Chicks on Speed
Encyclopedia
Chicks on Speed is a multi-national musical ensemble
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...

, formed in Munich in 1997, when members Melissa Logan, Kiki Moorse and Alex Murray-Leslie met at the Academy of Fine Arts.

Though usually considered part of such musical genres as electroclash
Electroclash
Electroclash is a style of music that fuses New Wave and electronic dance music. It emerged in New York and Detroit in the later 1990s, pioneered by acts including I-F and those associated with Gerald Donald, and is associated with acts including Peaches, Adult, and Fischerspooner...

, Chicks on Speed actually started as a multidisciplinary art group who applied punk
Punk subculture
The punk subculture includes a diverse array of ideologies, and forms of expression, including fashion, visual art, dance, literature, and film, which grew out of punk rock.-History:...

-inspired DIY ethic to performance art
Performance art
In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...

, collage graphics and home-made fashion (they have created their own stage costumes with cheap and recycled material such as plastic bags and gaffer's tape, for example).

They originally got their name when they worked at an art gallery to earn some extra money by hanging paintings, someone quipped that they worked like "chicks on speed
Amphetamine
Amphetamine or amfetamine is a psychostimulant drug of the phenethylamine class which produces increased wakefulness and focus in association with decreased fatigue and appetite.Brand names of medications that contain, or metabolize into, amphetamine include Adderall, Dexedrine, Dextrostat,...

".

They had their own club nights at Munich's Bar "Seppi Bar": Chicks on Speed had created an installation piece named I Wanna Be A DJ, Baby. They stood behind DJ decks and smashed records while a sound collage tape was playing. For this project they also put together a "box set" with a T-shirt, a cassette, a paper record and a fake interview for their "band". During this time they met Upstart (a.k.a. Peter Wacha) of Disko B record label who helped Chicks on Speed to actually get started in music.

History

Logan and Murray-Leslie were art students at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich
Academy of Fine Arts, Munich
The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich was founded 1808 by Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria in Munich as the "Royal Academy of Fine Arts" and is one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany...

, when they met in 1997 at one of the Academy's parties. They began working as a group to create art exhibitions and host illegal parties. Those parties included a performance piece titled "I Wanna Be A DJ, Baby". Melissa and Alex then met Kiki Moorse (a member until 2006 now on Toffeetones Records), and invited her to join Chicks on Speed. In this period, COS also met Upstart of record label Disko B. This meeting would see the medium of music merge with the Chicks' multimedia explorations.

Music

A cassette titled Analog Internet was the first piece of music released by Chicks On Speed. The cassette was released in 1997, though it seems widely agreed that the first COS single was a cover of the song "Warm Leatherette
Warm Leatherette
"Warm Leatherette" is a song by Daniel Miller.-Overview:"Warm Leatherette" was released as the B-side to "T.V.O.D.", the only single by Miller's musical project The Normal. It was the very first release on his Mute Records label, and an early example of the then-burgeoning industrial music genre....

", originally by Daniel Miller (as The Normal
The Normal
The Normal is the recording artist name used by English music producer Daniel Miller, a film editor at the time, who is best known as the founder of the record label Mute Records.-Background:...

), released in 7" form. The single was released in 1998 and four further singles ("Smash Metal", "Euro Trash Girl" (originally by Cracker in 1993), "Mind Your Own Business" (originally by Delta 5
Delta 5
-Career:The original members of Delta 5, Julz Sale , Ros Allen and Bethan Peters , formed the band "on a lark", but soon became a part of the thriving Leeds post-punk scene, and later added Kelvin Knight on drums and Alan Riggs on guitar...

 in 1979) and "Glamour Girl" over 1998 and 1999) preceded any actual album releases. In March 2000, two CoS LPs were released; the first, titled The Un-Releases, is not considered an official album, instead, it is described as a "collage" of various songs in various forms. CoS' debut, Chicks On Speed Will Save Us All
Chicks On Speed Will Save Us All
Chicks On Speed Will Save Us All is an album released in 2000 by the then Munich-based artists Chicks On Speed . The album is considered to epitomize the German electroclash movement, as well as Eurotrash culture.-Album information:...

 appeared later in the month and featured all five of the previous singles as well as a new one, "Kaltes Klares Wasser", a cover of a song by the German all-women punk band
Punk 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...

