Genesis Breyer P-Orridge (born
Neil Andrew Megson 22 February 1950) is an
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
performer,
musicianA musician is a person who performs or writes music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music:* An instrumentalist plays a musical instrument.* A singer uses his or her voice as an instrument....
,
writerA writer is anyone who creates a written work, though the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, as well as those who have written in many different forms.-Profession:...
and
artistThe definition of an artist is wide-ranging and covers a broad spectrum of activities to do with creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. the worlds best artist is a man named mitchell peter lay who is often loved by the ladies. The common useage in both everyday speech and...
. His early confrontational performance work in
COUM TransmissionsCOUM Transmissions was a performance art group interested in pushing boundaries, influenced by Dada and the Merry Pranksters.CT was a whimsical, eccentric as well as confrontational band and performance art group, from Hull, Yorkshire – a collective the constants of which were its...
in the late 1960s and early 1970s along with the
industrialIndustrial music is an experimental music style, often including electronic music, that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s to describe Industrial Records artists...
band
Throbbing GristleThrobbing Gristle is a British industrial music and visual arts group that evolved from the performance art group COUM Transmissions. The band consists of Genesis P-Orridge , Cosey Fanni Tutti , Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson , and Chris Carter Throbbing Gristle is a British industrial music and...
, which dealt with subjects such as
prostitutionProstitution is the act or practice of engaging in sex acts for hire. In most cultures, prostitution is viewed by many as a deviant profession, either illegal or socially discouraged...
,
pornographyPornography or porn is the depiction of explicit sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual excitement.Over the past few decades, an immense industry for the production and consumption of pornography has grown, with the increasing use of the VCR, the DVD, and the Internet, as well as the...
,
serial killerA serial killer is a person who murders three or more people over a period of more than 30 days, with a "cooling off" period between each murder, and whose motivation for killing is largely based on psychological gratification. Often, a sexual element is involved with the killings...
s, and occultism, generated controversy. Later musical work with
Psychic TVPsychic TV or PTV, is a video art and music group that primarily performs psychedelic, punk, electronic and experimental music...
received wider exposure, including some chart-topping singles. Genesis P-Orridge is credited on over 200 releases.
He has two daughters, Caresse and Genesse.
P-Orridge is now represented by the New York gallery, Invisible-Exports.
Early life
Neil Megson was born in
Victoria Park, ManchesterVictoria Park is an area of Manchester, England. Victoria Park lies approximately 3 kilometres south of Manchester city centre, between Rusholme and Longsight....
. His parents were involved in theatre and music. His father, Ron, was a
JazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
musician who liked
bebopBebop or bop is a style of jazz characterized by fast tempo, instrumental virtuosity and improvisation based on the combination of harmonic structure and melody. It was developed in the early and mid-1940s...
and
Nat King ColeNathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat "King" Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz...
. A photograph of Neil, age five, appears on the cover of the CD
A Hollow Cost.
In his teens he attended
Solihull SchoolSolihull School is a British Independent school situated near the centre of Solihull, West Midlands, England.2010 sees Solihull School celebrate its 450th anniversary since its foundation in 1560....
. He became interested in the
occultThe word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
; his grandmother was a medium. The Megson family lived at the edge of
Epping ForestEpping Forest is an area of ancient parkland in south-east England, straddling the border between north-east Greater London and Essex. It is a former royal forest, and is managed by the City of London Corporation....
, in
LoughtonLoughton is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of Essex. It is located between 11 and 13 miles north east of Charing Cross in London, south of the M25 and west of the M11 motorway and has boundaries with Chingford, Buckhurst Hill, Theydon Bois, Waltham Abbey, and Chigwell...
,
EssexEssex is a county in the East of England region of the United Kingdom. The county town of Essex is Chelmsford.-History:In pre-Roman Britain the territories of Suffolk and Essex were home to the Trinovantes tribe, which had grown wealthy through intensive trade with the Roman Empire, contemporary...
.
Name change and Early Worm
In 1968, while attending Hull University, Neil subsumed himself into the character of Genesis P-Orridge. He used the name for his first pressed recording, "Early Worm" in 1968 (of which only one copy was pressed), and legally changed his name in 1971. The follow-up to this album of
improvisationImprovisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...
on homemade instruments, "Catching the Bird" was never released.
At this point, the Megson family was living in
SolihullSolihull is a large town in the West Midlands of England, with a population of 94,753. It is a part of the West Midlands conurbation and is located 9 miles southeast of Birmingham city centre...
