David J

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David J
David J and The Gentleman Thieves (David).jpg
David J in 2014, photo by Mila Reynaud
Background information
Birth nameDavid John Haskins
Born (1957-04-24) 24 April 1957 (age 67)
Northampton, Northamptonshire, England
Genres
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • bass
  • guitar
  • keyboards
  • harmonica
Years active1979–present
Labels
Formerly of
Website Official website

David John Haskins (born 24 April 1957, Northampton, Northamptonshire, England), better known as David J, is a British alternative rock musician, producer, and writer. He is the bassist for the gothic rock band Bauhaus and for Love and Rockets.

Contents

He has composed the scores for a number of plays and films, and also wrote and directed his own plays, Silver for Gold (The Odyssey of Edie Sedgwick), in 2008, which was restaged at REDCAT in Los Angeles in 2011, [1] and The Chanteuse and The Devil's Muse in 2011. His artwork has been shown in galleries internationally, and he has been a resident DJ at venues such as the Knitting Factory.

David J has released a number of singles and solo albums, and in 1990 he released one of the first No. 1 hits on the then nascent Modern Rock Tracks charts, with "I'll Be Your Chauffeur". His most recent single, "The Day That David Bowie Died" entered the UK vinyl singles chart at number 4 in 2016. The track appears on his double album, Vagabond Songs.

Early life

David John Haskins was born on 24 April 1957 in Northampton, Northamptonshire, England. He is the elder brother of Kevin Haskins, also a musician and member of Bauhaus and Love and Rockets.

Music career

Bauhaus, early years

David J was a founding member of the highly influential English post-punk band Bauhaus in 1978, playing bass. David J wrote the lyrics of several Bauhaus songs (including their first single, "Bela Lugosi's Dead"). He sang backing vocals on many songs, and sang lead on "Who Killed Mr Moonlight?". Bauhaus first broke up in 1983, reforming periodically at later times.

His first venture outside of Bauhaus was a collaborative single, "Armour" / "Nothing", with artist and poet René Halkett, of the original Weimar Bauhaus school of art and design.

He began writing music for a solo career while still in the band, and continued after the band's break-up, releasing the dark Etiquette of Violence and Crocodile Tears and the Velvet Cosh, and played bass on two Jazz Butcher albums (A Scandal in Bohemia and Sex and Travel), both of which he also produced. J was also a part of the very short-lived band The Sinister Ducks, which included saxophonist Alex Green and comics writer Alan Moore. J also released an EP that was intended as a soundtrack to Moore's graphic novel V for Vendetta . In 1996, he once again collaborated with Moore alongside musician Tim Perkins when the trio recorded two spoken-word-with-music CDs, The Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels and The Birth Caul.

Love and Rockets

In 1985, J, his brother Kevin Haskins, and Daniel Ash, all former members of Bauhaus, formed Love and Rockets; J once again played bass guitar and also shared songwriting and vocal duties with guitarist Daniel Ash. His most notable lead vocal from this period was the minor hit "No New Tale to Tell". J maintained his solo career during breaks from Love and Rockets, releasing Songs from Another Season and Urban Urbane after his band's success with the single "So Alive". He also released one of the first No. 1 hits from the newly created Modern Rock Tracks charts, with "I'll Be Your Chauffeur". J participated in a Bauhaus reunion in 1998. Love and Rockets broke up in 1999, after seven albums. Following what was billed as a one-off performance of Bauhaus at the 2005 Coachella concert festival, Bauhaus reformed for a successful tour of the Americas in late 2005 and Europe in early 2006 as well as a final album, Go Away White .

2003–2010

David J performing on bass in 2006 David J.jpg
David J performing on bass in 2006

J has also appeared on releases by Porno for Pyros and Jane's Addiction, and co-wrote the latter's 2003 album title track, "Strays". In 2005, J joined with cellist Joyce Rooks and electronica musician Don Tyler to make up the instrumental ensemble Three, who released their first album Evocations later that year. He played bass guitar for several tracks on the electro musician Mount Sims' 2005 release Wild Light. [2]

In 2003, J started work on the song cycle score for an independent film about Elizabeth Short directed by Ramzi Abed, entitled The Devil's Muse. The soundtrack included guest artists and singers such as Ego Plum, Johnny Dowd, Jill Tracy, Abby Travis and Nora Keyes. [3] He has also regularly shown his art in galleries across the globe, as well as being a resident DJ at various Hollywood hot-spots including The Standard Hotel, Kung Pao Kitty, and Knitting Factory.

