Coil
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news 2002
December 12th, 2002
It seems that attendees at Coil's show in Moscow this past September were given a free VHS video of Coil's previous performance in Moscow on Sptember 15, 2001. The video was produced and released by Feelee, the same folks behind the Russian compilation discs released last year. There are rumours of a DVD edition existing as well. We hope to get the official story about this release soon.
John Balance made an appearance recently on the Solar Lodge channel on Soulseek and revealed news about some upcoming/planned releases & events. Here are the relavent excerpts:
"Just putting the finishing touches on our collaborative with the Cyclobe boys. Should be available in a month or two. Thighpaulsandra's album is shaping up nicely and should also be finished before march of next year.
"Also: We may be doing another one-off in New York early next year, opening for us will be Bablicon - young brain sizzlers, gelled krautrock... amazing. We hope to conquer California sometime soon as well. We're hoping to meet up with Dr.Dre and persuade him to mix our next album. What do you think?
"[Performing live in] Canada is a possibility; speaking of which - We've been in contact/communication/reciprocation with the lads from Boards of Canada. Our extreme appreciation for each other's work is mutual. Something may also come out of that in the near future.. Again, it's all in the aether.
"We definately will not be touring again due to promotion, inner complications and other nonsense. If you want us to come to your city you'll have to lure us over. :-)"
November 21st, 2002
Coil's Threshold House mail order website has been updated to include information for a series of four live albums which will be released in January, 2003. In addition to being available as four stand-alone releases, a special edition featuring all four albums plus a bonus disc will be available in a limited edition of 123 copies, 111 of which are available now via pre-order.
They are also holding an informal poll/survey to see how viable it would be for them to offer paid downloads of live shows, demo tracks, etc. Click here for full details.
Coming next week via World Serpent:
Coil • The World Ended a Long Time Ago • watch
Black Sun face with the following text written around the outer face of the
watch: 'THE WORLD ENDED A LONG TIME AGO'. The watch comes in the now classic
Coil clear strap and is housed in a black case. Limited to 100.
November 2nd, 2002
Due to a sudden tightening of security at Italian border crossings in advance of an upcoming Social European Forum in Florence, Black Sun Productions have decided to cancel their performance of the Plastic Spider Thing ritual that was to take place in Milano on November 4th. Here is their full statement on the matter:
Zurich, 2nd November 2002
What we heard from the italian e-newspaper Repubblica.it (and reported also from German internet news) forces us to the sad decision to cancel our performance scheduled in Milano for Monday November 4. We sincerely apologize with those who have worked to organize the event (especially Andrea Amici of Teatro I', Ango Visone of Pornflakes, Flavio Magnani of Speed Demon and Lisa Tavazzani) and those who kindly reserved tickets for the performance.
Who writes to you has chosen to live and to work away from Italy as a result of the facts of Genoa of last year. Massimo & Pierce, DraZen and all the persons who gravitate around Black Sun Productions share a radical artistic militancy and an anarchist cultural, if not political, personal position. The vision of a European democratic (?) country that, once again, suspends international treaties and rejects European citizens to its own frontiers make us sad and frightened us. The way we look, the stuff that we carry with us to stage our performance (among which chains, army outfits and white overalls) and our antagonist attitude make out of us the police's perfect target in such a scenario.
We are enormously sorry to disregard to our engagement and to miss the possibility to return to perform in Milano but we are sure of your understanding: our personal histories and the radical nature of our performances are enough to make us believe that we would be rejected from the Italian border police (like already happened yesterday to some "lawless-men" rejected to the Italian frontier of Ventimiglia). We are sure that nobody of you has forgotten about the horrible prison-odessey happened to an Austrian street-theater-group last July in Genoa. Please, don't blame us if we don't feel like to take the risk.
Massimo & Pierce, Drazen
Black Sun Productions
October 19th, 2002
Coil are currently in the middle of a European tour. In addition to the previously announced dates, there is apparently an impromptu concert taking place tonight (October 19th) in Stockholm, Sweden.
This tour was originally planned to end with two shows in Italy on November 1th & 2th, but it appears that the final stop will now be in Vienna on October 29th. However, it is rumoured that Coil will be joining Black Sun Productions on stage at their November 4th performance of the Plastic Spider Thing ritual at Teatro I' in Milano.
Released this past week via World Serpent was The Golden Hare with a Voice of Silver, a double CD set that brings together the two Coil anthology discs - A Guide for Beginners: A Silver Voice and A Guide for Finishers: Golden Hair - originally released last year by Feelee Records in Russia.
