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news 2003

December 29th, 2003

Danny Hyde, the long time collaborator and sometimes co-writer of Coil, is working on his first album. It is planned to contain reworkings of some Coil tracks that he co-wrote (such as "Nasa Arab", "First Dark Ride" and "An Unearthly Red"), an interesting cover of Devo's "Mongoloid", and new songs including some vocalised by John Balance.

Danny hopes to have it ready for release by July 2004, and it will be a limited edition release. A website will appear for the album in due course. Those who would like to be kept informed of the pending release should email dannyhyde AT hotmail DOT com with Subject="Album".


December 1st, 2003

A quick announcement from our friends at Black Sun Productions:

"Black Sun Productions is planning to edit a film about our collaboration with Coil. It's planned to be our personal / artistic impression on what is like to be on stage with Coil - part of Coil. It will feature live + backstage footages from our archives. The title came before everything else: ENO ERA EW. We're talking with Sleazy about how to make it as different and complementary as possible from the four live DVD Coil will release in early 2004."


November 15th, 2003

No new Coil news to report, but we've got some info from a couple of releated artists.

First - a message from Cyclobe:

"We're pleased to inform you that the proposed 7" of Pathfinder has at last been completed and is about to be released on the Klanggalerie label based in Vienna, Austria. Announced as a work in progress many eons ago when the Universe was less than half its present size, "Pathfinder" is 'Cyclobe pop!'... Something you can clack your claws to. The b-side "Remember, Archangels Protect Us..." is an entirely new work and a pre-echo of the next Cyclobe album proper, which we hope will be completed early 2004. It's a song from the birds about our marrage to the stars, an electrosonic Cyclobian hymn. Pathfinder will be released on the 10th of December in a limited edition of only 200 copies, 100 black vinyl and 100 white vinyl both with insert, and pre-orders are available now from the Klanggalerie website."

Secondly - a website has recently been launched by the former members of Cultural Amnesia, a group that John Balance was associated with before his time with Psychic TV & Coil. Active between 1979 and 1983, with a brief reconfiguration in 1998, the group recorded three albums, with Balance contributing some lyrics & writings and releasing some of their material on his Hearsay and Heresy label. The site is a very complete informational archive about the group, and will soon feature sound samples as well.


September 5th, 2003

The first non-Coil release on Eskaton since CoH's Love Uncut EP will be available later this month via World Serpent:

Mount Vernon Astral Temple: Musick That Destroys Itself: ESKATON 32

Coil were so impressed by Mount Vernon Arts Lab when they played with them at the Megalithomania event at London's Conway Hall that they offered their involvement in Drew Mulholland's seventh release, 'Musick That Destroys Itself', (his first as Mount Vernon Astral Temple) by releasing it on their Eskaton label.

Peter Christopherson designed artwork, which features the mysterious 'time machine' in Brompton cemetery, built by Samuel Warner and Joseph Bonomi in the late 19th century to an ancient Egyptian blueprint.

The music itself was created to celebrate the palindromic loop of 2002, and the tracks 'London Praises its Ancient Gods' and 'Warner's Reverie' are exactly 20'02" long for that reason (as well as to tie in with the rite carried out at Greenwich at 2 minutes past 8 on 2 February).

There has been extensive coverage of Mulholland's work in The Wire, as well as pieces on Resonance FM. BBC Radio 3's' Mixing It' programme recently interviewed Mount Vernon Astral Temple and played selected tracks from the ESKATON 32X CD. 'Musick That Destroys Itself' is presented in a glossy digipak format, with the first pressing also having an extra CD, ESKATON 32X CD that will not be otherwise available. ESKATON 32X contains both live and otherwise unavailable material. This Eskaton release is limited to 1000 copies only.


August 17th, 2003

Coil's official news & mail order site Threshold House was updated earlier this week with some news. Here are a couple of highlights:


July 18th, 2003

Throbbing Gristle will be reuniting for a one-off performance at RE-TG, a three day "Celebration of Industrial Musics in the 21st Century" taking place at Camber Sands Holiday Resort near Rye, England on 14th -16th May 2004.

In addition to appearing together on the closing night of the festival, all four members of TG are scheduled to perform sets by their current projects (Coil, Thee Majesty, Carter Tutti), and many guests will also be on the bill including Matmos, Black Dice, Scanner, Richard H. Kirk, Pan sonic, Merzbow, People Like Us, Thighpaulsandra and more.

In a couple of recent posts to the Coil mailing list, Sleazy had the following to say about RE-TG:

"Jhon tells me he is commited and looking forward to appearing as/with COIL at the TG weekend next May. Of course it is so far ahead (at the moment) that anything could happen to his health, aspirations, voice, and of course, mind in the mean time, but as of now he IS scheduled to appear.

