Luke Haines is an English singer / songwriter / musician who has recorded music under various names and with different groups, including The Servant, The Auteurs and Black Box Recorder. Haines was born during the "Summer Of Love", in 1967, learned guitar in the red light district of Portsmouth and then formally studied music at the London College of Music.
His band The Auteurs began their careers while the heady daze of Britpop was still a dream and opened their account with the glorious "Showgirl", which had the gall to end itself for a period of two seconds before announcing itself officially to the pop landscape. Shortly afterwards, in 1992, he signed to Hut Recordings. The Auteurs first album, New Wave, was selected for the prestigious ("yeah, right", Haines once remarked, “25K, guys have you not heard of inflation?“), Mercury Music Prize. However, just as the band looked like 'breaking through' to the mainstream Haines broke both of his ankles, resulting in the cancellation of much of their 1994 European tour. At the time he claimed "I jumped off a fifteen-foot wall while touring, ... to finish the tour and get the insurance" but later he denied that it was deliberate, writing "I merely drank too much wine and fell over. It happens." He spent most of the next year in a wheelchair, unable to gig.
Haines rejects the "Britpop" label as well as most of the bands that formed it. In fact he rejects pretty much everything apart from his own music, but he does it with wit, if not charm.
Haines is a brilliant songwriter, and also a pretty good book writer. His autobigraphical "Bad Vibes: Britpop and My Part in Its Downfall" is an acerbic and entertaining read. His current and infrequent shows are part acoustic, part electric and in the form of a retrospective. Catch one if you can.
The Auteurs perform "Lenny Valentino" on "Later With Jools Holland":
Luke Haines performs "Bad Reputation" at The Borderline, London, 2009:
No comments:
Post a Comment