This Heat
Encyclopedia
This Heat were a British
experimental music
group formed in early 1976 in Camberwell
, London
by multi-instrumentalists Charles Bullen (guitar, clarinet, viola, vocals, tapes), Charles Hayward
(drums, keyboards, vocals, tapes) and Gareth Williams
(keyboard, guitar, bass, vocals, tapes).
This Heat were active in the ascendancy of British progressive rock
and punk rock
, but stood apart from those scenes due to a radically inventive approach that touched on numerous different styles and genres, but was always confrontational and politically charged. Their commercial success was limited, but This Heat are widely considered a missing link
between progressive rock
(especially krautrock
) and such later experimental genres as post-punk
, industrial music
, post-rock
, and noise rock
. This Heat’s influences included Can
, Lee "Scratch" Perry and Throbbing Gristle
.
, to whom they sent a demo tape recorded in the top room at Hayward's parents house in Camberwell
as this was before they had moved into their 'Cold Storage' studio, which they converted from a disused cold storage room which was part of an "Acme Studios" artists studios complex in Brixton
. During this time, they also recorded a session with Ghana
ian percussionist Mario Boyer Diekuuroh, parts of which later appeared on a 1982 split cassette with Albert Marcoeur, released by the French experimental rock magazine Tago Mago.
Their self-titled debut album
was recorded between February 1976 and September 1978 in various studios and venues, and was released in August 1979. It was characterized by heavy use of tape manipulation
and looping, (especially on the track "24 Track Loop" which was a loop actually on the 2" master tape) combined with more traditional performance (including quite a lot of live stereo microphone in the room recordings) to create dense, eerie, electronic soundscapes. Shortly thereafter, This Heat released the Health and Efficiency EP, which foreshadowed the more rock-oriented sound of their subsequent album.
Deceit
, the band's second and final album, was produced with help from noted reggae
mixer Martin Frederick
and released in 1981. Deceit found the band incorporating more influence from punk rock
, and consolidating the world music influences in their work. Although, like all of This Heat's releases, it sold poorly, Deceit is now seen as a classic of the post-punk
era comparable in quality and invention with Closer
, Chairs Missing
or Metal Box
.
and keyboardist Ian Hill joining Bullen and Hayward, as Williams had departed for India. Hayward went on to form Camberwell Now
with Goronwy and Stephen Rickard, and remains musically active. Bullen had a solo venture called Lifetones, and released one record, For a Reason, in 1983 on his Tone of Life imprint and in 1998 released the album Internal Clock under the name Circadian Rhythms.
In 1993 a new album of previously unreleased This Heat recordings was unearthed. Repeat featured three long tracks, including the title track, a 20 minute remix of "24 Track Loop". Out of Cold Storage, a box set of all the band's official recordings, was released in June 2006 on This is!, a new Recommended Records
sub-label set up by Hayward and Bullen to re-release This Heat's back catalogue. The set comprises This Heat, Deceit, Health and Efficiency, Made Available and Repeat, plus Live 80/81, a CD of concert recordings.
Gareth Williams later formed Flaming Tunes with Mary Currie and released a cassette of new material, in a much "gentler" style than that of This Heat... This has been released on CD for the first time in mid 2009. In December 2001 This Heat tentatively rehearsed (with Williams) however nothing came to fruition as Williams died later that month of cancer.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
experimental music
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
group formed in early 1976 in Camberwell
Camberwell
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 multi-instrumentalists Charles Bullen (guitar, clarinet, viola, vocals, tapes), Charles Hayward
Charles Hayward (musician)
Charles Hayward is an English drummer and was a founding member of the experimental rock group This Heat. He also played with Mal Dean's Amazing Band, Radar Favourites, Dolphin Logic, and gigged and recorded with old schoolfriend and "Pooh and the Ostrich Feather" member Phil Manzanera in the...
(drums, keyboards, vocals, tapes) and Gareth Williams
Gareth Williams (English musician)
Gareth Williams was a British musician best remembered as the bassist and vocalist for the experimental rock group This Heat.-Career Summary:...
(keyboard, guitar, bass, vocals, tapes).
