Gina Birch

Last updated

Gina Birch performing at Celebrating Sisterhood!, The Verge at The Cheshire Ring, 2012. Gina Birch.jpg
Gina Birch performing at Celebrating Sisterhood!, The Verge at The Cheshire Ring, 2012.

Gina Birch (born 1955) [1] is an English musician and filmmaker, best known as a founding member of post-punk rock band, The Raincoats.

Contents

Born in Nottingham, Birch attended Nottingham Girls' High School and subsequently Hornsey School of Art, where she formed The Raincoats with Ana da Silva in 1977. Following the first breakup of The Raincoats in 1984, Birch worked with experimental musician Mayo Thompson and his ensemble, Red Crayola, for a period in Germany. After this time, Birch formed the band Dorothy, with fellow ex-Raincoat Vicky Aspinall. The band was subsequently signed by Geoff Travis to Chrysalis Records. Following Dorothy's breakup, Birch matriculated at the Royal College of Art, where she studied film direction, and produced several dramas. In the early 1990s, The Raincoats were asked to perform on tour with grunge band Nirvana, and were consequently invited to make an album by DGC Records. This temporarily interrupted Birch's filmmaking endeavors. However, Birch did produce several music videos in this period, including the DVD video for The Libertines, released with their album. Gina has directed videos for Daisy Chainsaw, (2) The Libertines (3), Palma Violets, The Raincoats, Dorothy, and many others. She directed New Order's Crystal with artist Simon Tyszko, as well as multiple video installations. Birch's musical career continued through the 1990s, with the 1998 release of album "Slow Dirty Tears", with The Hangovers, a band she had formed in 1996. In 2000 and 2007 Birch performed live at Ladyfest, and continues to perform regularly in London. In September 2007, she performed at the Modern Art Oxford to commemorate the end of the museum's Stella Vine exhibition. [2] Additionally, Birch has performed with Hayley Newman and Kaffe Matthews, as The Gluts, playing in several art museums and festivals. Currently, Birch pursues painting, and continues to produce music for subsequent albums.

Birch is married to Mike Holdsworth, with whom she has two daughters, Honey and Lei-Lei.

On 1 October 2021, Birch released her debut solo single, "Feminist Song". [3] Her debut solo album, I Play My Bass Loud , was issued on 24 February 2023. An AllMusic review noted that "It's a loud, celebratory album that perfectly boils down Birch's 40-plus-year journey as a tireless, boundless, and most of all fearless, creator". [4]

Discography

Albums

Singles

List of singles
TitleYearAlbum
"Feminist Song" [3] 2021I Play My Bass Loud

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leigh Nash</span> American singer (born 1976)

Leigh Anne Bingham Nash is an American singer and songwriter who was the lead vocalist for the Christian alternative rock band Sixpence None the Richer and was also a member of Fauxliage. Her debut solo album, Blue on Blue, was released in August 2006. Nash has released two other solo albums in 2011 and 2015. Nash has two Grammy nominations: "Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal" in 1999 and "Best Rock Gospel Album" in 1998. In July 2023, it was announced that Nash would be joining 10,000 Maniacs as their new lead singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Raincoats</span> British experimental post-punk band

The Raincoats are a British experimental post-punk band. Ana da Silva and Gina Birch formed the group in 1977 while they were students at Hornsey College of Art in London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Floor Jansen</span> Dutch singer

Floor Jansen is a Dutch singer and songwriter. She is the third and current lead vocalist of Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samiam</span> American punk rock band

Samiam is an American punk rock band from Berkeley, California, active since 1988.

Million Dead were an English post-hardcore band from London, active between 2000 and 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason McCaslin</span> Canadian musician (born 1980)

Jason "Cone" McCaslin is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer, serving as the bassist and backing vocalist of the band Sum 41.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ed Harcourt</span> Musical artist

Edward Henry Richard Harcourt-Smith is an English singer-songwriter. To date, he has released ten studio albums, two EPs, and thirteen singles. His debut album, Here Be Monsters, was nominated for the 2001 Mercury Prize. Since 2007 he has been writing for other artists, including Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Paloma Faith, and has performed with Marianne Faithfull and the Libertines. His music is influenced by Tom Waits, Nick Cave, and Jeff Buckley, among others.

<i>Odyshape</i> 1981 studio album by The Raincoats

Odyshape is the second album by the Raincoats, originally released on 1 June 1981 by Rough Trade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mayo Thompson</span> American musician and visual artist (born 1944)

Mayo Thompson is an American musician and visual artist best known as the leader of the experimental rock band Red Krayola.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ana da Silva</span> Musical artist

Ana da Silva is a musician, best known as a founding member of post-punk rock band the Raincoats.

