From left to right: Chris Carter, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Peter Christopherson
SUPERSWEET's Hugh Platt poses some questions upon Throbbing Gristle's return to find out whether there is anything else, after over 3 decades in business, that these 'wreckers of civilisation' are still after.
Throbbing Gristle don’t make ‘easy’ music. This is scratchy, spiderweb music that makes your spine hurt and the hairs on the back of your neck twitch. In the late 70s they were laying the experimental groundwork that would be the basis for Industrial music as we know it. Everyone from Aphex Twin to Trent Reznor has something to owe the Yorkshire 4-piece. SUPERSWEET tracked them down to a London hotel and asked what’s got their motor running again.
In 1981, after 4 years of making noise that could drive a Pope to the brink of madness, the band split in two, until in 2004 the band re-united for a – supposed- one-off live performance. The band cites a resurgence in interest in their work as the reason for the reformation, with acts asking for Throbbing Gristle remixes. “The nothingness of the current scene in the music industry” was the final impetus for one of the largely-unsung great innovative bands of the late 20th Century to become whole again.
Being on the outside has suited the band, especially as they see the industry as we know it as on the verge of implosion. “People are bored, the scene is boring”. Asia is becoming more of an influence, with more creativity. “People in the west are only in it for the money and their ego. There is nothing new or imaginative anymore”.
Originally scheduled for September last year, new record Part Two – The Endless Not was postponed until April this year due to “record company politics – it was decided to sit on it for a year”. At once both harking back to their works of old and heralding drastic and new directions of digital music, it has been a long time in the making – over twenty years since their last true new studio release (barring the 2001 release of The First Annual Report, which was actually committed to tape back in 1975).
It was worth the wait. If Portishead relocated into the crypt of some arcane machine god, they’d start making records like this. Tracks like ‘Rabbit Snare’ consists of steampunk whispers lain across a beat that sounds like water dripping from a rusting pipe, amplified to eardrum-bursting levels. But pinpointing individual influences within the record is hard – “it was a natural thing. There were no direct influences, just everyday experiences and environments. It took shape naturally. It was all about deconstructing the construct.”
Throbbing gristle have never toed the line – and with Part Two – The Endless Not – the release of which should be an event all in itself, considering it has been more than two decades since their last new material – was made doubly special with the first 4000 copies (and 1000 of the Japanese release) having totemic gifts in the spine of the CD case. Throbbing Gristle settled on the totems, made from copper, bone, rubber, wood or steel, “because of the download phenomenon we really wanted to increase the tangibility of the record. We wanted people to be able to buy something different and unique, rather than just a download”. Made in Thailand under the supervision of band member Peter Christopherson, the totems are emblematic of the Throbbing Gristle machine, each part bespoke and singular from all else that’s gone before it.
It’s not enough for the band to ignore the rulebook with their recorded output – as a live act they don’t so much break all the rules so much as operate using their own laws of physics. Recently they performed in the Turbine Hall of London’s Tate Modern gallery, providing the soundtrack to a celebration of the work of friend and fellow experimentalist, filmmaker Derek Jarman. The band recognise the similarities between their work and Jarman’s “it was underground in the past, and only recently getting wider recognition”.
They’ve also just finished a mini-residency of sorts at the ICA, where the band “performed” (if such a word is the right one) a series of 6 two-hour recording sessions that were open to the general public It was something that the band has done before but wanted to bring people closer to the experience, to see how they work. With fans being treated to Throbbing Gristle re-imaginings of Nico’s Desertshore album, the sessions were another of those moments that people will probably lie about in the future just to say ‘I was there’.
Famously once described as “wreckers of civilisation” – a tag that has stuck with the band, regardless of what direction they have moved their sound - in the here and now is there anyone they’d like to personally wreck? “People’s egotistical way of life. Working for money rather than love, or art. Then people get bored because their lives are empty”.
It’s taken over 20 years for Throbbing Gristle to make a true follow up record to Journey Through A Body. Whether it is worth the wait will depend on how much you’re willing to submit yourself to 77 minutes of true musical experimentation. But there’s no denying that you’d be a fool to miss out on Throbbing Gristle this time around – you might not have been born when they were first wreaking havoc, and who knows when they’ll be causing chaos next?
Words: Hugh Platt
Photography: Rebecca Cotton