Ash Wednesday (musician)
Encyclopedia
Ash Wednesday is an Australia
n musician, who played in JAB
, the Models
and Einstürzende Neubauten
.
band in Adelaide
in January 1976. The band's original lineup consisted of Bohdan X
(Bodhan Kubiakowski) on guitar and vocals, Wednesday playing bass guitar, synthesizer and tape
s, and Johnny Crash (Janis Friedenfelds) on drums and vocals. The band took its name from the first initials of the founding members. The band relocated to Melbourne
in August 1977. JAB signed to Suicide Records in January 1978, and two of their songs, "Blonde and Bombed" and "Let's Go", were included on the Lethal Weapons compilation. The band played their final show in August 1978 at the Crystal Ballroom
(then known as the Seaview Ballroom), which was also the first gig ever played at the now iconic venue.
Wednesday, Crash and Voltaire then joined Sean Kelly
(ex-Teenage Radio Stars) to form the first line-up of Models
. The initial version of the group did not stay together for long as Sutcliffe was soon replaced on bass guitar by Mark Ferrie (ex-Myriad), then in August 1979, Wednesday was replaced by Andrew Duffield (ex-Whirlywirld
) on keyboards.
In 1980 he released a solo single, "Love By Numbers". That year he also joined experimental outfit The Metronomes with rock journalist Al Webb (guitar, synthesiser; ex-Streetlife)and Andrew Picouleau (bass, synthesiser; Secret Police, Sacred Cowboys
), having previously been a invited guest with the band. The Metronomes released two singles, "Saturday Night"/"Sunday Morning" (1979), "A Circuit Like Me"/"Closed Circuit" (1980) and two albums, Multiple Choice (1981) and Regular Guys (1985) on the Cleopatra label. The band was never intended to be a live outfit and only ever came together in the studio. Around 2000 the members began work on a new project and after four years of sporadic effort released a new album, Today. This was followed by a re-release of the band's first two albums and an EP (comprising the band's two singles, as a single release, The Ballad of the Metronomes, in 2010.
Concurrently Wednesday collaborated with T.E. Power (Nuv Bloc) on a project titled Thealonian Music, using the latest electronic instruments of the time. The concept being to generate music of a spontaneous nature, with the rhythmic foundation being provided by a programmable drum machine, sequence and synthesizer combination. Thealonian Music only produced one release, the 1982 tape, Project X Chromosome X. Throughout the early 1980s, he was a member of Modern Jazz, an improvisation group who performed to randomly generated techno
beats. Modern Jazz featured a fluid line-up that included Lyn Gordon (vocoda), Andrew Phillpott (synthesiser) and Ted Thornbury (vocals). The band played 1980s techno music and issued one album, The Nude, on the Cleopatra label in 1986.
In 1988 he joined electronic
/ industrial
band Crashland, composed of Lyn Gordon (vocal, guitar), Wednesday (sampler), Ray Moore (drums) and Phil Sutherland (bass). A year after their formation, Crashland signed a deal with Regular Records which resulted in the release of their first single, "Cherry Bomb"/"Elvis Working" in October 1989. Crashland's self-titled debut album comprised half original material and half covers, was released in April 1990, together with the band's second single, a demented electro remodelling of John Lee Hooker
's "Boom Boom"/"On T.V.".
Wednesday moved to Berlin
in 1992, where he worked with Nina Hagen
, being involved with pre-production and programming for her 1995 album, FreuD euch
("Bee Happy").
Since 1997, Wednesday has been a touring member of the legendary German band Einstürzende Neubauten
. He completed several world tours with them and is present on their live albums, such as 09-15-2000, Brussels
and numerous recordings from the Perpetuum Mobile
tour (2004).
In 1999 he returned to Melbourne and formed The Tingler, with Crashland vocalist Lyn Gordon and Machine Poets, with Garry Gray (ex-Sacred Cowboys) and Picouleau. The Tingler releasing a self titled album in April 2000. The Tingler also featured on the bill during the Models 2000/2001 reunion shows.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n musician, who played in JAB
JAB
JAB was an Australian punk rock that band formed in Adelaide in 1976. The band's original lineup consisted of Bohdan X on guitar and vocals, Ash Wednesday playing bass guitar, synthesizer and tapes, and Johnny Crash on drums and vocals. The band took its name from the first initials of the...
