Amebix

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Amebix
General information
origin Tavistock , England
Genre (s) Crustcore
founding 1978, 2008
resolution 1987, 2012
Founding members
Rob "The Baron" Miller
Chris "Stig" Miller
Clive Barnes (until 1979)
Andy "Billy Jug" Hoare (until 1981)
Last occupation
Vocals, bass
 Rob "The Baron" Miller
guitar
 Chris "Stig" Miller
Roy Mayorga (from 2008)
former members
bass
 Ric Gadsby (1979)
Drums
 Martin Baker (1981)
Keyboard
 Norman "Norm" Butler (1981-1984)
Keyboard
 Jenghiz (1984)
Drums
 Neil "Virus" Worthington (1981–1985; † 2015)
Keyboard
 George Fletcher (A. Droid) (1984-1987)
Drums
 Robert "Spider" Richards (1985–1987)

Amebix was a British punk band that existed from 1978 to 1987 and is considered to be one of the first representatives of crust punk . In 2008 the band reunited, with Robert "Spider" Richards being replaced by Roy Mayorga due to his tinnitus problem . The band's name is from the amoeba ( Engl . Amoeba ) derived, as this is the basic form of life, and the band played just simple music.

history

Amebix was founded in 1978 by Rob "The Baron" Miller, his brother Chris "Stig" Miller, Andy "Billy Jug" Hoare and Clive Barnes while they were still attending school in Devon. The band was initially referred to by the members as The Band with No Name, often played under this name in the vicinity and played a demo recording with six pieces. When the band Crass was playing in Plymouth, The Baron gave them one of the tapes; the included song University Challenged appeared in 1980 on the first part of the Crass Records sampler series Bullshit Detector . Then drummer "Billy Jug" was replaced by Martin Baker and his parents' mansion in Dartmoor was used for rehearsals. It was around this time that the band began using the name Amebix. However, Baker was removed from the band by his parents and transferred to London, where he suffered a nervous breakdown and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia; the band covered Baker's experiences in the song Largactyl .

The band recruited Norman "Norm" Butler (Screaming Heads, Phantasmagoria, Norm yard), the synthesizer played, and moved to Bristol, where she appeared in squats lived. With Disorder drummer Neil “Virus” Worthington, Amebix had a “semi-stable” line-up. This included the first two 7 ”releases Who's the Enemy and Winter as well as the 12” No Sanctuary . A guest musician took over the synthesizer on No Sanctuary , in 1984 it was taken over by George. While recording No Sanctuary in the Southern studios, the band Jello Biafra met the American band Dead Kennedys and the record company Alternative Tentacles . As the first British band, they released their debut album Arise there in 1985 ! ; the record company was initially reluctant to release it because it was too "difficult". The final line-up for Amebix was also formed in 1985 when Robert "Spider" Richards became their drummer. The band signed to Heavy Metal Records and released the album Monolith there in 1987 , their most popular work. The difficulties associated with the publication and distribution eventually led to the band's breakup. Nonetheless, she toured for a short time after the album was released, with her final tour ending in Sarajevo, just before the collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia .

After Amebix broke up, Spider, George and Stig played at Zygote's while The Baron moved to the Isle of Skye and worked as an armourer .

The band had sworn in 1987 that they would never play again, but found after the establishment of the Internet that they had left an "after-stream" when they broke up, and were re-formed in 2008 by The Baron and Stig. Rob "The Baron" Miller met Roy Mayorga through Myspace ; When some pieces of Amebix were about to be re-recorded as bonus material for a DVD, The Baron contacted Mayorga to ask if he would like to participate. The collaboration with Mayorga was better than hoped, according to The Baron, so they had no choice but to continue the band's activities, although this was not originally intended; Mayorga fits Amebix "like a hand in a glove". In April 2008 No Sanctuary - The Spiderleg Recordings was released , a compilation of the tracks by Who's the Enemy , Winter and No Sanctuary , which the band had not played live after 1985. The Baron struggled to get the material back from Southern studios, and John Loder refused to release Amebix's material while he was still alive.

style

In the 1980s, the band was hated in their subculture and, according to The Baron, 20 years ahead of their time, they are now considered one of the first and most important representatives of Crust.

The first two singles Winter and Beginning of the End are more heavily influenced by bands like Killing Joke and UK Decay , with a dark, post-apocalyptic and, according to Felix Von Havoc, morbid aesthetic. From No Sanctuary onwards, her dark hardcore style developed in the direction of crust. With the Arise! -LP this sound was codified, a "grinding" mixture of early anarcho-punk / dark hardcore and motorhead . The Metal and Motörhead influences came to the fore on the LP Monolith ; it is considered "one of the definitive crust LPs" and Amebix 'most popular release, but it turned out to be too metallic and overproduced for part of the punk scene, while The Baron put it like Arise! described as poorly produced and sloppily played. With their early work, Amebix are regarded as the forerunners of the combinations of Doom Metal and Hardcore Punk , bands such as Neurosis , Sepultura and Deviated Instinct openly refer to the band. The style of the pieces recorded after the reunification Mayorga described as a stronger, heavier and even more epic version of the style at the end of the band's late phase, with some of the old elements like Stig's heavy, dissonant guitar sounds, "gruesome" keyboards , heavy tribal drumming and the "Glass gurgling" voice from The Baron.

Her texts were shaped by the contrast between symbolic borrowings from medieval times and the social realities of the present, especially the threat of nuclear winter and the destruction of the earth by humans.

Discography

  • 1979: demo
  • 1980: University Challenged on Bullshit Detector ( Crass Records )
  • 1982: Who's the Enemy ( EP , Spiderleg Records)
  • 1983: Winter (single, Spiderleg Records)
  • 1983: No Sanctuary (EP, Spiderleg Records)
  • 1985: No Gods ( live album )
  • 1985: Arise! ( LP , Alternative Tentacles )
  • 1986: No Masters (live album)
  • 1987: Monolith (LP, Heavy Metal Records)
  • 1994: The Power Remains (LP, Skuld Releases / MCR UK)
  • 2000: Arise! +2 (re-release on Alternative Tentacles , plus 2 unreleased demo tracks from 1987)
  • 2003: Make Some Fucking Noise! (Live album)
  • 2008: No Sanctuary - The Spiderleg Recordings (re-release of the tracks by Who's the Enemy , Winter and No Sanctuary , Alternative Tentacles)
  • 2009: Risen (DVD, Belfast Records)
  • 2010: Redux (12 ”/ CD, Profane Existence )
  • 2011: Sonic Mass (LP, Amebix Records / Easy Action)
  • 2011: Knights of the Black Sun (12 ”, Profane Existence)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Hellhammer_x09: Interview with Rob "the Baron" Miller (Amebix) .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Felix Von Havoc: Profane Existence 40 Rise of Crust article ( Memento from April 17, 2012 in the Internet Archive ).
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Amebix: A Biography ( Memento from February 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ a b c Amebix: Redux , Profane Existence 2010.
  5. ^ Paul Kott: Amebix. All Music, accessed April 23, 2014 .
  6. ↑ Hellhammer_x09: Interview with Roy Mayorga (STONE SOUR, AMEBIX) .