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Ian Craig Marsh | |
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| Born | 11 November 1956 |
| Origin | Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England |
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| Years active | 1977–2007 |
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Ian Craig Marsh (born 11 November 1956) is an English musician and composer. He was a founding member of the electronic band the Human League, writing and playing on their first two albums and several singles, until leaving in 1980 to form the British Electric Foundation and later Heaven 17.
Marsh began in music at Sheffield's council-sponsored community theatre group Meatwhistle. There he met Mark Civico; they formed a performance art band called Musical Vomit, taking the name from a music paper's hostile review of the band Suicide. [1] Musical Vomit specialised in Alice Cooper-style stunts, such as vomiting soup onstage, and singing about such topics as masturbation and necrophilia. [2]
Marsh played guitar on two shows in 1973 with the band before leaving after his expulsion from school (for being "an undesirable subversive element"). Civico (stage name Trigae Thugg) persevered with Musical Vomit, adding fellow Meatwhistle artists Paul Bower (later of the band 2.3), Glenn Gregory (who went on to become lead singer for Heaven 17) and Ian Reddington, who later found acting fame in EastEnders and Coronation Street . [3]
Musical Vomit mainly played at the Meatwhistle workshop at Holly Street, but during 1974 they also played shows at the Sheffield University Drama Studio and at Burngreave Church Hall, where they gave their only performance of a self-penned rock opera, Vomit Lost in Space, that featured early use of primitive synthesizers. Martyn Ware, a leading figure in The Human League and Heaven 17, was an occasional guest on stylophone but formed a more pop-orientated offshoot of Musical Vomit called Underpants.[ citation needed ]
Vomit went on to play at the Bath Arts Festival in 1974 and were described by Poly Styrene, who was in the audience, as "the very first punk band". [1]
They were booed by the crowd but remained on stage despite the bombardment of bottles and abuse, although they never played together again. A planned comeback was shelved when percussionist and backing vocalist Ian Reddington was offered a place to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. [4]
Marsh abandoned the guitar at this time, saying later in an interview with The Face that "they seem a fairly strange instrument... six strings, four fingers, one thumb – it makes no sense." [5]
Instead, he bought a cheap synthesizer, which he struggled to get the most from [1] ("though it made very good motorbike noises") and rejoined Musical Vomit. He had found employment as a computer programmer (as had Ware, though at different companies). Marsh played a key role in the early Sheffield new wave and punk scene by playing the first Ramones album, which he had bought on import, to all his friends.[ citation needed ]
In June 1977 Marsh, Ware and vocalist Adi Newton (later of Clock DVA) formed Dead Daughters, a one-off band, to play at a friend's 21st birthday party. The trio enjoyed the performance and decided to stick together as a new band, choosing the name The Future. [6]
The trio set themselves the task of producing pop music using entirely electronic instruments, which in 1977 was virtually unheard of. They also experimented with a computer programme called CARLOS, which converted words fed into it into lyrics. Initially record company interest was limited, and Marsh and Ware decided to remove Newton from the band.[ citation needed ]
Continuing as a duo they recorded "Dancevision", a short instrumental eventually released on The Human League's Holiday '80 EP. Another track, "Being Boiled", saw Philip Oakey joining the group, and a change of name to The Human League. A collection of demos from this period was released on CD in 2002, entitled The Golden Hour of The Future; it was compiled by Richard X.[ citation needed ]
Marsh mysteriously disappeared in 2006; even Martyn Ware had to confess to not knowing where he was. Marsh then resurfaced in early 2007 and announced that he no longer wished to perform with Heaven 17.[ citation needed ] He was notably absent from all their gigs in 2007 and failed to perform with them on The Steel City Tour with The Human League and ABC in late 2008, despite efforts by Ware and Glenn Gregory to get him to return. In an interview in late 2008 Ware conceded that Marsh was no longer an active member of the band. [7] Marsh is now a music teacher. [8]
Heaven 17 are an English new wave and synth-pop band that formed in Sheffield in 1980. The band were a trio for most of their career, composed of Martyn Ware (keyboards) and Ian Craig Marsh (keyboards), and Glenn Gregory. Although most of the band's music was recorded in the 1980s, they have occasionally reformed to record and perform, playing their first ever live concerts in 1997. Marsh left the band in 2007 and Ware and Gregory continued to perform as Heaven 17.
The Human League are an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Initially an experimental electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their third album Dare in 1981 after restructuring their lineup. The album contained four hit singles, including the UK/US number one hit "Don't You Want Me". The band received the Brit Award for Best British Breakthrough Act in 1982. Further hits followed throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, including "Mirror Man", "(Keep Feeling) Fascination", "The Lebanon", "Human" and "Tell Me When".
Clock DVA are a musical group from Sheffield, England, whose style has touched on industrial, post-punk, and EBM. They formed in 1978 by Adolphus "Adi" Newton and Steven "Judd" Turner. Along with contemporaries Heaven 17, Clock DVA's name was inspired by the Russian-influenced Nadsat language of Anthony Burgess's novel A Clockwork Orange. Dva is Russian for "two".
