Cruella de Ville
Encyclopedia
Cruella De Ville was a band from Northern Ireland
that presented a mixture of post punk and goth rock from 1982–1984. Their members consisted of Colum Muinzer (now styling himself Colin Gibson) on vocals, guitar (often bow
ed), and violin; his twin sister, Philomena Muinzer, known as "Phil" or "Mena", (a Princeton University
geology
major (1978)} who won awards for her creative writing), on vocals and keyboard, James Clenaghan on bass guitar and backing vocals, and Mike Edgar on drums and backing vocals. They released a number of singles, but their album was never released after Edgar absconded with the recordings. Their best-known song is "Those Two Dreadful Children", which has appeared on The Dr. Demento Show
and was included (transferred from a copy of the vinyl single) on a Basement Tapes members-only compilation.
The name of the band is taken from an altered spelling of villain of the same name
from the book and movie The Hundred and One Dalmatians
.
Their other songs include "Drunken Uncle John", "Hong Kong Swing", "Blues, Blues, Blues", "Gypsy Girl", "I'll Do The Talking", "Oceans", and "Who's At The Door?". "Drunken Uncle John" and "Oceans" have a similar dark comic flavour to that found in "Those Two Dreadful Children"--the latter being an absurdist
satire
on drug dealing. "Hong Kong Swing" is a send-up of ugly American
Naval officers' mangling pan-Asia
into a cartoonish red-light
concept. There are three versions: the first recorded was the "Manic Mix", with breakdancing cues, which was followed by the regular version. The last, "Hollywood Hong Kong Swing" is a new recording that adds three new introductions: a string soundalike to Alfred Newman
's 20th Century Fox Fanfare (with Cinemascope
extension), a long guitar solo, and a new verse introducing the song as if being featured in a Hollywood revue. "I'll Do the Talking" is a serious song of sibling devotion. The Muinzers, usually individually, did all the group's songwriting.
In addition to television performances, the group cut a music video
for "Gypsy Girl" that UK television was not allowed to show before 10 pm because it depicted a bonfire
. A more simple video was made for the song that simply depicts the band performing was used for daytime showings. In this video, Philomena's underwear is shown briefly under her dress in a couple of dance breaks.
Phil and Colum cite their major influences as coming from their father's old record collection, artists like Spike Jones
, Danny Kaye
, and Pete Seeger
. Colin in particular modelled his guitar playing on Brian May
of Queen
. When EMI signed the band, Queen heard Colum perform "Gypsy Girl" solo, and he reported that May really liked it.
The original demo of "Who's At The Door?" has recently been transferred to digital and cleaned by Colum Muinzer.
A pre-FM copy of a BBC Radio 1 session (possibly broadcast on the Annie Nightingale show in ?1984) has recently been rediscovered, a copy of which has been passed on to Colum and Philomena.
All the drums on the unreleased album were played by Roy Wood.
) and a play (Together Against Him, which was awarded a bursary by The Arts Council of Great Britain
) under the name Phil O'Brien (O'Brien is the Munizers' mother's maiden name) and has served as dramaturge
for the Royal National Theatre
. She is married to Colin Bennett.
1 Hong Kong Swing
2 Gypsy Girl
3 Blues, Blues, Blues
4 I'll Do The Talking
5 Hollywood Hong Kong Swing
6 Who's At The Door
7 Oceans
8 Those Two Dreadful Children [2007 remix]
9 Drunken Uncle John [second version]
10 Hong Kong Swing [manic mix]
Most songs have been restored from a vinyl source, others have been donated by Philomena and Colum, who encouraged the fan to sell the discs for a profit because he had put so much work into it.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
that presented a mixture of post punk and goth rock from 1982–1984. Their members consisted of Colum Muinzer (now styling himself Colin Gibson) on vocals, guitar (often bow
Bow (music)
In music, a bow is moved across some part of a musical instrument, causing vibration which the instrument emits as sound. The vast majority of bows are used with string instruments, although some bows are used with musical saws and other bowed idiophones....
ed), and violin; his twin sister, Philomena Muinzer, known as "Phil" or "Mena", (a Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
major (1978)} who won awards for her creative writing), on vocals and keyboard, James Clenaghan on bass guitar and backing vocals, and Mike Edgar on drums and backing vocals. They released a number of singles, but their album was never released after Edgar absconded with the recordings. Their best-known song is "Those Two Dreadful Children", which has appeared on The Dr. Demento Show
Dr. Demento
Barret Eugene Hansen , better known as Dr. Demento, is a radio broadcaster and record collector specializing in novelty songs, comedy, and strange or unusual recordings dating from the early days of phonograph records to the present....
and was included (transferred from a copy of the vinyl single) on a Basement Tapes members-only compilation.
The name of the band is taken from an altered spelling of villain of the same name
Cruella de Vil
Cruella de Vil is a fictional character and the iconic villain in Dodie Smith's 1956 novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians, Disney's 1961 animated film adaptation One Hundred and One Dalmatians, and Disney's live-action film adaptations 101 Dalmatians and 102 Dalmatians. In all her incarnations,...
from the book and movie The Hundred and One Dalmatians
The Hundred and One Dalmatians
The Hundred and One Dalmatians, or the Great Dog Robbery is a 1956 children's novel by Dodie Smith. A sequel entitled The Starlight Barking continues from the end of the first novel....
