The House of Love
Encyclopedia
The House of Love is an English
alternative rock
band
. Formed in 1986, the band rose to prominence in the UK as a leading indie rock
band in 1988 and split up in 1993, eventually reforming a decade later in 2003. The band is best known for its detailed psychedelic guitar sound and for the successful singles "Shine On
", "Christine" and "Destroy the Heart". The best-known members of The House of Love are singer/songwriter/guitarist Guy Chadwick
and lead guitarist/backing singer Terry Bickers
, who were the creative core of the original band until an acrimonious split in 1989 and who reformed the band together in 2003.
, London
by former Kingdoms singer/guitarist Guy Chadwick
. Chadwick had been inspired to start a new band by having recently seen The Jesus and Mary Chain
playing live at London's Electric Ballroom and having written a new song called "Christine", which had given him ideas for further progress: "the idea of the sound of the group and what kind of musicians to look for... female vocals... a good take on the Velvets
' sonics... and of course the image." Having initially made a false start by briefly recruiting an unnamed guitarist who turned out to be "a speed dealer... a complete nutter", Chadwick teamed up with an old friend - drummer Pete Evans - and recruited the rest of the initial House of Love lineup via an advert in Melody Maker
. This brought together an international band of London
-born lead guitarist Terry Bickers
(ex-Colenso Parade
), German rhythm guitarist/co-singer Andrea Heukamp and bass player Chris Groothuizen (from New Zealand). Chadwick opted to name his new band The House of Love after Anais Nin's book A Spy in the House of Love.
, The House of Love released their debut single "Shine On" in May 1987 and toured with Felt and Zodiac Mindwarp
. A follow-up single, "Real Animal" did little business, but the band consolidated by touring with The Mighty Lemon Drops
. During the latter half of 1987, the band continued to tour: a third on the bill placing at a concert at the Town & Country Club was widely acclaimed in the press and convinced Creation Records to fund a third single - "Christine" - which was recorded in 1987 but not released until mid-1988.
"Christine" was the last of the band's recordings to feature Andrea Heukamp as a full member: having become tired of touring, she quit the band at the end of 1987. Although the split was amicable, Chadwick would later comment "Losing Andrea Heukamp was a massive, massive blow for me: I loved her voice and I loved her playing, she was easily as important as Pete, Terry or Chris." Heukamp appeared in the group shot used for the cover of the band's first long-form release - a 1987 Germany
-only compilation of the first two singles and their b-sides, all of which she had played on. This record was untitled apart from the band name and was consequently just known as The House of Love or informally as The German Album. Heukamp's split from The House of Love would not be absolute, as she would return as a studio guest on some of the band's subsequent albums.
Following Heukamp's departure, The House of Love began working on their debut album. The recording sessions were completed in just over a week, but the mixing sessions - allegedly fuelled by copious use of LSD
- proved more problematic, with producer Pat Collier dealing with the final mix after disagreements within the band. The album was preceded by the release of "Christine" as a single in May 1988, which reached No. 1 in the independent charts. Later in May, the debut album was released. As with The German Album, the album lacked a formal title anywhere on the sleeve, and therefore became generally known as The House of Love
.
The band's growing success ensured that The German Album also gained a release in the UK and elsewhere. A fourth single, "Destroy The Heart", was eventually voted single of the year in John Peel's Festive Fifty. A highly successful year for The House of Love was concluded by front cover features in both New Musical Express and Melody Maker in the same week, a headlining slot at Creation's All-Dayer festival at the Town & Country Club, and a performance of "Christine" on the South Bank Show's review of the year.
By this time, the band were hotly tipped as being the next British stadium rock band and a potential rival to groups of the scale of U2
. Various major record labels began courting the band with large financial offers, and it became clear that the band would have to move up from Creation Records for the next career stage. Creation label head Alan McGee
would later describe them as "one of the great Creation bands" and comment "I loved them and was gutted that they never stayed on Creation. For one year they could have taken on anybody live. Terry was a true genius, Guy a master songwriter, the recipe for big time success still to this day. They were a one-off in 1987. Maybe only I know how fucking crazy that band truly were. It's better left that way for all concerned."
The House of Love eventually opted to sign to Fontana Records
, with McGee continuing for a while as manager. Ominously, by this time the band's drug use had begun to escalate even further, as had internal problems with egos and dissension.
and the Rainbirds.
The recording and mixing of the band's next album (and first for Fontana) was beset with problems. The band members were distracted by hedonism, ego and indecision, going through four different producers and multiple studios. The stress of Fontana's commercial expectations were also playing a part. In 2005, Chadwick recollected that "the guy who signed us (Dave Bates) had signed Def Leppard
and Tears for Fears
so he had a lot of clout. He insisted on putting us together with producers who were quite obviously wrong for us. He was completely uninterested in anything that didn't have a huge chorus in it. He wanted hits, basically. He also ordered a load of remixes that we hadn't authorised and we absolutely loathed."
