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Wire (band)

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Wire

Wire are an English band formed in 1976 (and intermittently active to the present) by Graham Lewis (bass, vocals), Bruce Gilbert (guitar), Colin Newman (vocals, guitar) and Robert Gotobed (né Grey) (drums). They were originally associated with the punk rock scene, appearing on the Live at the Roxy album - a key early document of the scene - but with hindsight their work, particularly their first three albums, was central to the development of post-punk.

Overview

Influenced by artists as diverse as the Ramones and Brian Eno, 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."[1]

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 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.

History

Wire's debut, Pink Flag (1977) was a landmark of early punk rock. The songs are very diverse in mood and style, but most use a very minimalistic punk approach, unorthodox structures, and several songs under a minute in length; "Field Day For The Sundays" clocks in at only 28 seconds.

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"Outdoor Miner"
Sample of "Outdoor Miner", taken from Chairs Missing (1978)
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Template:Sample box end 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 innovative synthesizer parts by producer Mike Thorne.

The experimentation was even more prominent on 154 (1979) which found a clear division within the direction of the group. There were some of Wire's poppiest moments in "Map Ref." & "The 15th", but the band started to show an experimental and darker side on tracks such as "A Touching Display" & "The Other Window". Many of the songs also showcased bassist Graham Lewis in a much more prominent role on lead vocals.

In 1979, however, creative differences pulled the band in various directions, culminating in the Document & Eyewitness LP (1981), a recording of a performance that featured almost exclusively new material. The material was much looser and more experimental than what had come before it. The LP also came packaged with an EP of a different performance that was also new material, but this was presumably material intended for Wire's never recorded 4th album. Some of this material ended up being included on Colin Newman's post-Wire solo albums.

There followed a period of suspension (1981-1985) in favour of solo and non-Wire collaborative projects, including Dome, Cupol, Duet Emmo, and several Colin Newman solo efforts. In 1985, the group reformed to renewed critical acclaim, but without carving quite the same niche as in the earlier decade. Reforming as a "beat combo" (a joking reference to early 60's beat music or even possibly beatnicks), the group became increasingly immersed in electronics. 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. Ostensibly a live album IBTABA was in fact based on live recordings, but they were so heavily re-arranged, edited and remixed in the studio that it is doubtful whether IBTABA would qualify as a live album in the most common sense. 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 famously fire himself in 1990 when he realised a drummer was unnecessary, even at the band's 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. The band's sound changed again, to one largely based around clockwork guitar hooks and very fast drum beats. Two EPs and an album Send (2003) followed, as well as live collaborations with stage designer Es Devlin and artists Jake and Dinos Chapman.

2006 has seen the re-release of Wire's 70's albums returned to their original vinyl tracklistings and the institution of Wire's own MySpace page. Rumours abound of a renewal of activity to mark the 30th anniversaries of the band's debut as a 4 piece & the release of Pink Flag which will occur in 2007.

Influence

Like The Velvet Underground, Wire are a band whose influence has outshone their comparatively modest record sales. In the 1980s, The Urinals, The Minutemen, and R.E.M. (who covered "Strange" on their Document album) expressed a fondness for the group. Guided By Voices's Robert Pollard claimed that Wire was his favorite 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 "Map Ref 41°N 93°W" for a Wire tribute entitled Whore. The song was selected as a favorite cover at Flak magazine.[2] More recently, Fischerspooner (who covered "the 15th" on their #1 album), Elastica, Menswear, Bloc Party, Futureheads and Franz Ferdinand owe a debt to Wire. Blur's work, along with many more minor Britpop bands, has been particularly redolent of 1970s Wire at various points.

Wire were also influential on hardcore punk. Fans included Ian MacKaye of the hardcore punk band Minor Threat and Henry Rollins, formerly of the seminal hardcore band Black Flag. Minor Threat covered "12.X.U" for the Dischord Records compilation Flex Your Head and Henry Rollins, as Henrietta Colins & The Wife-Beating Childhaters, covered "Ex-Lion Tamer" on the E.P. Drive By Shooting. 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 (the single is 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".

Wire influenced the Britpop movement; a poorly presented 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 a rather low out-of-court settlement. The band were not consulted. The riff to "Connection" is in fact the riff to "3 Girl Rumba" sampled and transposed a semitone.

Wire's influence & stature continues to grow in spite of only ever having enjoyed modest sales. The rateyourmusic website tracks a "popularity" way out of scale to the band's standing in popular culture and makes fascinating reading. For example as of October 2006 - Pink Flag is rated #9 for 1977 , #202 overall (entire history tracked by the site) - Chairs Missing #3 for 1978 , #145 overall - 154 #11 for 1979 , #402 overall - Read & Burn 01 #6 for 2002 , #159 overall & most remarkably Read & Burn 02 a release only available at live shows in 2002 and via posteverything mail order #17 for 2002 , #378 overall.

Wire's song "I Don't Understand" from Read & Burn 01 was sampled for a Victoria's Secret television advertisement.

United States' garage rock band New Bomb Turks recorded a slowed-down quasi-rapcore version of Wire's "Mr. Suit", from the album Pink Flag, in their first full-length album "!!Destroy Oh Boy!!"

Sample

Discography

Studio albums

Singles and EPs

  • Mannequin / 12XU / Feeling Called Love (November 1977)
  • I am the Fly / Ex-Lion Tamer (February 1978)
  • Dot Dash / Options R (June 1978)
  • Outdoor Miner / Practice Makes Perfect (January 1979, UK #51)
  • A Question of Degree / Former Airline (June 1979)
  • Map Reference 41°N 93°W / Go Ahead (October 1979)
  • Our Swimmer / Midnight Bahnhof Cafe (May 1981)
  • Crazy About Love / Second Length (Our Swimmer) / Catapult 30 (March 1983)
  • Snakedrill (EP, November 1986)
  • Ahead / Feed Me (live) (March 1987)
  • Kidney Bingos / Pieta (March 1988, UK #88)
  • Silk Skin Paws / German Shepherds (June 1988)
  • Life in the Manscape / Gravity Worship (May 1990)
  • So and Slow It Goes / Nice from Here (April 1991, as Wir)
  • First Letter / The Last Number (December 1995, with Hafler Trio)
  • Vien (1997, as Wir)
  • Twelve Times You (Jan 2001)
  • Read & Burn - 01 (Jun 2002)
  • Read & Burn - 02 (Oct 2002)

Compilations & live albums

Singles chart placings

Year Title Chart positions Album
US Hot 100 US Modern Rock US Mainstream Rock UK
1979 "Outdoor Miner" - - - #51 Chairs Missing
1989 "Eardrum Buzz" - #2 - #68 It's Beginning to and Back Again
1989 "In Vivo" - #24 - - It's Beginning to and Back Again

References

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