This Heat were active in the ascendancy of British progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
and punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
, but stood apart from those scenes due to a radically inventive approach that touched on numerous different styles and genres, but was always confrontational and politically charged. Their commercial success was limited, but This Heat are widely considered a missing link
Missing Link
Missing link is a nonscientific term for any transitional fossil, especially one connected with human evolution; see Transitional fossil - Missing links and List of transitonal fossils - Human evolution.Missing Link may refer to:...
between progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
(especially krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
) and such later experimental genres as 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...
, industrial music
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
, post-rock
Post-rock
Post-rock is a subgenre of rock music characterized by the influence and use of instruments commonly associated with rock, but using rhythms and "guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures" not traditionally found in rock...
, and noise rock
Noise rock
Noise rock describes a style of post-punk rock music that became prominent in the 1980s. Noise rock makes use of the traditional instrumentation and iconography of rock, but incorporates atonality and especially dissonance, and also frequently discards usual songwriting conventions.-Style:Noise...
. This Heat’s influences included Can
Can (band)
Can was an experimental rock band formed in Cologne, West Germany in 1968. Later labeled as one of the first "krautrock" groups, they transcended mainstream influences and incorporated strong minimalist and world music elements into their often psychedelic music.Can constructed their music largely...
, Lee "Scratch" Perry and Throbbing Gristle
Throbbing Gristle
Throbbing Gristle were an English industrial, avant-garde music and visual arts group that evolved from the performance art group COUM Transmissions...
.
Band history
This Heat's first radio airplay came in early 1977 from legendary DJ John PeelJohn Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
, to whom they sent a demo tape recorded in the top room at Hayward's parents house in Camberwell
Camberwell
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:...
as this was before they had moved into their 'Cold Storage' studio, which they converted from a disused cold storage room which was part of an "Acme Studios" artists studios complex in Brixton
Brixton
Brixton is a district in the London Borough of Lambeth in south London, England. It is south south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
. During this time, they also recorded a session with Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
ian percussionist Mario Boyer Diekuuroh, parts of which later appeared on a 1982 split cassette with Albert Marcoeur, released by the French experimental rock magazine Tago Mago.
Their self-titled debut album
This Heat (album)
-Track listing:#"Testcard" – 0:47#"Horizontal Hold" – 6:56#"Not Waving" – 7:26#"Water" – 3:10#"Twilight Furniture" – 5:06#"24 Track Loop" – 5:57#"Diet of Worms" – 3:09#"Music Like Escaping Gas" – 3:40#"Rainforest" – 2:55#"The Fall of Saigon" – 5:10...
was recorded between February 1976 and September 1978 in various studios and venues, and was released in August 1979. It was characterized by heavy use of tape manipulation
Tape Music
Tape Music is an experimental 10" vinyl release by Jack Dangers. The vinyl release was coupled with the album Sounds Of The 20th Century No2 when released as a flexi disc vinyl....
and looping, (especially on the track "24 Track Loop" which was a loop actually on the 2" master tape) combined with more traditional performance (including quite a lot of live stereo microphone in the room recordings) to create dense, eerie, electronic soundscapes. Shortly thereafter, This Heat released the Health and Efficiency EP, which foreshadowed the more rock-oriented sound of their subsequent album.
Deceit
Deceit (album)
Deceit is the second album by This Heat. Deceit is considered by many as a classic of the post-punk era and was ranked by Pitchfork Media as the 20th greatest album of the 1980s...
, the band's second and final album, was produced with help from noted reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
mixer Martin Frederick
Martin Frederick
Martin E. Frederick , is the Corporate Director of Civil Space Programs at Northrop Grumman Corporation. Prior to this appointment, he worked at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as Deputy Director for the in the Earth Science Division of the Science Mission Directorate...
and released in 1981. Deceit found the band incorporating more influence from punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
, and consolidating the world music influences in their work. Although, like all of This Heat's releases, it sold poorly, Deceit is now seen as a classic of the 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...
era comparable in quality and invention with Closer
Closer (Joy Division album)
Closer is the second and final studio album by the English post-punk band Joy Division, released , two months following the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis. The album was originally scheduled to be released on . The record was originally released on the Factory Records label as a 12" LP and...
, Chairs Missing
Chairs Missing
Chairs Missing is the second album by the British rock band Wire. It was released in 1978.Although it shares a punk-derived "outsider" voice with the band's debut, Pink Flag, it features more developed song structure and a broader palette of emotional and intellectual subject matter...
or Metal Box
Metal Box
Metal Box is the second album by Public Image Ltd, released in 1979 by Virgin Records.The title refers to the album's original packaging, which consists of a metal 16mm film canister embossed with the band's logo and containing three 12" 45rpm records...