Much later, Chadwick was to regard signing with Fontana as the worst mistake in the band's career. At the time, Terry Bickers was of this opinion already. Having always been unhappy with the implications of the Fontana deal, and now feeling justified in his fears, he began to retreat into anxiety and drugs, eventually succumbing to manic depression. By this time, Chadwick's own responsibilities and external pressures - fuelled by his growing drug and alcohol habit - would turn him into what he would later described as "(a) monster. A nice monster, sometimes, but a monster none the less." Before much longer, Chadwick and Bickers were no longer talking to each other. Meanwhile, Groothuizen and Evans took time away from the House of Love to play in a related band called My White Bedroom, led by singer/songwriter Patric and also featuring guitarists Pete Donaghy and Simon Walker (the latter also playing with The Dave Howard Singers
) plus keyboard player Mick Gallen.
The next House of Love single, "I Don't Know Why I Love You", was released in November 1989 but stalled at number 41 in the charts despite being Radio 1's Single of the Week. A sixty-plus date UK tour was set for the end of the year, with a great deal of press and public attention, but this would prove to be the last straw for the band's initial lineup. In 2005 Bickers recollected "After our first album it was manic. A classic case of too much too soon. We needed a break... We had spent eighteen months in the studio recording our second album. Everything we produced got rejected and we were at the end of our ropes. Then as soon as we got the last track down they said 'Right, now off you go on tour'. It was a recipe for disaster."
as replacement lead guitarist. He made his debut at the band's concert at Portsmouth Polytechnic on December 4, 1989.
Initially, the band claimed that Bickers was taking a break due to exhaustion. It soon became clear that the break was permanent, having followed a notorious incident inside the House of Love's tour van when Bickers had begun chanting "Breadhead!" at Chadwick while setting fire to the band's money in a protest against what he saw as the band's increasing commercialisation and materialism. Looking back on the incident two years later, Bickers confessed "That was frustration. I just found at the time that I didn't have the same aspirations as the rest of the band. I was more into exploring music than exploring the exploitation of markets around the globe. They were really into crusading. And winning. I wasn't."
Bickers would go on to form the psychedelic rock band Levitation
and for some time, he and Chadwick would continue to spar via the music press. At one point, Chadwick claimed that despite Bickers' stellar reputation as a player it was in fact he himself who had played "90 per cent" of the guitars on the band's recordings (a claim that he later withdrew). Bickers in turn described Chadwick as "a megalomaniac." In spite of the feud, over a decade later Chadwick would confess that he had soon come to want Bickers to return to The House of Love (and that he had hated seeing his volatile former bandmate caricatured in the press as "Bonkers Bickers" over the next few years) but had failed to actually communicate this to Bickers himself.
The House of Love's second album
(also untitled, but generally known as either House of Love, the Butterfly album, or simply Fontana) was finally released in January 1990, nearly two years after their debut album. It reached the Top Ten and eventually sold over 400,000 copies. The album was preceded by a new version of the band's first single, "Shine On" - released in seven different formats, the song saw them break into the top 20.
. This was the band's commercial peak. A fourth single from the Fontana album - "The Beatles and the Stones" - reached the top 40 of the singles chart in March 1990. The House of Love continued to tour in both America and Europe, with former member Andrea Heukamp returning to the band later in the year to add backing vocals.
A second compilation album called A Spy in the House of Love
was released in late 1990, consisting of older scrapped material and a sampling of the band's large backlog of b-sides. A stopgap measure to keep up the band's momentum, it failed to match the sales of Fontana (although a single, "Marble", reached number 5 in the U.S. Modern Rock charts).
On 31 August 1990, the House of Love performed three London concerts on the same night - the first at the University of London Union in Bloomsbury, the second at the Town & Country Club in Kentish Town and the third at The Boston Arms in Tufnell Park. Despite the publicity stunt nature of the evening, the band received good reviews and it was considered that their challenge had paid off. However (and considering their level of action) the band was about to enter a fairly long phase of creative torpor. Exhausted by touring, Chadwick and the band kept a low profile for the closing months of 1990 and for most of 1991. While Chadwick rested, Evans, Walker and Groothuizen took advantage of the time off to return to My White Bedroom, which released its lone album in 1991 after two years of delay.
in the United States and the arrival of The Stone Roses
on the British music scene, both of which rapidly consumed the attention of the British music press and rock reviewers. In October 1991, The House of Love returned with a new single "The Girl With the Loneliest Eyes". Although this was hailed in the press as another piece of beautiful pop by the band, it failed to chart (amid accusations of record company distribution incompetence).