, a prosperous town near
BirminghamBirmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands county of England. Birmingham is the second-most populous British city, with a population of 1,006,500 ....
. The attic of the house on Links Drive was not only P-Orridge's den but his first sound studio, where "Early Worm" was recorded.
According to Genesis P-Orridge, Deroy Sound, the lab where "Early Worm" was pressed, also pressed speeches of
Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , popularly known as the Nazi Party...
for
serial killerA serial killer is a person who murders three or more people over a period of more than 30 days, with a "cooling off" period between each murder, and whose motivation for killing is largely based on psychological gratification. Often, a sexual element is involved with the killings...
Ian Brady, recorded from radio and television by Brady. The
Throbbing GristleThrobbing Gristle is a British industrial music and visual arts group that evolved from the performance art group COUM Transmissions. The band consists of Genesis P-Orridge , Cosey Fanni Tutti , Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson , and Chris Carter Throbbing Gristle is a British industrial music and...
song
Very Friendly is about Brady and his partner-in-crime Myra Hindley.
The cover of "Early Worm" features handwritten quotes by
John CageJohn Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, philosopher, poet, music theorist, artist, printmaker, and amateur mycologist and mushroom collector. A pioneer of chance music, electronic music and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war...
, his book
Silence being a source of inspiration for Genesis P-Orridge.
In April 2008, American record label
Dais Records released "Thee Early Worm" LP for the first time ever in a limited pressing of 500 copies, digitally transferred from the original tape and mastered for vinyl, with liner notes written by Genesis P-Orridge.
1971 to 1976
In 1971, P-Orridge met
William S. BurroughsWilliam Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, essayist, social critic, painter and spoken word performer.Much of Burroughs's work is semi-autobiographical, drawn from his experiences as an opiate addict, a condition that marked the last fifty years of his life...
after a brief correspondence. One of the most significant outcomes of these exchanges was Burroughs' introduction of P-Orridge to
Brion GysinBrion Gysin was a painter, writer, sound poet, and performance artist born in Taplow, Buckinghamshire.He is best known for his discovery of the cut-up technique used by William S. Burroughs....
. Gysin would become a major influence upon P-Orridge's ideas and works and was his primary tutor in
magickMagic, sometimes known as sorcery, is the practice of consciousness manipulation and/or autosuggestion to achieve a desired result, usually by techniques described in various conceptual systems...
. (P-Orridge, 2003)
P-Orridge dropped out of the
University of HullThe University of Hull, also known as Hull University, is an English university, founded in 1927, located in Hull , a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The main campus is located on Cottingham Road in the north west of the city while a smaller campus is located in nearby Scarborough...
in 1969 and joined Exploding Galaxy, a commune in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
's Islington Park Street. Members abandoned all normal modes of living, all notions of
privacyPrivacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively...
, and Britain's class structure. Discipline was expected and costumes were the norm, as was role-playing and a rejection of all forms of social convention.
He returned to
HullKingston upon Hull , almost invariably referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is located 25 miles from the North Sea on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary...
and formed a prankster collective which eventually included
Cosey Fanni TuttiCosey Fanni Tutti is best known as a performance artist and for her time in Throbbing Gristle and Chris & Cosey.-Background:...
. Tutti and P-Orridge became the focus of COUM events and transformed COUM from a music and theatre operation into more of a
performance artPerformance art is art in which the actions of an individual or a group at a particular place and in a particular time constitute the work. It can happen anywhere, at any time, or for any length of time. Performance art can be any situation that involves four basic elements: time, space, the...
group with a focus on sex, taboos, and the paranormal. In 1973 they were joined by
HipgnosisHipgnosis was a British art design group that specialized in creating cover art for the albums of rock musicians and bands, most notably Pink Floyd, Wishbone Ash, UFO, 10CC, Bad Company, Led Zeppelin, The Alan Parsons Project and Genesis. Hipgnosis consisted primarily of Storm Thorgerson, Aubrey...
'
Peter "Sleazy" ChristophersonPeter Martin Christopherson, a.k.a. Sleazy is a musician, video director and designer, and former member of the influential British design agency Hipgnosis....
.
Tutti worked as a secretary, stripper, and pornographic and erotic model. The now infamous "Prostitution" show, in 1976 at the
Institute of Contemporary ArtsThe Institute of Contemporary Arts is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. It is located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch...