In 2004, his first play Anarchy in the Gold Street Wimpy was staged in Atlanta by the Dad's Garage' Theatre Company. In 2005, he composed the original music for a stage production of Samuel Beckett's Cascando. In 2008, J wrote and directed a play, Silver for Gold (The Odyssey of Edie Sedgwick), [1] which was restaged at REDCAT in Los Angeles in 2011. In 2008 J also released Go Away White with his Bauhaus bandmates and reformed Love and Rockets, who played at Coachella Music & Arts Festival as well as Lollapalooza that same year.

2008 also saw David J contributing lyrics and vocals on a track entitled "Sleaze" for the Dutch band Strange Attractor. This appeared on their album Mettle (2011). He worked with the band again when he supplied lyrics and vocals on "The Corridor" for the album Anatomy of a Tear (2011). In a similar vein, J wrote the lyrics and sang the lead vocal on the track "Spalding Grey Can't Swim", which appeared on George Sarah's 2012 release Who Sleeps The Sleep of Peace.

Recent years

In 2011, J released a new solo album that was dark cabaret-oriented, Not Long for This World, and provided bass for Voltaire's album Riding a Black Unicorn Down the Side of an Erupting Volcano While Drinking from a Chalice Filled with the Laughter of Small Children! . The following year he recorded bass for the song "Melody Dean" on the album Theatre Is Evil by Amanda Palmer & the Grand Theft Orchestra. He co-wrote the track "The Autumn Carnival" with Courtney Taylor-Taylor for the Dandy Warhols' album This Machine (2012). Also in 2012, he toured using his opening act Adrian H and the Wounds as a backing band. [4]

David J produced and played bass, organ and sang on Starfishing (2012), the debut album by Darwin. He also co-produced, played bass and appeared on Darwin's follow up EP Souvenir (2014). [5] featured David, Victor DeLorenzo (Violent Femmes) and Emily Jane White. [6]

In 2013, he collaborated with producer Dub Gabriel, playing bass, bells and Farfisa organ alongside U Roy and Juakali. He also played bass on the Dub Gabriel-produced Jajouka Sound System track "Salahadeen", which featured Bashir Attar, leader of The Master Musicians of Jajouka on gaita.

At Halloween 2013, J, in collaboration with Jill Tracy, released "Bela Lugosi's Dead (Undead is Forever)". [7] [8] This was a dramatic cinematic reworking of the original Bauhaus song.

In 2014 David produced and played bass on a cover by Stellarum of the Blondie hit "Heart of Glass", which was met with very positive response from the song's composers Debbie Harry and Chris Stein. He played bass on the band's debut album, which he also produced.

His memoir Who Killed Mister Moonlight? (Bauhaus, Black Magick and Benediction) was published by Jawbone Press in the winter of 2014, to critical acclaim. [9]

In 2015, J performed with Ego Plum on the theme of the Nickelodeon TV show Harvey Beaks . [10]

In 2016, J recorded with the Theatre Bizarre Orchestra for a record entitled Carpe Noctem [11] under the name M.C. Nightshade.

In 2018 J teamed up again with Peter Murphy on a world tour, celebrating 40 years of Bauhaus and in particular the album In the Flat Field .

In 2020 J released the track "(I walk away) from the girl in yellow" for the Mexican label No Devotion Records compilation named "We are not safe yet."

On February 25, 2022, David announced his latest album on Mexicali based label No Devotion Records in collaboration with Los Angeles/Minneapolis-based label Give/Take, What The Patrons Heard. [12] [13] A collection of originals and covers recorded over the timespan of 34 years, originally only available digitally to David J's Patreon subscribers.

