Jude Rawlins

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Jude Rawlins
Born	April 9, 1972 Birmingham, England

Jude Rawlins, (born April 9, 1972) is a singer, songwriter, writer, and poet. He is the lead singer and principle songwriter of English art-rock group Subterraneans. He is also the author of several books, and was once the frontman of cult late 1980s indie band Angelhead.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early years 1.2 Music career 1.3 Writing 1.4 Poetry 1.5 Artistic roots 1.6 Politics and Religion 1.7 Societies 1.8 London 1.9 Trivia 2 Sources

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early years

Born in Bromsgrove, England, Jude Rawlins' is the only child of his Irish mother Mary Kathleen Rawlins (nee Coleman) and English playwright father Derek Rawlins.

Jude Rawlins grew up in a working class area of Bromsgrove, a satellite town of the city of Birmingham, although his early life was punctuated with frequent visits to Dublin, Ireland. At the age of ten he joined a renowned church choir, which he cites as one of the pivotal events of his childhood. He earned money from singing in the choir, and experienced a life of travelling and performing under the wing of the Royal School of Church Music, then under the directorship of Lionel Dakers. It was a fellow chorister who introduced Jude to the music of the Sex Pistols, The Damned and other punk rock bands.

In 1984, Jude Rawlins, aged 12, joined his first band, a punk rock group called World Intelligence Network, their name taken from the puppet TV series Joe 90. This quickly morphed into the band The Ausgang. The band played mainly punk rock cover versions. However Jude began writing his own songs, initially he claimed because he couldn't play guitar and so was simply incapable of playing other people's songs. It wasn't long before his desire to create original material took over.

In 1987 he met Richard Cole and Mat Hook, and formed Angelhead. In a deliberate reaction against the emerging Acid House scene, Angelhead took up the mantle of guitar driven music. Although he was already listening to Echo and the Bunnymen, Rawlins' credits Angelhead guitarist Neil Gardner with introducing him to the music of The Doors. In Jim Morrison he discovered an artist who had shared his vision of rock music as a serious and expressive artform, and who wasn't afraid to show his literary influences.

John Peel was the first to champion the band. Rawlins reputedly sent Angelhead's first demo to "John Peel, BBC Radio, London". Not only did the tape miraculously find its recipient, but Peel telephoned Rawlins to inform him of his intention to play it. Jude's mother took the call.

[edit] Music career

Extensive credits, including:

• Singer, songwriter, musician, producer in Angelhead, 1987-1991.
• Singer, songwriter, musician, producer in Subterraneans, 1992-present.
• Co-writer, guitarist, vocalist in The Candy Tree with Emma Jo Barrett, 1992.
• Soundtrack composer and producer for Judy Neville's Danse Macabre (1996) and Dreamtime (1998) shows.
• Composer and producer of soundtrack for his own experimental film Reflections on a Winter's Day (2004).
• Compiler and producer of the Billy Mackenzie albums Auchtermatic and Transmission Impossible (2004), executive producer of the Mackenzie/Associates reissues The Affectionate Punch, Memory Palace, Wild and Lonely and Outernational.
• Co-producer with Dahlia Schwietzer for her album Plastique (2005).

Jude Rawlins has also been involved in projects by Madonna, Björk and Paul Haig.

[edit] Writing

Jude Rawlins was artist in residence at Progression Magazine's Music Gallery pages from 1994 to 1999, publishing over 75 articles, including a 30th anniversary appreciation of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey that caught the attention of Stanley Kubrick himself. He has also written extensively on a variety of subjects, including drug abuse, and many of his articles have been globally syndicated.

He has published three books, Starless and Bible Black (1995), Cul de Sac: Lyrics, Prose and Poems 1987-2004 (2004), and Divine Images: The Words of William Blake (2005).

He wrote a play, True Identity, in 1992.

