
The band played an exclusive small capacity club show at the Effenaar
club in Eindhoven, Netherlands
on May 25, 2009, nearly 25 years after the show they played there on November 24, 1984.
My Bloody Valentine curated the All Tomorrow's Parties 'Nightmare Before Christmas' festival in December 2009, where they were obliged to perform on a smaller stage due to noise level issues. They played all three nights of the festival so that all attendees would be able to see them at least once.
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band formed 1983 in Dublin, Ireland. The band's founding members are guitarist/singer Kevin Shields
Kevin Shields
Kevin Patrick Shields is an American-born, Irish vocalist, guitarist, and producer of alternative rock band My Bloody Valentine....
and drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig. The lineup during the band's late 80s/early 90s heyday included singer-guitarist Bilinda Butcher
Bilinda Butcher
Bilinda Jayne Butcher is a vocalist/guitarist for the rock band My Bloody Valentine.-Biography:Butcher was raised in London and then Derbyshire. She went on to study dance at Laban College in London, but she dropped out after a year due to developing a case of cystitis...
and bassist Debbie Googe
Debbie Googe
Debbie Googe is the bassist for the rock band My Bloody Valentine.-My Bloody Valentine:Before joining My Bloody Valentine, she lived in Yeovil, Somerset and played for a band called Bikini Mutants, who gigged with The Mob...
after the band settled in London.
As My Bloody Valentine's music progressed, their use of distortion, pitch bending
Portamento
Portamento is a musical term originated from the Italian expression "portamento della voce" , denoting from the beginning of the 17th century a vocal slide between two pitches and its emulation by members of the violin family and certain wind instruments, and is sometimes used...
, and digital
Digital
A digital system is a data technology that uses discrete values. By contrast, non-digital systems use a continuous range of values to represent information...
reverb
Reverberation
Reverberation is the persistence of sound in a particular space after the original sound is removed. A reverberation, or reverb, is created when a sound is produced in an enclosed space causing a large number of echoes to build up and then slowly decay as the sound is absorbed by the walls and air...
resulted in a sound that came to be known as shoegazing
Shoegazing
Shoegazing is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged from the United Kingdom in the late 1980s. It lasted there until the mid 1990s, with a critical zenith reached in 1990 and 1991...
. The group's 1991 critically acclaimed album Loveless
Loveless (album)
Loveless is the second studio album by alternative rock band My Bloody Valentine. Released on 4 November 1991, Loveless was recorded over a two-year period between 1989 and 1991 in nineteen recording studios...
took two years to make mostly due to funding problems. Following Loveless, My Bloody Valentine became inactive, with Shields recording and shelving several albums' worth of follow-up material. In 2007, Shields announced that the band had reunited and were recording new material.
The name of the band is taken from the 1981 horror film of the same name
My Bloody Valentine (film)
My Bloody Valentine is a 1981 Canadian slasher film released in the wake of the popularity of the slasher genre that had overtaken the 1970s...
.
Early history
Colm Ó Cíosóig and Kevin Shields met in the late 1970s as teenagers in Dublin. They quickly became friends and joined a local punk rockPunk 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...
band named The Complex. Toward the end of 1983, Shields and O'Ciosoig formed their own band with singer Dave Conway. Conway, who went by the stage name Dave Stelfox, suggested names such as Burning Peacocks before they settled on My Bloody Valentine. The band was completed by Conway's girlfriend Tina, who played keyboards.
Gavin Friday
Gavin Friday
Gavin Friday is an Irish singer and songwriter, composer, actor and painter.-Career:Gavin was born in Dublin and grew up in Finglas, a neighbourhood located on Dublin's Northside...
of Dublin 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...
band The Virgin Prunes gave the group contacts that secured them a show in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. Based on getting that one gig, the band moved to Holland and ended up staying for three months. Due to a lack of opportunities and a lack of correct documentation, the band then moved to Berlin, where they recorded the mini-LP
Mini-LP
A Mini-LP or Mini-album is a short album, usually retailing at a lower price than an album that would be considered "full-length".-History:...
This Is Your Bloody Valentine
This Is Your Bloody Valentine
This Is Your Bloody Valentine is the debut release by the band My Bloody Valentine. The seven-song mini-album, recorded in Berlin, reflects the group's early gothic post-punk tendencies, and generally bears little relation to the shoegazing sound with which they are most commonly associated, with...
. The record failed to have the expected impact, and, after four months, the band left Berlin, returning to Holland briefly before settling in London around the middle of 1985. Conway was the main songwriter in the early line-up, with Shields describing the process: "for each song he'd write about 3 pages of lyrics and usually me and Colm would pick out the bits we liked and David would sing that".
