In 1982
(l-r): Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding, Dave Gregory, Terry Chambers
Background information
Origin
Swindon,
England
Genre(s)
New
Wave, Alternative rock
Years active
1972 – present
Label(s)
Cooking
Vinyl, Geffen, Idea, Virgin
Associated
acts
The Dukes of Stratosphear
Website
Official website
Members
Andy
Partridge
Colin
Moulding
Former members
Dave
Gregory
Terry
Chambers
Barry Andrews
XTC are a New
Wave band from Swindon,
England.
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Contents
- 1 History
- 1.1 The
early years, 1972–1977
- 1.2 The
touring years, 1977–1982
- 1.3 The
studio years, 1982–1998
- 1.4 Going
independent, 1998–present
- 2 Discography
- 3 Related
artists and collaborations
- 4 References
- 5 External
links
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History
The early years, 1972–1977
First coming together in 1972, the core duo of Andy
Partridge (guitars & vocals) and Colin
Moulding (bass & vocals) went through many band names
(including The Helium Kidz and Star Park) over the next five years. As
the Helium Kidz, they were featured in a small NME article as an
up-and-coming band from Swindon. Drawing influence from the New
York Dolls and the emerging New York punk scene, they played glam rock
with homemade costumes and slowly built up a following. Drummer Terry
Chambers joined in 1973. Keyboard player Barry Andrews
followed in 1976, and the band finally settled on a name: XTC. By this
time, the punk
rock movement was in full swing, and XTC had found their style, a
unique brand of hyperactive pop mixed with funk, punk, ska, reggae, and art rock.
The touring years, 1977–1982
In 1977 XTC were signed by Virgin
Records. They recorded the 3D - EP that summer,
and followed it up with their debut LP White
Music in January 1978. White Music received
favorable reviews and entered the British top 40, but lead single "Statue of Liberty"
was banned by the BBC for making allegedly lewd references to the
famous statue ("in my fantasy I sail beneath your skirt").
After their second effort, Go 2,
and the accompanying bonus disc Go + (a collection of
dub mixes of songs from the album), Andrews left and was replaced by
guitarist and keyboardist Dave Gregory. Andrews went on
to form Shriekback
and also worked with Robert Fripp's League of Gentlemen.
With Gregory's arrival, the band scored their first charting single,
Moulding's "Life Begins at the Hop".
The loss of Andrews' distinctive keyboard playing started the
band on a path towards a more traditional rock sound, although Gregory
also contributed occasional keyboards (and later, string arrangements).
The resulting album, Drums and Wires,
contained the band's first big hit, "Making Plans for Nigel" (right),
which caused a minor controversy because of its lyrical reference to British
Steel. The album found the band branching out into more overtly
political topics, culminating in the unhinged ranting of "Complicated
Game", which became one of the band's most well-known non-hits. Drums
and Wires also marked their first sessions at London's Townhouse
Studios. The studio was at the time much sought after for its highly
reverberant "live" drum room, and it was greatly favoured by their
producer of the time, Steve Lillywhite and his engineer Hugh
Padgham.
XTC on the cover of a 1980 issue of Smash Hits
During this period, Partridge also further indulged his love
of dub, releasing a solo LP in 1980 under the name 'Mr Partridge'. The
album, Take Away/The Lure of
Salvage, featured radical dub deconstructions
of music from the preceding XTC albums. Later the same year Moulding
and Chambers released the "Too Many Cooks In The Kitchen" single under
the name The Colonel.
Their 1980 LP, Black
Sea spawned the hit singles "Sgt.
Rock (Is Going to Help Me)" and "Generals and Majors". The song "Sgt
Rock" namechecks the comic book character of the same name and reflects
Partridge's lifelong obsession with American comics, particularly the
work of Steve
Ditko.
The last major hit of XTC's touring phase was "Senses Working Overtime",
the first single from their double album English
Settlement and a top 10 hit in 1982. At the
peak of their popularity, the band embarked on a major tour, but
Partridge suffered a mental breakdown on stage during
one of the first concerts of the tour in Paris on March 18, 1982.
