Girls Under Glass
| Girls Under Glass | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Hamburg |
| Genres |
Electro-industrial[1][2] Gothic rock[2] |
| Years active | 1986–present |
| Labels | Cellar Door |
| Members |
Volker Zacharias (vocals/guitar) Hauke Harms (electronics/keyboard) Axel Ermes (bass) |
Girls Under Glass is a musical group from Hamburg, Germany.
Biography
- 1986
Girls Under Glass were founded by Thomas Lücke (singer), Hauke Harms (electronics & keyboards) and Zaphor aka Volker Zacharias (guitars) as an offshoot of the gothic rock formation Calling Dead Red Roses.
- 1987
Debut album was recorded: Humus. For this record Dr. Fluch joined the band and played bass guitar.
- 1989
Girls Under Glass supported bands such as Fields of the Nephilim, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry and were just big stars in the German gothic-wave-scene. At this point of time the band was playing together with two guest musicians (Marcel Zürcher, drummer of Abwärts, Schwansee, Shanghaid Guts) and Olaf von Ridder (bassplayer). Flowers (second album was recorded). Members: Thomas Lücke (vocals) Zaphor (guitars) Hauke Harms (keyboards), Axel Ermes (bassplayer). Axel joined the band and was integrated into the real band line-up. Axel and Zaphor played at this point of time parallel in the German cult band Cancer Barrack.
- 1990
Zaphor left Cancer Barrack and concentrated on the third GUG album. Main singer Thomas Lücke left the band and Zaphor took over the singers part. Rodney Orpheus of The Cassandra Complex produced the third GUG album called Positive and started a friendship with Zaphor. Zaphor joined The Cassandra Complex studio's live line-up, and worked together with Rodney for many years. 1990 was really a year of changes and restarts.
- 1991
Project Pitchfork were playing their first gigs as support band for the Positive-tour.
- 1992
Darius the 4th album was recorded. This is the first CD recorded with a real drummer (Marcus Giltjes, ex Pink Turns Blue). As a new guitar player Girls Under Glass welcomed Raj Sen Gupta.
- 1993
Christus was recorded, also with Raj Sen Gupta plus Markus Giltjes. For the following tour Raj left the band and Girls Under Glass worked together with Robert Wilcocks of Sleeping Dogs Wake and Cobalt 60 for the next 3 years.
- 1995
Crystals & Stones was recorded as a trio again (Volker, Axel & Hauke) The band recorded this album in their new own studio. Die Krupps did a remix of "Die Zeit", which became a club hit in Germany. For this record the band was touring with Robert Wilcocks again. Additional drums on tour were played by Tippi Agogo (musician from Vancouver and close friend to The Legendary Pink Dots and Skinny Puppy musicians-scene).
- 1996
First shows in France and Spain.
- 1997
Firewalker was recorded. The hardest record GUG ever made. Totally inspired by the American industrial metal & electro music scene such as NIN, KMFDM, Stabbing Westward, Gravity Kills, etc. Girls asked ex-KMFDM drummer Rudi Naomi to join the band for the tour. GUG toured together with Deathline Int'l, a German-American-electro-act.
- 1998
Equilibrium was recorded. GUG calmed down a bit and found their way back to the more Gothic and Wave orientated style. Later issued in the United States by Van Richter Records.
- 1999
The seminal anthology record Nightmares for the United States was compiled. The record includes the biggest hits of GUG's career as well as out of print and new unreleased tracks including a cover of the classic track "Halloween" theme by John Carpenter. Released by Van Richter Records.
- 2001
Minddiver was recorded, the first album on their own label Aragon Records. It includes a cover version of Madonna's "Frozen". GUG made their first appearance in London (UK), co-headlining the famous GOTHAM – Festival with Clan Of Xymox European Tour together with Fair Sex. Frozen was later re-released as the title track on another album by Van Richter Records. In addition to the Madonna cover, this album also featured a Das Ich remix of Wings sung by Sandra Bammer (of Sister My Sister) entitled Frozen (Das Ich).
- 2002
European Tour had been recorded on 16 Tracks. Released on Aragon as first real live album Live in Light & Darkness.
- 2003
GUG paused for a bit more than 1 year. No gigs or studioworks.
- 2004
New material was written and recorded. Producer JP Genkel joined the production and recorded the album Zyklus in his IMPULS studio, Hamburg. Zyklus was released in February, 2005 on Metropolis Records.
- 2006
Focus released as a DVD . This is the first GUG DVD, Which was filmed during the 2005 Wave Gothic Treffen "WGT" in Leipzig, Germany after a chance meeting backstage between GUG and filmmaker/photographer Jeffrey Delannoy through their common friend Carsten Clatte (frontman of La Casa Del Cid and guitarist for Wolfsheim, and Goethes Erben.) Delannoy having seen the band a few times over the years was enthusiastic about producing the work in such an atmosphere as the WGT. GUG added to the production, creating a "20 Years Girls Under Glass" retrospective documentary film with interviews, reactions from other artists like Ronan Harris (VNV Nation), Peter Spilles (Project Pitchfork), Rodney Orpheus (Cassandra Complex)… backstage impressions, and other bonus materials.
Discography
- Humus (1988)
- Ten Million Dollars (1989)
- Flowers (1989)
- Random (1990)
- Never Go (1990)
- Positive (1991)
- Live At Soundgarden (1991)
- Darius (1992)
- Christus (1993)
- Down in the Park (1994)
- Exitus (1995)
- Crystals & Stones (1995)
- Die Zeit (1995)
- Firewalker (1997)
- Nightmares (1999)
- Equilibrium (1999)
- Minddiver (2001)
- Frozen (2001)
- Erinnerung (2002)
- Light and Darkness (2003)
- Ohne Dich (2004)
- Zyklus (2005)
- Touch Me (2005)
- Focus (DVD) (2006)