David J in concert in 2006.

David J. Haskins (b. April 24, 1957, in Northampton, England) is a British alternative rock musician. He was the bassist for the seminal gothic rock band Bauhaus.

Life and work

David J wrote the lyrics of several Bauhaus songs (including their first single, "Bela Lugosi's Dead"). He sang backing vocals on many songs, and sang lead on "Who Killed Mr. Moonlight?" He began writing music for a solo career while still in the band, and continued after the band's breakup, releasing the dark Etiquette of Violence and Crocodile Tears and the Velvet Cosh, and played bass on two Jazz Butcher albums (A Scandal in Bohemia and Sex and Travel). J was also a part of the strange and very short-lived band The Sinister Ducks, which included saxophonist Alex Green and graphic novelist Alan Moore. He also released a collaborative single, "Armour" / "Nothing" with artist / poet, Rene Halkett of the original Weimar Bauhaus school of art and design.

In 1985, J, his brother Kevin Haskins, and Daniel Ash formed Love and Rockets, again playing bass guitar but also sharing songwriting and vocal duties with guitarist Daniel Ash. His most notable lead vocal from this period was the minor hit "No New Tale to Tell". J maintained his solo career during breaks from Love and Rockets, releasing Songs From Another Season and Urban Urbane after his band's success with the single "So Alive." He also released one of the first #1 hits from the newly created Modern Rock Tracks charts, with "I'll Be Your Chauffeur". Love and Rockets broke up in 1998, after seven albums, J participated in a Bauhaus reunion that same year. Following what was billed as a one-off performance of the band at the 2005 Coachella concert festival, Bauhaus reformed for a successful tour of the Americas in late 2005 and Europe in early 2006.

J has also appeared on releases by Porno for Pyros and Jane's Addiction. J joined Joyce Rooks and Don Tyler to make up the instrumental ensemble Three, who released their first album, Evocations in late 2005. He played bass guitar for several tracks on the electro musician Mount Sims' 2005 release Wild Light.

In 2003, he started working on the instrumental score for an independent film about Elizabeth Short directed by Ramzi Abed, which includes guest artists and singers like Ego Plum, Johnny Dowd, Abby Travis and Nora Keyes to name a few. He has also regularly shown his art in galleries across the globe, as well as been a resident DJ at numerous Hollywood hot-spots like The Standard Hotel and Knitting Factory. In 2005 he composed the original music for a stage production of Samuel Beckett's 'Cascando'.

Discography

• The Etiquette of Violence (1983) (Situation Two)
• Crocodile Tears and the Velvet Cosh (1985) (Glass)
• On Glass (1986) (Glass) (compilation of singles and EPs)
• Songs From Another Season (1990) (RCA)
• Urban Urbane (1992) (MCA)
• Estranged (2003) (Heyday)

Singles

External links

• Official website
• AllMusicGuide entry
• Myspace Page