The Flowers of Hell
Encyclopedia
The Flowers of Hell is a trans-Atlantic space rock orchestra made up of a revolving line-up of 16 or so experimental, independent musicians based in London and Toronto. Their all instrumental sound builds bridges between classical music
and post rock, shoegaze, space rock
, and drone music
, often resulting in their being described as an orchestral extension of the work of The Velvet Underground
or Spacemen 3
.
concept of transformation whereby the misery and toil of the musician results in the pleasure of the listener. The name was first used by the group’s founder Greg Jarvis on tracks included on various UK covermount CDs in 2002 and 2003, of which just under two million units were distributed. Jarvis expanded the project into a London based live act in 2005 with the original six piece line up consisting of himself as the principal guitarist, Guri Hummelsund on drums, Abi Fry
on viola, Owen James on trumpet, Ruth Barlow as the accompanying guitarist, and Steve Head on Hammond organ
. During 2006 and 2007 the group underwent numerous small line up changes. In early 2008, following a move back to his native Toronto after a decade spent abroad in London and Eastern Europe, Jarvis debuted a North American branch of the group as an opening act for Spectrum
(one of the post-Spacemen 3
projects of Pete ‘Sonic Boom
’ Kember). The Flowers of Hell now operate on both continents simultaneously with Jarvis going back and forth for concerts and all members contributing to recordings.
In the fall of 2008, at the request of Kevin Shields
from My Bloody Valentine, the Flowers Of Hell opened for MBV on one of the eight North American dates of the MBV reunion tour. Shields had seen the group perform a number of times in London at popular nugaze nights such as Sonic Cathedral. For the finale of their MBV opening performance, the Flowers Of Hell were joined onstage by guest violinist Owen Pallett
(Arcade Fire, Final Fantasy
). In addition to My Bloody Valentine and Spectrum, The Flowers of Hell have opened for Dean & Britta (Luna
, Galaxie 500
), The Black Angels, The Clientele
, The Telescopes
, Slipstream, Asteroid 4, and Asobi Seksu, amongst others.
Throughout the band’s evolution, Jarvis has remained as its main composer and producer while also carrying out all band management duties. Jarvis is a synaesthetic and his compositions and productions are largely based upon his timbre-to-shape synaesthetic visions. Present in an estimated 3% of the population, synaesthesia is a neurological phenomena where two senses are intermingled. With the timbre-to-shape variant, differing timbres give rise to a visual language of sound.
' Kember (Spacemen 3, Spectrum, E.A.R.), Will Carruthers (Spacemen 3, Spiritualized
, Brian Jonestown Massacre), Ray Dickaty (Spiritualized), Ivan Kral
(Patti Smith Group
, Iggy Pop
's band, Blondie
, John Cale
’s band), Owen Pallett
(Arcade Fire, Final Fantasy
, Hidden Cameras), Tim Holmes (Death in Vegas
), Julie Penner
(Broken Social Scene
, Do Make Say Think
), Abi Fry
(British Sea Power
, Bat for Lashes
), Mel Draisey
(The Clientele
, Le Volume Courbe
, Primal Scream
), Jon McCann (Guided by Voices
), John Mark Lapham (The Earlies
), Tom Knott (The Earlies), Jan Muchow (Ecstasy of Saint Theresa), Amy Laing (Hidden Cameras, Toronto Symphony Orchestra
), Tom Hodges (Tindersticks
), Hypnotique (Dawn of the Replicants, Zorch), and Ronnie Morris (controller.controller
, Lioness
).
Produced with Tim Holmes of Death in Vegas
at the Contino Rooms in London, their self-titled debut album was praised in the British music press for building classical tangents from the sound of The Velvet Underground and Spacemen 3/Spiritualized. Sonic Boom
of Spacemen 3/Spectrum/E.A.R. collaborated with the group on ‘Through The F Hole’ and mentored the band during the recording of the album. The album was originally released on the now defunct Earworm Records
label (Spacemen 3
, Yo La Tengo
, The Earlies, Bright Eyes, The Apples in Stereo
).