Another upcoming Coil-releated release is X-Rated: The Electronic Files, a double CD compilation due out in early November on the Dutch label Boudisque Recording. Compiled by the people behind the X-Rated radio program heard weekly in Kink-FM, the disc features an excerpt from "Remote Viewing 1", a track originally available on the limited The Remote Viewer CDR sold by Coil on their Spring, 2002 tour. Other artists on the set include Lustmord, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Scanner, Tangerine Dream, Atom Heart and many more. An extensive website about this release can be found at http://www.boudisque.nl/xrated/
A new Coil tribute CD project is also in the works. Entitled Aural Mechanism, it will be released in an edition of 300 copies with the first 33 including a bonus CD3". Visit Molecule Records for more information.
September 25th, 2002
Plans are being finalized for a European tour in late October and early November. These shows are in addition to previously announced late September/early October dates in Russia, Greece and the UK (visit the Live page for further info).
Oct 16: Copenhagen, Denmark - Amager Bio
Oct 17: Oslo, Norway - Betong
Oct 21: Helsinki, Finland - Tavastia Klubi
Oct 24-25: Gdansk, Poland - St John's Church
Oct 26: Lódz, Poland - Centrum Filmowe
Oct 27: Prague, Czech Republic - Akropolis
Oct 29: Vienna, Austria - Flex
Nov 01: Italy (TBA)
Nov 02: Italy (TBA)
Coil will be joined at all dates by DraZen, Massimo & Pierce of Black Sun Productions, who will also be performing their 12th Plastic Spider Thing ritual at Teatro I' in Milano, Italy on Novermber 4th. Black Sun Productions promises "special guests" at this performance...
David Keenan's long-awaited book on Coil, Current 93 and Nurse With Wound entitled England's Hidden Reverse is set for publication soon. SAF Publishing reports a release date of January 2003, while online booksellers like Amazon are reporting November 2002. Whichever proves to be true, the book will be a 256 page hardcover retailing for £35.00/US$45.00, and it will be a limited numbered edition with each copy including a CD of previously unreleased material.
For those interested in pre-ordering the book, here are some links:
Amazon.com (USA)
Barnes & Noble (USA)
Buy.com (USA)
Powells.com (USA)
Amazon.ca (Canada)
Chapters/Indigo (Canada)
Amazon.co.uk (UK)
Amazon.de (Germany)
Amazon.fr (France)
Amazon.co.jp (Japan)
Angus & Robertson (Australia)
Collins Booksellers (Australia)
You can also use this link to Bublos.comto compare the price of the book at some of the sellers listed above plus many others to find the best deal.
August 19th, 2002
The following album was released today:
Coil • Plastic Spider Thing • CD • ESKATON 30
Coil and World Serpent are pleased to present the Plastic Spider Thing—a ritual work remixed from past Coil albums by DraZen of Black Sun Productions.
Musick for the Performancoid Installation in 23 Parts, the 'Plastic Spider Thing'.
This work was created as the soundtrack to a ritual sex performance by Massimo and Pierce of Black Sun Productions, Zurich.
Radical young artists, fetish club owners and experienced male sex-workers since their teens, Massimo and Pierce recently began an extensive and ongoing collaboration with Coil on their European tour.
They will also be appearing with Coil live on the next section of their tour in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe between 15 and 31 October.
Pierce and Massimo are notorious in their own countries for their extraordinarily raw and truthful artworks and highly charged appearances, as well as for their SexClub which, even in the tolerant Swiss city of Zurich, is still frequently raided as a result of claims of deviant or lurid sexual activity. Bravery, sedition and scandal accompany the pair wherever they decide to travel and work.
Their latest performance 'Plastic Spider Thing' is a highly moral yet sexually explicit exploration into the relationship between the spider and the fly.
A soundtrack was commissioned from DraZen, the third member of their Black Sun artistic collective, who used loops and mutated fragments of numerous Coil works to produce this multi-levelled 'dronewerk'; by turns dark slabs of 'Time Machines'-style electronica and inspirational fluid soundscapes that suggest ideas and shapes while remaining mutable.
Coil themselves heard 'Plastic Spider Thing' for the first time whilst receiving a demonstration of various pieces of bondage machinery at a private ceremony at Massimo and Pierce's Club in Zurich.
Perhaps unsurprisingly under those circumstances, they were so impressed by the work that they immediately agreed to release it on their own Eskaton label.