 Malaria!. All six of these singles proved popular and in October 2000, The Re-Releases Of The Un-Releases was issued.

Several EPs were issued over the next few years such as chix 52, a collection of B-52's
The B-52's
The B-52's are an American rock band, formed in Athens, Georgia in 1976. The original line-up consisted of Fred Schneider , Kate Pierson , Cindy Wilson , Ricky Wilson , and Keith Strickland . Following Ricky Wilson's death in 1985 Strickland switched to guitar...

 covers and Fashion Rules that heralded the arrival of the 2003 second album 99 Cents
99 Cents
A video clip for "We Don't Play Guitars", directed by Deborah Schamoni, is included....

. The album produced three more singles, "We Don't Play Guitars
We Don't Play Guitars
"We Don't Play Guitars" is the first single from Chicks on Speed's album 99 Cents and features Peaches. It was placed at #84 on the Triple J Hottest 100, 2003.- Critical reception :...

", a collaboration with Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 artist Peaches
Peaches (musician)
Merrill Beth Nisker , better known by her stage name Peaches, is a Canadian electronic musician and performance artist who lives in Berlin, Germany. Her songs are noted for disregarding traditional gender norms and their use of sexually explicit lyrics...

, which was well-received around the world, a cover of Tom Tom Club
Tom Tom Club
Tom Tom Club is an American new wave band founded in 1981 by husband-and-wife team Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz, both also known for being bandmembers of Talking Heads.-Biography:...

's "Wordy Rappinghood" which saw a number of guest stars including Le Tigre
Le Tigre
Le Tigre is an American electroclash band, formed by Kathleen Hanna and Johanna Fateman in 1998. It also featured Sadie Benning from 1998 until 2001, and JD Samson for the rest of the group's run...

, and "Flame On", a hidden track on the album. By this time CoS have already been collaborating with Anat Ben-David, an unofficial band member working with them since 2002.

In 2004, their third album, Press The Spacebar was released. The album was a collaboration with the Spanish
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...

 band The No-Heads. No singles were issued from the album, though it included a new version of "Culture Vulture", a song from their previous LP release 99 Cents.

In November 2006, the Chicks released the 12" single "Art Rules" produced with Christopher Just, with guests Anat Ben David and Douglas Gordon
Douglas Gordon
Douglas Gordon is a Scottish artist; he won the Turner Prize in 1996 and the following year he represented Britain at the Venice Biennale...

 after the release, the Chicks concentratd on live performances under the same name and toured art institutions the world over, collaborating with A.L. Steiner, Anat Ben David, Kathi Glas and Adi Nachman on production.

Chicks on Speed also worked on an album with Dirty Disco Youth in Barcelona and Hamburg, developing Objekt Instruments for studio and stage implementation and held a solo exhibition at Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre.

Outside of music

Logan and Murray-Leslie have always classified COS as a multi disciplinary "project" blurring the lines between, art, music, fashion and performance. They run a record label, Chicks On Speed Records, together with Peter Wacha, Juergen Söder and Gero Loferer, releasing recordings by Le Tigre
Le Tigre
Le Tigre is an American electroclash band, formed by Kathleen Hanna and Johanna Fateman in 1998. It also featured Sadie Benning from 1998 until 2001, and JD Samson for the rest of the group's run...

, Kevin Blechdom
Kevin Blechdom
Kevin Blechdom, born Kristin Erickson, is an American experimental electronic musician/performance artist from San Francisco, California.-Life and career:...