(ICA) in London included on display Tutti's pornographic images from magazines as well as erotic nude photographs. The show featured a stripper, used Tampax in glass, and
transvestiteTransvestism is the practice of cross-dressing, which is wearing the clothing of the opposite sex. Transvestite refers to a person who cross-dresses; however, the word often has additional connotations.-History:...
guards. Prostitutes,
punkThe punk subculture is a subculture based around punk rock. It includes music, ideologies, fashion, visual art, dance, literature and film. The punk scene is composed of an assortment of smaller factions that distinguish themselves from one another through unique variations...
s, people in costumes, and general curiosities were hired to mingle with the gallery audience.
The show caused debate in
ParliamentThe Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories. It alone has parliamentary sovereignty, conferring upon it ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories...
about the public funding of such events. In the
House of CommonsThe House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 646 members, who are known as "Members...
,
ScottishScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
ConservativeThe Conservative and Unionist Party, more commonly known as the Conservatives, the Conservative Party, or Tory Party is a conservative political party in the United Kingdom...
MP Sir
Nicholas FairbairnSir Nicholas Hardwick Fairbairn, QC was a British Politician.He was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Kinross and Western Perthshire, elected in 1974 and 1979, and Perth and Kinross, elected 1983, 1987, and 1992. He was Solicitor General for Scotland from 1979 to 1982...
demanded an explanation from Arts Minister Harold Lever and proclaimed P-Orridge and Tutti as "wreckers of civilisation".
Fleet StreetFleet Street is a street in London, England named after the River Fleet. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s. Even though the last major British news office, Reuters, left in 2005, the street's name continues to be used as a metonym for the British national press.-History and...
was not slow to pick up the story. The reviews were cut up, framed and put on display for the remainder of the exhibition. This was also reported in newspapers, so cut-ups about the cut-ups were also put on display.
COUM had always been a confrontational enterprise, one example of this being the
NaziNazism, known officially in German as National Socialism , is the totalitarian ideology and practices of the Nazi Party or National Socialist German Workers’ Party under Adolf Hitler, and the policies adopted by the dictatorial government of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945.Nazism is often considered...
-influenced visual element. Toward the end of COUM, performances would often consist of only P-Orridge, Cosey and Sleazy, the core group who went on to form
Throbbing GristleThrobbing Gristle is a British industrial music and visual arts group that evolved from the performance art group COUM Transmissions. The band consists of Genesis P-Orridge , Cosey Fanni Tutti , Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson , and Chris Carter Throbbing Gristle is a British industrial music and...
.
Throbbing Gristle
Throbbing GristleThrobbing Gristle is a British industrial music and visual arts group that evolved from the performance art group COUM Transmissions. The band consists of Genesis P-Orridge , Cosey Fanni Tutti , Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson , and Chris Carter Throbbing Gristle is a British industrial music and...
was formed on 3 September 1975 at the
ICAThe Institute of Contemporary Arts is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. It is located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch...
as a four-piece
rock bandRock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
, the fourth member being
Chris CarterChris Carter was born in 1953, in London, England and educated at the Friern Barnet Grammar School. He is best known for being a synthesist and founder member of Throbbing Gristle and Chris & Cosey...
, who joined shortly before their debut.
The first Throbbing Gristle performance was at the Air Gallery in London on 6 July 1976. The band performed in one room with the music "appearing" in an adjacent room. Peter worked in special effects and provided the performers with simulated scars; meanwhile, Chris actually used a
razorA razor is a bladed tool primarily used in the shaving off of unwanted body hair.- Early razors :Razors have been identified from many Bronze Age cultures. These were made of bronze or obsidian and were generally oval in shape, with a small tang protruding from one of the short ends...
to slash himself.
At that point Throbbing Gristle headquarters was 10 Martello Street,
Hackney, East LondonThe London Borough of Hackney is a London borough of north London, and forms part of inner London.Between 1999 and 2001 serious concerns were expressed about Hackney's performance as a council by the Audit Commission, and many aspects of council services were failing...
, an address of an anti-
West EndThe West End of London is an area of Central London, England, containing many of the city's major tourist attractions, businesses, headquarters and the commercial West End theatres. Use of the term began in the early 19th century to describe fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross...
artist collective. P-Orridge and Tutti's living and work space was the mailing address of
Industrial RecordsIndustrial Records was a record label established in 1976 by art/music group Throbbing Gristle. The group, fronted by Genesis P-Orridge, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Chris Carter, and Peter Christopherson, were to release their experiments in non-entertainment sound and multimedia through the label; in...
. The IR logo was a faded, high-contrast black-and-white photograph of Auschwitz's main ovens. The final
Throbbing GristleThrobbing Gristle is a British industrial music and visual arts group that evolved from the performance art group COUM Transmissions. The band consists of Genesis P-Orridge , Cosey Fanni Tutti , Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson , and Chris Carter Throbbing Gristle is a British industrial music and...
single was "Discipline".
