Whitehouse (band)
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| Whitehouse | |
|---|---|
 Whitehouse live at Consumer Electronics Festival 2006 |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Years active | 1980 – Present |
| Genres | Power Electronics Noise Music |
| Members | William Bennett Philip Best |
Whitehouse are an English industrial noise band formed in 1980. They specialise in extreme electronic music which in the late 80s greatly influenced, if not spawned, a wave of (in particular Japanese) 'noise' groups. They are known for their controversial lyrics and images (which have occasionally been interpreted as misogynistic, psychologically disturbing, sexually deviant, and extremely violent) and on occasion have been subject to censorship. Their name is in mock tribute to the British moral campaigner Mary Whitehouse; it is also a reference to a British pornographic magazine of the same name.
The early music of Whitehouse is often credited with pioneering the Power Electronics (a term founder William Bennett himself coined on the blurb to the Psychopathia Sexualis LP) and noise genres, whose signature sonic elements are simple, pulverizing electronic bass tones twinned with needling high frequencies bordering on ultrasonic, sometimes combined with ferocious washes of white noise, with or without vocals. In the early 90s the band phased out the analog equipment responsible for this sound, relying instead on various pieces of computer hardware, and since 2000 they began incorporating unconventional use of rhythm with African percussion elements such as djembes and doundouns. The terse, 'slogan'-based vocal style of the band's formative years has also been replaced on recent albums with an extended, far more verbally complex style.
Whitehouse continue to have a polarising effect in the avant-garde music community. The band's 2003 album "Bird Seed" was given an 'honorable mention' in the digital musics category of Austria's annual Prix Ars Electronica awards.
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[edit] Personnel
The group's founding member and sole constant is William Bennett. Initially playing guitar in Essential Logic, Bennett later recorded as Come before forming Whitehouse. The band has had numerous other members, - most relegated to live performances - including Kevin Tomkins, Steven Stapleton, Glenn Michael Wallis, John Murphy, Stefan Jaworzyn, Jim Goodall, and Andrew Mackenzie. In recent years the most stable line-up consisted of Bennett, Philip Best and the writer Peter Sotos. Sotos left in 2002, however, leaving the band as a two-piece. In 1987, renowned American producer Steve Albini began working with the band.
Their releases Twice Is Not Enough, Halogen, Quality Time, Mummy and Daddy, and Another Crack of the White Whip feature album artwork by controversial artist Trevor Brown.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Studio releases
- Birthdeath Experience – (1980) (Reis. 1993)
- Total Sex – (1980) (Reis. 1983)
- Erector – (1981) (Reis. 1995)
- Dedicated to Peter Kürten – (1981) (Reis. 1996)
- Buchenwald – (1981) (Reis. 1996)
- New Britain – (1982) (Reis. 1996)
- Psychopathia Sexualis – (1982)
- Right to Kill – (1983)
- Great White Death – (1985) (Reis. 1991, 1997)
- Thank Your Lucky Stars – (1990) (Reis. 1997)
- Twice Is Not Enough – (1992) (Reis. 1999)
- Never Forget Death – (1992)
- Halogen – (1994)
- Quality Time. – (1995)
- Mummy and Daddy – (1998)
- Cruise – (2001)
- Bird Seed – (2003)
- Asceticists 2006 – (2006)
- Racket – (2007)
[edit] Live and other releases
- Cream of the Second Coming [Compilation] – (1990)
- Another Crack of the White Whip [Compilation] – (1991)
- Tokyo Halogen [Live] – (1995)