, Planningtorock
Planningtorock
Janine Rostron, better known by her stage name Planningtorock, is an English electronic musician and performance artist who lives in Berlin, Germany.-Early life:Rostron enrolled in an art school in Sheffield before she moved to Berlin in 2002...

, Gustav, Ana da Silva
Ana da Silva
Ana da Silva is a founding member of The Raincoats. In approximately 1984 she provided backing vocals on The Go-Betweens' "Bachelor Kisses". In February 2005, she released a solo album The Lighthouse on Chicks on Speed Records. Stuart Moxham of the Young Marble Giants collaborated on one of the...

 of The Raincoats
The Raincoats
The Raincoats are a British post-punk band. Ana da Silva and Gina Birch formed the group in 1977 while they were students at Hornsey College of Art, London, England.-Career:...

, DAT Politics
DAT politics
DAT politics is a French electronic band created in 1999. Their energetic live shows explain the cult like enthusiasm that surrounds the French electronic combo as they’ve been touring the world extensively over the years...

, Susanne Brokesch, Kids on TV
Kids on TV
Kids on TV are a punk-house queercore band based in Toronto.The group consists of John Caffery on bass and vocals, Minus Smile on drums, electronics and vocals, Wolf on guitar and vocals, and Roxy on keyboard and vocals. The band is known for performing outside of the usual venues, such as bars,...

, Anat Ben-David, Angie Reed
Angie Reed
Angie Reed is an electronica vocalist and multiinstrumentalist.After playing in Angie et ses Tigres, she joined Stereo Total at the age of 21 as a bassist and vocalist. She left the band to pursue a solo career in 2000. Her debut solo concept album Presents the Best of Barbara Brockhaus, recorded...

 and the Girl Monster compilation series.

Chicks on Speed's interest lies in art, something that also characterizes their live performances. Their solo art exhibitions include Kunstverein Wolfsburg 2004, Kunstraum Innsbruck 2005, CAC Vilnius in 2007. Other exhibitions are Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Bilbao Fine Arts Museum
Bilbao Fine Arts Museum
The Bilbao Fine Arts Museum is an art museum located in the city of Bilbao, Spain...

 2007, Switch On the Power, Vigo
Vigo
Vigo is a city and municipality in north-west Spain, in Galicia, situated on the ria of the same name on the Atlantic Ocean.-Population:...

, 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...

 2006. XMas, Sell-Out, and ChicksTV. They played at the Turner Prize
Turner Prize
The Turner Prize, named after the painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist under the age of 50. Awarding the prize is organised by the Tate gallery and staged at Tate Britain. Since its beginnings in 1984 it has become the United Kingdom's most publicised...

 Retrospective at the Tate
Tate
-Places:*Tate, Georgia, a town in the United States*Tate County, Mississippi, a county in the United States*Táté, the Hungarian name for Totoi village, Sântimbru Commune, Alba County, Romania*Tate, Filipino word for States...

 in October 2007, and at MoMA
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...

 in June 2006, as part of a special evening with Douglas Gordon. Their work with Douglas Gordon included a performance at the Centre Georges Pompidou
Centre Georges Pompidou
Centre Georges Pompidou is a complex in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, near Les Halles, rue Montorgueil and the Marais...

 in February 2007, Collection TBA-21 hosted a performance in Vienna in April 2007, and an exhibition at Yvonne Lambert in Paris in September 2007. They have been responsible for the cover art for various other artists, particularly ones signed to their label and Mego Records in Vienna.

Chicks on Speed's focus on fashion began in 1997 with their first stage costumes, these developed into a longtime collaboration with kathi Glas and more recently with Peggy Noland and Ari Fish and Jeremy Scott. The fashion side of COS has grown into collaborations with independent fashion brands: including textile yardiges for Crystal Ball Japan in 2007/2008, DAA (Designers Against Aids) and Hennes and Mauritz "Fashion Against Aids" in 2008. In 2009 Chicks on Speed and Insight launched the project, Insight on Chicks on Speed, with a range of girls surf wear, and a song and video, titled "Super Surfer Girl". They are currently working on a larger collaboration with another larger brand.