Follow-up recording sessions for a third album dragged for six months, with Chadwick struggling to successfully achieve the sonic vision which he had for the band. Producer Warne Livesey contributed to the writing of the emerging songs, and former member Andrea Heukamp guested on the studio sessions to add extra guitar and backing vocals. The single "Feel" was released in April 1992 but, like its predecessor, failed to chart. This was also the fate of the next single, "You Don't Understand". Meanwhile, the band's struggle in the studio produced another lineup casualty, with Simon Walker leaving over musical differences. He was replaced as guitarist by former Woodentops
member Simon Mawby.
A single, "You Don't Understand" preceded the new album but, like the single before it, failed to break into the top 40. The third full House of Love album, Babe Rainbow
, eventually emerged in July 1992. Despite the time spent on it in the studio, it failed to garner much critical acclaim, although it sold respectably (peaking at number 34 on the UK Album Chart). A fourth single from the album, "Crush Me", was the band's lowest-placing single release on Fontana, peaking at number 67 in the UK.
and Catherine Wheel
, but while the band were still greeted with respect this did not translate into the desired sales. Simon Mawby left the band at the end of the year, once again leaving Chadwick without a lead guitar foil.
The House of Love began work on their fourth album in January 1993. In contrast to previous efforts it was recorded in under two weeks, with Chadwick playing all of the guitar parts and with Groothuizen and Evans contributing (for the first time) to songwriting. As with Babe Rainbow, Andrea Heukamp made a guest appearance (this time, only on backing vocals). The band laid plans to record their fifth album later in the year, following a tour of France. However, on their return to London Pete Evans announced to the band that he wanted to retire from the music business.
Uncertain of how to proceed, The House of Love kept Evans' departure under wraps while Chadwick concentrated on promoting the new album, Audience with the Mind
, by himself. The album was released in June 1993 and scraped into the top 40 of the album chart, only remaining in the chart for one week. As with its predecessor, it was poorly received by critics and showed no sign of reversing the band's commercial decline since Fontana. No singles from the album were scheduled or released. Without a drummer, with a group reduced to only two members and a vanishing commercial profile, Chadwick admitted defeat later in the year and disbanded The House of Love.
Despite Evans' claims of having retired from music, both he and Chris Groothuizen continued for three more years with My White Bedroom. Groothuizen would subsequently coproduce and engineer the debut album for British chansonnier Simon Warner in 1996 before taking on a new career as an architect and lecturer. From 1994 onwards, Evans began an ongoing collaboration as producer and musician with teenaged singer-songwriter Cat Goscovitch. He contributing heavily to her projects Billy Rain (1994) and Nut (1996) as drummer, guitarist and co-songwriter, and returned as one of her key collaborators in 2010.
Terry Bickers stayed with Levitation for two albums before acrimoniously quitting the band onstage in 1993. He went on to form another short-lived space rock band, Cradle, and was involved briefly in other projects during the late 1990s, but never returned to the prominence or consistent work he had enjoyed with The House of Love and Levitation. In the early 2000s, he re-established contact with Guy Chadwick.
Various re-releases and compilations kept the band in the public eye, including 1998's Best of The House of Love and 2000's The John Peel Sessions 88-89. In 2001, PLR reissued the entire set of recordings which the band had made during their most critically acclaimed period (on Creation Records) with the release of 1986-88: The Creation Recordings. In 2004, The Fontana Years was released, covering the turbulent period of the second album.
and Sweden
, and released a comeback album - Days Run Away - on the Art & Industry label, to some praise.
Bickers and Chadwick seemed confident that age, perspective and situation meant that they could avoid the problems which had divided the band in 1990. Interviewed at the time of the release of Days Run Away, Chadwick admitted acceptance of the fact that "we're really different people. It's a very complex kind of friendship, and I think it'll always be slightly fractious. We don't have this huge buddy thing going on though at the same time it's very intimate... We've always had a very instinctive way of communicating with each other, which I guess is why we make good music together." Bickers in turn reflected "I think we're both old enough and ugly enough to address any issues head-on and keep our tempers in check. We're also doing things at our own pace rather than letting a record company dictate what we do, which helps... It's still early days but communication is good and so is the music. This is about letting bygones be bygones and just getting on with it. Personally, I've never been happier."
The current lineup of the band continue to write and record songs for an unspecified future release.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
. Formed in 1986, the band rose to prominence in the UK as a leading indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
band in 1988 and split up in 1993, eventually reforming a decade later in 2003. The band is best known for its detailed psychedelic guitar sound and for the successful singles "Shine On
Shine On (The House of Love song)
"Shine On" is a single by The House of Love. It was originally released in 1987, but struggled to become a hit, not making it into the UK Top 40. The band continued to receive song placements outside of the Top 40 until, in early 1990, "Shine On" was re-released and made it all the way to number 20...
", "Christine" and "Destroy the Heart". The best-known members of The House of Love are singer/songwriter/guitarist Guy Chadwick
Guy Chadwick
Guy Chadwick was the guitarist and vocalist with the British alternative band, The House of Love. He wrote the majority of the band's material....
and lead guitarist/backing singer Terry Bickers
Terry Bickers
Terry Bickers is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known as a member of the rock bands The House of Love and Levitation...