'Plastic Spider Thing' is a subtle work of pulse-pieces and dream waves, spherical severities, manipulated syntax, words and sensation that makes the perfect accompaniment to any dark and extended personal excursion into the time-space playground.
'Sleep is better than Prayer'—AOS
August 14th, 2002
Russian promoters and record label Feelee will be welcoming Coil back to their country for two concerts this autumn. The shows will be taking place in Moscow (Sept 26th at DK Gorbunova) and Kaliningrad (Sept 29th at a venue t.b.a.). Opening both shows will be CoH.
August 12th, 2002
Coil have been announced as being the support act at the London date on the upcoming tour by Icelandic group Sigur Rós. It will be taking place on Tuesday, October 1st at Royal Festival Hall. Tickets are available online via this link. It's not known at this time if Coil will be appearing on any other dates of the tour, but as soon as we find out, it'll be posted here.
July 25th, 2002
Coil have been confirmed to performing at next year's UK edition of the All Tomorrow's Parties music festival. The festival is being curated by Autechre, and is taking place on the weekend of April 4th-6th 2003 at Camber Sands Holiday Centre. Other artists on the bill for the weekend include Aphex Twin, The Fall, Jim O'Rourke, Pita, Venetian Snares, Andrea Parker, Gescom, Bola and many more. Visit the ATP website for more info and to purchase tickets.
July 21st, 2002
Beta-Lactam Ring Recordings have posted an MP3 excerpt from Coil's upcoming 10" release on the label, The Restitution of Decayed Intelligence. Click here to download it (6.2 meg). An excerpt from the track can also be found on Beta-beat 01, a CD-R compilation of tracks/excerpts from all of the releases in BLRRs "Lactamase" 10" series. The compilation can be purchased via their website for $2.
Russia's Feelee Records have issued a second pressing of the Coil anthology releases A Guide for Beginners - A Silver Voiceand A Guide for Finishers - Golden Hair. Originally released in editions of 1000 copies each to coincide with Coil's September, 2001 performance in Moscow, they are now available again in second editions of 500 copies each.
July 1st, 2002
The four hour Coil special which aired on Dutch National Radio last year will be re-broadcast on NPS Radio 4 on the night of July 14th/morning of July 15th between 0:00 and 04:00 GET. The special features an extensive interview, rare tracks and a full recording of Coil's performance at The Paradiso in Amsterdam in June, 2001. A playlist from the original broadcast can found here, and a live net feed of NPS Radio 4 can be heard here.
June 17th, 2002
Tickets are now on sale for the Megalithomania! event that Coil is appearing at in October. Here is the info courtesy of Strange Attractor...
Megalithomania! tickets are available by post only from:
3rd Stone
PO Box 961
Devizes
Wiltshire
SN10 2TS
United Kingdom
Payment can be made with a cheque for £20.00 per ticket made out to '3rd Stone'.
Credit/debit payments (Visa and Mastercard only) are also possible; you will need to send us your card number, the name on your card and the card's expiry date.
Overseas ticket applications will be billed at £20.00 each and converted to local currency on your statement.
US Megalithomaniacs may make payment with a US$ cheque for 35.00 drawn on a US bank. Tickets and additional information will be despatched in mid August.
If you would like confirmation of your booking on receipt of your order please include a SASE.
(Scroll down or click here to view venue & line-up info for Megalithomania!).
June 14th, 2002
An excerpt from a recent newsletter from Robin Rimbaud aka Scanner:
"For those who missed the extraordinary sold out Play evening in London, it will be travelling slowly around the globe, beginning in Italy. Set in a stunning medieval fortress in Fano in the Marche region, the show will feature Coil, Mouse on Mars and myself presenting new work focusing on the influence of computer games."
The date for the Fano, Italy show is Sunday, July 28th, as part of Il Violino e la Selce, an annual festival of contemporary music.
MP3s of two Coil live performances (Paradiso in Amsterdam, June 1st 2001 and New Forms III Festival in Den Haag, June 7th 2002), as well as a 4 hour Coil special aired on Dutch radio last year, are now available for download at http://coil.vanleeuwen.to. Visitors will be asked a couple of skill-testing questions to test their Coil knowledge before being granted access to the site.
Here is the official announcement regarding the Megalithomania event that will feature a performance by Coil:
Megalithomania!
12 October 2002.
Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London.
A collaboration between Third Stone magazine and Strange Attractor, Megalithomania will be an all day celebration of sacred sites and standing stones as expressed through art, folklore, history and archaeology.
The day will hear talks by John Michell, Paul Devereux, Iain Sinclair and several other specialists in history, archaeology and folklore. We'll also be screening archival films and exhibiting photography and installations from the Circlemakers and other landscape-inspired artists.