.
Their other songs include "Drunken Uncle John", "Hong Kong Swing", "Blues, Blues, Blues", "Gypsy Girl", "I'll Do The Talking", "Oceans", and "Who's At The Door?". "Drunken Uncle John" and "Oceans" have a similar dark comic flavour to that found in "Those Two Dreadful Children"--the latter being an absurdist
Absurdism
In philosophy, "The Absurd" refers to the conflict between the human tendency to seek value and meaning in life and the human inability to find any...
satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
on drug dealing. "Hong Kong Swing" is a send-up of ugly American
Ugly American
Ugly American is an epithet used to refer to perceptions of loud, arrogant, demeaning, thoughtless and ethnocentric behavior of American citizens mainly abroad, but also at home...
Naval officers' mangling pan-Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
into a cartoonish red-light
Red Light District
Red Light District may refer to:* Red-light district - a neighborhood where prostitution is common* The Red Light District - the title of the 2004 album by rapper Ludacris* Red Light District Video - a pornography studio based in Los Angeles, California...
concept. There are three versions: the first recorded was the "Manic Mix", with breakdancing cues, which was followed by the regular version. The last, "Hollywood Hong Kong Swing" is a new recording that adds three new introductions: a string soundalike to Alfred Newman
Alfred Newman
Alfred Newman was an American composer, arranger, and conductor of music for films.In a career which spanned over forty years, Newman composed music for over two hundred films. He was one of the most respected film score composers of his time, and is today regarded as one of the greatest...
's 20th Century Fox Fanfare (with Cinemascope
CinemaScope
CinemaScope was an anamorphic lens series used for shooting wide screen movies from 1953 to 1967. Its creation in 1953, by the president of 20th Century-Fox, marked the beginning of the modern anamorphic format in both principal photography and movie projection.The anamorphic lenses theoretically...
extension), a long guitar solo, and a new verse introducing the song as if being featured in a Hollywood revue. "I'll Do the Talking" is a serious song of sibling devotion. The Muinzers, usually individually, did all the group's songwriting.
In addition to television performances, the group cut a music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
for "Gypsy Girl" that UK television was not allowed to show before 10 pm because it depicted a bonfire
Bonfire
A bonfire is a controlled outdoor fire used for informal disposal of burnable waste material or as part of a celebration. Celebratory bonfires are typically designed to burn quickly and may be very large...
. A more simple video was made for the song that simply depicts the band performing was used for daytime showings. In this video, Philomena's underwear is shown briefly under her dress in a couple of dance breaks.
Phil and Colum cite their major influences as coming from their father's old record collection, artists like Spike Jones
Spike Jones
Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny and other Warner Brothers cartoon characters, performed a drunken, hiccuping verse for 1942's "Clink! Clink! Another Drink"...
, Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...
, and Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
. Colin in particular modelled his guitar playing on Brian May
Brian May
Brian Harold May, CBE is an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the guitarist and a songwriter of the rock band Queen...
of Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
. When EMI signed the band, Queen heard Colum perform "Gypsy Girl" solo, and he reported that May really liked it.
The original demo of "Who's At The Door?" has recently been transferred to digital and cleaned by Colum Muinzer.
A pre-FM copy of a BBC Radio 1 session (possibly broadcast on the Annie Nightingale show in ?1984) has recently been rediscovered, a copy of which has been passed on to Colum and Philomena.
Drummers
Roy Wood played drums on Hong Kong Swing and Stephen Mulholland played them on Those Two Dreadful Children. A drum machine was used on Drunken Uncle John, with Mike Edgar overdubbing the bass drum; and a drum loop used on Gypsy Girl, again with Mike doing a few overdubs.All the drums on the unreleased album were played by Roy Wood.
After the breakup
Phil has written a book (Memories of the Irish-Israeli WarMemories of the Irish-Israeli War
Memories of the Irish-Israeli War is a 1995 novel by Phil O'Brien, a pen name for former Cruella de Ville frontwoman Philomena Muinzer derived from her mother's maiden name...
) and a play (Together Against Him, which was awarded a bursary by The Arts Council of Great Britain
Arts Council of Great Britain
The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. The Arts Council of Great Britain was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England , the Scottish Arts Council, and the Arts Council of Wales...
) under the name Phil O'Brien (O'Brien is the Munizers' mother's maiden name) and has served as dramaturge
Dramaturge
A dramaturge or dramaturg is a professional position within a theatre or opera company that deals mainly with research and development of plays or operas...
for the Royal National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
. She is married to Colin Bennett.
