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Bauhaus

A Northampton quartet who recorded Bela Lugosi's Dead in one take in 1979, made four albums in four years, and split in 1983 after a farewell show at Hammersmith Palais.

Origin
Northampton, England
Years active
1978-1983, 1998, 2005-2008, 2019, 2022-2023
Genres
gothic rock, post-punk
Labels
Small Wonder, 4AD, Beggars Banquet, Cooking Vinyl
Also known as
Bauhaus 1919

Northampton

Daniel Ash, the bassist David J and his younger brother, the drummer Kevin Haskins, had played together in bands since childhood. Ash wanted his school friend Peter Murphy as a singer, mostly because he thought Murphy had the right look. Murphy was working in a printing factory and had never written lyrics or music, but at the first rehearsal he co-wrote the song In the Flat Field. The group started out as S.R. with Chris Barber on bass. Within weeks Ash replaced him with David J, who suggested the name Bauhaus 1919, after the German art movement. Their first gig was at the Cromwell pub in Wellingborough on New Year's Eve 1978.

About six weeks after forming, they went to Beck Studios in Wellingborough and, on 26 January 1979, recorded Bela Lugosi's Dead in a single take. Small Wonder released it that August. John Peel played it, and the band recorded a session for his show that was broadcast on 3 January 1980.

4AD and Beggars Banquet

Small Wonder could not afford to send bands on tour, so Bauhaus moved to 4AD. There they released Dark Entries in January 1980, Terror Couple Kill Colonel in June, and then In the Flat Field on 7 November 1980, 4AD's first full-length release. The British weeklies were hostile, and NME's Andy Gill dismissed the band as a hip Black Sabbath. The record still topped the independent albums chart and spent a week at number 72 on the main chart.

Their success outgrew 4AD's resources, and they moved to its parent label, Beggars Banquet. Kick in the Eye came out in March 1981 and reached number 59. Mask followed on 16 October 1981, with more keyboards, acoustic guitar, saxophone and funk rhythms than the debut. The band shot a video for the title track on a tiny budget in an abandoned Victorian shoe factory in Northampton. It made only one appearance on British television.

Chart success and the split

In 1982 they cut a single, Spirit, with the producer Hugh Jones, which was unusual for a band that normally produced itself. It took about nine days, long by their standards, and reached number 42. For The Sky's Gone Out, made in a month at Rockfield Studios in Wales with Derek Tompkins producing, they arrived with little written and made the songs in the studio. It peaked at number 3. Their cover of David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust reached number 15 and earned a Top of the Pops appearance. Ash said they chose it to answer critics who accused them of copying Bowie. In The Hunger, a 1983 film, they performed Bela Lugosi's Dead over the opening credits.

On Burning from the Inside, Ash and David J sang lead on several tracks. She's in Parties reached number 26. The band played its farewell show at Hammersmith Palais on 5 July 1983, and the album came out a week later at number 13.

Afterwards

Murphy formed Dalis Car with Mick Karn and then went solo. Ash and Haskins carried on with Tones on Tail, a project Ash had started in 1982. In 1985 Ash, Haskins and David J formed Love and Rockets, whose single So Alive reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1989. Bauhaus reunited for the Resurrection Tour in 1998. At Coachella on 30 April 2005 they opened with Bela Lugosi's Dead, with Murphy hanging upside down over the stage. A new album, Go Away White, came out on Cooking Vinyl in 2008, their first in 25 years, and they announced it as their last. They played the Hollywood Palladium in November 2019 and released Drink the New Wine in March 2022, recorded separately by each member during lockdown. On 19 April 2023 Ash confirmed that the reunion was over.

The Guardian ranked Bela Lugosi's Dead number 19 in its fifty key events in the history of indie music, under the headline Bauhaus invent goth. The band themselves rejected the label and preferred to call their style dark glam.

Members

Records

Songs

Love and Rockets, Tones on Tail, Peter Murphy, David Bowie, Siouxsie and the Banshees

Where to go next

Official

Reference

Writing and criticism

Sources

  1. Bauhaus (band), Wikipedia
  2. Bauhaus invent goth, The Guardian (2011-06-13)
  3. Bauhaus, Coachella 2005, Pitchfork (2005-05-08)
  4. Bauhaus: The Bela Session, Pitchfork
  5. New book about the origins of Bauhaus, Louder Than War
  6. Music of the macabre: revisiting goth's evolution, The Guardian (2015-10-29)