The evening will feature live music sets by Wigwam, Drew Mulholland (Mount Vernon Arts Lab) and Coil.
Tickets are for the whole day only, priced at £20. These are not yet on sale. However, if you would like to receive more information, please email us on megalithomania@mac.com and we'll let you know as soon as tickets are available. Speaker details and further info will be available soon at www.strangeattractor.co.uk
Other live news direct from Balance:
We play den Haag on June 7th. A "Ritual" themed festival (New Forms III presented by Paard Op Hol). We are planning an ANAL communion cup and wafers. Transfiguration. Alongside Julian Cope. Pagans are GO! Thighpaulsandra is back aboard the mothership too, hurray! And we will have our Zürich Black Sun Pan Dancers Pierce Caliban Cock and Massimmo along too, so a full on live onslaught, hopefully.
Russia again - Moscow and St. Petersburg - and probably Krakow, Poland, and Stockholm too in September/October this year. Plans for USA Spring 2003 but we desperately need a reliable promoter!!! Can anyone help??? And then Mexico, Brazil and South America after that. And a full COIL 6 hour event at the Shepherds Bush Empire in London as soon as we can get slotted in.
April 29th, 2002
A short announcement from John Balance (via Ian Davey):
We play the Conway Hall (in central London) on October 12th as part of a Megalithomania evening with the magazine Third Stone and the group Mount Vernon Arts Lab.
April 21st, 2002
An interview feature with Coil is being broadcast today at 3 PM and 9 PM local time on Danish national radio. The feature will be available online starting tomorrow at www.dr.dk/kronometer.
April 3rd, 2002
The European tour is underway and reviews & reports from the inital shows have been favourable. A CDR of new material entitled The Remote Viewer is being sold at shows on the tour. It features three tracks ("Remote Viewing 1", "Remote Viewing 2", "Remote Viewing 3") and is limited to 500 copies.
The long out-of-print second album by Queen Elizabeth, a mid-90s collaboration between Thighpaulsandra and Julian Cope, has been reissued. It is entitled Queen Elizabeth 2: Elizabeth Vagina and is highly recommended for fans of Thighpaulsandra's solo work. Visit Cope's Head Heritage website for further info.
March 29th, 2002
Coil will be appearing live at the New Forms 2002 Festival, presented by Paard Op Hol at Theater aan het Spui in Den Haag, The Netherlands on June 7th and 8th. Other artists on the bill include Von Magnet, Biosphere, Christian Fennesz, Hazard, Little Axe (featuring Doug Wimbish, Skip McDonald, Keith Leblanc and Adrian Sherwood), John Wozencroft, Hector Alveilos and more. Tickets will be on sale as of Tuesday, April 7th at the Theater - visit their website for more information.
March 10th, 2002
Coil's direct mail order and information site Threshold House has been updated to include a list of confirmed European/UK live dates for March and April. They can also be seen in the Live section of this site. The band line-up for these shows will feature Balance, Sleazy, Ossian Sex-Shop (Simon Norris of Cyclobe), Cliff Stapleton (hurdy gurdy) and Michael York (Breton pipes, etc), and they will feature a "new set, new costumes, new projections and all sorts of other tricks".
Also announced on the site is a clear vinyl edition of the recent double LP pressing of Time Machines, limited to 100 signed copies of which 55 are available for sale.
Balance recently mentioned on the Coil list that they may be recording with Kawabata Makoto of Acid Mothers Temple in the not-too-distant future. They are also planning a new publishing imprint called The North Tower which will launch with a book of writings by Angus MacLise, a founding member of The Velvet Underground who is described bt Balance as "a liminal genius and, alongside such people as Ira Cohen, largely and unjustly semi-neglected".
Updates and upgrades to the discography section of this site which began in earnest late last year have been on-hold for the past few months, but we hope to get the process rolling again soon.
February 16, 2002
Today is John Balance's 40th birthday. Best wishes to him, and many happy returns!
February 13, 2002
Tour agents IBD are reporting that the April 2nd Coil show reported below has been moved from Bielefeld, Germany to Gent, Belgium at a venue called Vooruit. Visit the Live section of the site for a full list of planned dates.
Music by Coil was used as the soundtrack for the first installment in a four part TV series called Masters of Darkness which premiered this week on Channel 4 in the UK. Each episode features a profile of a different notorious historical figure - the first was on Rasputin, and future installments will profile Aleister Crowley, the Marquis de Sade and Dr. John Dee. Those who saw the Rasputin episode report that some of the music sounded unfamiliar, but it hasn't been confirmed by Coil whether or not any unreleased material was used for the soundtrack. It's also unclear if Coil will be heard on the other three installments.
