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Krischner Wire,Threaded Krischner Wire,Orthopedic Krischner Wire,Medical indianorthopaedic.com | index.html/Jaw wiring lap band.htm drted.com |
Wire are an English rock band formed in London in October 1976,[1] (and intermittently active to the present) by Colin Newman (vocals, guitar), Graham Lewis (bass, vocals), Bruce Gilbert (guitar), and Robert Gotobed (né Grey) (drums).[2] They were originally associated with the punk rock scene, appearing on the Live at the Roxy WC2 album - a key early document of the scene, and were later central to the development of post-punk.
[edit] OverviewInspired by the burgeoning U.K. punk scene,[2] Wire are often cited as one of the more important rock groups of the 1970s and 1980s. Critic Stewart Mason writes, "Over their brilliant first three albums, Wire expanded the sonic boundaries of not just punk, but rock music in general."[3] Wire are arguably a definitive art punk or post-punk ensemble, mostly due to their richly detailed and atmospheric sound, often obscure lyrical themes and, to a lesser extent, their Situationist political stance. The group exhibited a steady development from an early raucous punk style (1977's Pink Flag) to a more complex, structured sound involving increased use of guitar effects and synthesizers (1978's Chairs Missing and 1979's 154). The band gained a reputation for experimenting with song arrangements throughout their career. Following their reformation in 1986, The Ex-Lion Tamers (a Wire cover band, named after a song title from Pink Flag) were their opening act. The cover band played Wire's older material, while Wire themselves played only new material on that tour. [edit] HistoryWire's debut, Pink Flag (1977) contains songs which are very diverse in mood and style, but most use a minimalist punk approach, unorthodox structures, and several songs are under a minute in length; "Field Day For The Sundays" is only 28 seconds long.
Chairs Missing followed in 1978, and found Wire stepping back a bit from the stark minimalism of Pink Flag, with longer, more atmospheric songs and synthesizer parts by producer Mike Thorne. The experimentation was even more prominent on 154 (1979).[1] Many of the songs had bassist Graham Lewis on lead vocals. In 1979, creative differences pulled the band in various directions, culminating in the Document and Eyewitness LP (1981), a recording of a performance that featured almost exclusively new material. The LP came packaged with an EP of a different performance that was also new material. Some of these songs, along with others performed but not included on the album, ended up being included on Colin Newman's post-Wire solo albums ("5/10", "We Meet Under Tables"), while others resurfaced on releases by Gilbert and Lewis' primary post-Wire outlet Dome ("And Then...", "Ritual View"). There followed a period of suspension (1981-1985) in favour of solo and non-Wire collaborative projects, including the aforementioned Dome, Cupol, Duet Emmo, and several Colin Newman solo efforts. In 1985, the group reformed as a "beat combo" (a joking reference to early 60's beat music or even possibly beatniks), and increased their use of electronic musical instruments. The band released It's Beginning To And Back Again, in 1989 as a "live" album of mostly reworked versions of songs from The Ideal Copy and A Bell Is a Cup...Until It Is Struck. IBTABA was based on live recordings, heavily re-arranged, edited and remixed in the studio. One of the few new songs on the album, "Eardrum Buzz", became the band's biggest charting single. The increased use of electronics on the album Manscape caused Gotobed to fire himself in 1990 when he realised a drummer was unnecessary, even at live gigs. In response to his departure, Wire dropped one letter in their name to become "Wir" (still pronounced "wire"). Wir released The First Letter in 1991, which received a mixed reception, but whose electronics-heavy sound was arguably ahead of its time. Afterwards, the occasional collaborative effort punctuated a further period of solo recordings, during which Newman founded the Swim ~ label and latterly Githead with his wife (ex-Minimal Compact bassist Malka Spigel), but not until 1999 did Wire once again become a full-time entity. With Gotobed back in the line-up (now using his birth name, Robert Grey), the group initially reworked a substantial chunk of its back catalogue for a performance at Royal Festival Hall. Great receptions during a short tour of the U.S. and a number of UK gigs convinced the band to continue. Two EPs and an album Send (2003) followed, as well as live collaborations with stage designer Es Devlin and artists Jake and Dinos Chapman.[4] 2006 saw the re-release of Wire's 1970s albums returned to their original vinyl tracklistings. Rumours abounded of a renewal of activity to mark the 30th anniversary of the band's debut as a 4 piece & the release of Pink Flag in 2007. A third Read & Burn EP was released in November, 2007. A full length album of new material entitled "Object 47" was released in July 2008.[5] Bruce Gilbert was not involved in this recording, although according to Colin Newman, he did feature in a minimal capacity on the third Read and Burn EP.[6] [edit] InfluenceLike The Velvet Underground, Wire are a band whose influence has outshone their comparatively modest record sales. In the 1980s and 1990s, The Urinals, Manic Street Preachers, The Minutemen, R.E.M., and The Cure expressed a fondness for the group.[2] R.E.M. covered "Strange" on their Document album) and "What's The Frequency, Kenneth?" appears to emulate "Feeling Called Love" by Wire. Guided By Voices' Robert Pollard claimed that Wire were his favourite band, and that the fact that GBV's albums had so many songs was directly influenced by Wire's albums. One of My Bloody Valentine's last renditions was a cover of "Map Ref 41°N 93°W" for a Wire tribute entitled Whore. The song was selected as a favourite cover by Flak Magazine.[7] More recently, Fischerspooner (who covered "The 15th" on their #1 album), britpop bands like Elastica and Menswe@r and post-punk revival bands like Bloc Party, Futureheads, Blacklist, and Franz Ferdinand owe a debt to Wire. Blur's work, along with many more minor Britpop bands, have been particularly reminiscent of 1970s Wire at various points. Wire were influential on hardcore punk. Fans included Ian MacKaye of the hardcore punk band Minor Threat and Henry Rollins[8], formerly of Black Flag. Minor Threat covered "1 2 X U" for the Dischord Records compilation Flex Your Head and Henry Rollins, as Henrietta Collins & The Wife-Beating Childhaters, covered "Ex-Lion Tamer" on the EP Drive by Shooting. The German pop-punk band Die Aerzte covered "1 2 X U" calling the song "Lest die Prawda!" and changing the lyrics. Michael Azerrad reports, in Our Band Could Be Your Life, that at Minor Threat's second gig, each of the seven bands on the roster performed their version of a Wire song. Big Black covered Wire's "Heartbeat" twice, once as a studio version which was released as a single (also included on The Rich Man's Eight Track Tape compilation), and also as a live version featuring Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis that was included on the VHS version of their live album Pigpile. Amherst, Massachusetts punks Ampere recorded a cover of "Mr. Suit" from the album Pink Flag for their 2006 split with New York/Netherlands power-violence/punk act Das Oath. A plagiarism case between Wire's music publisher and Elastica, over the similarity between Wire's 1977 song "Three Girl Rhumba" and Elastica's 1995 hit "Connection", resulted in an out-of-court settlement. [edit] Sample
[edit] Discography[edit] Studio albums
[edit] Singles and EPs
[edit] Compilations & live albums
[edit] Singles chart placings
[edit] References
[edit] Sources
[edit] External links
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