7" Singles
| Year | Record Label | Catalogue Number | Songs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Good Vibrations | GOT 16 | Drunken Uncle John/Those Two Dreadful Children |
| 1982 | Good Vibrations/Polydor | GOOD 1 | Those Two Dreadful Children/Drunken Uncle John (Alternate Mix) |
| 1982 | Good Vibrations | GOOD 2 | I'll Do The Talking/Blues, Blues, Blues |
| 1983 | EMI (Great Britain) | EMI 5412 | Gypsy Girl/Blues, Blues, Blues (Alternate Mix) |
| 1983 | EMI (West Germany) | 1 C 006 1078177 | Gypsy Girl/Blues, Blues, Blues (Alternate Mix) |
| 1984 | Parlophone | R 6075 | Hong Kong Swing/Drunken Uncle John (Rerecording) |
| 1984 | CPL/Pinnacle | CPL-5 | I'll Do The Talking(Alternate Mix)/Hollywood Hong Kong Swing/Oceans |
| 1984 | CPL/Priority | CPL-5 | I'll Do The Talking(Alternate Mix)/Hollywood Hong Kong Swing/Oceans |
| 1984 | CPL/EMI | CPL-5 | I'll Do The Talking (Alternate Mix)/Hollywood Hong Kong Swing/Oceans |
12" Singles
| Year | Record Label | Catalogue Number | Songs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | EMI | 12EMI 5412 | Gypsy Girl/Blues, Blues, Blues (Alternate Mix) /Gypsy Girl (Edit) |
| 07/1984 | Parlophone | 12R 6075 | Hong Kong Swing (Manic Mix) /Hong Kong Swing/Drunken Uncle John (Rerecording) |
Known Acetates
| Year | Record Label | Catalogue Number | Songs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Abbey Road Studios | Hong Kong Swing (Alternate Mix) |
Known Demos
| Year | Recording | Songs |
|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Original Cassette | Who's At The Door |
Known Recordings
| Year | Recording | Songs |
|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Good Vibrations / Polydor: master tape | Drunken Uncle John / Those Two Dreadful Children |
| 1984? | BBC Radio: Pre FM master tape | Gypsy Girl / I'll Do The Talking / Marching |
| - | Trident Studios, 2” master | Opus1 / Gypsy Girl |
| - | JAM Studios, 2” master | Gypsy Girl / Blues, Blues, Blues |
| - | DJM Studios, 2” master | Hong Kong Swing / Uncle John / Two Dreadful Children / I'll Do the Talking / Meena Mina / I Can Hear The Tanks Roll / Oceans of Potions / Big Boy |
| - | DJM Studios, 2” master | Who's At The Door / Toy Box |
| - | Trident Studios, ¼" master | Tones / Gypsy Girl (Red Hot Polka) |
| - | SARM Studios, ½" master | Hong Kong Swing #1, #2 & #3 |
| - | ¼" master tape | Drunken Uncle John / Those Two Dreadful Children |
| - | DJM Studios, ½" master | Drunken Uncle John / Who's At The Door / Oceans of Potions / Hong Kong Swing / Marching / Still She Wished for Company / Hong Kong Swing (2nd mix) |
| - | DJM Studios, ½" master | Hong Kong Swing / Oceans of Potions |
| - | DJM Studios, ½" master | Hong Kong Swing 7” / Hong Kong Swing 12" / Marching - Gig mix / Gypsy Girl - Gig mix |
| - | DJM Studios, ½" master | I'll Do The Talking |
| - | DJM Studios, ¼" master | Hong Kong Swing |
| - | DJM Studios, ¼" master | I'll Do The Talking / Gypsy Girl / Hong Kong Swing |
| - | EMI Studios, ¼" master | Toy Box / Hong Kong Swing |
| - | ¼" master | Away We Go |
| - | Downtown Radio, ¼" master | I'll Do The Talking / Line Up |
| - | Downtown Radio, ¼" master | Red Hot Mamma / Piano & vocal / Melody Medley |
CD
In the absence of an official release, a fan based CD has been compiled with the following songs:1 Hong Kong Swing
2 Gypsy Girl
3 Blues, Blues, Blues
4 I'll Do The Talking
5 Hollywood Hong Kong Swing
6 Who's At The Door
7 Oceans
8 Those Two Dreadful Children [2007 remix]
9 Drunken Uncle John [second version]
10 Hong Kong Swing [manic mix]
Most songs have been restored from a vinyl source, others have been donated by Philomena and Colum, who encouraged the fan to sell the discs for a profit because he had put so much work into it.
CD Single
The GOT 16 single; Those Two Dreadful Children/Drunken Uncle John, has been turned into a CD single by the same fan. Using a copy of the original Polydor master tape (kindly provided by Colum) - artwork for this CD has been reworked from a scan of the original poster cover (kindly provided by John).Videos
The following video clips of CDV are known to exist- Drunken Uncle John: Promo video (a slightly different version than the GOT 16 single release)
- Gypsy Girl: EMI's famous "fire" video (which got semi banned by the BBC)
- Gypsy Girl: As above, though with a different intro section
- Gypsy Girl: The bands video recorded on the stage of UK's The Tube
- Hong Kong Swing: Promo video for the single
- I'll Do The Talking: TV appearance on an unknown show (possibly from 'Anything Goes' in January, 1983)