| Marc and the Mambas | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Raoul and the Ruined |
| Genres | New Wave Gothic Alternative |
| Years active | 1982–1983 |
| Labels | Some Bizarre |
| Website | http://www.marcalmond.co.uk |
| Members | |
| Marc Almond Anni Hogan Lee Jenkinson Gini Ball Martin McCarrick Anne Stephenson Steve James Sherlock Peter Ashworth Audrey Riley Matt Johnson Jim Foetus |
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Marc and the Mambas was a new wave group, formed by Marc Almond, in 1982 as an off-shoot project from Soft Cell. The band's line-up changed frequently, and included Matt Johnson from The The and Annie Hogan, with whom Almond worked later in his solo career.
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Marc and the Mambas started Marc Almond's solo career. As Soft Cell's sound developed more into a darker mix of pop and electronic dance music, With Some Bizzare Label Marc and the Mambas continued the dark themes - but built around more complex rhythms.
Their second Some Bizzare released album, Torment and Toreros, contains a mix of ballads, both with and without dance beats, and is an interesting mix of Vaudeville, French Chanson, and goth sensibility, using guitar noise, piano, and string sections. Almond later later described this recording as an "attempted suicide put on vinyl."
Interestingly, the group was closer to a jazz outfit rather than a rock group. Band members changed from album to performance and back each time something new was started. The only consistent members were Marc Almond, Annie Hogan and Steve James Sherlock. Further members, such as Billy McGee and Martin McCarrick went later on to join Almond for his first solo efforts (called Marc Almond and the Willing Sinners). But Martin McCarrick left for Siouxsie and the Banshees in 1987, and the rest of that band (then called La Magia) dissolved in 1988. Since then Almond has been a solo artist, working closely together with Neal X (of Sigue Sigue Sputnik fame) since 1993. Lee Jenkinson (guitar) recorded a single with producer Flood (under the band name The Poppyfields) and is currently in the band Jellynail.
As for the Mambas, David Ball was an associated member for their first single, "Sleaze" and Matt Johnson from The The was a member for the first and second album but did not join anymore for the last concerts in 1983 (put to Vinyl and later to CD as Black, Bite & Blues.) Never a full but an associated member was Jim Foetus (aka Jim Thirlwell/Clint Ruin), who did guest vocals and percussion on "A Million Manias" as well as "Love Among the Ruined."
It was in 1983, that Almond as well as Soft Cell were very close to the avant-garde scene around Foetus, Psychic TV, and Einstürzende Neubauten. Almond also took part as one of four members of The Immaculate Consumptive, who never released any album but did a few shows in New York and Washington D.C., at the end of 1983. The group was initiated by Lydia Lunch. Further members were Jim Foetus and Nick Cave.
Marc and the Mambas very much belonged to that scene and were something as an odd ball at the same time. Since despite being quoted differently at the time, he never gave up his pop sensibilities, which returned in Soft Cell's last effort (for 17 years) on This Last Night In Sodom... (1984). As Soft Cell called it a day and Almond started his solo career, many people were surprised that Vermine In Ermine was pop influenced. His second album Stories of Johnny (1985) even more so. However, Mother Fist and Her Fiver Daughters, released in 1987, picked up where the Mambas had left off in 1983, and since then Almond has always traversed effortlessly between pop (such The Stars We Are (1988) to chanson such as Jacques (1989) and avant garde (such as Heart On Snow (2003)). However, he only returned to hard core avant garde a la "A Million Manias" or "The Animal in You" in side projects such as Flesh Volcano (with Jim Foetus, 1987) or in guesting on albums of Coil.
In the beginning of the 2000s, he reformed Soft Cell for a while. For the first time since the early 1980s, he re-emerged as a dance music artist, exploring collaborations with artists such as System F], Loverush, or King Roc. Almond always kept in touch with some of the Mambas' core members like Anne Stephenson and Gini Ball (David Ball's wife), who performed with him during his Sin, Songs And Romance gigs at the Almeida in 2004. He frequently includes Mambas songs in his live repertoire and this way, their legacy remains alive.
Antony Hegarty from Antony and the Johnsons cited Torment and Toreros as the most important influence on his life and his work.