Philip Oakey is a British singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the lead singer, songwriter, and cofounder of British synth-pop band the Human League. Aside from the Human League, Oakey has enjoyed an extensive solo music career and has collaborated with numerous other artists and producers.
Penthouse and Pavement is the debut studio album by English new wave and synth-pop band Heaven 17, released in September 1981 by Virgin Records.
Ian Reddington is an English actor with many stage and television credits since the early 1980s. He became widely known for television roles such as the Chief Clown in the Doctor Who serial The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, Richard Cole in EastEnders and Vernon Tomlin in Coronation Street.
Martyn Ware is an English musician, composer, arranger, record producer, and music programmer. As a founding member of both the Human League and Heaven 17, Ware was partly responsible for hit songs such as "Being Boiled" and "Temptation".
Glenn Peter Gregory is an English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose music career spans more than 40 years. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as co-founder and lead singer of the new wave and synthpop band Heaven 17, which released several UK chart hits in the 1980s and 1990s, including "Temptation", "Let Me Go", "Come Live with Me", "Crushed by the Wheels of Industry", "Sunset Now", "This Is Mine", and "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang"
The Luxury Gap is the second studio album by English synth-pop band Heaven 17, released on 25 April 1983 by Virgin Records. It is the band's best-selling studio album, peaking at number 4 on the UK Albums Chart – eventually becoming the 17th best-selling album of the year – and being certified platinum by the BPI in 1984.
Reproduction is the debut studio album released by British synthpop group The Human League. The album was released in 1979 through Virgin Records.
"Being Boiled" is the debut single by the British synthpop band the Human League. Composed by Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh, with lyrics by Philip Oakey, it has been released several times since 1978, finally becoming a UK top ten hit in 1982.
Holiday '80 is an EP released by the original line-up of the British synthpop band The Human League. The EP was issued in the UK by Virgin Records in April 1980, a month before the release of the band's second album Travelogue. The EP peaked at no. 56 in the UK Singles Chart in May 1980, but was later reissued and returned to the chart, peaking at no. 46 in February 1982.
The Golden Hour of the Future is a compilation album of recordings made by the electronic band The Future and early recordings by the original line-up of The Human League.
Before After is the seventh studio album by the English synth-pop band Heaven 17. It was originally released in September 2005, on the label Ninthwave, nine years after their previous album, Bigger Than America.
Vice Versa is an electronic band that formed in Sheffield, England in 1977. Vice Versa originally consisted of Stephen Singleton, Mark White, Ian Garth, and David Sydenham, the former two of whom would go on to later found the successful 1980s pop band ABC. The band was active from 1977 to 1980 with the aforementioned line-up, and reformed in 2015 without Garth and Sydenham. Vice Versa are considered one of the "Big Four" late-1970s minimalistic electronic/synth-based bands from Sheffield. They share this title with Cabaret Voltaire, Clock DVA and the Human League.
"(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" is a song by British synth-pop band Heaven 17. It was their debut single, released on 6 March 1981, also acting as the lead single from their debut studio album, Penthouse and Pavement (1981). It was a minor hit in the UK in 1981, despite being banned by the BBC. It was also a minor dance hit in the US. It developed from an instrumental, "Groove Thang", that Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh created earlier that year for Music for Stowaways, an album they released under the British Electric Foundation name.
"Sunset Now" is a song by the British new wave and synth-pop band Heaven 17, which was released in 1984 as the first single from their third studio album How Men Are. It was written by Glenn Gregory, Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware, and produced by Marsh and Ware and Greg Walsh. It reached No. 24 in the UK, remaining on the charts for six weeks on. A music video was filmed to promote the single.
"This Is Mine" is a song by the British new wave and synth-pop band Heaven 17, which was released in 1984 as the second single from their third studio album How Men Are. It was written by Glenn Gregory, Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware, and produced by Marsh and Greg Walsh. The song reached No. 23 in the UK, remaining in the charts for seven weeks. It would be the band's last Top 30 single until 1992's "Temptation "
"...(And That's No Lie)" is a song by the British new wave and synth-pop band Heaven 17, which was released in 1985 as the third single from their third studio album How Men Are. The song was written by Glenn Gregory, Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware, and produced by Ware and Greg Walsh. It reached number 52 in the UK Singles Chart and remained in the top 100 for five weeks. A music video was filmed to promote the single.
Music for Stowaways is the debut album by English electronic act British Electric Foundation (B.E.F.), formed by musicians Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh. The album released in the United Kingdom as a limited edition cassette in March 1981 by Virgin Records, who also released an LP version of the album titled Music for Listening To later in the year with a different track list and cover art, aiming its release for export markets. The Stowaways version was originally released concurrently with Ware and Marsh's first single with Heaven 17, "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang", itself a developed version of the Music for Stowaways track "Groove Thang".
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