The studio years, 1982–1998
Andy Partridge's breakdown, which manifested itself as
uncontrollable stage fright, was reportedly
precipitated by his wife throwing away his supply of Valium. According
to the band's biography, Andy had become dependent upon the drug after
it was prescribed to him as a teenager during his parents' divorce. He
reportedly was never withdrawn from the drug and became dependent on it.
Concerned about her husband's dependence on the drug,
Partridge's wife ill-advisedly threw his tablets away — without seeking
medical advice — just before the Paris concert. Not surprisingly,
Partridge suffered anxiety attacks of such severity that he was soon
forced to withdraw from touring permanently. The European and British
dates were cancelled and after one show in San
Diego the whole US leg was also abandoned. Since then, XTC have been
exclusively a studio band, although they have given occasional
live-to-air performances from radio stations, and have made a handful
of TV appearances as well.
Chambers left the band shortly thereafter, during the
recording of their 1983 album Mummer.
He was unhappy with the confines of the studio, and also felt the loss
of income that resulted from their withdrawal from touring (he did not
write, and so received no publishing royalties). Another major factor
was his relationship with his Australian girlfriend; they subsequently
married, and Chambers migrated to Australia and settled in Newcastle, New South
Wales. Rather than finding a replacement, XTC have used a series of
session drummers over the years, including Peter
Phipps, Prairie Prince of The Tubes, Dave
Mattacks of Fairport Convention, Pat
Mastelotto of King Crimson and Mr.
Mister, Chuck
Sabo, and Dave Gregory's brother, Ian Gregory (as "E.I.E.I. Owen").
If Mummer saw Partridge cooling his heels
with pastoral songs like "Love on a Farmboy's Wages", the band's next
album took a noisy left turn. 1984's The
Big Express, surprised both their record
company and fans alike with its abrasive sound and became XTC's poorest
seller to date. The album was nonetheless a personal high point for
Partridge, who considers songs such as "(The Everyday Story of)
Smalltown" and "Train Running Low on Soul Coal" amongst the best he has
ever written.
In 1986, the band travelled to Todd
Rundgren's studio-in-the-woods in Woodstock,
New York to record Skylarking.
Although the pairing of XTC and Rundgren was highly anticipated by
fans, the sessions were less than enjoyable for the band. Rundgren had
insisted that the band send him, in advance, demos of all the songs
that they thought they might tackle for the record. When the band got
to Woodstock, Rundgren had already worked out a running order for both
the recording and sequence of the album itself. True to his "hands-on"
studio production style, Rundgren insisted that everyone adhere to his
scheme. This did not sit well with the band, Partridge in particular.
The two egos of Rundgren and Partridge clashed frequently during the
recording of Skylarking and when it was finished
Partridge said that he was not at all happy with the resulting product.
Partridge has since softened his view, describing the album as "a
summer's day baked into one cake."
Skylarking revived the band's commercial
fortunes, earning critical accolades and spawning the controversial hit
"Dear God", which was originally
issued as the B-side of the album's first single, "Grass". Interest in
the song saw the album re-pressed with "Dear God" included and the new
version of the LP sold 250,000 copies in the USA. ("Dear God" replaced
"Mermaid Smiled", which was absent from the album until it was finally
reinstated for the remastered Skylarking CD in
2000.) "Dear God" later received additional attention when Sarah
McLachlan recorded her own version .
The band's follow up, Oranges and Lemons,
produced by Paul Fox, was their
biggest seller yet, with "Mayor of Simpleton" and "King for a Day"
getting heavy airplay on MTV. It was during this period that Partridge
began a relationship with an American fan, Erica Wexler, the niece of famed
American record producer Jerry Wexler. Although signs of the
failing of Partridge's first marriage were evident as far back as English
Settlement (notably on the album's closing track, "Snowman"),
it was some time before the still-married Partridge felt comfortable
with Wexler's advances; this awkward situation is chronicled in the
song "Another Satellite". However, the relationship finally came to
fruition after Partridge's first wife Marianne left him. Wexler and
Partridge are happily together.
During their long career, XTC have also released material
under a variety of pseudonyms, including two albums of psychedelic
parodies
as "The Dukes of Stratosphear"
(ultimately released on a single CD, Chips from the
Chocolate Fireball, simultaneous with the
second album's vinyl release), a Viz
promotional single as "Johnny Japes and his Jesticles", a
Christmas-themed single as "The Three Wise Men" and a guest appearance
on their own tribute album Testimonial Dinner as
"Terry and the Lovemen".
