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Coil (band)

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"Black Light District" redirects here. For album of the Dutch band The Gathering see Black Light District (album).

Coil (1982 - 13 November 2004) were a cross-genre, experimental music group who worked in such forms as industrial, noise, ambient and dark ambient, neo-folk, spoken word, drone music, and minimalism.

Formed by John Balance (sometimes credited as Jhonn Balance) and Throbbing Gristle and Industrial Records co-founder Peter Christopherson (aka 'Sleazy') when both left Psychic TV, Coil originally performed live as Zos Kia (see Zos Kia Cultus), and on another early recording as the Sickness of Snakes. Over time, Coil's line-up has included Stephen Thrower, Rose McDowall, Drew McDowall, Danny Hyde, William Breeze, Thighpaulsandra (of Julian Cope band and Spiritualized) CoH and Simon Norris (Cyclobe) with live contributions from Cliff Stapleton, Tom Edwards, and Mike York. In 2005 Peter Christopherson announced on the groups' record-label website, Threshold House that Coil as an entity ended with the death of its founding member, Jhonn Balance.

Contents

Background

After leaving Psychic TV, John and Peter's first work together was under the name "Zos Kia", although that recording was not released until much later into Coil's career. It was while working on their first official release, How to Destroy Angels, that they settled on the name Coil. The two track LP was described as "ritual music for the accumulation of male sexual energy", and was said, by Coil, to have been produced under a variety of technological, spiritual, and meteorological conditions which the band felt to be magickally significant. There were several versions of this record released, on which the B-side was smooth unpressed vinyl, unplayable noise-filled grooves, layered music, test tones or other sounds and noise of a similar nature.

Even their distribution and marketing techniques were left-of-center, sometimes producing only as many as 99 copies of an album, making them collectors' items among devotees. Including things such as "art objects", blood stains and sigil-like autographs in the packaging of their albums, they claim this makes their work more personal for true fans, turning their records into something akin to occultish artifacts. This practice was markedly increased in the later half of Coil's career. Some critics have accused Coil and its record company of price gouging. In 2003, Coil began re-releasing many rare works, mostly remixed, into general circulation.

Coil also separated their works into many side-projects, publishing music under different names when created using different styles. Some of these alias projects were ELpH, Zos Kia (their pre-Coil name), The Sickness of Snakes (with Boyd Rice), Eskaton, Black Light District, Time Machines. Late-period members, Thighpaulsandra and CoH have solo releases as well. Coil contributed music to two of Derek Jarman's films, Blue and The Angelic Conversation.

John Balance died on 13 November, 2004 after falling from a second floor landing in his home. On 25 November, it was announced that Coil would be releasing a number of video, audio and other works that were in various states of completion at the time of John's death, and all other planned appearances and releases would be cancelled, ending the band's twenty-three year artistic career. In December 2004, it was decided by Peter and John's partner that any releases, either as Coil or solo work that John was working on at the time of his death, would be delayed until enough time had passed to mourn John's passing, recuperate from the loss, and be able to assess the quality of the work. It is very likely that only work under John's own name will be released, as Peter Christopherson has said that Coil as an entity has ceased to exist.

Creative methods

Coil's level of detail and non-traditional approach to music is found in all aspects of their work. They've been known to utilise the following methods and exotic devices:

Influences

John was always encouraging fans to trade, talk about and discover new and different forms of music, stressing the importance of variety. Music that has influenced and informed Coil's sound is diverse and wide-ranging, from musique concrete to folk music to hardcore punk to classical. A sampling of this includes:

Discography

Releases attributed to COIL

Aliases and side-project releases

Remixes by others

See also

List of songs over fifteen minutes in length

External links
Interviews, reviews, articles:

Miscellaneous:

 

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