The final IR release was called
Nothing Here but the Recordings, a best-of album taken from the archives of
William S. BurroughsWilliam Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, essayist, social critic, painter and spoken word performer.Much of Burroughs's work is semi-autobiographical, drawn from his experiences as an opiate addict, a condition that marked the last fifty years of his life...
, who had allowed P-Orridge and Sleazy access to his reel-to-reel tape archive.
The final TG event,
Mission of Dead Souls, was in May 1981 in San Francisco. Soon after, Genesis and
Paula P-OrridgePaula P-Orridge , also known as Alaura O'Dell, is a English musician.P-Orridge's musical career began in 1979 when she met musician and artist Genesis P-Orridge while working at a Tesco supermarket in Hackney, East London.Prior to meeting Genesis she had had some connection to the Industrial...
(née Alaura O'Dell) were married in
TijuanaTijuana , is the largest city of the Mexican state of Baja California, situated on the U.S.-Mexico border adjacent to its sister city of San Diego, California. Tijuana is the westernmost city in Mexico, however, the westernmost population center is located in Isla Guadalupe...
.
Psychic TV
Psychic TVPsychic TV or PTV, is a video art and music group that primarily performs psychedelic, punk, electronic and experimental music...
was formed in 1981, after
Alex FergussonAlex Fergusson is a Scottish guitarist / record producer.Fergusson formed the punk band Alternative TV with Mark Perry in 1977, and a few years later Psychic TV with Genesis P Orridge...
of
Alternative TVAlternative TV were an English rock band, formed in London in 1976. Their punk rock and post-punk sound has proven influential for several musical artists....
had encouraged P-Orridge to start something new. The musical collaboration between the two goes back to the very first ATV line-up, which included Genesis as
drummerA drummer is a person who plays drums, particularly a drum kit , marching percussion or hand drums. The term percussionist applies to a musician performing on any percussion instrument, but usually refers to one who plays classical or Latin percussion. Most bands for Rock, Pop, Jazz, R&B etc...
. According to the official P-Orridge and
VoiceprintVoiceprint can refer to the spectrogram of a voice. More specific uses include:* VoicePrint, Canada's broadcast reading service* Voiceprint Records, an English record label...
websites, the name was Fergusson's idea, with the "psychic" part representing P-Orridge and the "TV" part representing Fergusson. "Just Drifting" was the first PTV song, based on a poem by P-Orridge.
Psychic TV made its debut in 1982 at an event organized by P-Orridge, David Dawson, and Roger Ely, called
The Final Academy. It was a 4-day multimedia celebratory rally held in Manchester and at the Ritzy Cinema in Brixton, South London. It brought performers and audience together with
literatureLiterature is the art of written works. Literally translated, the word means "acquaintance with letters" , and therefore the academic study of literature is known as Letters...
, performance, film and music. PTV,
Cabaret VoltaireCabaret Voltaire were a British music group from Sheffield, England.Initially composed of Stephen Mallinder, Richard H. Kirk and Chris Watson, the group was named after the Cabaret Voltaire, a nightclub in Zurich, Switzerland that was a center for the early Dada movement.Their earliest performances...
, 23 Skidoo,
Z'EVZ'EV is an American text-sound artist, poet and mystic who is perhaps best known for his work as a catacoustic percussionist....
,
John GiornoJohn Giorno is a North American poet and performance artist. He founded the artist collective Giorno Poetry Systems and coined its mass communication experiment Dial-A-Poem. He became prominent as the subject of Andy Warhol's film Sleep. He is also an AIDS activist and fundraiser.-Career:Giorno...
, William S. Burroughs,
Brion GysinBrion Gysin was a painter, writer, sound poet, and performance artist born in Taplow, Buckinghamshire.He is best known for his discovery of the cut-up technique used by William S. Burroughs....
, Terry Wilson,
Jeff NuttallJeff Nuttall was an English poet, publisher, actor, painter, sculptor, jazz trumpeter, anarchist sympathiser and social commentator who was a key part of the British 1960s counter-culture. He was the brother of literary critic A.D. Nuttall.-Life and work:Jeff Nuttall was born in Clitheroe,...
, and The Last Few Days participated to honor the cut-up techniques and theories of
William S. BurroughsWilliam Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, essayist, social critic, painter and spoken word performer.Much of Burroughs's work is semi-autobiographical, drawn from his experiences as an opiate addict, a condition that marked the last fifty years of his life...
