Curve were an English alternative rock and electronic music duo from London,[5] formed in 1990[6] and dissolved in 2005. The band consisted of Toni Halliday (vocals, occasionally guitar) and Dean Garcia (bass, guitar, drums, programming).[7] Halliday wrote the lyrics of their songs and they both contributed to songwriting. Producer Alan Moulder was a prominent collaborator who helped shape their blend of heavy beats and densely–layered guitar tracks set against Halliday's vocals.
Dean Garcia, half Hawaiian and half Irish, had played in some small bands when he auditioned for Eurythmics.[8] The English-born Toni Halliday met Dave Stewart of Eurythmics after he had read a rock magazine interview with her in which she praised his pre-Eurythmics band, The Tourists.[8] Halliday and Garcia were introduced to each other by Stewart.[9] Garcia had played bass guitar as part of Eurythmics' live band in 1983–84 and on two of their studio albums,[10] while Halliday was signed to Stewart's Anxious Records label as a solo artist. The pair formed an ill-fated group named State of Play in the mid-1980s before parting ways, embarking on a no less ill-fated solo career (Halliday) and further stints as a backing musician (Garcia), and then reuniting for a more long-term partnership in Curve.
As Curve, Halliday and Garcia released three acclaimed and increasingly successful EPs (Blindfold, Frozen, and Cherry) throughout 1991 on Anxious Records. They also made an impact on the UK album charts in 1992 with their debut studio album Doppelgänger.[11] The group toured extensively during this period, with Halliday and Garcia being supported on stage by two additional guitarists (Debbie Smith, later of Echobelly, and Alex Mitchell) and a drummer (Steve Monti, formerly of Ian Dury and the Blockheads). Highlights of Curve's live career included a performance at the 1992 Glastonbury Festival, and a package tour of the United States and Canada with The Jesus and Mary Chain and Spiritualized.
In 1992, the band released the compilation album Pubic Fruit, containing their first three EPs and an extended mix of the single "Faît Accompli". Toni Halliday also featured on two songs ("Edge to Life" and "Bloodline") from Recoil's album, Bloodline. In 1993, Curve issued Radio Sessions, a compilation album of recordings made during their two sessions for John Peel's show on the UK broadcasting station BBC Radio 1.
Curve's second studio album, the harder-edged Cuckoo (1993), did not repeat the UK Top 20 success of the band's debut. That coupled with the stressfulness of the tour in support of the record, may have contributed to Halliday and Garcia's decision to disband the group in 1994. "It got to the point where Dean didn't want to tour," Halliday told Select magazine (August 1996 edition). "We did reach that point of hedonistic head-fuckery: glugging JD, hollering, 'Where's the schnozz?' You finally get that out of your system and think, 'This is sad.' We couldn't have gone on like that."
Toni Halliday live in London (1995)
During their hiatus, Halliday formed the band Scylla and Garcia began a solo project under the name Headcase. Scylla's track "Helen's Face" was featured on the Showgirls soundtrack. Halliday also collaborated with The Future Sound of London for the song "Cerebral" from Lifeforms (1994), with Freaky Chakra for the song "Budded on Earth to Bloom in Heaven" from Lowdown Motivator (1995), and with Leftfield for their number 18 UK hit "Original" from Leftism (1995). She also featured on "Original"'s music video.
Curve returned to the music business in 1996 with the EP Pink Girl With the Blues. In the same year, Curve collaborated with Paul Van Dyk by reworking the mostly instrumental song "Words" from the album Seven Ways and also adding Halliday's vocals.
In 1997, they released "Chinese Burn", the first single to be taken from their third studio album Come Clean (1998).[12] The album is a set of songs displaying a more pronounced influence of electronic music than earlier releases.[12] Curve continued to do small-scale live shows in and around Europe.
The follow-up to Come Clean was an internet-only compilation titled Open Day at the Hate Fest which was released in 2001. Also in the same year, Curve issued Gift, their fourth studio album. Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine also played guitar on the songs "Want More Need Less" and "Perish".[5] The opening song "Hell Above Water" has gained the highest public profile as a result of its use in trailers for the 2002 film Spider-Man and the 2008 film Iron Man.
In 2002, Curve released the internet-only fifth studio album The New Adventures of Curve and various download-only tracks via their official site. In 2003, Toni Halliday collaborated with the Japanese industrial rock band Acid Android on the song "Faults" from the album with the same name.