Their 1992 album, Nonsuch
(named after Henry VIII's fabled palace),
united them with famed UK producer Gus Dudgeon and drummer Dave
Mattacks. The album featured the US and UK hit tunes "Dear
Madame Barnum" and "The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead"; the latter
bringing the band perhaps its greatest success after the early 1980s.
(The video for the song drew intriguing parallels between the deaths of
Jesus
Christ and John F. Kennedy.) In spite of the
LP's success, soon after it was released a contractual dispute with
their label, Virgin Records, saw XTC go "on
strike" from 1992 through 1998, finally resulting in the termination of
their contract. They issued no new material during this time, although
two compilations were released: Upsy
Daisy Assortment and the 2-CD set Fossil Fuel:
The XTC Singles 1977-1992, which featured
remastered versions of their singles, including many tracks not issued
on CD before.
Management and contractual problems had dogged the band
throughout their career, and around the time of the recording of Nonsuch
they had to make a legal settlement with their former manager. Although
most fans assume (and the lyrics of "I Bought Myself a Liarbird" from The
Big Express imply) that there was some financial impropriety
involved, the terms of the settlement imposed a "gag" on the band and
have prevented them from speaking publicly about the matter.
The final straw for the band was Virgin's scuttling of their
1992 single "Wrapped in Grey", which was pressed up in the tens of
thousands, and then recalled and destroyed by the label. The band asked
that Virgin either allow them to re-negotiate their contract or release
them, but the label stalled for years until finally agreeing to release
them after a change of management at the company.
Going independent, 1998–present
After leaving Virgin, Partridge had their accounts audited and
it was discovered that the company had withheld substantial royalty
payments from them. The settlement of the accounts provided the group
with much-needed cash flow, allowing Partridge and Moulding to install
fully-equipped studios and work comfortably at home. They are now able
to record the majority of their work themselves, although they have
used major commercial studios (including Abbey
Road Studios in London)
for some sessions. Finally released from Virgin, they formed their own
label, Idea
Records, and embarked on the recording of the ambitious "Apple Venus"
project, a collection of the best material written during the band's
dispute with Virgin. The band's initial plan had been to record a
double album, featuring one disc of acoustic and orchestral songs and
one of electric songs. However, financial constraints forced the band
to abandon the double album plan and finish and release the first
volume before completing the second.
However, this did not prove to be the end of their problems.
Dave Gregory left the band during the recording sessions for Apple
Venus Volume 1 after 20 years' service, and to
the horror of the band's loyal fans. Gregory was unhappy with the plan
to record an album whose arrangements relied largely upon orchestral
instruments and keyboards. What was not mentioned was that the cutting
back on his part on the new XTC recordings, particularly the string
arrangements (taken over by Andy Partridge), meant considerably fewer
"points" in the calculating out of royalties; as Gregory never wrote
any songs for the band, this resulted in a significant dent in his
potential income from the album, basically reducing his payments to
that of a session musician (Gregory is credited as a session musician
rather than as a band member on the finished album, as he left before
it was completed). Partridge later claimed in a press interview that he
and Colin were going to sack Gregory anyway because of his sullen
attitude during the recordings, and that they had waited for him for
six years to write the orchestral arrangements, and had finally told
him that they would not let him stop the project.
Dave Gregory's contribution to the XTC sound had been immense;
the technical skill of his guitar and keyboard playing, and his
orchestral scoring, had facilitated a huge expansion in the group's
sonic possibilities. His skills also encouraged, perhaps goaded
Partridge to new heights of musicianship. It is some measure of how
liked he was by the XTC fanbase that they gave Moulding &
Partridge pelters on the band's official forum for his departure — and
some measure of their mutual respect for their fans and Gregory that
the criticism went uncensored. The three got back together for a
charity reunion of their Dukes of Stratosphear alter-egos years later,
and Partridge has recently (November 2006) revealed that he and Gregory
have rekindled their friendship.
