Stephen Thrower

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Stephen Thrower (* 9. December 1963 in Ashton-Under-Lyne , Greater Manchester as Andrew Stephens ) is an English musician and author who since mid-1980 lives in the London area.

Musical development

Raised by adoptive parents from the age of one, Thrower lived in Yorkshire for much of his youth . Early on he was enthusiastic about various forms of artistic expression, especially music and film. In 1980 he founded the underground group Possession together with Victor Watkins and Anna Virginia War (alias Tiny, now a member of Ultrasound), of which a single album was released in 1984 under the sweeping title “The Thin White Arms, Obtusely Angled At The Elbow, Methodically Dipping And Emerging ”appeared. During his time with Possession, which he left in 1987, he joined the later well-known electronic band Coil in 1984 , in whose recordings he was almost completely involved in the 80s. Satin Chickens, Put Put, Identical and Skullflower were other formations in which Thrower was temporarily involved - in the avant-garde band Put Put, which played with jazz elements, he played saxophone and clarinet , and Identical also played a crossover of jazz and electronica . The latter accompanied works by the performance artist Franko B and the controversial film “Cling” by Anna Thew . Thrower ended his membership with Coil in 1992. His current music project is the experimental group Cyclobe , a band he runs with his partner Ossian Brown . Her first two albums "Luminous Darkness" and "The Visitors" were released on the British label Phantomcode, her collaboration with Nurse With Wound , entitled "Paraparaparallelogrammatica", was released on the US label Beta Lactam . Thrower is a guest musician with the groups Matmos , CoH and Amal Gamal Ensemble . His latest band project is UnicaZürn together with David Knight.

Film journalism

Film journalism has been his second mainstay since the late 1980s. Thrower is a recognized specialist in horror cinema and non-mainstream films in general. From 1987 to 1989 he wrote for the fanzine "Shock Xpress", whose editorial team consisted largely of post-industrial musicians in addition to Thrower . After the dissolution of Shock Xpress, Thrower published his own film magazine under the title "Eyeball: The European Sex and Horror Review" until 2003. In this magazine, which Thrower named after a film by Umberto Lenzis , reports and interviews with directors as diverse as Alejandro Jodorowsky , Paul Morrissey , Joe D'Amato , Andrzej Żuławski , Dario Argento , Alain Robbe-Grillet , Pupi Avati and Jean- Luc Godard . In 2003 all 14 issues appeared in book form under the title "The Eyeball Compendium". Thrower's other book publications are “Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci ” from 1999 and “Nightmare USA: The Untold Story of the Exploitation Independents” from 2007. For the near future, a second part of Nightmare USA and the overview work “Sadomania! A Guide To The Films of Jess Franco ”. All of Thrower's standalone fonts appear on FAB Press. Thrower always endeavored to merge his two main interests into an intermedia total work of art. In addition to the above He recorded collaborations with Coil on the soundtrack for the film " Hellraiser - Das Tor zur Hölle " by Clive Barker , as well as the music for Derek Jarman's " The Angelic Conversation " (not used because of the rejection by the production company) . Thrower was friends with Jarman and worked as an extra in his films “ Imagining October ”, “ The Last of England ” and “ Caravaggio ”. With Cyclobe he composed the theme music for George Barry's " Death Bed: The Bed That Eats ", most recently for the first Pakistani horror film "Zibarkhana".

Sound carrier (selection)

With possession

  • The Thin White Arms, Obtusely Angled At The Elbow, Methodically Dipping And Emerging (LP 1984)

With coil

  • Scatology (LP 1984)
  • Horse Rotorvator (LP 1985)
  • Gold Is The Metal (With The Broadest Shoulders) (LP 1987)
  • The Angelic Conversation (CD 1994)
  • Unnatural History III (CD 1997)

With Cyclobe

  • Luminous Darkness (CD 1999)
  • The Visitors (CD 2001)

Books

  • Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci (1999)
  • (Ed.) The Eyeball Compendium (2003)
  • Nightmare USA: The Untold Story of the Exploitation Independents (2007)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Thrower, Stephen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stephens, Andrew
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English musician and author
DATE OF BIRTH December 9, 1963
PLACE OF BIRTH Ashton-Under-Lyne