Psychic TV
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| Psychic TV | ||
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 PTV line-up 2004 – Present
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| Background information | ||
| Also known as | Psychic TV & Genesis P-Orridge, Psychick Television, Psychick TV, Deep Fry, ESsence, Griselda, Homeboy Posse, Jack The Tab, King Cut Groovers, The, King Tubby, Love In Life, M.E.S.H., Nobody Uninc, Over Thee Brink, Pearl Necklace, Safe, Too See Bee, White Dove, Wolves Of The Sun | |
| Origin | London, England | |
| Genre(s) | Experimental, Industrial, Acid House, Post-industrial | |
| Years active | 1982 – Present | |
| Label(s) | Temple Records | |
| Members | ||
| Genesis Breyer P-Orridge David Max Alice Genese Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge Morrison Edley Markus "Fabulous" Persson |
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| Former members | ||
| Alex Fergusson, Alex Russell, Andy Chatterley, Craig Ellenwood, Danny Hyde, Dave Ball, David Tibet, Matthew Best, Douglas Rushkoff, Drew McDowall, Fred Giannelli, Gini Ball, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, Hugo Longden, John Balance, John Gosling, Jordi Valls, Isaiah Singer, Ken Thomas, Larry Thrasher, Monte Cazazza, Mouse, Paula P-Orridge, Peter Christopherson, Philipp Erb, Richard Norris, Richard Schiessl, Sean Maher, William Breeze | ||
Psychic TV (sometimes spelt Psychick TV) or PTV, is a video art and music group that primarily performs psychedelic, punk, electronic and experimental music. The band was formed by performance artist Genesis P-Orridge and video director Peter Christopherson (after the break up of Throbbing Gristle) with Alex Fergusson, musician and producer (a key member of Alternative TV for whom Genesis had played percussion).
The band began publishing a monthly series of 23 live albums in 1986, but stopped without explanation after only 17. The tenth, a picture disk most commonly referred to as Album 10, could only be obtained by submitting tokens contained in each of the previous nine releases. The band subsequently earned an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Contributions to Psychic TV have include artists such as Coil, Current 93, Hafler Trio, The Cult, White Stains, Soft Cell, XKP, Master Musicians of Jajouka, Matthew Best, Daniel Simon Black, Bill Breeze, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, Derek Jarman, Fred Giannelli, John Gosling, Timothy Leary, Rose McDowall, Stephen Kent, Vagina Dentata Organ, Andrew Weatherall, Larry Thrasher, Z'ev, Zef Noi$e, and many others.
Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth (aka T.O.P.Y.), was formed as an organisation at the same time as the band. T.O.P.Y. was intended to be the philosophical wing of Psychic TV, but also presented an image of being a cult-like fanclub for the group. P-Orridge left it in 1991.
Psychic TV released early albums of acid house music in (1988) as fake compilations, such as Jack The Tab and Tekno Acid Beat. After breaking up in 1999, Psychic TV reformed as PTV3 with a new line-up in 2003.
Contents |
[edit] History of the band
Since Genesis P-Orridge primarily wrote the lyrics instead of the music, he would assemble different groups of musicians together to create the music. This accounts for the changing musical nature of PTV. Thus the history of Psychic TV can be broken up into the periods of the main songwriter that was working with him at the time.
[edit] 1981-1987: Alexander Fergusson period
Psychic TV was formed with the core membership of GP-O, and Alex Fergusson in 1981. Alexander Fergusson was a member of the punk outfit Alternative TV, upon whose 1978 album Vibing Up The Senile Man (Part One) had played percussion, and contributed the latter half of the name Psychic TV [1]. Peter Christopherson got involved in 1982 and claimed that the 'TV' component of the name was intended to focus on the visual elements of the outfit.
Genesis once claimed that "Psychic TV is a video group who does music unlike a music group which makes music videos". Similarities can be seen in the artwork for Alternative TV and early Psychic TV releases, with a recurring pastiche on the 'as seen on TV' marketing style.
In the earliest live performances, Psychic TV maintained much of the noisy atmosphere as Genesis' previous band, Throbbing Gristle, although now with an increased use of exotic acoustic drums and other instruments. Psychic TV were signed to WEA Records and subsequently CBS based on the infamy of Throbbing Gristle.