, who were the creative core of the original band until an acrimonious split in 1989 and who reformed the band together in 2003.
Formation
The House of Love were formed in 1986 in CamberwellCamberwell
Camberwell is a district of south London, England, and forms part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is a built-up inner city district located southeast of Charing Cross. To the west it has a boundary with the London Borough of Lambeth.-Toponymy:...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
by former Kingdoms singer/guitarist Guy Chadwick
Guy Chadwick
Guy Chadwick was the guitarist and vocalist with the British alternative band, The House of Love. He wrote the majority of the band's material....
. Chadwick had been inspired to start a new band by having recently seen The Jesus and Mary Chain
The Jesus and Mary Chain
The Jesus and Mary Chain are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in East Kilbride, Glasgow in 1983. The band revolves around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reid...
playing live at London's Electric Ballroom and having written a new song called "Christine", which had given him ideas for further progress: "the idea of the sound of the group and what kind of musicians to look for... female vocals... a good take on the Velvets
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...
' sonics... and of course the image." Having initially made a false start by briefly recruiting an unnamed guitarist who turned out to be "a speed dealer... a complete nutter", Chadwick teamed up with an old friend - drummer Pete Evans - and recruited the rest of the initial House of Love lineup via an advert in Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
. This brought together an international band of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
-born lead guitarist Terry Bickers
Terry Bickers
Terry Bickers is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known as a member of the rock bands The House of Love and Levitation...
(ex-Colenso Parade
Colenso Parade
Colenso Parade were an alternative rock band from Belfast, Northern Ireland formed in 1984. Taking their name from a street in the Stranmillis area of their native city, the original line-up was Oscar Askin , Linda Clandinning , Neil Lawson , Jackie Forgie and Robert Wakeman...
), German rhythm guitarist/co-singer Andrea Heukamp and bass player Chris Groothuizen (from New Zealand). Chadwick opted to name his new band The House of Love after Anais Nin's book A Spy in the House of Love.
Creation Records years - early singles, departure of Heukamp and the first album
Signing to Creation RecordsCreation Records
Creation Records was a British independent record label headed by Alan McGee. Along with Dick Green and Joe Foster, McGee founded Creation in 1983. The label lasted until its demise in 1999. The name came from the 1960s band The Creation , whom McGee greatly admired. McGee, Green and Foster were...
, The House of Love released their debut single "Shine On" in May 1987 and toured with Felt and Zodiac Mindwarp
Zodiac Mindwarp
-Overview:The band is the brainchild of Mark Manning, a graphic artist and editor of London's Flexipop magazine. Deciding to experience the debauchery of life as a decadent rock star, he assumed the alter ego, Zodiac Mindwarp, and formed the Love Reaction in the mid 1980s together with guitarist...
. A follow-up single, "Real Animal" did little business, but the band consolidated by touring with The Mighty Lemon Drops
The Mighty Lemon Drops
The Mighty Lemon Drops were an English rock group active from 1985 to 1992.-Biography:Originally called the Sherbet Monsters, the quartet first formed in the spring of 1985 in Wolverhampton, in The Black Country...
. During the latter half of 1987, the band continued to tour: a third on the bill placing at a concert at the Town & Country Club was widely acclaimed in the press and convinced Creation Records to fund a third single - "Christine" - which was recorded in 1987 but not released until mid-1988.
"Christine" was the last of the band's recordings to feature Andrea Heukamp as a full member: having become tired of touring, she quit the band at the end of 1987. Although the split was amicable, Chadwick would later comment "Losing Andrea Heukamp was a massive, massive blow for me: I loved her voice and I loved her playing, she was easily as important as Pete, Terry or Chris." Heukamp appeared in the group shot used for the cover of the band's first long-form release - a 1987 Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
-only compilation of the first two singles and their b-sides, all of which she had played on. This record was untitled apart from the band name and was consequently just known as The House of Love or informally as The German Album. Heukamp's split from The House of Love would not be absolute, as she would return as a studio guest on some of the band's subsequent albums.
Following Heukamp's departure, The House of Love began working on their debut album. The recording sessions were completed in just over a week, but the mixing sessions - allegedly fuelled by copious use of LSD
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
- proved more problematic, with producer Pat Collier dealing with the final mix after disagreements within the band. The album was preceded by the release of "Christine" as a single in May 1988, which reached No. 1 in the independent charts. Later in May, the debut album was released. As with The German Album, the album lacked a formal title anywhere on the sleeve, and therefore became generally known as The House of Love
The House of Love (1988 album)
The House of Love was the debut album by the British band The House of Love. Released in June 1988 by Creation Records, the album was a critical success.-Background:...
.