[edit] Poetry

Much of his own poetry has been published, including some juvenilia. In 2004 he released a spoken word album of Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century English Metaphysical poetry called Clouds Unfolded, the rights to which he donated to the Royal Society for the Blind.

[edit] Artistic roots

Jude Rawlins has written and spoken extensively on the work of English poet and mystic William Blake, as well as exploring the work of the French poet Charles Baudelaire and also the English Metaphysical Poets, such as John Donne, and Andrew Marvell.

In his childhood, his father introduced him to the poetry of Yevtushenko and A. E. Housman, both of whom he acknowledges as having had a major impact on his artistic development.

Subterraneans' records have included quotes from Blake, Housman, Virginia Woolf, Oscar Wilde, Wilfred Owen, Sylvia Plath and John Milton. Angelhead records similarly reference Rainer Maria Rilke, Paul Verlaine and Lytton Strachey. The sleeve of Rain Goddess included a line by American poet E. E. Cummings.

His musical influences are broad, but he is widely known to be a fan of Echo and the Bunnymen, The Smiths, Scott Walker, Public Image Limited, Syd Barrett, Patti Smith, and US punk band X. His favourite piece of classical music is the Tallis Fantasia (a.k.a. Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis) by Ralph Vaughan-Williams.

[edit] Politics and Religion

Although he claims no political affiliation, Jude Rawlins has been a severe critic of partisan politics, arguing that the party political system is fundamentally undemocratic. His political leanings are certainly left-wing, although he once described himself as an anarchist. He campaigned against the Iraq War, and was arrested during an anti-war protest in London in 2003.

On March 31 1990, one day after the filming of the Angelhead: In Concert film, Jude Rawlins and Angelhead colleagues Richard Cole and Mat Hook took part in the anti-Poll Tax rally in London, of which Rawlins gives an emotionally charged eye-witness account in his book Cul de Sac.

He is an atheist, and has "no supernatural beliefs whatsoever".

[edit] Societies

Jude Rawlins is a member of the Blake Society, based at St. James, Piccadilly, London, alongside Philip Pullman. He is also a member of the Friends of Charleston.

[edit] London

Jude Rawlins has often stated that his single biggest influence is the city of London itself. He is an ardent fan of the work of Peter Ackroyd, and has himself become synonymous with Camden Town, having lived in the London Borough of Camden for most of his adult life. He is a very well known figure on Camden Market, where he has often kept stalls, selling music related paraphernalia. His favourite places in London are Hampstead, Clerkenwell, Shoreditch, and, of course, Bloomsbury. He lives in Chalk Farm, north London, close to Subterraneans’ favourite rehearsal rooms in Camden Lock.

[edit] Trivia

Jude Rawlins is executor of the estate of Billy Mackenzie, and has presided over more than half a dozen releases of the late Associates frontman.

He collects vintage German and Russian cameras.

He once sat for a portrait by Dutch artist and rock singer Herman Brood. Unfortunately the finished work was destroyed in a flood in 1995. Rawlins kept Brood's original sketch, which was also destroyed in a flood in 2002.

Jude Rawlins was born in a flat over a bicycle shop called ‘’Speed’s’’. The flat had previously been occupied by singer/songwriter Clifford T. Ward, and had been the inspiration for the song "Home Thoughts From Abroad". Mr. Speed, a budding artist, painted a portrait of Jude Rawlins aged three.

Rawlins once shared a flat in King's Cross, London, with influential punk guitarist Steve New.

The Primitives’ track “Earth Thing” is rumoured to have been written about Jude Rawlins.

Acknowledging his south Birmingham roots, Jude Rawlins has expressed a liking for Indian food and Aston Villa football club.

[edit] Sources

• Rawlins, Jude (2004). Cul, de Sac: Lyrics, Prose and Poems 1987-2004 (3rd ed.). Hampstead House Press. ISBN 1-4116-0895-X.

• Clark, Lisa (Feb. 11, 2005). The Lives of Jude Rawlins. Artsweek.