Their first albums Force The Hand Of Chance and Dreams Less Sweet featured high production values, catchy pop songs written by Fergusson (with barbershop quartet vocals arranged by Andrew Pearson), sound experiments primarily created by Peter Christopherson and Geff Rushton (also known as John Balance). Marc Almond was also involved.
The live shows continued to be improvised noise until Peter Christopherson left the group and Fergusson implemented musicians capable of improvisational pop music, known as hyperdelic, such as that featured on the singles Godstar and Roman P. This led to a series of 23 live show recordings being released, which dominated most of Psychic TV's output until 1988. Towards the end of this period Fergusson/P-Orridge completed their third proper studio album Allegory and Self: Thee Starlit Mire. It was at this point that Genesis became interested in acid house and techno. Alex Fergusson left and was replaced with techno artist Fred Gianelli.
[edit] 1988-1992: Fred Giannelli period
During this period Fred Giannelli and other techno artists released music not only as Psychic TV, but also a variety of 'fake' names. The idea behind this was to release 'compilations' of these imaginary artists, creating a sense that a healthy acid house scene existed in the UK. The key studio albums of this period were Jack The Tab, Tekno Acid Beat and Towards the Infinite Beat, as almost all of the live shows in this period were based around the songs on these albums.
[edit] 1992-1993: Exile
Genesis claimed initially that he was deported,[citation needed] although later admitted that he decided not to return to England from Kathmandu, where he and his family had been working with Tibetan refugees, instead going into "self-imposed exile". This was after a video he had created was falsely presented as evidence of Satanic ritual abuse in an edition of Channel 4 TV's Dispatches. The programme was later discredited, though not before his house was raided by the police and the allegations had been repeated in the tabloid press. He said that he felt he would not get a fair hearing if he returned to England, so the family moved to California.
Shortly after moving to the US, Genesis underwent a divorce which traumatized him immensely. Most of the output during this period was made up of re-releases of earlier albums, especially by industrial music record labels who released the albums as a "paying of respects" to the founder of industrial music.
[edit] 1993-1999: Larry Thrasher period
In 1992 Kim Cascone (founder of Silent Records) introduced Genesis to Larry Thrasher, co-founder of the mid 80's San Francisco experimental noise band Thessalonians. This began a new period with Psychic TV returning to its psychedelic pop roots with Thrasher co-producing the critically acclaimed Trip/Reset as well as new experimental explorations which centered around the spoken word poetry of P-orridge in releases like "Thee Fractured Garden" and "Breathe". "Thee Fractured Garden" was a seminal example of this period where Psychic TV blended ambient music, samples and sound collages with spoken word. This eventually led to the offshoot groups Splinter Test and later Thee Majesty, both with Thrasher, which focused on the spoken word and sonic experimentations.
Other notable releases upon which Genesis collaborated with Thrasher were the Electric Newspapers, a series of open source sample releases that blurred the sampling CD concept with a stream of consciousness listening experience. Material from the Electric Newspaper series of releases (there are six in total, but only four have been released) is mostly taken from the CDs PTV released with Thrasher along with contributors such as Skinny Puppy and other notable musical allies of this time.
The original motivation for the Electric Newspaper series was to ensure that the PTV sample files were archived after the loss of the entire PTV sampling library in the dramatic five alarm fire at the Houdini Mansion on Laurel Canyon in Hollywood while PTV was on tour. This fire, which burned down the 18,000 sq foot mansion, left Genesis in the intensive care unit at Cedar Sinai hospital with life-threatening injuries after he (along with members of the band Love and Rockets ) jumped from their bedroom windows to escape the flames. Results of this event sent Genesis on a two-year health sabbatical to recover, during which he was involved in a million dollar lawsuit against Rick Rubin, who owned the Houdini Mansion. Genesis won the case, but was left with a metal plate and eight screws in his permanently disabled and reconstructed arm.
In 1998 Genesis announced that he primarily wanted to move into spoken word and turned to focus on Thee Majesty with musical lineup of Larry Thrasher and Bryin Dall. Thee Majesty continues to perform to large halls and galleries in Europe playing improvised sound sculpture to mostly improvised spoken word and they released a CD called "Time's Up" up 1999.
