Luke Haines

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Luke Haines
Luke Haines, performing at the 2005 Summer Sundae
Luke Haines, performing at the 2005 Summer Sundae
Background information
Born October 7, 1967 (1967-10-07) (age 40), Walton-on-Thames, England
Origin England
Genre(s) Alternative Rock, Britpop, Electronica
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter
Instrument(s) Guitar, piano/keyboard
Years active 1985–present
Label(s) Degenerate
Associated acts The Servants
The Auteurs
Baader Meinhof
Black Box Recorder
Website www.lukehaines.co.uk

Luke Haines (born October 7, 1967) is an English musician and songwriter, who has recorded music under various names and with various bands, including The Auteurs and Black Box Recorder.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] 'New Wave'

Haines formed numerous bands when he was at school. At college he joined The Servants who recorded two commercially unsuccessful albums. It was only when Haines formed The Auteurs with his girlfriend Alice Readman (who had also been in The Servants) and Glenn Collins in 1990 that he began to achieve some success.

Regular gigging in the London area and an NME sponsored gig brought them to the attention of Hut Records. They released their first single, "Showgirl" in 1992, and their debut album New Wave a month later. Haines was later to claim that this was the album that started Britpop, though he later showed disdain towards the movement, stating in a 2003 interview that Britpop consisted of "a bunch of bands who weren't good enough to exist in their own right, like music's equivalent of the Bloomsbury Group." Certainly it was ahead of its time in turning back from the acid house then popular to more traditional songwriting in the vein of The Kinks or The Small Faces. It is arguable that more commercially successful bands (such as Suede) owed much to Haines' vision. In any case, the album did well commercially (for a first album) and was nominated for a Mercury Prize.

The band toured the UK and the USA, gaining generally good reviews: however it is the opinion of the NME that the band were better in the studio than live.

[edit] A brush with fame

Their second album, Now I'm a Cowboy (1994) featured "Lenny Valentino" one of their most famous songs. By now the band were touring Europe and the States regularly, and were gaining a reputation as one of the best new British bands.

However, just as the band looked like 'breaking through' to the mainstream (as other British bands, such as Oasis and Blur were then doing), Haines broke both of his ankles, resulting in the cancellation of much of their 1994 European tour. At the time he claimed "I jumped off a fifteen-foot wall (while) touring, ... to finish the tour and get the insurance" but later, in the sleeve notes to Das Capital, he denied that it was deliberate, writing "I merely drank too much wine and fell over. It happens." In a wheel chair for most of 1995, Haines wrote the very different songs that would end up becoming the Auteurs' third album, After Murder Park. Even bleaker and more introspective than previous Auteurs albums, this was just as English as his previous work but now showed very different influences: the downbeat folk of Richard Thompson, the aggression of My Bloody Valentine, the pared down experimentalism of Wire, and the caustic lyrics of The Fall. It benefited from spare production by Steve Albini. Recorded, ironically, at Abbey Road studios at the height of Britpop, this was a distinctly anti-Britpop album.

[edit] After 'After Murder Park'

The Auteurs recorded a session for John Peel on 20 February 1996. [1]

At this point, Haines created a solo side project called Baader-Meinhof. Haines released one eponymous album under this moniker in 1996, which is named after the Baader Meinhof terrorist group. The sound was similar to that of The Auteurs, but more sparsely produced and with elements of funk and electronica, with lyrics, typically for the ever-contrary Haines, about terrorism.

After this, Haines disbanded the Auteurs, only to bring them back together again for their fourth album How I Learned to Love the Bootboys. This sounds like an amalgamation of Haines' previous styles: it is electronic, but has the same concern for pop hooks as his first two albums: on the other hand, the lyrics are brooding and obsessive, in a similar way to those on After Murder Park. From this point on, The Auteurs became merely a name for whatever musicians Haines chose to bring together for specific projects.

[edit] Black Box Recorder

After this album Haines created another side project with John Moore (formerly of The Jesus and Mary Chain) and Sarah Nixey: Black Box Recorder. With a sound clearly influenced by trip-hop and the ambient sound of French bands such as Air, the band produced three commercially successful albums, England Made Me, The Facts of Life, and Passionoia. There is also a B-sides collection, The Worst of Black Box Recorder. The Facts of Life produced the eponymous single, which has been the biggest hit of Haines' career so far.

Recently Haines has branched into film music, writing the music for Christie Malry's Own Double Entry, a British film based on the novel by B.S. Johnson.

[edit] Going solo

He has also produced a solo album under his own name, The Oliver Twist Manifesto. However, perhaps realising that he will always be best known as the creative force behind The Auteurs, Haines continues to reform them and remake their songs in a variety of ways. The Auteurs 'Best of' album Das Capital (sic) consisted of Auteurs songs reworked by a classical orchestra in a typically eccentric fashion.

In 2001 Haines called for a "National Pop Strike". [2]

A box set covering his career to date, Luke Haines is Dead, was issued in 2005, and two new albums were expected in 2006: 'Off My Rocker At The Art School Bop', and the soundtrack to the abandoned musical 'Property', which like his Black Box Recorder work, also features Sarah Nixey.