, the Models
Models (band)
Models were an alternative rock group formed in Melbourne, Australia, in August 1978 and went into hiatus in 1988. They are often incorrectly referred to as The Models. They re-formed in 2000, 2006 and 2008 to perform reunion concerts. "Out of Mind, Out of Sight", their only No. 1 hit,...
and Einstürzende Neubauten
Einstürzende Neubauten
Einstürzende Neubauten is a German post-industrial band, originally from West Berlin, formed in 1980. The group currently comprises Blixa Bargeld , Alexander Hacke , N.U...
.
Biography
Wednesday formed an Australian punk rockPunk rock in Australia
Australian musicians played and recorded some of the earliest Punk Rock. Perhaps the most notable example were The Saints, who released their first single in 1976. Bands playing sub-genres or offshoots of punk music, such as local hardcore acts, still have a strong cult following throughout...
band in Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
in January 1976. The band's original lineup consisted of Bohdan X
Bohdan X
Bohdan X is the stage name of British-born former punk rock singer Bohdan Kubiakowski in the Australian bands JAB and Bohdan and the Instigators, both features of the emerging punk rock scene in Melbourne, Australia in the late 1970s...
(Bodhan Kubiakowski) on guitar and vocals, Wednesday playing bass guitar, synthesizer and tape
Magnetic tape
Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic recording, made of a thin magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic. It was developed in Germany, based on magnetic wire recording. Devices that record and play back audio and video using magnetic tape are tape recorders and video tape recorders...
s, and Johnny Crash (Janis Friedenfelds) on drums and vocals. The band took its name from the first initials of the founding members. The band relocated to Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
in August 1977. JAB signed to Suicide Records in January 1978, and two of their songs, "Blonde and Bombed" and "Let's Go", were included on the Lethal Weapons compilation. The band played their final show in August 1978 at the Crystal Ballroom
Crystal Ballroom (Melbourne)
The Crystal Ballroom was a prominent alternative rock venue within the Seaview Hotel located in Fitzroy Street St.Kilda . It was run by a succession of Melbourne Rock promoters from 1978 to 1987 starting with Dolores San Miguel The Crystal Ballroom (AKA The Ballroom / Seaview Ballroom) was a...
(then known as the Seaview Ballroom), which was also the first gig ever played at the now iconic venue.
Wednesday, Crash and Voltaire then joined Sean Kelly
Sean Kelly (Australian musician)
Sean Patrick Kelly Born 9 November 1958, is an Australian singer, guitarist and song writer best known as a founding member of the bands Models, Absent Friends and The Dukes.-Biography:...
(ex-Teenage Radio Stars) to form the first line-up of Models
Models (band)
Models were an alternative rock group formed in Melbourne, Australia, in August 1978 and went into hiatus in 1988. They are often incorrectly referred to as The Models. They re-formed in 2000, 2006 and 2008 to perform reunion concerts. "Out of Mind, Out of Sight", their only No. 1 hit,...
. The initial version of the group did not stay together for long as Sutcliffe was soon replaced on bass guitar by Mark Ferrie (ex-Myriad), then in August 1979, Wednesday was replaced by Andrew Duffield (ex-Whirlywirld
Whirlywirld
Whirlywirld was an Australian post punk band led by Ollie Olsen in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and the first of his musical collaborations with drummer John Murphy...
) on keyboards.
In 1980 he released a solo single, "Love By Numbers". That year he also joined experimental outfit The Metronomes with rock journalist Al Webb (guitar, synthesiser; ex-Streetlife)and Andrew Picouleau (bass, synthesiser; Secret Police, Sacred Cowboys
Sacred Cowboys
Sacred Cowboys are an Australian post-punk rock band based in Melbourne and active in 1982-85, 1987-97 and since 2006.The band's lead singer and lyricist is Garry Gray. The current line-up includes: Spencer P. Jones ; Penny Ikinger ; Nick Rischbieth and; Stephan Fiddock . A special guest for shows...
), having previously been a invited guest with the band. The Metronomes released two singles, "Saturday Night"/"Sunday Morning" (1979), "A Circuit Like Me"/"Closed Circuit" (1980) and two albums, Multiple Choice (1981) and Regular Guys (1985) on the Cleopatra label. The band was never intended to be a live outfit and only ever came together in the studio. Around 2000 the members began work on a new project and after four years of sporadic effort released a new album, Today. This was followed by a re-release of the band's first two albums and an EP (comprising the band's two singles, as a single release, The Ballad of the Metronomes, in 2010.
