Coil consists of John Balance and Peter (Sleazy) Christopherson. As described below is a brief "wealth of disinformation", as termed by John Balance, consisting of both Sleazy's and John's past projects, etc.

Coil formed in 1983 while both Sleazy and John were involved in PTV. As quoted from John, "I initially did material when PTV were at a low ebb material-wise. I did some performances with Soft Cell, Marc Almond, and a few on-off live events and it helped me become accustomed to live presentations. I worked as Lustmored (along with B. Nemo Credo - on the Lustmord, Sterile Records album)." Sleazy was in Throbbing Gristle, PTV, and has produced 23 Skidoo, Monte Cazazza, Leather Nun, etc. He also designed album covers from groups like Pink Floyd and Genesis, to The Cortinas, A Certain Ratio, Monte Cazazza, and has done videos for Yes, Robert Plant, etc.

Unsound: Why did you break away from PTV?

Sleazy: Because of the increasing rift between us and Genesis in terms of attitudes and priorities.

John: That's all we want to say on that... I'd appreciate it if that is all you say in answer to this question and particularly to ignore and note quote anything else I might have wrote previously on this matter. There is so much gossip and bad blood around and we want to move out of that area and get on with our COIL projects.

U: What is (was) the difference musically and content wise between COIL and PTV?

J: Hard to answer. Every PTV thing was different, especially on the LPs. We always do what we are interested in at the time. Some themes are new and some are old obsessions. We haven't made a conscious effort to move away from what might be considered PTV type themes. Maybe it's more male orientated, in that we have no female members and PTV did have and had a very definite feminine / lunar side. We are conscious of our sexual position. We choose male dynamic subjects given the choice because that is our state at the moment and we are not interested in passive choices.

U: What are your foundations within the magick realm?

J: I have been interested and actively involved in such areas since I was 10. And have been forcefully and repeatedly discouraged by parents, teachers, doctors etc. to have nothing to do with such things. I was put in a mental home for 2 months and was diagnosed as a schizophrenic because they messed me around and stopped me doing things like that. The breakdown came as a result of their interference and not because of the things I was doing.

U: What do you expect from your audience when performing live, etc...?

S: We expect nothing but hope for sensible contact that includes sex.

J: I have long drawn out worries and mental battles over this point. Performer/audience relationships are very tenuous and complicated. I expect nothing, again, but hope for some communion, some inkling of beauty or horror, to inspire something in the watcher. When I see a live group I want to see total commitment, and even if I hate the sounds I can respect that in a group, or a performance. Or to experience something that I wouldn't be able to in any other circumstance. I change my views on this all the time. Maybe I should just say sex too.

U: Is your music composed... if so how?

S: All the music starts with an idea, (rarely a musical one), upon which / around which sounds are laid. Instinctively. Usually one at a time, either on multitrack tape machines or other storage media. Instinct dominates

U: Is there a specific purpose for releasing material beyond the obvious?

J: What are the obvious? Money? Satisfaction of creative urges? A deep question again. It's not possible to answer that really. Of course there are reasons. And we obviously believe that we have something important to contribute and to express. To sound cliched an naive, we are fighting back by example. We are establishing a viable alternative to what music is around and using this to carry over ideas and messages that might not come across unless we released stuff. Even this isn't enough. Society and the hovering self regulating spectre of CONTROL will always attempt to 'normalise' the deviant. Or destroy like a white cell would a foreign body in the bloodstream. It never realises that normality is the deviant and that it does not exist. We must always fight against this process and help to expose the mechanisms that are at work. It's been said before and far better but the situation remains the same and so it needs to be continually said.

U: What are your methods of collaboration with each other?

S: Anal.

J: Complex.