The band's growing success ensured that The German Album also gained a release in the UK and elsewhere. A fourth single, "Destroy The Heart", was eventually voted single of the year in John Peel's Festive Fifty. A highly successful year for The House of Love was concluded by front cover features in both New Musical Express and Melody Maker in the same week, a headlining slot at Creation's All-Dayer festival at the Town & Country Club, and a performance of "Christine" on the South Bank Show's review of the year.
By this time, the band were hotly tipped as being the next British stadium rock band and a potential rival to groups of the scale of U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
. Various major record labels began courting the band with large financial offers, and it became clear that the band would have to move up from Creation Records for the next career stage. Creation label head Alan McGee
Alan McGee
Alan McGee has been a record label owner, musician, manager, and music blogger for The Guardian.McGee is best-known for co-forming and running the independent Creation Records label from 1983–1999, and then Poptones from 1999-2007...
would later describe them as "one of the great Creation bands" and comment "I loved them and was gutted that they never stayed on Creation. For one year they could have taken on anybody live. Terry was a true genius, Guy a master songwriter, the recipe for big time success still to this day. They were a one-off in 1987. Maybe only I know how fucking crazy that band truly were. It's better left that way for all concerned."
The House of Love eventually opted to sign to Fontana Records
Fontana Records
Fontana Records is a record label which was started in the 1950s as a subsidiary of the Dutch Philips Records; when Philips restructured its music operations it dropped Fontana in favor of Vertigo Records. In the seventies PolyGram acquired the dormant label....
, with McGee continuing for a while as manager. Ominously, by this time the band's drug use had begun to escalate even further, as had internal problems with egos and dissension.
The Fontana years, part 1 (stepping up and losing track)
The first House of Love release on the Fontana label was the single "Never", which was issued against the band's wishes, and stalled just outside the Top 40, as did the follow-up, "I Don't Know Why I Love You". During summer 1989, The House of Love played a week-long residency at the I.C.A in London, varying their sets and featuring support bands as diverse as Pere UbuPere Ubu (band)
Pere Ubu is an experimental rock music group formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975. Despite many long-term band members, singer David Thomas is the only constant...
and the Rainbirds.
The recording and mixing of the band's next album (and first for Fontana) was beset with problems. The band members were distracted by hedonism, ego and indecision, going through four different producers and multiple studios. The stress of Fontana's commercial expectations were also playing a part. In 2005, Chadwick recollected that "the guy who signed us (Dave Bates) had signed Def Leppard
Def Leppard
Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1977 in Sheffield as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. Since 1992, the band have consisted of Joe Elliott , Rick Savage , Rick Allen , Phil Collen , and Vivian Campbell...
and Tears for Fears
Tears for Fears
Tears for Fears are an English new wave band formed in the early 1980s by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith.Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, they were initially associated with the New Wave synthesiser bands of the early 1980s but later branched out into...
so he had a lot of clout. He insisted on putting us together with producers who were quite obviously wrong for us. He was completely uninterested in anything that didn't have a huge chorus in it. He wanted hits, basically. He also ordered a load of remixes that we hadn't authorised and we absolutely loathed."
Much later, Chadwick was to regard signing with Fontana as the worst mistake in the band's career. At the time, Terry Bickers was of this opinion already. Having always been unhappy with the implications of the Fontana deal, and now feeling justified in his fears, he began to retreat into anxiety and drugs, eventually succumbing to manic depression. By this time, Chadwick's own responsibilities and external pressures - fuelled by his growing drug and alcohol habit - would turn him into what he would later described as "(a) monster. A nice monster, sometimes, but a monster none the less." Before much longer, Chadwick and Bickers were no longer talking to each other. Meanwhile, Groothuizen and Evans took time away from the House of Love to play in a related band called My White Bedroom, led by singer/songwriter Patric and also featuring guitarists Pete Donaghy and Simon Walker (the latter also playing with The Dave Howard Singers
The Dave Howard Singers
The Dave Howard Singers is a cult Canadian alternative rock band/project originally formed in Toronto, Canada. The project is based around the talents of singer-songwriter Dave Howard and the signature sound of his Ace Tone organ...
) plus keyboard player Mick Gallen.
The next House of Love single, "I Don't Know Why I Love You", was released in November 1989 but stalled at number 41 in the charts despite being Radio 1's Single of the Week. A sixty-plus date UK tour was set for the end of the year, with a great deal of press and public attention, but this would prove to be the last straw for the band's initial lineup. In 2005 Bickers recollected "After our first album it was manic. A classic case of too much too soon. We needed a break... We had spent eighteen months in the studio recording our second album. Everything we produced got rejected and we were at the end of our ropes. Then as soon as we got the last track down they said 'Right, now off you go on tour'. It was a recipe for disaster."