Come Hell Or High Water
The album was recorded in over 40 sessions with 30 musicians in London, Prague, Toronto, Detroit, & Texas. It was conceived of as a celebration of synaesthesia, and Jarvis based the composing, recording, arranging, and preliminary mixing on his synaesthetic visions. Resultantly it was a labor intensive record that took a year to complete due to the time that had to be spent listening/watching the works as they came together, and the time required for experimenting with tweaking sounds in order to create the desired changes in the visual images.
O
Released on a double sided CD/DVD with a stereo mix and a 5.1 surround sound mix, O is a 45 minute track that combines improvisations with-in a fixed song structure. Derived from the concept of 'absolute music', Greg Jarvis and The Earlies' Tom Knott co-mixed the record based on their synaesthetic visions (both synaesthetes, Jarvis sees sounds as shapes while Knott sees them as colours). "O" was engineered by Jon Drew
. The DVD also includes Live At The Music Gallery, an hour-long concert film for which the audio was recorded by Peter Moore & Perren Baker with the same sole mic that the two had famously produced the Cowboy Junkies Trinity Session album with.
EPs
Singles
Compilations
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
and post rock, shoegaze, space rock
Space rock
Space rock is a subgenre of rock music; the term originally referred to a group of early, mostly British, 1970s progressive and psychedelic rock bands such as Hawkwind and Pink Floyd, characterised by slow, lengthy instrumental passages dominated by electric organs, synthesizers, experimental...
, and drone music
Drone music
Drone music is a minimalist musical style that emphasizes the use of sustained or repeated sounds, notes, or tone-clusters – called drones. It is typically characterized by lengthy audio programs with relatively slight harmonic variations throughout each piece compared to other musics...
, often resulting in their being described as an orchestral extension of the work of The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...
or Spacemen 3
Spacemen 3
Spacemen 3 were an English alternative rock band, formed in 1982 in Rugby, Warwickshire by Peter Kember and Jason Pierce. Their music was "colorfully mind-altering, but not in the sense of the acid rock of the '60s; instead, the band developed its own minimalistic psychedelia"...
.
History
The Flowers of Hell moniker comes from an old bluesBlues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
concept of transformation whereby the misery and toil of the musician results in the pleasure of the listener. The name was first used by the group’s founder Greg Jarvis on tracks included on various UK covermount CDs in 2002 and 2003, of which just under two million units were distributed. Jarvis expanded the project into a London based live act in 2005 with the original six piece line up consisting of himself as the principal guitarist, Guri Hummelsund on drums, Abi Fry
Abi Fry
Abi Fry born is a Highlands-based violist, playing with various acts including British Sea Power, Bat For Lashes, The Flowers of Hell, Sad Season and Euchrid Eucrow....
on viola, Owen James on trumpet, Ruth Barlow as the accompanying guitarist, and Steve Head on Hammond organ
Hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
. During 2006 and 2007 the group underwent numerous small line up changes. In early 2008, following a move back to his native Toronto after a decade spent abroad in London and Eastern Europe, Jarvis debuted a North American branch of the group as an opening act for Spectrum
Spectrum (band)
Spectrum is an Australian progressive rock band that formed in Melbourne in 1969 and, in its original period, remained in existence until 1973. Its members also performed under the alter-ego Indelible Murtceps...
(one of the post-Spacemen 3
Spacemen 3
Spacemen 3 were an English alternative rock band, formed in 1982 in Rugby, Warwickshire by Peter Kember and Jason Pierce. Their music was "colorfully mind-altering, but not in the sense of the acid rock of the '60s; instead, the band developed its own minimalistic psychedelia"...
projects of Pete ‘Sonic Boom
Peter Kember
Peter Kember is a British musician and producer, more usually known as Sonic Boom, and was a founding member of alternative rock band Spacemen 3....
’ Kember). The Flowers of Hell now operate on both continents simultaneously with Jarvis going back and forth for concerts and all members contributing to recordings.
In the fall of 2008, at the request of Kevin Shields
Kevin Shields
Kevin Patrick Shields is an American-born, Irish vocalist, guitarist, and producer of alternative rock band My Bloody Valentine....
from My Bloody Valentine, the Flowers Of Hell opened for MBV on one of the eight North American dates of the MBV reunion tour. Shields had seen the group perform a number of times in London at popular nugaze nights such as Sonic Cathedral. For the finale of their MBV opening performance, the Flowers Of Hell were joined onstage by guest violinist Owen Pallett
Owen Pallett
Michael James Owen Pallett is a Canadian composer, violinist, keyboardist, and vocalist from Toronto, Ontario. He won the 2006 Polaris Music Prize for the album He Poos Clouds....