, Ian Sommerville, Anthony Balch and Gysin. Video projection and early
samplingIn music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song. This is typically done with a sampler, which can be a piece of hardware or a computer program on a digital computer. Sampling is also...
were used here, as well as whispered utterances by P-Orridge reprocessed as a soundtrack to Gysin's
DreammachineThe dreamachine is a stroboscopic flicker device that produces visual stimuli. Artist Brion Gysin and William Burroughs's "systems adviser" Ian Sommerville created the dreamachine after reading William Grey Walter's book, The Living Brain.In its original form, a dreamachine is made from a cylinder...
by the
Hafler TrioThe Hafler Trio is a conceptual and sound art collaborative between Andrew M. McKenzie, the only permanent member, and guest musicians. The project has seen the release of numerous albums and CDs in experimental musical styles ranging from electronica, cut-up, ambient, environmental soundscape,...
.
Force the Hand of ChanceForce The Hand Of Chance was the debut album of English group Psychic TV. The initial 5,000 pressings included Themes and a poster.The album spawned the single "Just Drifting".-Track listing:...
,
Dreams Less SweetDreams Less Sweet is the second proper album by Psychic TV. The album was released in Holophonic sound.-1983 12" vinyl pressing:Side A:#"Hymn 23"#*Synthesizer : Andrew Poppy#"The Orchids"#*Oboe: Jessica Ilbert#"Botanica"...
,
Allegory and SelfAllegory And Self is a LP released by Psychic TV in 1988 that comprises a varied selection of their work.Several versions have appeared, including the original picture disc and black vinyl versions in 1988 on Temple Records, Fundamental Records and on pink marbled vinyl...
, and
Trip/ResetTrip Reset is a 1996 album credited to Genesis P-Orridge and Psychic TV featuring The Angels of Light.The title is a colloquialism of P-Orridge's...
are considered by P-Orridge, in an interview with Sonic Envelope, to be the fully-realized PTV albums -- "metaphorical and very, very considered and carefully constructed meticulous albums."
Earning an entry into the
Guinness Book of World RecordsGuinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing an internationally recognised...
for most records released in a year by a musical group, Psychic TV set about, in the mid-eighties, to release 23 live albums on the 23rd of each month for 23 months in recognition of the 23 enigma. The liner notes to each of these releases functioned somewhat like mini-manifestos in the tradition of the Situationist International or
William S. BurroughsWilliam Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, essayist, social critic, painter and spoken word performer.Much of Burroughs's work is semi-autobiographical, drawn from his experiences as an opiate addict, a condition that marked the last fifty years of his life...
'
Electronic Revolution in addition to recounting aspects of the recordings contained therein. For example, the fourth album in this series,
Live In ReykjavíkLive in Reykjavik, released in 1987 by English group Psychic TV this record was edited through Genesis P-Orridge’s own record label, Temple Records.
...
, featuring part of a ritual from Godhi
Sveinbjörn BeinteinssonSveinbjörn Beinteinsson , a native of Iceland, was instrumental in helping to gain recognition by the Icelandic government for the pre-Christian Norse religion...
includes liner notes that refer to
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
as "sham X-tianity," in reclamation of a
PaganPaganism is a word with several different meanings.In its broadest definition, pagan denotes all non-Abrahamic religions, that is to say it denotes all religions other than Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.Other usages are:*Paganism may mean Polytheism: The group so defined includes most of the...
heritage via an
Ásatrú in the United States is a form of Germanic Neopaganism, in particular inspired by the Norse paganism as described in the Eddas and as practiced prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia....
marriage, over which Beinteinsson presided, below a statue of
ThorThor is the red-haired and bearded god of thunder in Germanic mythology and Germanic paganism, and its subsets: Norse paganism, Anglo-Saxon paganism and Continental Germanic paganism....
in "thee wilderness".
Psychic TV returned to the stage in 2003, with a concert in New York under the guise of PTV3 and was accompanied by (with the exception of Genesis) an all new line-up. In September 2004, an extensive tour of Europe (covering 16 countries) and North America was launched. 2005 saw the band return to the studio, recording their first album in over 10 years (Genesis also spent 2005 working with
Throbbing GristleThrobbing Gristle is a British industrial music and visual arts group that evolved from the performance art group COUM Transmissions. The band consists of Genesis P-Orridge , Cosey Fanni Tutti , Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson , and Chris Carter Throbbing Gristle is a British industrial music and...
on what would be their first album in over 25 years).
In January 2006, the new PTV album was announced on his website.