The Fontana years, part 2 (the second album and departure of Terry Bickers)
During the tour, the increasingly difficult relationship between Chadwick and Bickers worsened and Bickers abruptly left the band mid-tour. At one day's notice, Simon Walker was recruited directly from My White Bedroom and The Dave Howard SingersThe Dave Howard Singers
The Dave Howard Singers is a cult Canadian alternative rock band/project originally formed in Toronto, Canada. The project is based around the talents of singer-songwriter Dave Howard and the signature sound of his Ace Tone organ...
as replacement lead guitarist. He made his debut at the band's concert at Portsmouth Polytechnic on December 4, 1989.
Initially, the band claimed that Bickers was taking a break due to exhaustion. It soon became clear that the break was permanent, having followed a notorious incident inside the House of Love's tour van when Bickers had begun chanting "Breadhead!" at Chadwick while setting fire to the band's money in a protest against what he saw as the band's increasing commercialisation and materialism. Looking back on the incident two years later, Bickers confessed "That was frustration. I just found at the time that I didn't have the same aspirations as the rest of the band. I was more into exploring music than exploring the exploitation of markets around the globe. They were really into crusading. And winning. I wasn't."
Bickers would go on to form the psychedelic rock band Levitation
Levitation (band)
Levitation were an English rock band fronted by ex-House of Love guitarist Terry Bickers. Levitation's music and attitude challenged an early 1990s UK alternative music scene dominated by shoegazing and Madchester....
and for some time, he and Chadwick would continue to spar via the music press. At one point, Chadwick claimed that despite Bickers' stellar reputation as a player it was in fact he himself who had played "90 per cent" of the guitars on the band's recordings (a claim that he later withdrew). Bickers in turn described Chadwick as "a megalomaniac." In spite of the feud, over a decade later Chadwick would confess that he had soon come to want Bickers to return to The House of Love (and that he had hated seeing his volatile former bandmate caricatured in the press as "Bonkers Bickers" over the next few years) but had failed to actually communicate this to Bickers himself.
The House of Love's second album
The House of Love (1990 album)
The House of Love is the second album by British alternative rock band The House of Love, released on Fontana Records in 1990. It should not be confused with the band's debut album, which is also called The House of Love...
(also untitled, but generally known as either House of Love, the Butterfly album, or simply Fontana) was finally released in January 1990, nearly two years after their debut album. It reached the Top Ten and eventually sold over 400,000 copies. The album was preceded by a new version of the band's first single, "Shine On" - released in seven different formats, the song saw them break into the top 20.
The Fontana years, part 3 (A Spy in the House of Love and multiple concerts)
The House of Love continued and completed their tour with Simon Walker now firmly settled in as guitarist. The last date of the tour was a sold-out concert at the Royal Albert HallRoyal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
. This was the band's commercial peak. A fourth single from the Fontana album - "The Beatles and the Stones" - reached the top 40 of the singles chart in March 1990. The House of Love continued to tour in both America and Europe, with former member Andrea Heukamp returning to the band later in the year to add backing vocals.
A second compilation album called A Spy in the House of Love
A Spy in the House of Love (album)
A Spy in the House of Love is a compilation album by the British alternative rock band The House of Love. It was released in between the band's second and third albums and compiles various B-sides and other studio tracks from the period.Like the band itself, the album was named after the 1954...
was released in late 1990, consisting of older scrapped material and a sampling of the band's large backlog of b-sides. A stopgap measure to keep up the band's momentum, it failed to match the sales of Fontana (although a single, "Marble", reached number 5 in the U.S. Modern Rock charts).
On 31 August 1990, the House of Love performed three London concerts on the same night - the first at the University of London Union in Bloomsbury, the second at the Town & Country Club in Kentish Town and the third at The Boston Arms in Tufnell Park. Despite the publicity stunt nature of the evening, the band received good reviews and it was considered that their challenge had paid off. However (and considering their level of action) the band was about to enter a fairly long phase of creative torpor. Exhausted by touring, Chadwick and the band kept a low profile for the closing months of 1990 and for most of 1991. While Chadwick rested, Evans, Walker and Groothuizen took advantage of the time off to return to My White Bedroom, which released its lone album in 1991 after two years of delay.
The Fontana years, part 4 (Babe Rainbow and departure of Walker)
The delay proved costly for The House of Love, as it ensured that the band lost momentum. It also coincided with the rise of grungeGrunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...
in the United States and the arrival of The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses are an English alternative rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. They were one of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement that was active during the late 1980s and early 1990s...
on the British music scene, both of which rapidly consumed the attention of the British music press and rock reviewers. In October 1991, The House of Love returned with a new single "The Girl With the Loneliest Eyes". Although this was hailed in the press as another piece of beautiful pop by the band, it failed to chart (amid accusations of record company distribution incompetence).