A two-CD retrospective compilation entitled The Way of Curve summarized the group's output in 2004. The first disc included the band's singles. The second disc contained a selection of B-sides, rarities and remixes. In early 2005, Halliday announced that she had left Curve for good.
In 2017 Curve re-released the Doppelganger CD as a double album. This release included their first three EPs. The Cuckoo album was also re-released as a double album and included, amongst other songs, several remixes.
The band's website, maintained by Garcia, has at various times since 2004 posted updates on projects by Halliday and Garcia. It has also stated that there is unlikely to be future new Curve music.
On 27 February 2008, she introduced on MySpace a new solo project called Chatelaine.[13] A number of tracks could be previewed, and were credited to Halliday/Dowd/Salmon, and its MySpace blog declared that a new album was in progress.[14] Chatelaine's debut album Take a Line for a Walk was released on 16 June 2010. It featured nine new tracks: "Broken Bones", "Oh Daddy", "Life Remains", "Stripped Out", "Shifting Sands", "Killing Feeling", "Take a Line for a Walk", "Head to Head" and "Seen and Lost".[15]
In 2012, Halliday contributed vocals to Orbital's soundtrack for the film remake Pusher.
Dean Garcia
Dean Garcia is currently a member of the band SPC ECO with his daughter Rose Berlin and Joey Levenson (2007–present).[16] In February 2009, SPC ECO released their first album, 3-D, through their website and via Collide's label Noiseplus Music. 3-D was followed by the albums You Tell Me in 2011 and Dark Notes in 2012.
Garcia is also member of the bands The Black Holes (with Jo Neale; 2007–present),[17] The Chronologic (2006–present),[18] Inkraktare (with Mark Wallbridge aka Vasko The Pig; 2009–present),[19]The Secret Meeting (with kaRIN and Statik of Collide; 2007–present),[20]KGC (with Sascha Konietzko and Lucia Cifarelli of KMFDM; 2006–present) and Morpheme (2010–present).[21]
Garcia's newest project Morpheme is a collaboration with Perry Pelonero (Clenched Fist, Skylight, Bliss City East), and Kim Welsh (Skylight, Bliss City East).[21] On 8 December 2010, Morpheme released their first track, "Infection"[22] and on 5 May 2011, they released their second track, "Stratosphere", on their debut single "Infection".
Garcia released How Do You Feel?, a solo album, on 1 January 2011. It features special guests Vasko the Pig, Todd Astromass and Jeff Beck.[23]
Toni Halliday has occasionally commented on the comparisons between Curve and Garbage, stating that she could "see bits of Garbage in what we've done, just like we see bits of Sonic Youth or the Valentines or really any band that was doing something supposedly outside the norm. [...] But eventually Garbage are a pop band, and Curve were never a pop band."[26]
A detailed gear diagram of Dean Garcia's 2002 Curve bass rig is well-documented.[30]
A detailed gear diagram of Rob Holliday's 2002 Curve guitar rig is well-documented.[31]
On YouTube, there is a video available with Alan Moulder working in Curve's recording studio.[32]
An in-depth interview with Dean Garcia and Toni Halliday from 2002 that covers their live gear as well as their recording methods at their studio, Todal Studios.[33]
"Hell above Water" has been used in trailers for the 2002 film Spider-Man and the 2008 film Iron Man. Also it featured in the 2004 film Mindhunters, an episode for the popular crime drama CSI (Episode 207, "Caged"), and the 2008 film Lakeview Terrace. It is also featured in the games Gran Turismo 4 and MotorStorm.
The Capcom game MotoGP 09/10 includes an instrumental version of "Want More Need Less".
Eurythmics were a British pop duo formed in 1980, consisting of Scottish vocalist Annie Lennox and English musician and producer Dave Stewart. They were both previously in the Tourists, a band that broke up in 1980. They released their first studio album, In the Garden, in 1981 to little success, but achieved global acclaim with their second album, Sweet Dreams (1983). The title track became a worldwide hit, reaching number two in the UK Singles Chart, and number one in Canada and the US Billboard Hot 100. Eurythmics went on to release a string of hit singles and albums, including "Love Is a Stranger", "There Must Be an Angel " and "Here Comes the Rain Again", before splitting in 1990.