Hell is Invisible... Heaven is Her/eHell is Invisible... Heaven is Her/e is the 2007 album by counter cultural provocateur Genesis P-Orridge and the reactivated Psychic TV aka “PTV3”. This current line up has been active for the past two years and much of the material on this new album developed from ideas that emerged during PTV3’s...
was recorded in NYC and features
Nick ZinnerNicholas Joseph Zinner is the guitarist for the New York rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs. He is known for his "unmistakable" wild hair, skinny physique, and pale appearance.-Career:...
(
Yeah Yeah YeahsYeah Yeah Yeahs are a New York City-based indie rock band. The band consists of lead singer Karen O, drummer Brian Chase, and guitarist Nick Zinner. In 2000 they formed a trio, and were later joined by second guitarist Imaad Wasif in 2006 for touring purposes...
) and
Gibby HaynesGibson Jerome "Gibby" Haynes is an American musician, radio personality, painter and the lead singer of the group Butthole Surfers.-Early life and career:...
(
Butthole SurfersThe Butthole Surfers are an American alternative rock band formed by Gibby Haynes and Paul Leary in San Antonio, Texas in 1981. The band has had numerous personnel changes, but the core lineup of Haynes, Leary, and drummer King Coffey has been together since 1983. Teresa Nervosa served as second...
) guesting on some tracks. Genesis describes it as "
The Dark Side of the MoonThe Dark Side of the Moon is the sixth studio album by English progressive rock group Pink Floyd. Released in March 1973, the concept built on the ideas that the band had explored in their live shows and previous recordings, but it lacks the extended instrumental excursions that characterised their...
for the 21st century". To inaugurate the release of Hell is Invisible... Heaven is Her/e, PTV3 hosted a five night residency in September 2006 at Galapagos Art Space in
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New YorkBrooklyn is one of the five boroughs of New York City, located southwest of Queens on the western tip of Long Island. An independent city until its consolidation with New York in 1898, Brooklyn is New York City's most populous borough, with 2.5 million residents, and second largest in area...
. On August the 17th
a new album was announced, "Mr. Alien Brain Vs. The Skinwalkers" will be released by Cargo/Sweet Nothing Records on 20 October 2008.
Recent life
Genesis relocated to Brooklyn,
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
with his second wife, Lady Jaye, née Jacqueline Breyer, and began an ongoing experiment in body modification aimed at creating one pandrogynous being named "Genesis Breyer P-Orridge". Genesis P-Orridge received breast implants and began referring to himself as s/he. A book of GP-O writings, poems and observations, called
Ooh, You Are Awful... But I Like You!, was published in
NepalNepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia and the world's youngest republic. It is bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
.
In the mid-1990s, GP-O collaborated with different people in music, including
PigfacePigface is an industrial rock supergroup formed in 1990 by Martin Atkins and William Rieflin.Pigface was formed from Ministry's The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste tour, which produced the In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up live album and video. For the tour, Al Jourgensen brought Atkins,...
,
Skinny PuppySkinny Puppy is a Canadian band, formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1982. Initially envisioned as an experimental side project by cEvin Key while he was in the new wave band Images In Vogue, Nivek Ogre soon joined as vocalist and Skinny Puppy evolved into a full-time project...
, and
DownloadDownload is an electronic music group formed by Dwayne Goettel and cEvin Key of Skinny Puppy during 1994. The initial lineup also included Off & Gone's Phil Western and Mark Spybey of Dead Voices On Air, but has since been particularly fluid, with Key and Western being the only constant members...
. GP-O also performed with
Nik TurnerNik Turner is a British musician, best known as a founding member of space rock pioneers Hawkwind. Turner plays saxophones, flute, sings and is a composer...
and a reinvention of
HawkwindHawkwind are an English rock band, one of the earliest space rock groups. Their lyrics favour urban and science fiction themes. They are also a noted precursor to punk rock....
, a band with whom he'd shared bills in the early 1970s.
In June 1998, GP-O won a $1.5 million lawsuit against producer
Rick RubinFrederick Jay "Rick" Rubin is an American record producer and, as of mid-2009, the co-head of Columbia Records....
and his
American RecordingsAmerican Recordings is a Los Angeles-based record label headed by record producer Rick Rubin. The label's most successful artists include Slayer, The Black Crowes, Danzig, Tom Petty, Johnny Cash, and System of a Down.-Company History:...
label for injuries he sustained while trying to escape a fire at Rubin's home in April 1995. According to P-Orridge's attorney, David D. Stein, P-Orridge was staying at Rubin's home as a guest of
Love and RocketsLove and Rockets are an alternative rock band formed in 1985 by former Bauhaus members Daniel Ash , David J and Kevin Haskins . Former Bauhaus vocalist, Peter Murphy, had embarked on a solo career after Bauhaus split in 1983...
when the fire broke out. P-Orridge tried to escape the house by crawling through a second-story window and fell onto concrete stairs. P-Orridge suffered a broken wrist, broken ribs and a
pulmonary embolismPulmonary embolism is a blockage of the main artery of the lung or one of its branches by a substance that has travelled from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream . Usually this is due to embolism of a thrombus from the deep veins in the legs, a process termed venous thromboembolism...