Follow-up recording sessions for a third album dragged for six months, with Chadwick struggling to successfully achieve the sonic vision which he had for the band. Producer Warne Livesey contributed to the writing of the emerging songs, and former member Andrea Heukamp guested on the studio sessions to add extra guitar and backing vocals. The single "Feel" was released in April 1992 but, like its predecessor, failed to chart. This was also the fate of the next single, "You Don't Understand". Meanwhile, the band's struggle in the studio produced another lineup casualty, with Simon Walker leaving over musical differences. He was replaced as guitarist by former Woodentops
The Woodentops
The Woodentops are a British rock band that have enjoyed critical acclaim and moderate popularity in the mid-1980s.-History:The band formed in 1983 in South London with an initial line-up of Rolo McGinty , Simon Mawby , Alice Thompson , Frank DeFreitas , and Paul Hookham .After a...
member Simon Mawby.
A single, "You Don't Understand" preceded the new album but, like the single before it, failed to break into the top 40. The third full House of Love album, Babe Rainbow
Babe Rainbow
Babe Rainbow is the third album by British alternative rock band The House of Love.-Background:Babe Rainbow is the only House of Love studio album to feature Simon Walker...
, eventually emerged in July 1992. Despite the time spent on it in the studio, it failed to garner much critical acclaim, although it sold respectably (peaking at number 34 on the UK Album Chart). A fourth single from the album, "Crush Me", was the band's lowest-placing single release on Fontana, peaking at number 67 in the UK.
The Fontana years, part 5 (departure of Mawby, Audience with the Mind and break-up)
During 1992, the band attempted to reverse their fortunes with more hard touring (travelling as part of a triple bill with Ocean Colour SceneOcean Colour Scene
Ocean Colour Scene are an English Britpop band formed in Moseley, Birmingham in 1989. They have had five Top 10 albums and six Top 10 singles to date.-Early days :...
and Catherine Wheel
Catherine Wheel
Catherine Wheel were a four-piece alternative rock band from Great Yarmouth, England. The band was active from 1990 to 2000, experiencing fluctuating levels of commercial success, and embarking on many lengthy tours.-Biography:...
, but while the band were still greeted with respect this did not translate into the desired sales. Simon Mawby left the band at the end of the year, once again leaving Chadwick without a lead guitar foil.
The House of Love began work on their fourth album in January 1993. In contrast to previous efforts it was recorded in under two weeks, with Chadwick playing all of the guitar parts and with Groothuizen and Evans contributing (for the first time) to songwriting. As with Babe Rainbow, Andrea Heukamp made a guest appearance (this time, only on backing vocals). The band laid plans to record their fifth album later in the year, following a tour of France. However, on their return to London Pete Evans announced to the band that he wanted to retire from the music business.
Uncertain of how to proceed, The House of Love kept Evans' departure under wraps while Chadwick concentrated on promoting the new album, Audience with the Mind
Audience with the Mind
Audience with the Mind is the fourth studio album by British alternative rock band The House of Love. It was the band's final new release until 2005.-Background:...
, by himself. The album was released in June 1993 and scraped into the top 40 of the album chart, only remaining in the chart for one week. As with its predecessor, it was poorly received by critics and showed no sign of reversing the band's commercial decline since Fontana. No singles from the album were scheduled or released. Without a drummer, with a group reduced to only two members and a vanishing commercial profile, Chadwick admitted defeat later in the year and disbanded The House of Love.
After the break-up
By his own admission (admittedly, years after the event) Chadwick took the split of The House of Love very badly and succumbed to depression - "It was very hard to get out of bed. I was ill. After the group finished it was such a huge awakening. I just cracked up, and couldn't function for years." Ironically, Chadwick's battles with depression enabled him to better understand why Terry Bickers had left the band, and would eventually lead to a reconciliation between the two. Despite his difficulties, he would make several further attempts at a musical career, going on to form The Madonnas in 1994 (splitting the band in 1995) and subsequently the similarly short-lived, Belgium-based Eyedreams in 1996. Neither bands would release any records. He resurfaced as a solo artist in 1997, releasing one album, 1998's Lazy Soft and Slow.Despite Evans' claims of having retired from music, both he and Chris Groothuizen continued for three more years with My White Bedroom. Groothuizen would subsequently coproduce and engineer the debut album for British chansonnier Simon Warner in 1996 before taking on a new career as an architect and lecturer. From 1994 onwards, Evans began an ongoing collaboration as producer and musician with teenaged singer-songwriter Cat Goscovitch. He contributing heavily to her projects Billy Rain (1994) and Nut (1996) as drummer, guitarist and co-songwriter, and returned as one of her key collaborators in 2010.
Terry Bickers stayed with Levitation for two albums before acrimoniously quitting the band onstage in 1993. He went on to form another short-lived space rock band, Cradle, and was involved briefly in other projects during the late 1990s, but never returned to the prominence or consistent work he had enjoyed with The House of Love and Levitation. In the early 2000s, he re-established contact with Guy Chadwick.
Various re-releases and compilations kept the band in the public eye, including 1998's Best of The House of Love and 2000's The John Peel Sessions 88-89. In 2001, PLR reissued the entire set of recordings which the band had made during their most critically acclaimed period (on Creation Records) with the release of 1986-88: The Creation Recordings. In 2004, The Fontana Years was released, covering the turbulent period of the second album.