Settling in London
After a period when My Bloody Valentine members lost contact with each other as they looked for places to stay, the band regrouped and decided to audition bass players. The band lacked a regular bassist and Conway's girlfriend had decided to leave the band, not feeling confident in her abilities as a keyboard player. Having been given the telephone number of a bass player in London, Debbie GoogeDebbie Googe
Debbie Googe is the bassist for the rock band My Bloody Valentine.-My Bloody Valentine:Before joining My Bloody Valentine, she lived in Yeovil, Somerset and played for a band called Bikini Mutants, who gigged with The Mob...
, they invited her to audition, and, ultimately, to join the band, fitting in rehearsals around her day job.
At this point the band were rehearsing at Salem Studios, which was connected to the record label Fever Records. Impressed by what they heard, Fever agreed to release 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...
. On the strength of this, Googe left her job, and the EP, titled Geek!
Geek!
Geek! is the first EP by My Bloody Valentine and their first to feature bass player Debbie Googe. It was released in December 1985.-7-inch:#"No Place to Go" – 3:20#"Moonlight" – 3:20*Cat. no.: FEV5X.-12-inch:#"No Place to Go" – 3:20...
was released in April 1986. The band soon began to play on the London gig circuit, but the record failed to make as much of an impact as the band had hoped. With the band's slow progress, Shields contemplated moving back to New York, where some of his family were living.
However, Joe Foster, an associate of Creation Records
Creation Records
Creation Records was a British independent record label headed by Alan McGee. Along with Dick Green and Joe Foster, McGee founded Creation in 1983. The label lasted until its demise in 1999. The name came from the 1960s band The Creation , whom McGee greatly admired. McGee, Green and Foster were...
, had decided to set up his own label, Kaleidoscope Records, and persuaded the group to record for him. The EP, The New Record by My Bloody Valentine
The New Record by My Bloody Valentine
The New Record by My Bloody Valentine is the second EP by My Bloody Valentine, released in September 1986. The EP marked a shift away from the band's early post-punk sound, reflecting more the burgeoning C86-brand of indie pop.-Track listing:...
, was the result, released in October 1986. The band also began to step up their live appearances, developing a small following and venturing outside London for gigs supporting bands like the Membranes.
The band's next record was Sunny Sundae Smile
Sunny Sundae Smile
Sunny Sundae Smile is the third EP by My Bloody Valentine. Released in February 1987, it was their first for Lazy Records, and the last to feature original vocalist Dave Conway.-7-inch:# "Sunny Sundae Smile" – 2:30# "Paint a Rainbow" – 2:19...
, an EP released in March 1987 by Lazy Records, a label set up by The Primitives
The Primitives
The Primitives are a British indie pop band from Coventry, best known for their 1988 international hit single "Crash".-Biography:The Primitives were part of the indie music scene of the mid-1980s alongside bands like The Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine, the Soup...
with their manager Wayne Morris. The label had been interested in My Bloody Valentine for a while, and the band turned to them this time due to Foster's indifference. The band then spent a few months performing in London and managed to secure a support slot with the Soup Dragons. During the shows with the Soup Dragons, Conway announced his decision to leave the band; he had been suffering with a gastric illness for a while and had become disillusioned with music. Conway has since pursued a career as a writer.
Conway departs and Butcher joins
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
because we liked their melodies, the whole thing was disastrous and excruciating, you should have seen some of the fruitballs we got."
The band eventually turned to recommendations and experimented with having two vocalists: Bilinda Butcher
Bilinda Butcher
Bilinda Jayne Butcher is a vocalist/guitarist for the rock band My Bloody Valentine.-Biography:Butcher was raised in London and then Derbyshire. She went on to study dance at Laban College in London, but she dropped out after a year due to developing a case of cystitis...
and Joe Byfield. It soon became apparent that Byfield was unsuited to the band, and Shields took on second vocalist duties alongside Butcher; he noted she "sounded all right and she could sing one of our songs which sounded fine, we just had to show her how to play guitar." Shields was initially reluctant to take on a vocal role, but stated in 1988 "I've always sung in the rehearsal room, I've always made up the melodies." With the new line-up in place, the band intended to leave the My Bloody Valentine moniker behind, but according to Ó Cíosóig "we never could think of a good enough name".