"In the unlikely event of Jhon and/or Coil mutating beyond recognition, the show will feature the first appearance of a entirely new entity Left Hand Path (me with a new band I am working on).

"Please note TG is NOT REFORMING. If there is sufficient interest we may play the following weekend as well in the same setting rather than turn people away, but I can put my hand on my heart and promise this is a one-off deal - TG will NOT be coming to a stadium/theatre/factory near you EVER!

"I only agreed to appear live on stage in TG on the understanding that we would NOT do one of those crap 'come-back' type events, where a bunch of old people (us) just play old songs and try to make it like it was then - The TG show will be a function of where the four of us are NOW, working together with the benefit of hindsight, experience, highs and lows etc. There may be some old material but it will NOT be some kind of nostalgia trip. The event is a celebration of the Industrial genre - which I guess we did arguably kick off - FOR THE 21ST CENTURY.

"NOTE: I would suggest you do not panic prematurely, max out your credit cards, hock the TV or your ass to someone you dont fancy - There's plenty of time to plan carefully - choose your friends - save up or whatever. If the tickets should sell quickly we still have the following weekend at the site in reserve... so even if you dont book this very week you are not likely to miss out."

More information about RE-TG can be found at http://www.throbbing-gristle.com and http://www.mute.com/tg.


June 30th, 2003

Images and sound samples from Thighpaulsandra's new album Double Vulgar have been posted to thighpaulsandra.com.


June 27th, 2003

Coil's official news & mail order site Threshold House has been updated with several announcements. Here are the highlights:


June 21st, 2003

Streaming Quicktime versions of four Coil videos are now available for viewing. Links can be found on the Music page, or for those too lazy to go searching there, here are direct links:


June 4th, 2003

World Serpent have annouced that the final installment in the series of four live COIL albums (which are being released in reverse order), as well as Thighpaulsandra's delayed 'solo' album, will be released in mid-June. Here are the full announcements:

COIL • Live One • 2CD • LOCI CD 18

CD 1: 2 April 2000; Royal Festival Hall (Cornucopea festival), London, England.

Tracklisting: Everything Keeps Dissolving: Circulating: Chasms

COIL were: Jhon Balance; Peter Christopherson; Ossian Brown; Thighpaulsandra

Originally released as the limited Coil Presents Time Machines(ESKATON CD 24); long deleted, and available only with the mail order version of Musick to Play in the Dark Vol. 2.

CD 2: 17 June 2000; SONAR festival, Barcelona, Spain.

Tracklisting: Everything Keeps Dissolving: Amethyst Deceivers: Circulating: The Universe is a Haunted House: Chasms: Elves

COIL were as in London, but also featuring Bill Breeze on viola. Our thanks to the member of the audience who made this recording. Clothes and costumes designed by Jhon Balance, Ossian Brown, David Cabaret and Nicola Bowery, and made by David Cabaret.

Thighpaulsandra • Double Vulgar • CD • RETRACTOR 1CD

Double Vulgar is the latest release from Thighpaulsandra and continues the voyage of sonic discovery and juxtaposition started on I, Thighpaulsandra in 2000 and strays further from the paths trodden by his brothers in Coil and Spiritualized. Like I, Thighpaulsandra, Double Vulgar was originally conceived as a double album but as the project grew it was decided to release it in two, more easily digestible, parts. The second album will appear in the autumn of 2003.

On Double Vulgar ensemble performance is brought to the fore. Thighpaulsandra has marshalled his collaborators into a vital and efficient unit. Dorothy Lewis, Martin Schellard, Sin Orgon and The Boy Anal steer an obscure and sometimes perilous course slipping seamlessly between complex arrangements, chemical-fuelled improvisation, hard electronics and joyful glam ejaculation. There are also guest appearances from John Balance, Ossian Brown and Cliff Stapleton. The controversial cover is by Peter Christopherson and there will be a limited edition set of artwork prints available from thighpaulsandra.com and thresholdhouse.com.

The tracklisting is as follows: The Bush Administration Project: Slammer: On the Horns of Magda Reuth: The Circumcision of Christ: Double Vulgar: He Tastes of the Sea: His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales Breaches Reality


June 3rd, 2003

In an interview in the latest issue of metal/hardcore/industrial magazine Terrorizer, Sleazy reveals that the Live One release will be "a double CD containing the first performance we did at the Royal Festival Hall in London (April 2, 2000) and a performance we did at Sonar in Barcelona (June 17, 2000) where there was a kind of riot."

The Royal Festival Hall performance was previously available as a limited edition CD available with initial mail order copies of Musick To Play In The Dark Vol. 2, while the Sonar perfomance is previously unreleased. The release date for this new double CD is unknown.

Peter was also quoted as saying to someone on the Coil mailing list who met him in Montral that the limited edition CD ANS that has been available at the last couple of Coil shows will be given a wider release as a double-CD later this year.