(Arcade Fire, Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy
is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and is developed and owned by Square Enix . The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science-fantasy role-playing video games , but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise...
). In addition to My Bloody Valentine and Spectrum, The Flowers of Hell have opened for Dean & Britta (Luna
Luna (band)
Luna was a dream pop/indie pop band formed in 1991 by Dean Wareham after the breakup of Galaxie 500, with Stanley Demeski and Justin Harwood...
, Galaxie 500
Galaxie 500
Galaxie 500 was an American alternative rock band that formed in 1987 and split up in 1991 after releasing three albums.-History:Guitarist Dean Wareham, drummer Damon Krukowski and bassist Naomi Yang had met at the Dalton School in New York City in 1981, but began playing together during their time...
), The Black Angels, The Clientele
The Clientele
The Clientele are a London-based British band with Alasdair MacLean on vocals and guitar, Mark Keen on drums, James Hornsey on bass and Mel Draisey on violin, keyboards, backing vocals and percussion....
, The Telescopes
The Telescopes
The Telescopes were formed in 1987 by Stephen Lawrie and could best be described as a noise/space rock band - the Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine and Spacemen 3 being influences and contemporaries.-History:...
, Slipstream, Asteroid 4, and Asobi Seksu, amongst others.
Throughout the band’s evolution, Jarvis has remained as its main composer and producer while also carrying out all band management duties. Jarvis is a synaesthetic and his compositions and productions are largely based upon his timbre-to-shape synaesthetic visions. Present in an estimated 3% of the population, synaesthesia is a neurological phenomena where two senses are intermingled. With the timbre-to-shape variant, differing timbres give rise to a visual language of sound.
Collaborators
The group's line-up and their album guest lists encompass musicians who’ve played in many well established acts from the experimental side of the indie rock genre. Yet The Flowers of Hell regularly emphasize that it’s mainly side players that they work with and refute any notions of being a super group. Some of those side players are full time members of larger acts, while a few are people who’ve been brought in by larger acts on a casual basis. Amongst the musicians who’ve played with them on their recordings and/or during their live shows are Pete 'Sonic BoomPeter Kember
Peter Kember is a British musician and producer, more usually known as Sonic Boom, and was a founding member of alternative rock band Spacemen 3....
' Kember (Spacemen 3, Spectrum, E.A.R.), Will Carruthers (Spacemen 3, Spiritualized
Spiritualized
Spiritualized are an English space rock band formed in 1990 in Rugby, Warwickshire by Jason Pierce after the demise of his previous outfit, space-rockers Spacemen 3...
, Brian Jonestown Massacre), Ray Dickaty (Spiritualized), Ivan Kral
Ivan Kral
Ivan Kral is a Grammy Award-winning Czechoslovakian-born American composer, filmmaker and singer. He works across many genres including rock, jazz, soul, country and film scores...
(Patti Smith Group
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....
, Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though considered an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, metal, jazz and blues...
's band, Blondie
Blondie (band)
Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...
, John Cale
John Cale
John Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground....
’s band), Owen Pallett
Owen Pallett
Michael James Owen Pallett is a Canadian composer, violinist, keyboardist, and vocalist from Toronto, Ontario. He won the 2006 Polaris Music Prize for the album He Poos Clouds....
(Arcade Fire, Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy
is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and is developed and owned by Square Enix . The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science-fantasy role-playing video games , but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise...
, Hidden Cameras), Tim Holmes (Death in Vegas
Death in Vegas
Death in Vegas are a psychedelic rock and electronic rock band from the United Kingdom, comprising two permanent members: Richard Fearless and Tim Holmes...
), Julie Penner
Julie Penner
Julie Penner is a Canadian violinist who has played with The FemBots, Broken Social Scene, Do Make Say Think, Hylozoists, The Lowest of the Low and The Weakerthans. She currently works as the music producer for Stuart McLean's The Vinyl Cafe on CBC Radio.-History:Penner began classical violin...
