Die Warzau

Die Warzau (originally Die Warzau Synfony) was an industrial music band formed in 1987 by performance artists Jim Marcus and Van Christie.

Die Warzau
Die Warzau, 1992. Jim Marcus (left) and Van Christie.
Background information
OriginChicago, Illinois
GenresNew Wave, Synthpop, Industrial, EBM
Years active1987–2011
LabelsFiction, Atlantic, Mercury, Polygram, WaxTrax!, Pulseblack
Associated actsApartment 26
Dead on TV
The Dreaming
Eco-Hed
Everplastic
Go Fight
KMFDM
Oxygiene 23
Pigface
Sister Machine Gun
Stabbing Westward
Websitehttp://diewarzau.com
Past membersVan Christie
Daniel Evans
Abel Garibaldi
Christopher Hall
Jim Marcus
Chris Vrenna
Xmas Smits
Vince McAley
James Woolley
Kevin Temple
Mars Williams

History

Originally signed to Chris Parry's Fiction Records, the pair released Disco Rigido in 1989.[1]

A second album, Big Electric Metal Bass Face, was released in 1991.[1] Contributors to the band at the time included Chris Vrenna and James Woolley (both members of Nine Inch Nails during the mid-1990s), and audio visual artist Burle Avant, who went on to co-create the MTV television series Amp. Die Warzau supported Nine Inch Nails on tour the same year. [2]

Warzone Records was started by Van Christie and Jim Marcus in 1994 as part of Cabrini Green Housing Projects.[3]

Engine, a 1995 release[1] on Fiction/Wax Trax! and distributed by TVT, was the last album the group released before going on hiatus for almost a decade, and included contributions from Chris Randall of the band Sister Machine Gun (SMG). One of the songs written by Die Warzau during this time, "Hole In the Ground," ended up on the SMG album Burn.

Die Warzau as a group then went on hiatus for a number of years, with Marcus and Christie working on other projects. Jim Marcus founded the pure funk group Everplastic while Van Christie worked on another project called Eco-Hed.

In 2005, the duo re-united, together with new members Abel Garibaldi and Dan Evans, releasing Convenience on their Chicago-based label Pulseblack Records.[1] The album won the Just Plain Folks Industrial Album of the Year in 2006.[4]

2008 saw the release of Vinyl88, a collection of remixes and previously unreleased tracks including "Born Again" (for which a video was released) and "Hitler's Brain", a collaboration with funk pioneer George Clinton. While some of the tracks had seen prior release, many of the remixes featured re-recorded elements.

In 2009, Die Warzau made several songs – many from the recent Convenience and Vinyl 88 releases – available for remixing at RemixGalaxy.com The different musical elements (vocals, drums, bass, etc.) of each song are available as separate tracks, which allows users the opportunity to create their own versions of the songs or incorporate the parts into their own original tracks under personal, non-commercial license.

In 2011, Die Warzau announced on their Facebook page that their performance at the WTII Minifest 2 on June 12 would be the band's last performance before breaking up. The live personnel included Jim Marcus, Dan Evans, Vince McAley, and Jay Ramirez.

In 2013, the band announced that they will reunite to play one show at the "Cold Waves II" festival held in Chicago in late September 2013.

Discography
Studio albums
Compilation albums
EPs

References
  1. Huey, Steve. "Die Warzau Biography". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
  2. NIN Hotline
  3. Sonic Boom Interview
  4. Just Plain Folks Music Awards
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.