Reformation & Days Run Away
In 2003, the reconciled Chadwick and Bickers reformed the House of Love at the urging of former agent Mick Griffiths. The duo also re-recruited Pete Evans as drummer. Although Chris Groothuizen was invited to rejoin and thus reform the "classic" band lineup, he amicably refused, opting instead to remain in his architectural career. His place as bass guitarist was taken by Matt Jury. In 2005, the band went on to tour throughout the UK, IrelandIreland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, and released a comeback album - Days Run Away - on the Art & Industry label, to some praise.
Bickers and Chadwick seemed confident that age, perspective and situation meant that they could avoid the problems which had divided the band in 1990. Interviewed at the time of the release of Days Run Away, Chadwick admitted acceptance of the fact that "we're really different people. It's a very complex kind of friendship, and I think it'll always be slightly fractious. We don't have this huge buddy thing going on though at the same time it's very intimate... We've always had a very instinctive way of communicating with each other, which I guess is why we make good music together." Bickers in turn reflected "I think we're both old enough and ugly enough to address any issues head-on and keep our tempers in check. We're also doing things at our own pace rather than letting a record company dictate what we do, which helps... It's still early days but communication is good and so is the music. This is about letting bygones be bygones and just getting on with it. Personally, I've never been happier."
Current activity and continuing reissues
The House of Love (the band's 1988 debut album) was reissued on CD in 2007. This led to the band being invited to play the album live in its entirety as part of the Don't Look Back concert series. This was followed in 2009 by the Live at the BBC album, another archive release which covered the band's post-Bickers BBC session recordings from 1990 to 1992.The current lineup of the band continue to write and record songs for an unspecified future release.
Studio albums
- The House of LoveThe House of Love (1988 album)The House of Love was the debut album by the British band The House of Love. Released in June 1988 by Creation Records, the album was a critical success.-Background:...
(1988) - Creation - The House of LoveThe House of Love (1990 album)The House of Love is the second album by British alternative rock band The House of Love, released on Fontana Records in 1990. It should not be confused with the band's debut album, which is also called The House of Love...
(aka Fontana or The Butterfly Album) (1990) - Fontana - Babe RainbowBabe RainbowBabe Rainbow is the third album by British alternative rock band The House of Love.-Background:Babe Rainbow is the only House of Love studio album to feature Simon Walker...
(1992) - Fontana - Audience with the MindAudience with the MindAudience with the Mind is the fourth studio album by British alternative rock band The House of Love. It was the band's final new release until 2005.-Background:...
(1993) - Fontana/Mercury - Days Run AwayDays Run AwayDays Run Away is the fifth and most recent studio album by British alternative rock band The House of Love. It was the band's first new release since 1993 and saw a reunion of the band, featuring the return of original lead guitarist Terry Bickers .-Background:The House of Love had been defunct...
(2005) - Art & Industry
Compilations
- The House of Love (aka The German Album) (1987) - Creation/Rough Trade (collection of early singles)
- A Spy in the House of LoveA Spy in the House of Love (album)A Spy in the House of Love is a compilation album by the British alternative rock band The House of Love. It was released in between the band's second and third albums and compiles various B-sides and other studio tracks from the period.Like the band itself, the album was named after the 1954...
(1990) - Fontana (collection of B-sides and unreleased tracks circa 1989-1990) - Best of The House of Love (1998) - Fontana/Mercury/Chronicles
- The John Peel Sessions 88-89 (2000) - Strange Fruit
- 1986-88 The Creation Recordings (2001) - PLR
- The Fontana Years (2004) - Spectrum
- Live at the BBC (2009) - Mercury
Singles
| Year | Title | UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
U.S. Modern Rock | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | "Shine On Shine On (The House of Love song) "Shine On" is a single by The House of Love. It was originally released in 1987, but struggled to become a hit, not making it into the UK Top 40. The band continued to receive song placements outside of the Top 40 until, in early 1990, "Shine On" was re-released and made it all the way to number 20... " |
|||
| "Real Animal" | ||||
| 1988 | "Christine" | 8 | The House of Love | |
| "Destroy the Heart" | 76 | |||
| 1989 | "Never" | 41 | The House of Love | |
| "I Don't Know Why I Love You" | 41 | 2 | ||
| 1990 | "Shine On (remix)" | 20 | ||
| "Beatles and the Stones" | 36 | |||
| 1991 | "Marble" | 5 | A Spy in the House of Love | |
| "The Girl With The Loneliest Eyes" | 58 | Babe Rainbow | ||
| 1992 | "Feel" | 45 | Babe Rainbow | |
| "You Don't Understand" | 46 | 8 | ||
| "Crush Me" | 67 | |||
| 1993 | "Hollow" | Audience With the Mind | ||
| 2005 | "Love You Too Much" | 73 | Days Run Away |