Alan Charles Wilder is an English musician, composer, arranger, record producer and member of the electronic band Depeche Mode from 1982 to 1995. Since his departure from the band, the musical project called Recoil became his primary musical enterprise, which initially started as a side project to Depeche Mode in 1986. Wilder has also provided production and remixing services to the bands Nitzer Ebb and Curve. Alan Wilder was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020 as a member of Depeche Mode. He is a classically trained musician.
Collide is an American industrial music duo formed in Los Angeles in 1992, that has incorporated elements of trip hop, synthpop and music from the Middle East into their sound.
Antoinette "Toni" Halliday is an English musician best known as the lead vocalist, lyricist, and occasional guitarist of the alternative rock band Curve, along with Dean Garcia.
Doppelgänger is the debut studio album by English alternative rock band Curve. It was released on 9 March 1992 in the United Kingdom by Anxious Records, and on the following day in the United States by Anxious and Charisma Records.
Dean Garcia is an English multi-instrumentalist musician, best known as a member of the alternative rock duo Curve from 1990 to 2005. He also released solo work and collaborated with many other artists.
Come Clean is the third studio album by English alternative rock band Curve. It was released on 10 March 1998 by Estupendo Records and Universal, and was the first Curve album to be released following their temporary split in 1994 and reformation in 1996.
Cuckoo is the second studio album to be released by the British alternative rock band Curve. It was released on 13 September 1993 and was issued by Anxious Records and Charisma Records. It was less commercially successful than the band's previous releases.
Pubic Fruit is a compilation album by English alternative rock band Curve. It was released exclusively in the United States on 17 November 1992 by Anxious Records and Charisma Records. The album compiles the band's first three EPs, as well as the extended version of their song "Faît Accompli".
"Chinese Burn" is a 1997 song by the alternative rock band Curve. It was the first single from their third studio album Come Clean, and was released on 18 November 1997 in the US and on 1 December 1997 in the UK.
SPC ECO are a British shoegaze band formed in 2007.
"Horror Head" is the second single from the debut studio album Doppelgänger by alternative rock band Curve. It was released on 6 July 1992 it reached #31 in the UK singles chart. It is one of their most popular songs.
"Pink Girl With the Blues" is a single by alternative rock band Curve released on 2 September 1996. It was the first release after few years of hiatus and it reached #97 on UK singles chart. The second track, "Recovery", will be later included on their third studio album, Come Clean. All songs were mixed by Alan Moulder.
Rare and Unreleased is a compilation album by Curve, self-released only on their Bandcamp page, as digital download.
"Blackerthreetracker" is a single by alternative rock band Curve, preceding the issue of their second studio album, Cuckoo. It was released on 23 August 1993 and it reached #39 in the UK singles chart. It includes the song "Missing Link", the first track from Cuckoo.
"Superblaster" is the second single from the album Cuckoo by alternative rock band Curve. It was released on 8 November 1993. It's considered by fans as the rarest Curve release.
"Coming Up Roses" is the second single from the third studio album Come Clean by alternative rock band Curve. It was released on 4 May 1998 and it reached #51 in the UK singles chart.
"Perish" is the first single from the fourth studio album Gift by alternative rock band Curve. It was released on 28 October 2002 only on CD format and it reached #168 in the UK singles chart.
"Want More Need Less" is the second single from the fourth studio album Gift by alternative rock band Curve. It was released on 3 February 2003 only on CD format and only in Australia.
Massive Ego was a British darkwave musical group formed in 1996 by singer Marc Massive and Andy J Thirwall. The band has changed its sound and image since its formation. The original releases being mostly covers in a Eurodance, Hi-NRG style. Massive and Thirwall later parted ways, and Massive searched for a new musical direction for the band. Collaborations with Empire State Human and Lia Organa & Electric Prince were the start of a darker sound for the band. The band joined alternative German label Out of Line Music in 2015 with the line-up; Marc Massive, Oliver Frost, Lloyd Price and Scot Collins. Their debut album for Out of Line was released on 17 February 2017. The current themes of the songs centre around the darker side of life, depression and anxiety, death, suicide, love, sex and vampirism.
↑ Prown, Pete and Harvey P. Newquist (1997). Legends of Rock Guitar: The Essential Reference of Rock's Greatest Guitarists. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN0793540429. During the mid 1980s, the leading purveyors of dream-pop were My Bloody Valentine, Lush (with female guitarists Miki Berenyi and Emma Anderson), and Curve...
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