Victoria "Vicky" Aspinall is a British musician. She was the violinist in the English post-punk band The Raincoats from 1978 to 1984. In 1992 she and Dave Morgan founded the independent dance label Fresh Records initially for releases of their own Lovestation project.

<i>Looking in the Shadows</i> 1996 studio album by The Raincoats

Looking in the Shadows is the fourth studio album by British alternative rock group the Raincoats, released in 1996 by Rough Trade and DGC. It was the band's first album in 12 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linda Perry</span> American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer

Linda Perry is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. She was the lead singer and primary songwriter of 4 Non Blondes, and has since founded two record labels and composed and produced songs for other artists, which include: "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera; "What You Waiting For?" by Gwen Stefani; and "Get the Party Started" by Pink. Perry has also contributed to albums by Adele, Alicia Keys, and Courtney Love, as well as signing and distributing James Blunt in the United States. Perry was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spinnerette</span> American band

Spinnerette was an alternative rock band formed in 2007. The band was a vehicle for the solo career of Brody Dalle following the breakup of her previous band, The Distillers, in 2006. The band featured Tony Bevilacqua, Jack Irons and Alain Johannes. Dalle stopped using the Spinnerette moniker in 2010 and continued her solo career under her own name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helen McCookerybook</span> British musician and singer-songwriter

Helen McCookerybook is a British musician and singer-songwriter, who was the bass player and co-singer with The Chefs, during the late 1970s and early 1980s. She went on to form Helen and the Horns in the mid 80s. Both bands were admired by John Peel, recording six BBC Radio 1 sessions between them. After a long break from her music career, Helen McCookerybook started again as a solo artist in 2005. She regularly plays live gigs, releases recordings, and promotes occasional revivals of Helen and the Horns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Help She Can't Swim</span>

Help She Can't Swim was an English indie/art rock band, formed in Southampton in 2003. The band released a number of singles on Fantastic Plastic Records, along with an EP and two albums. Before signing to Fantastic Plastic, they had released one EP entitled Suck Our Band on the Vacuous Pop label. While originally recorded as a demo, Vacuous Pop were so taken with the 'Suck Our Band' recordings that they had to be given a proper release. Originally a five-piece, one of the founding members, Tom Baker, left the band in 2006, before the release of the band's second album The Death of Nightlife, though still contributed to the recording which had mostly been completed before his departure. The band announced they had split up on 26 May 2008 on their Myspace blog. Their reasoning behind the breakup, as quoted from their MySpace blog was "There are a lot of things that the four of us need to do personally that being in the band does not allow. We have had an amazing time being in HSCS; we got to release our music, tour, play shows with some great bands and met lots of lovely people."

Bad Lieutenant was an English alternative rock band formed following the second breakup of New Order. The band consisted of then-former New Order members Bernard Sumner and Phil Cunningham as well as Rambo & Leroy's Jake Evans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amber Rubarth</span> American musician and actress

Amber Rubarth is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She has toured extensively throughout Europe, North America, Japan, South Korea and South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moscow Circus (band)</span> Post punk band formed in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, UK

Moscow Circus is a post-punk band formed in Long Eaton, Derbyshire in December 1987. The band currently comprises songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist, and vocalist, Jonathan Beckett, Tom Parratt on drums and backing vocals, Pete Temperton on bass Mark Paulson on guitar, and bassist Andrew Mainman who covers for Temperton when he is unavailable. After over 25 years since the band formed, they released their debut album Resounding in May 2016 on Echolocation Records.

<i>I Play My Bass Loud</i> 2023 studio album by Gina Birch

I Play My Bass Loud is the debut studio album by English musician Gina Birch, released on 24 February 2023 through Third Man Records. The album was produced by Youth and preceded by the single "Feminist Song" in September 2021. It received acclaim from critics and was ranked on several lists of the best albums of the year.

References

  1. "Dandelion Radio - Artist Info". Dandelionradio.com. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  2. "An evening of Britpunk and Britart" Archived 7 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine , Oxford Contemporary Music, 21 September 2007. Retrieved 13 December 2008.
  3. 1 2 Lavin, Will (30 September 2021). "The Raincoats' Gina Birch shares her first-ever solo single, "Feminist Song"". NME . Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  4. "Gina Birch - I Play My Bass Loud Album Reviews, Songs & More". AllMusic . Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  5. "Gina Birch shares title track for 'I Play My Bass Loud'". Faroutmagazine.co.uk. 18 January 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2023.