(Broken Social Scene
Broken Social Scene
Broken Social Scene is a Canadian indie rock band, a musical collective including as few as six and as many as nineteen members, formed in 1999 by Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning. Most of its members currently play in various other groups and solo projects, mainly based around the city of Toronto...
, Do Make Say Think
Do Make Say Think
Do Make Say Think is a Canadian instrumental post-rock band from Toronto, Ontario. Their music combines jazz style drums, distorted guitars and wind instruments, as well as a prominent use of the bass guitar.-Biography:...
), Abi Fry
Abi Fry
Abi Fry born is a Highlands-based violist, playing with various acts including British Sea Power, Bat For Lashes, The Flowers of Hell, Sad Season and Euchrid Eucrow....
(British Sea Power
British Sea Power
British Sea Power are an indie rock band based in Brighton, England, although three of the band members originally come from Kendal in Cumbria. Critics have likened their sound to a variety of groups, from The Cure and Joy Division to the Pixies and Arcade Fire. The band are famed for their live...
, Bat for Lashes
Bat for Lashes
Natasha Khan , also known by her stage name Bat for Lashes, is an English musician. She sings and plays the piano, bass, guitar, harpsichord and the autoharp....
), Mel Draisey
Mel draisey
Mel Draisey is a multi-instrumentalist from London. She is best known for being a member of The Clientele, and for being in the 2008 touring line-up of Le Volume Courbe...
(The Clientele
The Clientele
The Clientele are a London-based British band with Alasdair MacLean on vocals and guitar, Mark Keen on drums, James Hornsey on bass and Mel Draisey on violin, keyboards, backing vocals and percussion....
, Le Volume Courbe
Le Volume Courbe
Le Volume Courbe is a band by French-born, London-based singer/songwriter, Charlotte Marionneau. "Le Volume Courbe" was a name of a sculpture by a friend of Marionneau's....
, Primal Scream
Primal Scream
Primal Scream are a Scottish alternative rock band originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie and Jim Beattie and now based in London. The current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes , Martin Duffy , and Darrin Mooney...
), Jon McCann (Guided by Voices
Guided by Voices
Guided by Voices is an American indie rock band originating from Dayton, Ohio. Beginning with the band's formation in 1983, it made frequent personnel changes but always maintained the presence of principal songwriter Robert Pollard...
), John Mark Lapham (The Earlies
The Earlies
The Earlies are a band formed by Christian Madden and Giles Hatton from Lancashire, England, and Brandon Carr and John Mark Lapham from the United States...
), Tom Knott (The Earlies), Jan Muchow (Ecstasy of Saint Theresa), Amy Laing (Hidden Cameras, Toronto Symphony Orchestra
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario.-History:The TSO was founded in 1922 as the New Symphony Orchestra, and gave its first concert at Massey Hall in April 1923. The orchestra changed its name to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1927. The TSO...
), Tom Hodges (Tindersticks
Tindersticks
Tindersticks are an Indie rock band from Nottingham, England formed in 1991. They released six albums before singer Stuart A. Staples took on a solo career. The band reunited briefly in 2006, but more permanently the following year...
), Hypnotique (Dawn of the Replicants, Zorch), and Ronnie Morris (controller.controller
Controller.controller
controller.controller was a Canadian indie rock band from Toronto, Ontario. The band consisted of vocalist Nirmala Basnayake, guitarists Colwyn Llewellyn-Thomas and Scott Kaija, bassist Ronnie Morris and drummer Jeff Scheven. The band took its name from a song by Shotmaker. The band formed in 2002...
, Lioness
Lioness (band)
Lioness is a Canadian indie rock dance band formed in January 2007 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.-History:The band was formed by Ronnie Morris and Jeff Scheven, former rhythm section of controller.controller and No Dynamics' vocalist Vanessa Fischer...
).