, as well as a shattered left elbow that will prevent him from playing guitar or keyboards, according to Stein. The jury found that the liability for the fire rested with Rubin and American Recordings and awarded P-Orridge $1,572,000 for his injuries.
In 1999, Genesis performed with the briefly reunited late 1980s' version of Psychic TV for an event at London's
Royal Festival HallThe Royal Festival Hall is a 2,900 seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge. It is a Grade I listed building - the first post-war building to become so protected...
, called
Time's Up. This is also the title of the first CD by
Thee MajestyIn 1998, Genesis P-Orridge was ending his association with the name Psychic TV, the band he created after the termination of Throbbing Gristle. At the same time, he began Thee Majesty as a spoken word-based project with Bryin Dall...
, Genesis' spoken word project with noise guitarist Bryin Dall. The MC for the event, via pre-recorded video, was
Quentin CrispQuentin Crisp , born Denis Charles Pratt, was an English writer and raconteur. He became a gay icon in the 1970s after publication of his memoir, The Naked Civil Servant, brought to the attention of the general public his defiant exhibitionism and longstanding refusal to remain in the closet.-Early...
. A DVD was made of this event, which included the Master Musicians of Jajouka, Question Mark & the Mysterians,
Billy ChildishBilly Childish is an English artist, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist...
, and
Thee HeadcoatsThee Headcoats 1989 - 2000, was a band comprising Billy Childish, Bruce Brand, and Johnny Johnson. Childish was featured on guitar and vocals, Brand on drums and backing vocals, and Johnson on bass. The band was the most prolific of Childish's many musical projects, releasing fourteen full...
.
The aforementioned Thee Majesty CD
Time's Up was released by The Order of the Suffering Clown via
World Serpent DistributionWorld Serpent Distribution was a British record label and music distribution house formed in the 1990s by David Gibson, Alan Trench and Alison Webster with assistance from Douglas Pearce of Death In June...
. Jaqueline Megson is credited as providing
Point Of View, Bryin Dall for
Frequency Of Truth and Genesis as
Divination Of Word.
In December 2003, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, calling himself
Djinn, unveiled PTV3, a new act drawing upon the early "Hyperdelic" work of Psychic TV with media theorist
Douglas RushkoffDouglas Rushkoff is an American media theorist, writer, columnist, lecturer, graphic novelist and documentarian. He is best known for his association with the early cyberpunk culture, and his advocacy of open source solutions to societal problems.Rushkoff is most frequently regarded as a media...
among its members. On 16 May 2004 all four former members of Throbbing Gristle performed at the
London AstoriaThe London Astoria was a music venue at 157 Charing Cross Road in London, England. It had been leased and run by Festival Republic since 2000. The Astoria closed on the 15th of January 2009 and has since been demolished.-History:...
for the first time in 23 years.
Genesis P-Orridge appears in the 1998 film and 2000 book versions of
ModulationsModulations is a multi-media exploration into the history of electronic music, consisting of a documentary film, its soundtrack album, and a book...
, in the 1999 film
Better Living Through CircuitryBetter Living Through Circuitry is a 1999 documentary about the Electronic Dance movement of the 90's. It is the first such full-length film on the topic. It was produced by Cleopatra Pictures and Entertainment Group, presided by Cleopatra Records founder Brian Perera...
, in the 2004 film
DiG!DiG! is a 2004 documentary film directed by Ondi Timoner, and produced by Ondi Timoner, Vasco Nunes and David Timoner. Compiled from seven years of footage, it contrasts the developing careers of the bands The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre and the bands' respective frontmen...
, the 2006 documentary
Monks: The Transatlantic FeedbackMonks: The Transatlantic Feedback is a 2006 film directed by Dietmar Post and Lucia Palacios about the seminal German-American beat band The Monks. The film was produced by Play Loud! Productions and shot on location in the USA and Germany between 1997 and 2002. In 2008 the filmmakers obtained the...
