Rosetta Stone (band)
Encyclopedia
Rosetta Stone were a British
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
goth band formed in the mid 1980s by Porl King
Porl King
Porl King, born 19 October 1967 on the Wirral Peninsula in England, first achieved public acclaim and success as the singer, songwriter and guitarist for the goth band Rosetta Stone from their inception in the late 1980s through to their demise in 1998....
(guitar/vocals/keyboards) and Karl North (bass), plus their drum machine and synthesizer rack nicknamed "Madame Razor".
The band was named after the Rosetta Stone
Rosetta Stone
The Rosetta Stone is an ancient Egyptian granodiorite stele inscribed with a decree issued at Memphis in 196 BC on behalf of King Ptolemy V. The decree appears in three scripts: the upper text is Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, the middle portion Demotic script, and the lowest Ancient Greek...
, an Egyptian historical artifact, and the band used much ancient mythological imagery, especially in their earlier work.
Their early style and first album reflected the jangly-guitar sounds of 1980s 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 their first big break came after live gigs supporting the then already well-established band The Mission.
History
After playing live gigs locally and then nationally from 1988 onwards and releasing several independently-produced singles to increasing popularity, Rosetta Stone recorded their first full-length album, An Eye for the Main Chance, releasing it in 1991. They also recruited Porl Young as a second guitarist and toured extensively to promote the album.Following on from this, the band released their most successful single, the 12" Adrenaline. Porl Young subsequently left the band to produce Children on Stun
Children on Stun
Children on Stun is the name of a gothic rock band from England. Formed in 1991, the original line-up consisted of Neil Ash, Simon Manning, Simon Treen and Pete Finnemore.-Biography:...
whilst Porl King and Karl North released a cover version of The Rattles
The Rattles
The Rattles are a rock band from Germany. Their biggest selling record was their 1968 recorded song, "The Witch", which sold over one million copies globally.-Career:...
' 1970 hit The Witch which took the band into the UK top 40 singles chart.
The band went on to sign a US record and distribution deal with Cleopatra Records
Cleopatra Records
Cleopatra 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...
who released much of their early cassette and vinyl singles and EPs in 1993 as an album under the title Foundation Stones, and a CD album Adrenaline which, along with the title track, also featuring earlier singles such as An Eye for the Main Chance and The Witch. In the UK they released a CD album (on Minority One) entitled On The Side Of Angels, compiling previous vinyl singles and their various remixes.
Using the advance money for 1995's The Tyranny of Inaction, Porl King purchased an Alesis
Alesis
Alesis is a company based in Cumberland, Rhode Island, that designs and markets electronic musical instruments, digital audio processors, audio mixers, digital audio interfaces, recording equipment, drum machines, professional audio and electronic percussion products...
ADAT
ADAT
Alesis Digital Audio Tape or ADAT is a magnetic tape format used for the simultaneous digital recording of eight analog audio or digital audio tracks at once, onto a Super VHS tape that is used by consumer VCRs.- History :...
multi-track digital recorder, the use of which substantially changed Rosetta Stone's sound. That album and most subsequent work featured a much more industrial/electronic sound, with extensive use of sampling.
Following an accident in late 1997, Porl King lost part of his left little finger, which changed his guitar style considerably.
The band split in 1998 after releasing Chemical Emissions and a radical remix of Tyranny as a limited release CD gENDER cONFUSION and playing a final headlining live performance at the 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:...
festival in October that year. Karl North went on to join the already-established UK band, the Dream Disciples
Dream Disciples
Dream Disciples were a British band, formed in 1990 by Col Lowing , Sid Bratley and Stephen McKean . Soon joined by Scott Prentice on drums, they made their debut with the mini-album Veil of Tears. They were later joined by Gordon Young and Karl North...
(their next album Asphyxia notably featuring Karl's Rosetta-sounding bass), and their subsequent live performances attracted much of Rosetta Stone's most ardent UK fanbase.
Porl King produced one more album (contractually) of 80s new romantic cover versions under the name Rosetta Stone for Cleopatra Records
Cleopatra Records
Cleopatra 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...