Writing credits

Theatre

Books

Discography

Bauhaus

Love and Rockets

The Bubblemen

Solo

Studio albums

List of full-length albums by David J
YearAlbum titleRelease details
1983Etiquette of Violence
  • Released: Nov. 1983, 1990, Nov. 2013
  • Label: Situation Two, Cherry Red
  • Format: Vinyl, CD
1985Crocodile Tears
and the Velvet Cosh
  • Released: March 1985, 2006
  • Label: Glass, Plain Recordings
  • Format: CD, digital
1986On Glass
(singles compilation)
  • Released: March 1986, 1998, 2006
  • Label: Glass, Cleopatra, Plain
  • Format: LP, cass, CD
1990Songs from Another Season
  • Released: June 1990, 1999
  • Label: Beggars Banquet
  • Format: LP, cass, CD, digital
1992Urban Urbane
  • Released: 1992 (non-UK)
  • Label: MCA
  • Format: Cass, CD
1996The Birth Caul
by David J/Alan Moore/Tim Perkins
  • Released: 1996
  • Label: Charmm Records
  • Format: CD
The Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theater of Marvels
by David J/Alan Moore/Tim Perkins
2003Estranged
  • Released: 2003 (non-UK)
  • Label: Heyday
  • Format: CD, digital
Embrace Your Dysfunction
(singles compilation)
  • Released: 2003 (non-UK)
  • Label: Heyday
  • Format: CD
2005Evocations (Three)
2011Not Long For This World
  • Released: 2011
  • Label: Starry/Saint Rose
  • Format: CD/LP, digital
2014An Eclipse of Ships
  • Released: April 2014
2016Carpe Noctem

(as M.C. Nightshade & the Theatre Bizarre Orchestra)

  • Released: October 2016
  • Label: Hold Fast [11]
  • Format: LP & Single
2022What The Patrons Heard
  • Released: March 2022
  • Label:No Devotion Records, Give/Take
  • Format: Vinyl, CD, Digital

EPs

List of studio and live EPs by David J
YearAlbum titleRelease details
1983The Promised Land
by David J and The J-Walkers
1984V for Vendetta
by David J
  • Released: April 1984, 2006
  • Label: Glass/Plain Recordings (reissue)
  • Format: 12" vinyl, CD
1985Blue Moods Turning Tail
by David J
  • Released: July 1985
  • Label: Glass
  • Format: 12" vinyl
2002The Guitar Man
by David J
  • Released: 2002
  • Label: Heyday (non-UK)
  • Format: CD
2003Mess Up
by David J
  • Released: 2003
  • Label: Heyday (HEY056-2)
  • Format: CD
2003The Devils Muse
by David J + Ego Plum
  • Released: 2008
  • Label: Urbane Music
  • Format: CD ltd.

Singles

Incomplete list of singles by David J
YrSingleArtist(s)LabelNotes
1981"Nothing/Armour"David Jay + René Halkett4AD, Urbane Music7" vinyl, CD reissue 2001
1983"March of the Sinister Ducks"The Sinister Ducks (David J, Alex Green, Alan Moore) Situation Two 7" in August 1983
1983"Joe Orton's Wedding"David JSituation Two7"/12" vinyl
1984"I Can't Shake This Shadow of Fear"David J Glass Records 7"/12" vinyl
1985"Crocodile Tears And The Velvet Cosh"David J Glass Records 7"/12" vinyl
1990"I'll Be Your Chauffeur"David JBeggars Banquet, RCA (US)7"/12" vinyl. One of the first No. 1 hits on Modern Rock Tracks
1990"Fingers in the Grease"David JRCA (non-UK release)CD
1992"Candy on the Cross"David JMCA (non-UK release)CD, 12" vinyl
1992"Some Big City"David JMCA (non-UK release)CD, cassette
1992"Space Cowboy"David JMCA (non-UK release)CD
2007"The Bottle, The Book or the Dollar Bill"David J & The GlossinesAndromeda Records7" vinyl ltd. with DVD
2010"Hank Williams to the Angel of Death"David J iTunes exclusiveDigital
2010"Tidal Wave of Blood" / "Blood Sucker Blues"David J + Shok (with Jill Tracy)Saint Rose7", Ltd
2012"In The Temple of the Id"David J + Ego Plum Custom Made MusicVinyl, 7", Ltd
2013"Bela Lugosi's Dead (undead is forever)"David J + Jill TracyDigital
2014 Toxic covering Britney Spears David J + Adrian H, with
The Wounds & Sasha Grey 		Digital on YouTube

Film and theatre scores

Contributing musician

As a musician
As a songwriter

See also

Further reading

Interviews, articles
Resources

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bauhaus (band)</span> English rock band

Bauhaus were an English rock band formed in Northampton in 1978. Known for their dark image and gloomy sound, Bauhaus are one of the pioneers of gothic rock, although they mixed many genres, including dub, glam rock, psychedelia, and funk. The group consisted of Daniel Ash, Peter Murphy, Kevin Haskins (drums) and David J (bass).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tones on Tail</span> British post-punk band