Cherry Red Records released a "Best of The Servants" compilation, with sleeve notes by Haines, early in 2006.

New album Off My Rocker at the Art School Bop was released in October 2006. Haines has been working with maverick pop producer Richard X (Sugababes, Liberty X, Rachel Stevens) on some tracks. The album was preceded by a double A-sided single 'Off My Rocker At The Artschool Bop (Richard X version) b/w I Am The Best Artist/Skinny White Girls.' There is currently no news on a release date for the 'Property' soundtrack.

Haines toured the UK and Ireland during November 2006. John Moore guested on bowed saw and backing vocals at some gigs.[3]

On 16 November 2006 Haines played a live session for BBC Radio 6 Music's Gideon Coe show.

On 13 December 2006 Haines played a live session (three songs) for BBC Radio 2's Janice Long show. During an interview on the same show Haines said that he may play some gigs in early 2007 in support of a E.P. release of Leeds United.

Haines has played at book signings for David Peace who was promoting The Damned United, a book on Brian Clough's brief tenure at Leeds United in the 1970s. Leeds United relates to this, and with the reference to the Yorkshire Ripper, to Peace's earlier Yorkshire/Red Riding Quartet. The refrain "The North! The North!" advances on the earlier Auteurs track The South Will Rise Again, itself a response to The N.W.R.A. by The Fall.

In December 2007, Black Box Recorder teamed up with Art Brut to create the single Christmas Number One under the collaborative title of The Black Arts. [4]

In issue four of the comic book Phonogram, Haines appears as a spirit guide leading the main character through a metaphorical land representing Britpop.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Studio Albums

[edit] Singles/EPs

  • Showgirl, 1992 (The Auteurs)
  • How Could I Be Wrong, 1993 (The Auteurs)
  • Housebreaker, 1993 (The Auteurs)
  • New French Girlfriend, 1993 (The Auteurs)
  • Lenny Valentino, 1993 (The Auteurs)
  • Chinese Bakery, 1994 (The Auteurs)
  • The Auteurs vs Mu-Ziq EP (remixes), 1994 (The Auteurs/Mu-Ziq)
  • Back With the Killer EP, 1995 (The Auteurs)
  • Kid's Issue, 1996 (The Auteurs)
  • Light Aircraft on Fire, 1996 (The Auteurs)
  • Child Psychology, 1998 (Black Box Recorder)
  • England Made Me, 1998 (Black Box Recorder)
  • The Rubettes, 1999 (The Auteurs)
  • The Facts of Life, 2000 (Black Box Recorder)
  • The Art of Driving, 2000 (Black Box Recorder)
  • These Are the Things, 2003 (Black Box Recorder)
  • The School Song, 2003 (Black Box Recorder)
  • Off My Rocker at the Art School Bop, 2006 (Luke Haines)
  • Christmas Number One, 2007 (The Black Arts - collaboration between Black Box Recorder and Art Brut)
  • Leeds United EP, 2007 (Luke Haines)

[edit] Popular culture references

Haines often refers to his influences or other parts of culture.

From New Wave

Junk Shop Clothes

From Now I'm A Cowboy

Lenny Valentino

Brainchild

New French Girlfriend

Chinese Bakery

Daughter of a Child

From Back With The Killer EP

Kenneth Anger's Bad Dream

From After Murder Park

Light Aircraft on Fire

Child Brides

Dead Sea Navigators

From Baader Meinhof

Baader Meinhof

Meet Me at the Airport

There's Gonna be an Accident

Mogadishu

Kill Ramirez

Back on the Farm

From How I Learned to Love the Bootboys

The Rubettes

1967

How I Learned to Love the Bootboys

Some Changes

  • Luke Haines, singer.

School

  • Michael Ray, unidentified.

Johnny and the Hurricanes

Lights Out

Future Generation

From The Oliver Twist Manifesto

Oliver Twist

The Death of Sarah Lucas

Discomania

Mr & Mrs Solanas

Christ

The Spook Manifesto

The Oliver Twist Manifesto

From Christie Malry's Own Double Entry OST

England, Scotland and Wales

From Das Capital

Satan Wants Me

The Mitford Sisters

From Luke Haines is Dead

X-Boogie Man

From Off My Rocker At The Art School Bop

Off My Rocker at the Art School Bop

Leeds United

All the English Devils

The Walton Hop

' Here's to Old England

Freddie Mills is Dead

Bad Reputation

From Black Box Recorder songs

Being Number One

Andrew Ridgeley

The Deverell Twins

  • The Deverell Twins, drowned in the Thames in the 19th century.

[edit] References

  1. ^ BBC - Radio 1 - Keeping It Peel - 20/02/1996 Auteurs
  2. ^ Music News - The latest music news and gossip from Yahoo! Music UK & Ireland
  3. ^ John Moore
  4. ^ Drowned in Sound - News - Eddie Argos joins race for Christmas number one

[edit] External links