Concurrently Wednesday collaborated with T.E. Power (Nuv Bloc) on a project titled Thealonian Music, using the latest electronic instruments of the time. The concept being to generate music of a spontaneous nature, with the rhythmic foundation being provided by a programmable drum machine, sequence and synthesizer combination. Thealonian Music only produced one release, the 1982 tape, Project X Chromosome X. Throughout the early 1980s, he was a member of Modern Jazz, an improvisation group who performed to randomly generated techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
beats. Modern Jazz featured a fluid line-up that included Lyn Gordon (vocoda), Andrew Phillpott (synthesiser) and Ted Thornbury (vocals). The band played 1980s techno music and issued one album, The Nude, on the Cleopatra label in 1986.
In 1988 he joined electronic
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
/ industrial
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
band Crashland, composed of Lyn Gordon (vocal, guitar), Wednesday (sampler), Ray Moore (drums) and Phil Sutherland (bass). A year after their formation, Crashland signed a deal with Regular Records which resulted in the release of their first single, "Cherry Bomb"/"Elvis Working" in October 1989. Crashland's self-titled debut album comprised half original material and half covers, was released in April 1990, together with the band's second single, a demented electro remodelling of John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally closest to Delta blues. He developed a 'talking blues' style that was his trademark...
's "Boom Boom"/"On T.V.".
Wednesday moved to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
in 1992, where he worked with Nina Hagen
Nina Hagen
Nina Hagen is a German singer and actress.-Early years:Hagen was born as Catharina Hagen in the former East Berlin, East Germany, the daughter of Hans Hagen , a scriptwriter, and Eva-Maria Hagen, an actress and singer...
, being involved with pre-production and programming for her 1995 album, FreuD euch
FreuD euch
- Track listing :All tracks composed by Nina Hagen; except where indicated# " Einfach Nina" 1:20# "Lass Mich in Ruhe!" 1:48# "Stacheldraht" 2:50# "Tiere" 3:27...
("Bee Happy").
Since 1997, Wednesday has been a touring member of the legendary German band Einstürzende Neubauten
Einstürzende Neubauten
Einstürzende Neubauten is a German post-industrial band, originally from West Berlin, formed in 1980. The group currently comprises Blixa Bargeld , Alexander Hacke , N.U...
. He completed several world tours with them and is present on their live albums, such as 09-15-2000, Brussels
09-15-2000, Brussels
-Personnel:* Blixa Bargeld – lead vocals, guitar, keyboards.* Alexander Hacke – bass, guitar, vocals.* N.U. Unruh – special built instruments, percussion, vocals.* Jochen Arbeit – guitar, vocals....
and numerous recordings from the Perpetuum Mobile
Perpetuum Mobile (album)
Perpetuum Mobile is an album by Einstürzende Neubauten. It is an offshoot of their first supporters-only recording experiment. It was released with Mute Records, in part to facilitate a world tour.- Track listing :# “Ich gehe jetzt” – 3:31...
tour (2004).
In 1999 he returned to Melbourne and formed The Tingler, with Crashland vocalist Lyn Gordon and Machine Poets, with Garry Gray (ex-Sacred Cowboys) and Picouleau. The Tingler releasing a self titled album in April 2000. The Tingler also featured on the bill during the Models 2000/2001 reunion shows.
Solo
- "Love By Numbers"/"Boring Instrumental" - Big Dwarf Music (MA-7351) (1980)
The Metronomes
- "Saturday Night"/"Sunday Morning" - CleopatraCleopatra RecordsCleopatra 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...
(CSP 2203) (1979) - "A Circuit Like Me"/"Closed Circuit" - Cleopatra (CSP 2205) (September 1980)
- Multiple Choice - Cleopatra (CLP 210) (1981)
- Regular Guys - Cleopatra (CLP 212) (1985)
- Today (2004)
- The Ballad of the Metronomes (29 November 2010)
Modern Jazz (1983-1987)
- Modern Jazz - Solid Music (1983)
- Bubble Head Breakdown (1983)
- The Nude - Cleopatra (CLP 215) (1986)
Crashland (1988-1991)
- "Cherry Bomb"/"Elvis Working" - Regular (K919) (October 1989)
- Crashland - Regular (D30149) (April 1990)
- "Boom Boom'/"On TV" - Regular (K 1096) (April 1990)
Einstürzende Neubauten (1997-2004)
- 09-15-2000, Brussels09-15-2000, Brussels-Personnel:* Blixa Bargeld – lead vocals, guitar, keyboards.* Alexander Hacke – bass, guitar, vocals.* N.U. Unruh – special built instruments, percussion, vocals.* Jochen Arbeit – guitar, vocals....
- Caroline (2001) - Gemini - Caroline (2003)
- Perpetuum Mobile Tour - Caroline (2004)
- 04-01-2004, Amsterdam - Caroline (2004)
- 10-29-2004, Reggio Emilia - Caroline (2004)