Under pressure from Lazy Records to produce an album, the band compromised, citing the need for time to stabilize their line-up. The band agreed to record an EP followed by a mini LP. The EP, Strawberry Wine, consisted of three tracks and was released in November 1987. The mini-LP, titled Ecstasy, followed soon after in December. The EP has been described as "certainly the better of the two releases." Ecstasy has been criticized as showing "a group who appeared to have run out of money halfway through recording," which was indeed the case. Ecstasy also suffered from production difficulties, as Shields described errors in mastering the recordings. These hardships were not surprising as the band were funding the studio time themselves; The deal with Lazy was that the label would do the promotion, the band paying for the recording.
Creation Records
In January 1988 My Bloody Valentine played a gig with Biff Bang Pow!Biff Bang Pow!
Biff Bang Pow! were an indie pop band from London, England, active between 1983 and 1991, centering around Creation Records boss Alan McGee.-History:...
, a band that featured Creation Records
Creation Records
Creation Records was a British independent record label headed by Alan McGee. Along with Dick Green and Joe Foster, McGee founded Creation in 1983. The label lasted until its demise in 1999. The name came from the 1960s band The Creation , whom McGee greatly admired. McGee, Green and Foster were...
owner Alan McGee
Alan McGee
Alan McGee has been a record label owner, musician, manager, and music blogger for The Guardian.McGee is best-known for co-forming and running the independent Creation Records label from 1983–1999, and then Poptones from 1999-2007...
as a member. The performance convinced McGee that they were the Irish equivalent to American band Hüsker Dü
Hüsker Dü
Hüsker Dü was an American rock band formed in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1979. The band's continual members were guitarist Bob Mould, bassist Greg Norton, and drummer Grant Hart....
, and he approached the band after the show. The band decided to record a single for the label. My Bloody Valentine recorded five songs at a studio in Walthamstow
Walthamstow
Walthamstow is a district of northeast London, England, located in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It is situated north-east of Charing Cross...
in east London in less than a week. Released as the EP You Made Me Realise
You Made Me Realise
"You Made Me Realise" is a single and EP by My Bloody Valentine, released in August 1988. It was their first record for Creation Records. The promotional video for "You Made Me Realise" was directed by ex-Jesus and Mary Chain bassist Douglas Hart...
, the release was the band's first to be largely well-received by critics. The group followed with the EP Feed Me with Your Kiss
Feed Me with Your Kiss
Feed Me with Your Kiss is the lead track of an otherwise untitled EP by My Bloody Valentine, released in November 1988. The lead track was also included on their debut album, Isn't Anything, released the same month.-7-inch:...
and the album Isn't Anything
Isn't Anything
Isn't Anything is the debut full-length studio album by My Bloody Valentine, released in November 1988 on Creation Records after three years of issuing extended plays, singles, and mini-LPs.-Background:...
(1988). The band's multi-layered guitar sound became a major influence on a number of new bands who the British music press grouped together under the shoegazing
Shoegazing
Shoegazing is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged from the United Kingdom in the late 1980s. It lasted there until the mid 1990s, with a critical zenith reached in 1990 and 1991...
label.
Glider (EP)
Glider is an EP by My Bloody Valentine, released in April 1990 by Creation Records. The EP was also the group's first release on the Sire Records label in the USA. The lead track, "Soon", was later included on the Loveless album.-First 12-inch:...
, which was released in 1990. In May 1990 the band recorded a second EP, Tremolo
Tremolo (EP)
Tremolo is an EP by My Bloody Valentine, released in February 1991 by Creation Records. The title is a reference to the band's heavy usage of guitar tremolo and vibrato to create blurred, dreamlike tones...
(1991). The band halted work on the album in order to tour behind the release of Glider in Summer 1990.
It ultimately took My Bloody Valentine two years to finish their second album Loveless
Loveless (album)
Loveless is the second studio album by alternative rock band My Bloody Valentine. Released on 4 November 1991, Loveless was recorded over a two-year period between 1989 and 1991 in nineteen recording studios...
(1991). The making of the album was rumored to have cost £250,000 and to have nearly bankrupted Creation Records, claims which Shields has denied. Reviews of Loveless were almost unanimous with praise. The NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
review of Loveless declared, "...however decadent one might find the idea of elevating other human beings to deities, My Bloody Valentine, failings and all, deserve more than your respect." However, the album failed to perform commercially. Loveless peaked at number 24 on the British album charts, and failed to chart in the United States, where it was distributed by 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...
. Since its release, Loveless has remained a critical favorite, with the internet music publication Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
naming Loveless the second greatest album of the 1990s. However, McGee dropped My Bloody Valentine from Creation Records soon after the album's release because he could not bear working with Shields again; "It was either him or me", he told The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
in 2004.