Albums
The Flowers of HellProduced with Tim Holmes of Death in Vegas
Death in Vegas
Death in Vegas are a psychedelic rock and electronic rock band from the United Kingdom, comprising two permanent members: Richard Fearless and Tim Holmes...
at the Contino Rooms in London, their self-titled debut album was praised in the British music press for building classical tangents from the sound of The Velvet Underground and Spacemen 3/Spiritualized. Sonic Boom
Peter Kember
Peter Kember is a British musician and producer, more usually known as Sonic Boom, and was a founding member of alternative rock band Spacemen 3....
of Spacemen 3/Spectrum/E.A.R. collaborated with the group on ‘Through The F Hole’ and mentored the band during the recording of the album. The album was originally released on the now defunct Earworm Records
Earworm Records
Earworm Records was a London-based independent record label, with its first release by the band Hood in 1997. Other bands to release music on the label include Yo La Tengo, Of Montreal, Stars of the Lid, Windy & Carl, Portal, The Besnard Lakes, Fridge, Damon & Naomi and Magnétophone....
label (Spacemen 3
Spacemen 3
Spacemen 3 were an English alternative rock band, formed in 1982 in Rugby, Warwickshire by Peter Kember and Jason Pierce. Their music was "colorfully mind-altering, but not in the sense of the acid rock of the '60s; instead, the band developed its own minimalistic psychedelia"...
, Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo, sometimes abbreviated as YLT, is an American alternative rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1984. Since 1992, the lineup has consisted of Ira Kaplan , Georgia Hubley , and James McNew .Despite achieving limited mainstream success, Yo La Tengo has been called "the quintessential...
, The Earlies, Bright Eyes, The Apples in Stereo
The Apples in Stereo
The Apples in Stereo, styled The Apples in stereo, is an American indie rock band associated with The Elephant Six Collective, a group of bands also including Neutral Milk Hotel and The Olivia Tremor Control. The band is largely a product of lead vocalist/guitarist Robert Schneider, who writes the...
).
Come Hell Or High Water
The album was recorded in over 40 sessions with 30 musicians in London, Prague, Toronto, Detroit, & Texas. It was conceived of as a celebration of synaesthesia, and Jarvis based the composing, recording, arranging, and preliminary mixing on his synaesthetic visions. Resultantly it was a labor intensive record that took a year to complete due to the time that had to be spent listening/watching the works as they came together, and the time required for experimenting with tweaking sounds in order to create the desired changes in the visual images.
O
Released on a double sided CD/DVD with a stereo mix and a 5.1 surround sound mix, O is a 45 minute track that combines improvisations with-in a fixed song structure. Derived from the concept of 'absolute music', Greg Jarvis and The Earlies' Tom Knott co-mixed the record based on their synaesthetic visions (both synaesthetes, Jarvis sees sounds as shapes while Knott sees them as colours). "O" was engineered by Jon Drew
Jon Drew
Jon Drew is a Canadian music producer and recording engineer based in Toronto. He has produced the albums of Polaris Music Prize winning band Fucked Up and Juno Award nominated Tokyo Police Club. He has also worked on the albums of Canadian bands the Stars, Attack in Black, and the Arkells. ...
. The DVD also includes Live At The Music Gallery, an hour-long concert film for which the audio was recorded by Peter Moore & Perren Baker with the same sole mic that the two had famously produced the Cowboy Junkies Trinity Session album with.
Discography
Albums- O / Live at the Music Gallery (2010)
- Come Hell Or High Water (2009)
- The Flowers of Hell - Japanese Edition (2007)
- The Flowers of Hell (2006)
EPs
- Awkward 26 (split EP with Will Carruthers) (2008)
Singles
- White Out (Fat Ghost digital single) (2009)
- Blumchen (Shifty Disco Records digital single) (2009)
- Excerpt from Opt Out (Shifty Disco Records digital single) (2006)
- The Joy of Sleeping (Shifty Disco Records digital single) (2005)
- Solitary Closure (Shifty Disco Records digital single) (2005)
- Foreign Lands (Shifty Disco Records digital single) (2005)
Compilations
- Darklands - Never Lose That Feeling 3 (AC30 covers compilation) (2009)
- Compound Fractures - Psychedelica 2 (Northern Star Records comp) (2007)
- The Sunrise Retreat - Algidance 3 (2005)
- The Joy of Sleeping - Relax (Eve magazine covermount compilation) (2003)
- Gonna Stop (Wastin' My Time) - Red (Red magazine covermount compilation) (2003)
- Vindaloop - Dawn (Daily Star covermount compilation) (2002)