Tones on Tail were a British post-punk band formed in 1982, originally as a musical side project of Daniel Ash of the gothic rock group Bauhaus. Their music was described by one critic as "doom-and-dance-pop."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Ash</span> English singer-songwriter (b. 1957)

Daniel Gaston Ash is an English musician, songwriter and singer. He became prominent in the late 1970s as the guitarist for the iconic goth rock band Bauhaus, which spawned two related bands led by Ash: Tones on Tail and Love and Rockets. Recently, he reunited with bandmate Kevin Haskins to form Poptone, a retrospective of their respective careers, featuring Kevin's daughter Diva Dompe on bass. He has also recorded several solo albums. Several guitarists have listed Ash as an influence, including Dave Navarro of Jane's Addiction, Kim Thayil of Soundgarden, Hide of X Japan and John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Kevin Michael Dompe, born and best-known as Kevin Michael Haskins, is an English drummer, best known from the British rock group Bauhaus. He was also a member of Tones on Tail and Love and Rockets.

Love and Rockets are an English rock band formed in 1985 by former Bauhaus members Daniel Ash, David J and Kevin Haskins after that group split in 1983. Ash and Haskins had recorded and performed in another band, Tones on Tail, between 1982 and 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bela Lugosi's Dead</span> 1979 single by Bauhaus

"Bela Lugosi's Dead" is the debut single by the English post-punk band Bauhaus, released on 6 August 1979 on the Small Wonder label. It is often considered the first gothic rock record.

<i>Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven</i> 1985 studio album by Love and Rockets

Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven is the debut studio album by English rock band Love and Rockets. It was released on 11 October 1985, through record label Beggars Banquet. Seventh Dream was preceded by the non-album single "Ball of Confusion" on 17 May 1985, and the album's first proper single "If There's a Heaven Above" on 13 September 1985.

<i>Express</i> (album) 1986 studio album by Love and Rockets

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<i>Mask</i> (Bauhaus album) 1981 studio album by Bauhaus

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<i>Earth, Sun, Moon</i> 1987 studio album by Love and Rockets

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<i>The Skys Gone Out</i> 1982 studio album by Bauhaus

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kick in the Eye</span>

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<i>Go Away White</i> 2008 studio album by Bauhaus

Go Away White is the fifth and final studio album by English gothic rock band, Bauhaus and was internationally released on 3 March 2008 by record labels Cooking Vinyl in the UK and Bauhaus Music. It was the band's first album of new material since Burning from the Inside in 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bauhaus discography</span>

The discography of Bauhaus, a British gothic rock band, consists of five studio albums, four live albums, three compilation albums, four extended plays (EPs), eleven singles and three video albums. The band was formed in Northampton in 1978 by Daniel Ash (guitar), David J (bass), Kevin Haskins (drums) and Peter Murphy (vocals).

<i>Bauhaus 1979–1983</i> 1985 compilation album by Bauhaus

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References

  1. 1 2 "David J of Bauhaus by Erin_broadley". SuicideGirls. 11 March 2008. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  2. 1 2 "Metroactive Music | Porno for Pyros". Metroactive.com. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  3. ↑ Moore, Debi (18 September 2008). "The Devil's Muse Double-Disc Details". Dread Central. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  4. ↑ "Adrian H interview on Outsight Radio Hours". Archive.org. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
  5. ↑ Darwin Meiners. "'Meaningless' - Darwin". YouTube. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  6. ↑ "Home". DarwinMeiners.com. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  7. ↑ David J (30 October 2013). "Bela Lugosi's Dead (Undead is Forever)". YouTube. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
  8. ↑ David J (31 October 2013). "Bela Lugosi's Dead (Undead is Forever): David J (official)". BandCamp. Archived from the original on 3 November 2013. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
  9. ↑ "David in Valhalla: "An Eclipse of Ships" at SXSW Today March 12th". Gia On The Move. 12 March 2014. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  10. ↑ "EGO PLUM — Harvey Beaks | Opening Theme [Extended] (Q: What". Egoplum.tumblr.com. 14 April 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  11. 1 2 "Hold Fast Vinyl Presents – M.C. Nightshade & The Theatre Bizarre Orchestra's, Carpe Noctem | Hold Fast Vinyl". hfvinyl.com. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  12. ↑ "David J (Bauhaus/Love and Rockets) announces decade-spanning retrospective new album - SIDE-LINE MAGAZINE". 18 February 2022.
  13. ↑ "GIVE/TAKE announces new solo collection from David J". 25 February 2022.
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