In 2005, the Voiceprint record label in England re-released several older Psychic TV and Genesis P-Orridge albums under the name Thee Majesty, and also a new album recorded with the band Cotton Ferox. Also, a 2005 release "Mary Never Wanted Jesus" credited to Genesis P-Orridge & Thee Majesty featured archive PTV material alongside new Thee Majesty recordings. PTV, as a rock entity, had a "final show" in 1999 at The Royal Festival Hall in London. This show also marked the end of Genesis' exile from the UK.
[edit] 2003-Present: PTV3
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 Gristle on what will be their first album in over 25 years). Additionally, a few more dates were performed in Europe throughout the year. In January 2006, the new PTV album was announced by Genesis on his website. HELL IS INVISIBLE...HEAVEN IS HER/E, the album, was recorded in New York and features Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and Gibby Haynes (Butthole Surfers) guesting on some tracks. Genesis describes it as "Dark Side of the Moon for the 21st century". Release is expected mid-Spring (Northern Hemisphere) 2007 and it will be followed by a tour that may last up to 18 months. [2] In February 2007 Side-Line announced the news that the Fee Lee record label has released a Psychic TV live album, "Live in Russia".[1]
Concerts across the UK have been announced for 2006 (Sheffield, Birmingham and London) as well as Brussels, Amsterdam and Moscow.
The line up is:
- Genesis Breyer P-Orridge - Vocals / Noise bass
- Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge - Samples
- Morrison Edley (Toilet Boys) - Drums
- Alice Genese (Candy Ass / Pretty Boys) - Bass.
- David Max (HIT) - Guitars.
- Markus Aurelius Cirkus Maximus Dangerous Fabulous Persson - Keyboards.
The 2006 shows included an 'all new video light show' by Sterile Cowboys & Co. (a.k.a. Nicolas Jenkins) -- three screens of heavily overlaid video with the middle screen overlaid by yet another layer of "analog" projections including moiréd overlays and liquid/oil effects. Videos from the upcoming album and DVDs were previewed as works in process. Much of the video work revolves around Breyer P-Orridges exploration of the 'pandrogyne'.
[edit] Psychic TV on the radio.....
Genesis and Mo Edley performed a DJ set and were interviewed on New York's station WNYU on Tuesday September 5, (YEAR?). PTV3 performed several songs on WFMU in Jersey City on Thursday September 7. The band were interviewed as well. This was the first time ever Psychic TV had played live on air.
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, USA, followed by the above mentioned tour.
[edit] Psychic TV live
- Main article: Psychic TV live
Psychic TV have performed countless times in their live career with an ever-changing and eclectic selection of musicians. Live releases account for about half of Psychic TV's discography and with one series of live releases they released fourteen live albums in eighteen months, enough to earn them a record in the Guinness Book of World Records.[3]
[edit] Discography
- Main article: Psychic TV discography
Psychic TV long history and rapid output has resulted in a large amount of releases.
Primary releases:
- Force The Hand Of Chance (1982)
- Themes (1982)
- Dreams Less Sweet (1983)
- A Pagan Day (1984)
- Those Who Do Not (1984)
- Mouth Of The Night (1985)
- Themes 2 (1985)
- Themes 3 (1986)
- Allegory and Self (1988)
- Jack The Tab - Acid Tablets Volume One (1988)
- Tekno Acid Beat (1988)
- Kondole (1989)
- At Stockholm (1990)
- Jack The Tab/Tekno Acid Beat (1990)
- Towards Thee Infinite Beat (1990)
- Beyond Thee Infinite Beat (1990)
- Direction Ov Travel (1991)
- Ultrahouse The L.A. Connection (1991)
- Cold Dark Matter (1992)
- Peak Hour (1993)
- A Hollow Cost (1994)
- AL - OR - AL (1994)
- Cathedral Engine (1994)
- Sugarmorphoses (1994)
- Ultradrug (1994)
- Sirens (Ultradrug - Thee Sequel) (1995)
- Breathe (1996)
- Trip Reset (1996)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Genesis P-orridge.com
- Psychic TV History
- Master Musicians of Joujouka
- Alex Fergusson
- Official Psychic TV myspace
- Forthcoming PTV site
- Freenoise - Promoter
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