.
Legacy
This Heat split up in 1982 after completing their final European tour with bassist/vocalist Trefor GoronwyTrefor Goronwy
Trefor Goronwy is a vocalist, bass guitarist, guitarist, and percussionist. He joined This Heat, for their final European tour in 1982, and continued to work with drummer Charles Hayward and soundman Stephen Rickard in the group Camberwell Now...
and keyboardist Ian Hill joining Bullen and Hayward, as Williams had departed for India. Hayward went on to form Camberwell Now
Camberwell Now
Camberwell Now were formed in London in 1982 after the demise of This Heat featuring one of the founders of that group, drummer and vocalist Charles Hayward, bassist and vocalist Trefor Goronwy, who had joined This Heat to replace Gareth Williams after the latter had quit the band, and This Heat's...
with Goronwy and Stephen Rickard, and remains musically active. Bullen had a solo venture called Lifetones, and released one record, For a Reason, in 1983 on his Tone of Life imprint and in 1998 released the album Internal Clock under the name Circadian Rhythms.
In 1993 a new album of previously unreleased This Heat recordings was unearthed. Repeat featured three long tracks, including the title track, a 20 minute remix of "24 Track Loop". Out of Cold Storage, a box set of all the band's official recordings, was released in June 2006 on This is!, a new Recommended Records
Recommended Records
Recommended Records is a British independent record label and distribution network founded by Chris Cutler in March 1978. RēR features largely "Rock in Opposition" and related music, but it also distributes selected music released on other independent labels.In 1982 Cutler established November...
sub-label set up by Hayward and Bullen to re-release This Heat's back catalogue. The set comprises This Heat, Deceit, Health and Efficiency, Made Available and Repeat, plus Live 80/81, a CD of concert recordings.
Gareth Williams later formed Flaming Tunes with Mary Currie and released a cassette of new material, in a much "gentler" style than that of This Heat... This has been released on CD for the first time in mid 2009. In December 2001 This Heat tentatively rehearsed (with Williams) however nothing came to fruition as Williams died later that month of cancer.
Discography
- This HeatThis Heat (album)-Track listing:#"Testcard" – 0:47#"Horizontal Hold" – 6:56#"Not Waving" – 7:26#"Water" – 3:10#"Twilight Furniture" – 5:06#"24 Track Loop" – 5:57#"Diet of Worms" – 3:09#"Music Like Escaping Gas" – 3:40#"Rainforest" – 2:55#"The Fall of Saigon" – 5:10...
(1978; CDCompact DiscThe Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
reissue 2006) - Health and Efficiency (1980; 12" EPExtended playAn EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
, 3" mini-CD, 1988) - DeceitDeceit (album)Deceit is the second album by This Heat. Deceit is considered by many as a classic of the post-punk era and was ranked by Pitchfork Media as the 20th greatest album of the 1980s...
(1981) - This Heat with Mario Boyer Diekuuroh (1982; split-cassette with Albert Marcoeur)
- This Heat Live (1986, cassette-only release of 1980 KrefeldKrefeldKrefeld , also known as Crefeld until 1929, is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, its centre lying just a few kilometres to the west of the River Rhine; the borough of Uerdingen is situated directly on the Rhine...
concert) - The Peel Sessions (1988; EPExtended playAn EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
) - Repeat (1993; CDCompact DiscThe Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
) - Made Available: John Peel Sessions (1996; CDCompact DiscThe Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
, reissue of above with bonus tracks) - Out of Cold Storage (2006; 6 CDCompact DiscThe Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
box set) - John Peel Shows (2005, bootleg of 1977 preview of 1st album demos)
- Face Hand Shy: Rarities (2006, above Peel demos + "Health & Efficiency" + Mario Boyer Diekuuroh tracks + undated live tracks)
- Scala (2006, bootleg 1979 London concert)
- Final Revelations (2007, final 1982 concert + demos for new never-completed album)
- Live at I.C.A. Club 1980 (2007, bootleg of concert at London's Institute of Contemporary ArtsInstitute of Contemporary ArtsThe Institute of Contemporary Arts is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. It is located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch...
)