Suspiria (band)
Encyclopedia
Suspiria were a Darkwave
/gothic rock
band from England. Formed in 1993 the line-up consisted of Matthew Carl Lucian and Mark Tansley.
and The Human League
, and the early 80s synthesizer sound of artists such as Depeche Mode
and Alphaville
, Suspiria fused crisp electronics with heavily effected guitars to produce a much more dancefloor-orientated sonic backdrop to the melodramatic vocal stylings of frontman Lucian.
The 1994 release of the debut Tragedy E.P. on legendary Nottingham label Nightbreed Recordings led to widespread international club and radioplay and established Suspiria as one of the most sought after bands in the underground goth scene. This was followed up with the 1995 album The Great and Secret Show which featured a number of tracks that would become major club hits including Night Time and a haunting cover of Depeche Mode's Behind the Wheel.
Suspiria had by this point become one of the leading underground UK goth bands with a series of captivating live performances in the UK and in Europe, and a clever promotional campaign based on the sale of a wide selection of affordable t-shirt designs further broadening their audience base during 1995-1996.
Without question the high point for the band, and in many respects for the UK goth scene in the 1990s, was the second full-length cd Drama. Recorded over the period of nearly a year and at what was then considered great cost for an underground artist, Drama was released in 1997 to widespread acclaim. A number of live festival performances and compilation appearances supported Drama which went on to become the single biggest selling album in Nightbreed's history. The success of the band in Europe finally began to filter through to the United States where the guitar rock sound had persisted much longer. Leading US goth label Cleopatra Records
released a re-mastered combination of the Tragedy E.P. and The Great and Secret Show in 1997 entitled Primitive Attentions, followed in 1998 with the Dancefloor Tragedy: The Best of Suspiria
Internal tensions during the recording of Drama however had begun to take its toll on the band, with Lucian in particular suffering nervous attacks at shows in Paris and London. The band played a final live show at the 1998 Carnival of Souls festival to a packed out crowd.
Tansley went on to provide a number of remixes for Cleopatra whilst also forming a new band Intra-Venus with vocalist Apollos.
Intra-Venus extended the electronic sound of Suspiria that typified the heavily dance infused synthpop and ebm that had come to dominate the dark underground in the early 2000s. After two releases and a smattering of high-profile live performances Intra-Venus broke up in 2003.
As of January 2008 Tansley has recently reworked the club hit Allegedly, Dancefloor Tragedy with vocals provided by Subterfuge frontman Clifford Ennis. A re-mastered tenth anniversary edition of Drama was to have been released in 2007 but this has not yet appeared.
Darkwave
Dark Wave or darkwave is a music genre that began in the late 1970s, coinciding with the popularity of New Wave and post-punk. Building on those basic principles, dark wave added dark, introspective lyrics and an undertone of sorrow for some bands...
/gothic rock
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
band from England. Formed in 1993 the line-up consisted of Matthew Carl Lucian and Mark Tansley.
History
Suspiria were a groundbreaking goth/darkwave band from Nottingham England between 1993-1998. Formed by Matthew Carl Lucian (vocals) and Mark Tansley (guitars/programming), Suspiria marked a decisive break in the UK goth music scene from the Sisters of Mercy influenced guitar rock that had dominated the scene. Drawing on late 1970s techno experimentalists such as Cabaret VoltaireCabaret Voltaire (band)
Cabaret 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 Zürich, Switzerland that was a centre for the early Dada movement.Their earliest performances...
and The Human League
The Human League
The Human League are an English electronic New Wave band formed in Sheffield in 1977. They achieved popularity after a key change in line-up in the early 1980s and have continued recording and performing with moderate commercial success throughout the 1980s up to the present day.The only constant...
, and the early 80s synthesizer sound of artists such as Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
and Alphaville
Alphaville (band)
Alphaville is a German synthpop group which gained popularity in the 1980s. The founding members were Marian Gold , Bernhard Lloyd , and Frank Mertens Alphaville is a German synthpop group which gained popularity in the 1980s. The founding members were Marian Gold (real name Hartwig Schierbaum,...
, Suspiria fused crisp electronics with heavily effected guitars to produce a much more dancefloor-orientated sonic backdrop to the melodramatic vocal stylings of frontman Lucian.
The 1994 release of the debut Tragedy E.P. on legendary Nottingham label Nightbreed Recordings led to widespread international club and radioplay and established Suspiria as one of the most sought after bands in the underground goth scene. This was followed up with the 1995 album The Great and Secret Show which featured a number of tracks that would become major club hits including Night Time and a haunting cover of Depeche Mode's Behind the Wheel.
Suspiria had by this point become one of the leading underground UK goth bands with a series of captivating live performances in the UK and in Europe, and a clever promotional campaign based on the sale of a wide selection of affordable t-shirt designs further broadening their audience base during 1995-1996.
Without question the high point for the band, and in many respects for the UK goth scene in the 1990s, was the second full-length cd Drama. Recorded over the period of nearly a year and at what was then considered great cost for an underground artist, Drama was released in 1997 to widespread acclaim. A number of live festival performances and compilation appearances supported Drama which went on to become the single biggest selling album in Nightbreed's history. The success of the band in Europe finally began to filter through to the United States where the guitar rock sound had persisted much longer. Leading US goth label Cleopatra Records
Cleopatra Records
Cleopatra Records is a Los Angeles-based independent record label.- History :Founded in 1992 by Brian Perera, it specializes in gothic rock, hard rock, heavy metal and reissues of out-of-print music...
released a re-mastered combination of the Tragedy E.P. and The Great and Secret Show in 1997 entitled Primitive Attentions, followed in 1998 with the Dancefloor Tragedy: The Best of Suspiria
Internal tensions during the recording of Drama however had begun to take its toll on the band, with Lucian in particular suffering nervous attacks at shows in Paris and London. The band played a final live show at the 1998 Carnival of Souls festival to a packed out crowd.
Current status
Lucian dropped out of music entirely after Suspiria split but appears to have pursued a career in art.Tansley went on to provide a number of remixes for Cleopatra whilst also forming a new band Intra-Venus with vocalist Apollos.
Intra-Venus extended the electronic sound of Suspiria that typified the heavily dance infused synthpop and ebm that had come to dominate the dark underground in the early 2000s. After two releases and a smattering of high-profile live performances Intra-Venus broke up in 2003.
As of January 2008 Tansley has recently reworked the club hit Allegedly, Dancefloor Tragedy with vocals provided by Subterfuge frontman Clifford Ennis. A re-mastered tenth anniversary edition of Drama was to have been released in 2007 but this has not yet appeared.
Studio releases
- Tragedy E.P. - (Nightbreed, 1993)
- The Great and Secret Show - (Nightbreed, 1995)
- Drama - (Nightbreed, 1997)
- Primitive Attentions - (Cleopatra, 1997)
- Dancefloor Tragedy: The Best of Suspiria - (Cleopatra, 1998)