Faith and the Muse
Encyclopedia
Faith and the Muse is an American, underground gothic
/darkwave
band composed of two musicians, Monica Richards
and William Faith
. They are well regarded in the gothic music scene as innovators and icons. Their music encompasses many genres, from folk-style songs to darker compositions. Richards is the primary singer, although Faith sings one or two tracks on each album. Their influences include dark alternative, gothic rock
, Celtic
, and other folk influences. Welsh and Irish mythology have often served as inspiration to many of the band's songs.
, is a music
ian/artist
/poet
/scholar. She met William Faith in 1993 when her band, Strange Boutique
, opened for Shadow Project
in Norfolk, VA. Before starting Faith and the Muse, both had had experience in the gothic rock
and post-punk
culture of the 1980s. Richards had sung for the band Strange Boutique
, while Faith had performed with gothic/death rock icons Shadow Project
, Christian Death
, Mephisto Walz
, and Sex Gang Children
. Faith and the Muse was started in 1993 with Richards and Faith exchanging tapes while Richards was still living on the east coast. Shortly thereafter she moved to Los Angeles
where the duo is still based.
They recorded their debut album Elyria in March 1994, following it in 1995 with the concept album Annwyn, Beneath the Waves, based around Welsh mythology. The band followed this up with an extensive touring schedule, playing with both guest musicians as a full line-up and as an acoustic duo - the latter tour documented on the Vera Causa album in 2001.
Their third album, Evidence of Heaven (1999), marked the end of the first creative phase of Faith and the Muse. They then modernised both their image and their overall sound, the result appearing on their 2003 album The Burning Season - their first on Metropolis Records
.
They have toured extensively in North America and Europe, and performed at major alternative events such as the 13th Convergence
festival and several Whitby Gothic Weekend
s. Their live performances feature a full band with a rotating line-up of live musicians.
Outside of the band, Faith and Richards are permaculture
designers who are actively working to retrofit
their home into a practical example of a sustainable suburban homestead.
Richards has also recently been active contributing vocals to The Eden House
- a collaborative musical project initiated by Tony Pettitt (formerly of Fields of the Nephilim
and Rubicon
) and Steve Carey (formerly of This Burning Effigy) and involving a varied collection of guest musicians and vocalists.
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
/darkwave
Darkwave
Dark Wave or darkwave is a music genre that began in the late 1970s, coinciding with the popularity of New Wave and post-punk. Building on those basic principles, dark wave added dark, introspective lyrics and an undertone of sorrow for some bands...
band composed of two musicians, Monica Richards
Monica Richards
Monica Richards is a singer, songwriter, artist and writer from the United States. A graduate of the American University with honors in literature and a minor in anthropology, she is considered to be an icon of the goth subculture and has been the frontwoman of numerous bands including Madhouse,...
and William Faith
William Faith
William Faith is a gothic/punk music artist.He is a former member of the gothic bands Rozz Williams' Christian Death, Shadow Project, Mephisto Walz, briefly Sex Gang Children, and goth-punk band Wreckage...
. They are well regarded in the gothic music scene as innovators and icons. Their music encompasses many genres, from folk-style songs to darker compositions. Richards is the primary singer, although Faith sings one or two tracks on each album. Their influences include dark alternative, gothic rock
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
, Celtic
Celtic music
Celtic music is a term utilised by artists, record companies, music stores and music magazines to describe a broad grouping of musical genres that evolved out of the folk musical traditions of the Celtic people of Western Europe...
, and other folk influences. Welsh and Irish mythology have often served as inspiration to many of the band's songs.
Biography
Monica Richards, a native of Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, is a music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
ian/artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
/poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
/scholar. She met William Faith in 1993 when her band, Strange Boutique
Strange Boutique
Strange Boutique was a band from Washington, D.C.. They were active between the years of 1987 and 1994 and released 4 full-length albums and 2 live albums on the Bedazzled Records label. They are also featured on several compilation albums...
, opened for Shadow Project
Shadow Project
Shadow Project were a deathrock band formed in the early 1990s with Rozz Williams, Eva O and Paris Sadonis. The band's first album included bassist Jill Emery and drummer Thomas Morgan....
in Norfolk, VA. Before starting Faith and the Muse, both had had experience in the gothic rock
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
and post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
culture of the 1980s. Richards had sung for the band Strange Boutique
Strange Boutique
Strange Boutique was a band from Washington, D.C.. They were active between the years of 1987 and 1994 and released 4 full-length albums and 2 live albums on the Bedazzled Records label. They are also featured on several compilation albums...
, while Faith had performed with gothic/death rock icons Shadow Project
Shadow Project
Shadow Project were a deathrock band formed in the early 1990s with Rozz Williams, Eva O and Paris Sadonis. The band's first album included bassist Jill Emery and drummer Thomas Morgan....
, Christian Death
Christian Death
Christian Death is an American deathrock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1979. The band was founded and fronted by Rozz Williams. Christian Death is most notable for their first album Only Theatre of Pain....
, Mephisto Walz
Mephisto Walz
Mephisto Walz are a gothic rock group formed in 1985. They have an accomplished discography behind them, having released many full-length albums over the course of their career, through Cleopatra Records and other labels...
, and Sex Gang Children
Sex Gang Children
The Sex Gang Children are a positive punk group that formed in the early 1980s in England. Although the original group only released one official studio album, they remain one of the more well-known bands out of the early Batcave scene and have reformed for new albums and touring various times...
. Faith and the Muse was started in 1993 with Richards and Faith exchanging tapes while Richards was still living on the east coast. Shortly thereafter she moved to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
where the duo is still based.