February 3, 2002
According to booking agency IBD, another date has been tentatively added to Coil's planned European tour in March/April:
Apr 02: Bielefeld, Germany - Forum
Previously announced dates for the tour can be found below, and in the Live section of the site.
In addition, more information has been announced regarding Coil's performance in Limoges, France on March 30th. They will be appearing as part of a three day electronic/experimental music festival called Artooz 2002, which will also feature Étant Donnés, Michael Gira, Genesis P-Orridge, Pan sonic, Ammo and more. Visit the festival website for more information.
January 28, 2002
The double LP edition of Time Machines is released this week. Here is the info as provided by World Serpent:
Coil – Time Machines DBL LP.5021958497013. ESKATON 28.
First released on the CD format in January 1998 Time Machines and now made
available as a limited double vinyl LP. Time Machines consists of four tones to
facilitate time travel. This album is limited to 1,000 copies only.
On March 18th, a double CD compilation entitled Rough Trade Shops - Electronic 01 with be released via Mute Records. It will include the Elph vs Coil track "Ended" (as taken from Worship The Glitch), alongside tracks from Aphex Twin, Brian Eno, Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode, Fennesz, Pan Sonic, Autechre and many more.
January 21, 2002
Another message from Balance clarifying Thighpaulsandra's "departure" from Coil:
We HAD BEEN promised, assured that we had secured the unique and valuable services for our touring band of Thighpaulsandra, Martin Schallard and Tom Edwards, all of whom play with Spiritualized. We checked, and checked, and re-confirmed these delicate corporate operated manoeuvers again and again. Now we hear, having confirmed our COIL European dates, that the three are still waiting to hear from Jason Spaceman/Spiritualized when he would be needing them again, and that they could no longer come with us. What were we to do but seek new touring members.
I STILL WANT THIGHPAULSANDRA IN COIL. He has saved both my life and my sanity many times. He is indispensible. He has not been fired. I LOVE HIM and want whatever is best for him. I hope Threshold House will be releasing the new album by him in the future.
Once we get over the disappointment of not being able to play with him live we hope to continue to work together in other ways.
January 19, 2002
A brief news update from Balance:
Thighpaulsandra has left COIL choosing to work with Spiritualized instead. It's terrible. We want him back.
Anal album due (on Eskaton) 2nd week in Feb, It's called I Am Newport. Flourescent limited LP and CD. Newport is Jody's home town in Wales.To be followed in 2 months by a live album called Kiss Me Ringland.
We have completed three extra tracks for the CDR special edition of Moon's Milk (In Four Phases). One is an unpublished poem by Angus MacLise set to musick. No titles yet.
The poet Jeremy Read is coming to Threshold House soon to help me assemble the COIL complete lyric book entitled "The Dreamer Is Still Asleep". We hope to get it out around midsummer.
January 11, 2002
The Barbican, an arts and conference centre in London, UK, are reporting on their website that Coil will be appearing live along with Mouse On Mars and Plaid for a special computer game themed evening on April 27th. Here is the info they have posted:
"Computer games have long held a fascination for synth mavericks, from the Yellow Magic Orchestra’s celebration of Space Invaders to the chemical Brothers’ PlayStation soundtracks. This commission invites three exploratory electronica duos - oddball, highly English Gothic techno veterans Coil; warp-signed electro abstracters Plaid; and Cologne’s digital funk pairing Mouse on Mars to come and play. The event sees all three acts reworking original scores and composing new work as they accompany large screen edited graphics of computer games."
As with the European tour listed below, this event has yet to be confirmed by Coil themselves, but as soon as we get official word, it'll be posted.
Happy new year!
According to their European booking agency IBD, Coil are booked to play the following dates this spring:
Mar 30: Limoges, France - John Lennon Municipal Cultural Centre
Apr 03: city TBA, The Netherlands (TBC)
Apr 04: Zürich, Switzerland - Rote Fabrik
Apr 06: Bologna, Italy - Teatro delle Celebrazioni
Apr 07: München, Germany - Muffathalle
Apr 10: Hamburg, Germany - Fabrik
Apr 12: Berlin, Germany - Volksbühne
Apr 13: Glauchau, Germany - Alte Spinnerei
These shows have not been confirmed by Coil themselves. As soon as they are, we'll post it here.
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