. He then went on to be a remixer and producer, working for the likes of the Mercury Music Award -nominated Elbow
Elbow (band)
Elbow are an English rock band. They have played together since 1990 and recorded five studio albums, the most recent of which is Build a Rocket Boys!, released in March 2011...
and the Fluke
Fluke (band)
Fluke are an English electronic music group formed in the late 1980s by Mike Bryant, Jon Fugler and Mike Tournier with Julian Nugent as the band's manager...
side-project Syntax
Syntax (band)
Syntax is an English electronic music group originally formed in 2002 by the musicians Jan Burton and Mike Tournier . They are best known for the songs "Destiny", "Bliss" and "Pride".-History:...
.
Current status
Porl King is currently writing and producing his own music under the name miserylabMiserylab
miserylab is the main music project of Porl King, formed in the late nineties after the disbanding of Rosetta Stone in 1998.-History:Miserylab was originally conceived as a moniker for remix and production purposes, such as work done for My Vitriol and the Mercury Music Award winning Elbow...
.
The Dream Disciples
Dream Disciples
Dream Disciples were a British band, formed in 1990 by Col Lowing , Sid Bratley and Stephen McKean . Soon joined by Scott Prentice on drums, they made their debut with the mini-album Veil of Tears. They were later joined by Gordon Young and Karl North...
(Karl North) have remained in hiatus/inactive since their performance at 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:...
in April 2004.
Porl Young was resident DJ at Heaven in London. He is co-owner of the Tuff Twins label, and has produced and mixed several club tunes.
Fanbase
Rosetta Stone were one of the biggest names in the 1990s UK goth live circuit, due both to frequent and extensive early touring and to the successful independent promotion and sales of their records. Porl King was one of the few well-known goth musicians to contribute actively to online discussions with fans, for example on UsenetUsenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
's uk.people.gothic newsgroup.
Their dedication, successive tours and live appearances have gained them a solid fanbase - the most loyal followers became known as "Quarriers".
Studio albums
- An Eye for the Main Chance (1991)
- The Tyranny of Inaction (1995, revised later that year with normalisationAudio normalizationAudio normalization is the application of a constant amount of gain to an audio recording in order to bring the average or peak amplitude to a target level ....
) - Chemical Emissions (1998, also includes new hidden bonus track "Plastic Toy")
- Unerotica (2000, US-exclusive release with reformatted 80s Audio and cover versions of New Romantic classics)
Compilation albums
- Adrenaline (1992, US-exclusive compilation of singles and remixes)
- On the Side of Angels (1993, UK-exclusive compilation of singles)
- Foundation Stones (1993, US-exclusive compilation of early material)
- Epitome (1993 EP, compilation of "Adrenaline" and "The Witch" remixes)
Singles/EPs
- "Darkness and Light" (1989)
- "Leave Me for Dead" (1991)
- "An Eye for The Main Chance" (1991)
- "Adrenaline" (1991)
- "The Witch" (1992)
- "Nothing" (1995)
- "Hiding in Waiting" (1996, EP that is occasionally considered an album)
Demos / Fan Club Releases
- Recreate and Emulate (1988, cassette only)
- Whispers (1988, cassette only)
- Chapter and Verse (1988, cassette only)
- Retribution (1989, cassette only)
- And How They Rejoice (1989, cassette only)
- Gender Confusion (1998, CD, limited edition of 500, remixes from Tyranny of Inaction)
Project Albums
as Complicity [featuring members of Vendemmian, Altered States, and Bolshoi; and Rosetta Stone under the moniker wHATEver pRODUCTIONS]- Playing God (17 March 1997; CD album; UK, Grave News Limited - Catalog# FETISH 16)
External links
- Rosetta-Stone.org.uk Rosetta Stone's Official website (now inactive)
- Miserylab.com Porl King's Official website
- Porl King (Official) on TwitterTwitterTwitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
- Rosetta Stone (Official) on FacebookFacebookFacebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
- Porl King (as miserylab) (Official) on FacebookFacebookFacebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
- Porl Young (Official) on FacebookFacebookFacebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
- Under The Rosetta Stone (Official) on MySpaceMySpaceMyspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
- Rosetta-Stone-Info.co.uk Rosetta Stone fan site - with discography, biography, lyrics database & image gallery
- Rosetta Stone (Official) on DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...