Chicks on Speed launched an Art Scarf with Little Red Ridinghood, based in Berlin, released globally in art museum bookstores in December 2009.

Logan and Murray-Leslie published the book, titled Chicks on Speed: It's A Project, Booth-Clibborn Editions. The book contains historical pieces of information about the band and their art from their beginning stages onward, including a dress, DIY pattern to make overalls, designed by COS and Jeremy Scott, a CD of unreleased music and a poster, all together in a tote bag designed by COS.

London jewellery label, Tatty Devine, designed pieces for Chicks on Speed Japanese and US tours to go with their "Fashion Rules" single. They made plectrum inspired earrings and necklaces.

Chicks on Speed (Melissa and Alex) performed live DJ sets in Europe from October to December 2009, as preparation for a major solo exhibition at Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre that opened on 4 June 2010.

For the last three years Chicks on Speed have been working on a series of what they call Object Instruments, (as maniac performers) shying away from filling the stage with conventional band instruments, they invented their own instruments, which at times double as fashionable stage outfits –for example: Super suits, outfits which remotely trigger audio/video and a haute couture hat, which is a self contained amplification device.

The exhibition at Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre was their first major solo exhibition in the UK. Chicks on Speed opened with a live art performance for invited guests on 4 June; featuring the ‘e-shoe’ – the world’s first wireless high-heeled shoe guitar, made in collaboration with Siberian-born shoe designer Max Kibardin and Hangar.org. These shoes were unveiled alongside Chicks on Speed’s ever-growing collection of self made ‘objekt instruments’ – cigar-box synthesizers, super suits with sewn-in body sensors that trigger audio/video samples and two hats made in collaboration with Christophe Coppins and Hangar.org, based on illuminated drawings of Hildegard von Bingen, a 12th century Christian mystic who received visions, composed ethereal airs, performed healings and even founded convents. These hats transmit the utterances of their wearers by way of microphones and speakers.

The DCA galleries were further transformed into a giant stage and studio set for making music videos, experimenting with no-choreography and ongoing craft projects live, including loom-weaving inspired by Bauhaus design, lectures and workshops, film screenings of their fashion archive and selected video pieces. Chicks on Speed have been working with local and international artists and makers to combine traditional craft with cutting-edge technology.

In addition, at the end of November 2010, their second book, Don't Fashion, Art, Music, was released.

Solo activities of the members

Murray-Leslie founded and curated the compilation Girl Monster in 2006, featuring sixty two women in cutting edge music from the late 1970s to present day, released on Chicks on Speed Records. The "Girl Monster" 12" single, featured Scream Club, Client
Client (band)
Client are an English electronic musical group from London. They are most popular in Germany where they have had limited commercial success...

, Chicks on Speed, Vivien Goldman
Vivien Goldman
Vivien Goldman is a British journalist, writer and musician. She was born in London, the child of two German-Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany. She studied English and American literature at the University of Warwick...

 and Kids on TV. Murray-Leslie is currently a professor of performance fashion at Elisava, Pompeu Fabra University Barcelona. In 2009, she collaborated with Pelican Avenue and Kroot Juurak to create 'A Hanging Garden Party', a fashion performance, performing scene by scene at global fashion events, including Tokyo and Paris Fashion week. Murray-Leslie is director of Diane Pernet's 'A Shaded View on Fashion Film, Barcelona, 2011.

Logan has appeared in German theatre plays Versaut (with costumes by Kate Lloyd-Hughes and Chicks on Speed; at Kampnagel Theatre, Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

, 2001), Alles wird in Flammen stehen (Frank Gehry Tower, Hamburg, 2001) and a "propaganda operette" L'Amerique (Hamburg, 2003), for which Chicks on Speed provided the song "Class War". L'Ameriques "soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...

" (with music by Les Robespierres featuring Melissa Logan) has been released on Chicks on Speed Records in 2004.