They recorded their debut album Elyria in March 1994, following it in 1995 with the concept album Annwyn, Beneath the Waves, based around Welsh mythology. The band followed this up with an extensive touring schedule, playing with both guest musicians as a full line-up and as an acoustic duo - the latter tour documented on the Vera Causa album in 2001.
Their third album, Evidence of Heaven (1999), marked the end of the first creative phase of Faith and the Muse. They then modernised both their image and their overall sound, the result appearing on their 2003 album The Burning Season - their first on Metropolis Records
Metropolis Records
Metropolis Records is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania based record label, distributor, and mail-order store specializing in the post-industrial field such as electro-industrial, synthpop, futurepop, darkwave, and gothic musical genres....
.
They have toured extensively in North America and Europe, and performed at major alternative events such as the 13th Convergence
Convergence (goth festival)
Convergence is the annual net.goth party run by and for members of the alt.gothic and alt.gothic.fashion newsgroup, and other related Usenet newsgroups. Started in 1995, it is a chance for net.goths and others who normally only meet on the Internet to come together in real life...
festival and several Whitby Gothic Weekend
Whitby Gothic Weekend
Whitby Gothic Weekend, often abbreviated to WGW or simply referred to by attendees as Whitby, is a twice-yearly festival for goths, in Whitby, North Yorkshire, England, organised by Jo Hampshire who runs Top Mum Promotions.-Event history:...
s. Their live performances feature a full band with a rotating line-up of live musicians.
Outside of the band, Faith and Richards are permaculture
Permaculture
Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that is modeled on the relationships found in nature. It is based on the ecology of how things interrelate rather than on the strictly biological concerns that form the foundation of modern agriculture...
designers who are actively working to retrofit
Retrofit
Retrofitting refers to the addition of new technology or features to older systems.* power plant retrofit, improving power plant efficiency / increasing output / reducing emissions...
their home into a practical example of a sustainable suburban homestead.
Richards has also recently been active contributing vocals to The Eden House
The Eden House
The Eden House is a collaborative musical project, initiated by Stephen Carey and involving a collection of guest musicians and vocalists; then later joined by Tony Pettitt .Their debut album Smoke & Mirrors was released on April 6, 2009 in the United States and...
- a collaborative musical project initiated by Tony Pettitt (formerly of Fields of the Nephilim
Fields of the Nephilim
Fields of the Nephilim are an English gothic rock band formed in Stevenage, Hertfordshire in 1984. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Carl McCoy, saxophonist Gary Whisker, Tony Pettitt on bass, guitarist Paul Wright and drummer Alexander "Nod" Wright...
and Rubicon
Rubicon (band)
Rubicon was an early 1990s offshoot of the band Fields of the Nephilim who released two albums.What Starts, Ends on Atlantic Records and on Beggars Banquet Records in 1992 was produced by Mark Freegard, and featured two singles: "Crazed" and "Before My Eyes" .Room 101 was released on Beggars...
) and Steve Carey (formerly of This Burning Effigy) and involving a varied collection of guest musicians and vocalists.
Discography
- ElyriaElyria (album)Elyria is the debut studio album by Faith and the Muse.-Track listing:-Credits:*All instruments and voices performed by William Faith and Monica Richards*Mastered by Tom Baker at Future Disc Systems, Hollywood, California...
(TESS Records) (1994) - Annwyn, Beneath the WavesAnnwyn, Beneath the WavesAnnwyn, Beneath the Waves is the second album by Faith and the Muse.- Track listing :- Credits :* All instruments and voices performed by William Faith and Monica Richards* Treatments and Programming by Chad Blinman...
(TESS Records) (1996) - Live in Mainz (16.10.1997) (1997)
- Evidence of HeavenEvidence of HeavenEvidence of Heaven is the third studio album by Faith and the Muse.-Track listing:-Credits:*All instruments and voices performed by William Faith and Monica Richards...
(Neue Ästhetik Multimedia) (1999) - Vera CausaVera CausaVera Causa is a two-disc collection of demos, live and rare tracks by Faith and the Muse.-The Night:#"Cantus"#"Scars Flown Proud"#"Sparks"#"The Silver Circle"#"All lovers Lost/Arianrhod"#"The Unquiet Grave"...
(Metropolis RecordsMetropolis RecordsMetropolis Records is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania based record label, distributor, and mail-order store specializing in the post-industrial field such as electro-industrial, synthpop, futurepop, darkwave, and gothic musical genres....
) (2001) - The Burning Season (Metropolis RecordsMetropolis RecordsMetropolis Records is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania based record label, distributor, and mail-order store specializing in the post-industrial field such as electro-industrial, synthpop, futurepop, darkwave, and gothic musical genres....
) (2003) - ankoku butohAnkoku butoh:ankoku butoh: is the fifth studio album by Gothic rock band Faith and the Muse. It comprises one CD and one DVD. It was the band's first release on the Danse Macabre label. Thematically, the album reflects elements of Shinto and Japanese culture...
(Danse MacabreDanse Macabre (record label)Danse Macabre is a record label based in Wirsberg, Germany and founded by members of Das Ich. It gained popularity in the early 1990s, at the same time in which the German Dark Wave movement experienced a marked upswing.-Official Site:* * *...
) (2009)
External links
- [ Faith and the Muse] at Allmusic
- Faith and the Muse bio at Metropolis RecordsMetropolis RecordsMetropolis Records is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania based record label, distributor, and mail-order store specializing in the post-industrial field such as electro-industrial, synthpop, futurepop, darkwave, and gothic musical genres....
- The Official Website for Faith and The Muse
- Monica Richards' site