May 29th, 2003

A compilation CD entitled MUTEK 03 has just been released featuring tracks by 15 of the artists appearing at this year's MUTEK fesitval. Coil is one of the contributors with a new track entitled "The Test". The disc can be purchased online via ElectroCD.com.


May 28th, 2003

Coil's official mail order website, Threshold House, has been updated with the news that Jhon Balance will not be appearing at the upcoming live performances in Montreal (May 29th), Porto (June 21st) and Birmingham (July 12th). The shows will instead "feature a 'leaner' and largely instrumental line up with Peter Christopherson & Thighpaulsandra performing a more intimate set than the full-on 6 piece Coil performances of last year."

Following these three festival appearances, Coil have no further live dates planned, and it is unlikely that they will perform live again until Summer, 2004 at the earliest.


May 19th, 2003

SAF Publishing have announced that due to problems with their printer, England's Hidden Reverse - David Keenan's book on Coil, Current 93 and Nurse With Wound - has been delayed and will now be released in June.

The book will be launched with an event at Monorail Music in Glasgow. David Keenan will be in attendance to read from the book and select key cuts by Coil, Current 93, Nurse With Wound et al. There will also be a short Q&A:

Thursday 5 June at 7.30 PM
Monorail Music: 12 Kings Court, King Street, Glasgow G1 5RB
Tel: +44 (0)141 552 9458


April 30th, 2003

World Serpent have annouced the release of the third in the series of four live COIL albums (which are being released in reverse order). It's due out "very shortly", and here is the full information:

COIL • Live Two • CD • LOCI CD 19

DK Gorbunova, Moscow, Russia, 15 September 2001.

Third in the Coil Live series, once again in a digipak with matt UV finish and spot gloss.

Tracklisting: Something/Higher Beings Command: Amethyst Deceivers: What Kind of Animal Are You: Blood from the Air: The Green Child: Constant Shallowness Leads to Evil

COIL were: Jhon Balance; Peter Christopherson; Thighpaulsandra; Tom Edwards. Live engineer: Russell Polden. Clothes and costumes designed by Jhon Balance, Ossian Brown and David Cabaret, and made by David Cabaret.


April 26th, 2003

An important message from Black Sun Productions, the sex ritual performance group with close ties to Coil:

On the early morning of March 31st 2003, Black Sun Productions' offices in the city of Zurich have been raided by the vice squad of the metropolitan police. Computers, cameras, tapes, DVDs, magazines, pictures have been confiscated in order to be copied and investigated.

The charge against us is "illegal pornography". According to swiss' laws any picture showing human excrements, including urine, is illegal pornography. Piss is a central element of our sex ritual magick and performances and artworks.

We used to publish on our website some pictures from performances showing ourselves making use of piss: for this reason we'll be punished with a penalty or, in the worst of cases, prison. We are waiting for the relevant authority to pronounce a decision; in the meanwhile we are meeting the considerable expense of a lawyer.

We ask to everyone who believes that artistic freedom is a value to defend to support us in this difficult moment. In order to finance the legal costs we ask you to support us buying stuff from the Black Sun Productions Catalogue or from our Charity Shop.

In order to support our fund raising campaign, Threshold House allowed us to release a new ART LTD EDITION of the Plastic Spider Thing CD (each copy will be delivered with a signed original polaroid taken from past PST rituals). This ltd edition can be purchased only through the BSP website.

Thanks also to everyone who's bidding on our COIL memorabilia ebay auctions. We feel we're not alone in this fight against the New Dark Ages of Hypocrisy and Moralism and Homophobia (see also the troubles Coil member Thighpaulsandra is having beacuse of the artwork of his new CD. Love and strength to him).


April 22nd, 2003

The track listing has been announced for the CD that will accompany the initial printing of England's Hidden Reverse, David Keenan's upcoming book on Coil, Current 93 and Nurse With Wound:

Nurse With Wound: Pre-Menstrual Music For Merry Maidens

Current 93: The Great Bloody and Bruised Veil of this World • Niemandswasser • In the Heart of the Wood and What I Found There • The Frolic • Whilst the Night Rejoices Profound and Still

Coil: Slur • Are you Shivering? • Chaostrophy • Amethyst Deceivers • The Lost Rivers of London

It was previously believed that this CD would include unreleased material by all three artists, but this does not appear to be the case after all. For further information on this book, visit SAF Publishing.

Thighpaulsandra has announced on his website that his album Double Vulgar has been delayed. Here is what he had to say about it...

"My new album 'Double Vulgar' has run into trouble at the printers and is consequently delayed. Sony in Austria were supposed to be printing the CDs and had approved the artwork for printing in December 2002. Unfortunately as the album went to press Sony decided that the artwork content was too 'dangerous' and have declined to print it. Eight other CD manufacturers have been aproached and have also declined the work. It seems the artwork will have to be modified in order not to cause offence and this will inevitably delay the release somewhat. It's nice to know that homophobia is alive and thriving in Europe. I'll keep you informed of the new release date."