Post-Creation
My Bloody Valentine signed with Island RecordsIsland Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
in October 1992, reportedly for £250,000. The band spent their advance on constructing a studio in a house in Streatham
Streatham
Streatham is a district in Surrey, England, located in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...
. The studio was completed in April 1993, but problems with the studio and attempts to repair them sent the band into "semi-meltdown" according to Shields.
The group recorded very little, which included the contribution of a cover of a James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
theme song to a charity compilation (We Have All the Time in the World
We Have All the Time in the World
"We Have All the Time in the World" is a James Bond theme and popular song sung by Louis Armstrong. Its music was composed by John Barry and the lyrics by Hal David. It is a secondary musical theme in 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service, the title theme being the instrumental "On...
), and a cover of the Wire
Wire (band)
Wire are an English rock band, formed in London in October 1976 by Colin Newman , Graham Lewis , Bruce Gilbert , and Robert Gotobed...
song "Map Ref. 41 Degrees N 93 Degrees W" for the tribute album
Tribute album
A tribute album is a recorded collection of cover versions of songs or instrumental compositions. Its concept may be either various artists making a tribute to a single artist, a single artist making a tribute to various artists, or a single artist making a tribute to another single artist.There...
Whore: Tribute to Wire. Unable to finalise a third album, Shields isolated himself and, in his own words, went "crazy," drawing comparisons in the music press to the behavior of musicians such as Brian Wilson
Brian Wilson
Brian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group...
of The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
and Syd Barrett
Syd Barrett
Syd Barrett , born Roger Keith Barrett, was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and painter, best remembered as a founding member of the band Pink Floyd. He was the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter during the band's psychedelic years, providing major musical and stylistic...
of Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
. The other band members went their own ways during the period of inactivity following Loveless: Butcher contributed vocals to Collapsed Lung's
Collapsed Lung (band)
Collapsed Lung are a Harlow-based Brit-Pop group most famous for the song "Eat My Goal". They formed in February 1992.-History:Collapsed Lung was originally formed as a bedroom studio collaboration between Anthony Chapman and Steve Harcourt...
1996 single "Board Game," Googe had been sighted working as a cab driver in 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...
and formed the 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"....
Snowpony
Snowpony
Snowpony are a British indie rock supergroup initially formed in 1996 by Katharine Gifford and Debbie Googe.-History:Gifford, who at the time was in Moonshake, gave Googe a tape of songs she had been working on before Moonshake went on a US tour. Googe, who then had recently left My Bloody...
in 1996, O'Ciosoig joined Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions
Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions
Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions is an independent alternative/dream pop band composed of Hope Sandoval from the dormant band Mazzy Star and Colm Ó Cíosóig of My Bloody Valentine. Their first album Bavarian Fruit Bread was released in 2001. Bass player Alan Browne from Irish band Dirt Blue Gene...
, while Shields collaborated with Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo, sometimes abbreviated as YLT, is an American alternative rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1984. Since 1992, the lineup has consisted of Ira Kaplan , Georgia Hubley , and James McNew .Despite achieving limited mainstream success, Yo La Tengo has been called "the quintessential...
, Primal Scream
Primal Scream
Primal Scream are a Scottish alternative rock band originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie and Jim Beattie and now based in London. The current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes , Martin Duffy , and Darrin Mooney...
, and Dinosaur Jr
Dinosaur Jr
Dinosaur Jr. is an American alternative rock band formed in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1984. Originally called Dinosaur, prior to legal issues that forced the group to change their name, the band disbanded in 1997 until reuniting in 2005...
.
Rumors spread among fans of albums being recorded and then shelved. In 1999, it was reported that Shields had delivered 60 hours of material to Island. According to sources, one was possibly influenced by jungle music
Drum and bass
Drum and bass is a type of electronic music which emerged in the late 1980s. The genre is characterized by fast breakbeats , with heavy bass and sub-bass lines...
. Shields later confirmed that at least one full album of new material was abandoned. He said, "We did an album's worth of half-finished stuff, and it did just get dumped, but it was worth dumping. It was dead. It hadn't got that spirit, that life in it." Shields later said to Magnet
Magnet (magazine)
Magnet is a music magazine which generally focuses on alternative, independent, or out-of-the-mainstream bands.-History:The magazine is published four times a year, and is independently owned and edited by Eric T. Miller. Music magazines with a similar focus in the 1990s era included Option,...
magazine, "We are 100 percent going to make another My Bloody Valentine record unless we die or something", and attributed the band's sparse output to a lack of inspiration.