Moorse, has now left Chicks on Speed to pursue a career in DJing. She also has a music project, called Bad French, with Andreas Reihse of Kreidler
Kreidler
Kreidler was a German manufacturer of small motorcycles and mopeds, based in Kornwestheim, between Ludwigsburg and Stuttgart. The company was founded in 1903 as "Kreidlers Metall- und Drahtwerke" by Anton Kreidler and started to build motorcycles in 1951. In 1959 one third of all German...

.

Members

  • Alex Murray-Leslie (Bowral, New South Wales
    Bowral, New South Wales
    -Attractions:Bowral is perhaps the best known of the towns and villages of the Southern Highlands, and in recent years has become the commercial centre of the Wingecarribee Shire. Bowral is known for its boutiques, antique stores, gourmet restaurants, and rich coffee culture.Bowral is home to the...

    , Australia
    Australia
    Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

    )
  • Melissa Logan (Upstate New York
    Upstate New York
    Upstate New York is the region of the U.S. state of New York that is located north of the core of the New York metropolitan area.-Definition:There is no clear or official boundary between Upstate New York and Downstate New York...

    , USA)
  • A.L. Steiner (Miami, Florida
    Miami, Florida
    Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...

    , USA)
  • Kathi Glas (Munich
    Munich
    Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

    , Germany
    Germany
    Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

    )
  • Anat Ben David (London, UK
    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...

     / Israel
    Israel
    The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

    )
  • Kroot Juurak (Estonia
    Estonia
    Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

    )

Albums

  • The Un-Releases (2000)
  • Chicks On Speed Will Save Us All
    Chicks On Speed Will Save Us All
    Chicks On Speed Will Save Us All is an album released in 2000 by the then Munich-based artists Chicks On Speed . The album is considered to epitomize the German electroclash movement, as well as Eurotrash culture.-Album information:...

     (2000)
  • The Re-Releases of the Un-Releases (2000)
  • 99 Cents
    99 Cents
    A video clip for "We Don't Play Guitars", directed by Deborah Schamoni, is included....

     (2003)
  • Press the Spacebar (with the No Heads) (2004)
  • Cutting The Edge (May, 2009)
  • The Beat Is Happening (2010)

EPs and singles

  • "Warm Leatherette" (with DJ Hell
    DJ Hell
    This article is about Helmut Josef Geier. You may also be looking for Darryl Hell.Helmut Josef Geier, professionally known as DJ Hell is a German house-techno DJ...

    ) (1998)
  • "Euro Trash Girl" (with Mäuse) (1998)
  • "Smash Metal" (with DMX Krew
    DMX Krew
    DMX Krew is the recording name of Ed Upton. He has released 6 full albums on Aphex Twin's label Rephlex Records and numerous singles/EPs for both Rephlex and his own Breakin' Records. DMX Krew's sound spans several electronic music genres but had mostly been rooted in early electro-pop/breakdance...

    ) (1999)
  • "Mind Your Own Business" (with Pulsinger, Gaier/Reents) (1999)
  • "Glamour Girl" (1999)
  • "Kaltes Klares Wasser" (2000)
  • "Split 7" with V/VM" (2000)
  • "Chix 52" (2000)
  • "The Chicks on Speed / Kreidler Sessions" (with Kreidler) (2001)
  • "Fashion Rules" (2002)
  • "We Don't Play Guitars
    We Don't Play Guitars
    "We Don't Play Guitars" is the first single from Chicks on Speed's album 99 Cents and features Peaches. It was placed at #84 on the Triple J Hottest 100, 2003.- Critical reception :...

    " (2003)
  • "Wordy Rappinghood" (2003) - UK
    UK Singles Chart
    The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

     66
  • "Flame On" (with Mika Vainio) (2004)
  • "What Was Her Name?" (2004) (Dave Clarke featuring Chicks on Speed) - UK #50
  • "Art Rules" (2007)
  • "Super Surfer Girl" (2008)

External links

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