April 8th, 2003

Several attendees at the All Tomorrows Parties festival report that the merchandise table was selling a three track CD of "gentle drone" material by COIL. The disc was packaged in a black clamshell case with no information except for the words "COIL ANS" printed on the disc. It is most likely that this material was recorded using the ANS Synthesizer, a one-of-a-kind photoelectronic instrument at Moscow State University, during COIL's visit to Moscow last fall.

Unlike previous limited releases that were made available at live shows, this album is not a CDR but a pressed CD with the matrix info 'LM 4488/ESK80N34/WORLD SERPENT' printed on the inner rim. This suggests that a full scale release of this album via Eskaton/World Serpent is planned.


March 31st, 2003

According to the website of IBD, COIL's primary booking agency, they will be making several festival appearances this Spring and Summer. Dates announced so far include the following:

April 6: All Tomorrows Parties - Camber, East Sussex, England
May 29: Mutek2003 - Montreal, Quebec, Canada
June 21: Casa da Música Festival - Porto, Portugal
July 12: Supersonic Festival - Birmingham, England


March 30th, 2003

World Serpent have annouced the release of the second in the series of four live COIL albums (which are being released in reverse order). It's due out on March 31st, and here is the full information:

COIL • Live Three • CD • LOCI CD 20

Teatro Delle Celebrazioni, Bologna, Italy, 6 April 2002

Second in the COIL Live series, once again in a digipak with matt UV finish and spot gloss.

Tracklisting: Anarcadia/All Horned Animals . Amethyst Deceivers . Slur . A Cold Cell . Broccoli . Paranoid Inlay . Sick Mirrors . AYOR . Backwards

COIL were: Jhon Balance; Peter Christopherson; Ossian Brown; Mike York and Cliff Stapleton with additional performance by Pierce and Massimo of Black Sun Productions. Live engineer: Andy Ray. Clothes and costumes designed by Jhon Balance and Ossian Brown and made by Ossian Brown.


February 14th, 2003

The first in a planned series of four live COIL albums will be released on February 24th via Threshold House & World Serpent:

COIL • Live Four • CD • LOCI CD 21

Working BACKWARDS the first in a set of four COIL live albums begins with the final concerts of the last tour. Presented in a spot UVd digipak, 'COIL Live Four' consists of material from: 27 October 2002, Palac Akropolis, Prague, Czech Republic (tracks 1 and 10) and 29 October 2002, Flex, Vienna, Austria (tracks 2–9)

Tracklisting: I am Angie Bowie • Last Rites of Spring • Are You Shivering? • Amethyst Deceivers • A Warning from the Sun • The Universe is a Haunted House • Ostia • I Don't Want to be the One • Bang Bang • An Unearthly Red

For these concerts COIL were: Jhon Balance; Peter Christopherson; Ossian Brown; Thighpaulsandra with Pierce and Massimo (Black Sun Productions). Live engineer: Andy Ray. Assisted by Tom McGinley. Clothes and costumes designed by Jhon Balance, Ossian Brown and David Cabaret (inspired by Jean Benoit) and made by David Cabaret.


January 27th, 2003

Thighpaulsandra will be releasing a new album entitled Double Vulgar on the newly formed Retractor label via World Serpent on March 17th, 2003. Rather than release another double album, Thighpaulsandra has decided to release two single albums (the second of which should appear in late June/July). There will also be a limited art edition set of prints available designed to enhance the intensely homoerotic listening experience. The cover is another Christopherson classic. The track listing is as follows:

  1. The Bush Administration Project
  2. Slammer
  3. On The Horns Of Magda Reuth
  4. The Circumcision Of Christ
  5. Double Vulgar
  6. He Tastes Of The Sea
  7. His Royal Highness The Prince Of Wales Breaches Reality

The album features contributions from Martin Schellard, Siôn Orgon, The Boy Anal, John Balance, Ossian Brown, Dorothy Lewis and Cliff Stapleton. Rehearsals are underway for some Thighpaulsandra shows. European and US tour dates are currently trying to be arranged around the COIL and Spiritualized schedules.


January 20th, 2003

Spoiler - a "globally unique platform for electronic popular culture" located in Vienna, Austria - have teamed up with Subetage Records to release a series of DVDs featuring recordings of the lectures & workshops that they have been holding since last September. Included in this series is a two hour recording of COIL's appearance there on October 30th, 2002.

There is a catch, however: Each DVD is limited to a single copy which can be borrowed free of charge from the Spoiler library. Spoiler and their library can be found at Museumsplatz 1 in Vienna.


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