Reunion
In 2007 Shields announced that the band had reunited and that a new album they had started recording in 1996 was "3/4th finished." In a 2007 interview with Ian Svenonius for the show Soft Focus, Shields speaks of releasing both the unfinished album and a record of new material.In August 2007, internet rumors claimed that the band were negotiating a performance at the 2008 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is a three-day annual music and arts festival, organized by Goldenvoice and held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Inland Empire's Coachella Valley...
or were planning a world tour. Vinita Joshi, Kevin Shields' then-manager, said "there are no confirmed shows at all."
On November 15, 2007, My Bloody Valentine announced three upcoming live gigs in the UK for 2008. On June 13 and 14, the band played in public for the first time in fifteen years, offering a pair of 'Live Rehearsal' presentations at the ICA in London and officially starting their series of comeback performances.
The band went on to play a slew of festivals in Summer and Fall of 2008, which included the Roskilde Festival
Roskilde Festival
Roskilde Festival is a festival held south of Roskilde in Denmark and is one of the six biggest annual music festivals in Europe . It was created in 1971 by two high school students, Mogens Sandfær and Jesper Switzer Møller, and promoter Carl Fischer...
(Denmark, July 3–6), Festival Internacional de Benicàssim
Festival Internacional de Benicàssim
The Festival Internacional de Benicàssim is an annual music festival which takes place in the village of Benicàssim, province of Castelló, Valencian Community in Spain. It focuses mainly on pop, rock and electronica artists, as well as having other elements besides music like short films,...
(Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, July 17–20.), Fuji Rock Festival
Fuji Rock Festival
Fuji Rock Festival is an annual rock festival held in Naeba Ski Resort, in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. The 3 day event, organized by Smash Japan, features more than 200 Japanese and international musicians, making it the largest outdoor music event in Japan...
08 (Japan, July 25–27), Øyafestivalen
Øyafestivalen
Øyafestivalen is an annual Norwegian music festival held in Middelalderparken , Oslo. It has grown quickly since its modest start in 1999 with an audience of 1000 people in one day, and has now become one of Norway's biggest festivals....
(Oslo, Norway, August 5–8) and The Electric Picnic Festival (Ireland, August 29–31), and Bestival 2008
Bestival 2008
The Bestival 2008 was the fifth instalment of the Bestival a boutique music festival at Robin Hill on the Isle of Wight. The festival was held between 5–7 September 2008 and over 30,000 people attended....
(Isle of Wight, September 5–7). On September 19–21, My Bloody Valentine curated and performed at the 2008 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....
festival in Monticello, New York
Monticello, New York
Monticello is a village located in the Town of Thompson in Sullivan County, New York, United States. The population was 6,512 at the 2000 census. It is the seat for the Town of Thompson and the county seat of Sullivan County...
.
Following the festivals, the band played dates in New York, Chicago, Toronto, San Francisco, LA, and Austin in late September, early October.
Following their appearance at the All Tomorrows Parties festival, the New York Times reported that Shields was planning to complete the unfinished album: "I realized that all that stuff I was doing in 1996 and 1997 was a lot better than I thought."
The band played an exclusive small capacity club show at the Effenaar
Effenaar
The Effenaar is a pop music venue in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. It was founded in 1971 and has grown into one of the larger pop venues in the country....
club in Eindhoven, Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
on May 25, 2009, nearly 25 years after the show they played there on November 24, 1984.
My Bloody Valentine curated the All Tomorrow's Parties 'Nightmare Before Christmas' festival in December 2009, where they were obliged to perform on a smaller stage due to noise level issues. They played all three nights of the festival so that all attendees would be able to see them at least once.
Discography
- Isn't AnythingIsn't AnythingIsn't Anything is the debut full-length studio album by My Bloody Valentine, released in November 1988 on Creation Records after three years of issuing extended plays, singles, and mini-LPs.-Background:...
(1988) - LovelessLoveless (album)Loveless is the second studio album by alternative rock band My Bloody Valentine. Released on 4 November 1991, Loveless was recorded over a two-year period between 1989 and 1991 in nineteen recording studios...
(1991)
Sources
- Brown, Nick. "My Bloody Valentine" Spiral Scratch, February 1991.
- Cavanagh, David. The Creation Records Story: My Magpie Eyes Are Hungry for the Prize. (London) Virgin Books, 2000. ISBN.
- DeRogatis, Jim. Turn On Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Corporation., 2003. ISBN.
- McGonigal, Mike. Loveless. New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc., 2007. ISBN.
- O'Hagan, Sean. "Daydream believers". The ObserverThe ObserverThe Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
. 18 May 2008. Retrieved on 2 January 2010.