The band's next record, Wasp Star (Apple
Venus Volume 2) was the guitar-heavy collection
Gregory would have preferred. In October 2005, the two albums were
reissued together in the 4-CD Apple Box collection.
Now in control of their own work and with their own small
studio, Partridge and Moulding have released instrumental and demo
versions of their first two albums on Idea, Apple Venus
and Wasp Star. Having left Virgin, relations have
improved and Andy Partridge has since released a series of albums of
demos of his songs (mainly from the Virgin years) under the title of Fuzzy
Warbles in 2002, on a new label imprint APE.
Colin Moulding declined to contribute his demos to the series. The Fuzzy
Warbles series includes eight volumes along with a bonus CD, Hinges.
The Canadian Vancouver based singer-songwriter and jazzpoet Veda Hille
has released her latest album Return of the Kildeer
(2005) on APE records.
A boxed 4-CD compilation, Coat of Many Cupboards,
spanning the band's time with Virgin, was also released in 2002.
The 2005 inclusion on Apple Box of the
first new XTC tracks in five years ("Spiral", written by Partridge and
"Say It", by Moulding), offered hope that the band might continue.
However, in November 2006, Partridge told several interviewers that
Moulding no longer had any interest in writing, performing or even
listening to music. Partridge has said he would not continue XTC
without Moulding, and that therefore he has been forced to regard XTC
"in the past tense," with no likelihood of a new project unless
Moulding should have a change of heart. (Ironically, Partridge says he
and Gregory, their differences now resolved, have tentatively
considered working together again.)
Discography
-
Main article: XTC
discography
- Studio albums
- White Music
(1978)
- Go 2 (1978)
- Drums and Wires
(1979)
- Black Sea
(1980)
- English Settlement
(1982)
- Mummer (1983)
- The Big Express
(1984)
- Skylarking (1986)
- Oranges and Lemons
(1989)
- Nonsuch
(1992)
- Apple Venus Volume 1
(1999)
- Wasp Star (Apple
Venus Volume 2) (2000)
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Related artists and
collaborations
The following artists have worked with members of XTC:
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- Hugh Padgham
- Ryuichi Sakamoto
- Saeko Suzuki
- Jennifer Trynin
- David Yazbek
- Sam Phillips
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- Cathy Dennis
- Nicky Holland
- Terry Hall
- Mark Isham
- Brian Vander Ark
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The following bands have worked with members of XTC:
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- The Woodentops
- Moonriders
- Voice of the Beehive
- Porcupine Tree
- The Milk And Honey Band
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References
External links
| v • d • e XTC
|
| Band
members: Andy Partridge • Colin Moulding
Former
band members: Dave
Gregory • Terry
Chambers • Barry Andrews
Discography
Studio
albums: White
Music (1978) • Go 2
(1978) • Drums
and Wires (1979) • Black
Sea (1980) • English
Settlement (1982) • Mummer
(1983) • The
Big Express (1984) • Skylarking
(1986) • Oranges & Lemons
(1989) • Nonsuch
(1992) • Apple
Venus Volume 1 (1999) • Wasp Star (Apple
Venus Volume 2) (2000)
The Dukes of Stratosphear
releases: 25 O'Clock
(1985) • Psonic
Psunspot (1987) • Chips from the
Chocolate Fireball (1987)
Compilations,
instrumentals, demos, live and tribute albums: Take Away / The Lure
of Salvage (1980) • Waxworks: Some
Singles 1977-1982 (1982) • Beeswax: Some
B-Sides 1977-1982 (1982) • The
Compact XTC (1987) • Explode
Together: The Dub Experiments 78-80 (1990) •
Rag and
Bone Buffet: Rare Cuts and Leftovers (1990) •
BBC Radio 1
Live in Concert (1992) • Drums
and Wireless: BBC Radio Sessions 77-89 (1994) •
A Testimonial
Dinner: The Songs of XTC (1995) • Fossil Fuel:
The XTC Singles 1977-92 (1996) • Upsy
Daisy Assortment (1997) • Transistor
Blast: The Best of the BBC Sessions (1998) •
Homespun
(1999) • Homegrown
(2001) • Coat of Many Cupboards
(2002) • Instruvenus
(2002) • Waspstrumental
(2002) • Apple Box
(2005)
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