Luke Haines (born October 7, 1967) is an
English musician, who has released music under a variety of names, notably The Auteurs and Black Box Recorder.
History
'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.
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 benefitted from spare production by Steve
Albini. Recorded, ironically, at Abbey Road studios at the height of Britpop,
this was a distinctly anti-Britpop album.
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.
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.
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.
A boxset 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 [2] guested on bowed saw and backing vocals at some gigs.
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 his
earlier Yorkshire/Red Riding Hood 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.
Trivia
- In 2001 Haines called for a "National Pop Strike". [3]
- In issue four of the comic book Phonogram, Haines appears as a spirit guide
leading the main character through a metaphorical land representing Britpop.
Discography
Albums/EPs
- New Wave, 1993 (The Auteurs)
- Now I'm a Cowboy, 1994 (The Auteurs)
- The Auteurs vs Mu-Ziq EP (remixes), 1994 (The Auteurs/Mu-Ziq)
- Back With the Killer EP, 1995 (The Auteurs)
- After Murder Park, 1996 (The Auteurs)
- Baader Meinhof, 1996 (Baader Meinhof)
- England Made Me, 1999 (Black Box Recorder)
- How I Learned to Love the Bootboys, 1999 (The
Auteurs)
- The Facts of Life, 2000 (Black Box Recorder)
- Christie Malry's Own Double Entry OST, 2001 (Luke
Haines)
- The Oliver Twist Manifesto, 2001 (Luke Haines)
- The Worst of Black Box Recorder, 2001 (Black Box
Recorder)
- Passionoia, 2003 (Black Box Recorder)
- Property, 2004/2005 (Luke Haines) - Unreleased
- Das Capital, 2003 (Luke Haines)
- The State Funeral of Winston Churchill, 2005 (Luke Haines) - Unreleased, but mentioned in interviews
- Luke Haines is Dead, 2005 (Luke Haines)
- Off My Rocker at the Art School Bop, 2006 (Luke
Haines)
- Leeds United EP, 2007 (Luke Haines)
Singles
- 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)
- 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)
Reference
People mentioned in Haines's lyrics
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
School
- Michael Ray, unidentified.
Johnny and the Hurricanes
- Nero, Roman emperor,
- Johnny and the Hurricanes, 1950s instrumental beat combo,
- Johnny Kidd, 1950s singer,
- Johnny Ace, blues singer, in the original lyrics for the song,
- Richard Kaey, unidentified.
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
- Aleister Crowley, occultist,
- L. Ron Hubbard, Scientologist,
- The Beatles, popular music group,
- The Rolling Stones, popular music group,
- Kenneth Anger, avant-garde film maker, devotee of Aleister Crowley,
- The Dalai Lama, religious leader,
- Grigory Rasputin, Russian mystic,
- Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin guitarist,
- Johnny Kidd.
The Mitford Sisters
- Walter Raleigh, English explorer, poet and courtier,
- Oswald Moseley, British Fascist politician,
- Diana Mitford, Moseley's wife,
- Nancy Mitford, novelist and biographer,
- Unity Mitford, another Fascist sympathiser,
- Adolf Hitler, dictator,
- Michael Powell, British film director; alternative title to 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
- Enoch Powell, Tory politician,
- Freddie Mills, boxer,
- Jack the Stripper, serial killer,
- Mr Kipper, pseudonym adopted by the killer of Suzy
Lamplugh,
- George Best, footballer,
Freddie Mills is Dead
Bad Reputation
- Gary Glitter, pop musician and convicted paedophile,
- The Glitter Band, his backing group.
From Black Box Recorder songs
Being Number One
Andrew Ridgeley
The Deverell Twins
- The Deverell Twins, drowned in the Thames in the 19th century.
External links
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