, and in Nik Sheehan's 2007 feature documentary on the
DreamachineThe dreamachine is a stroboscopic flicker device that produces visual stimuli. Artist Brion Gysin and William Burroughs's "systems adviser" Ian Sommerville created the dreamachine after reading William Grey Walter's book, The Living Brain.In its original form, a dreamachine is made from a cylinder...
entitled 'FLicKeR'.
On 11 October 2007, it was announced that Lady Jaye had died. This message was posted on the official Genesis P-Orridge website:
Psychic TV's current incarnation, PTV3, has recently released the new CD/DVD set, Mr. Alien Brain vs. The Skinwalkers. The album, which was released on 9 December 2008, was the first full length release since the death of Genesis' "other half," Jaye Breyer (best known as Lady Jaye), due to heart failure. The two had previously embarked on a years-long pursuit of pandrogyny, undergoing painful plastic surgery procedures in order to become gender-neutral human beings that looked like each other.
Discography
Note: this is for releases specifically credited to Genesis P-Orridge, for work with PTV see
Psychic TV discographyDiscography for the music group Psychic TV. Items that have been reissued with the same names are not mentioned more than once.-Studio Albums:*Force The Hand Of Chance *Themes *Dreams Less Sweet...
, for work with Throbbing Gristle see
Throbbing Gristle discography-Primary releases: Industrial Records:* The Second Annual Report * D.o.A: The Third and Final Report * 20 Jazz Funk Greats * Heathen Earth * The Third Mind Movements -Other Labels:...
.
- Interview By TOPYSCAN
- The Industrial Sessions 1977
- What's History (1983)
- Je T'Aime
Je T'Aime is a single by the musicians of Psychic TV. Depending on the pressing it is credited to Genesis P-Orridge and The Angels of Light or Psychic TV and Mistress Mix.-1985 Sub Rosa 12" vinyl: Genesis P-Orridge & The Angels Of Light:...
(1985)
- Alaura/Slave Priest (1990)
- What's History (1990)
- At Stockholm
At Stockholm is an album by Psychic TV and White Stains. In 1995 the album was reissued and credited to Genesis P-Orridge & White Stains. Rereleased in 2004, the album was credited to "Thee Majesty + White Stains"...
(1995)
- Vis Spei (1995)
- A Perfect Pain (1999)
- Direction Ov Travel
Direction Ov Travel is an album by PTV3. The album was originally released on CD in 1991 credited to Psychic TV, but was later pressed to CD in 2002 credited to Genesis P-Orridge & Z'EV.-Personnel:...
(2002)
- Painful 7 Inches (2002)
- Wordship (2003)
- When I Was Young
"When I Was Young" is a song performed by The Animals in 1967. It was their first single, released on 8 April. It charted in Australia peaking #2 and stayed 4 weeks there. Later it was a hit charting #10 on the Canadian RPM chart, # 15 in the US and #7 in the Netherlands...
(2004)
Sources
- Ford, Simon. Wreckers of Civilisation: The Story of COUM Transmissions and Throbbing Gristle. Black Dog Publishing, 1999. ISBN 1-901033-60-0
- P-Orridge, Genesis, Douglas Rushkoff (foreword), and Carl Abrahamsson (introduction). Painful but Fabulous: The Life and Art of Genesis P-Orridge. Soft Skull Press, 2002. ISBN 1-887128-88-3
- P-Orridge, Genesis. "Magick Squares and Future Beats." Book of Lies: The Disinformation Guide to Magick and the Occult. The Disinformation Company
The Disinformation Company is a privately held American publishing company that specializes in current affairs titles that seek to expose disinformation. It is headquartered in New York City, New York...
, 2003: 103-118 ISBN 0-9713942-7-X
- Vale, V. and John Sulak (2001). Modern Pagans. San Francisco: Re/Search Publications. ISBN 1-889307-10-6
- Williams, Sheldon. "Genesis P-Orridge". pp. 770–772 in Naylor, Colin & Genesis P-Orridge (editors). Contemporary Artists. Macmillan Press/St Martin's Press, 1977. ISBN 0-333-22672-0
- Visco, Gerry. "S/HE IS (STILL) HER/E: Memorial for Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge." by Gerry Visco, New York Press, March 8, 2008.http://www.nypress.com/blogx/display_blog.cfm?bid=71630978
Photographs
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gerryvisco/sets/72157604086627593/
Genesis P-Orridge New York gallery: http://www.invisible-exports.com/artists/genesisporridge/genesisporridge.html
External links
Genesis P-Orridge New York gallery: http://www.invisible-exports.com/artists/genesisporridge/breyerporridge.html