It didn't take long for Peter Murphy to make an impression. Three minutes into Bauhaus's first ever studio session, the former bookbinder's apprentice from Northampton stepped up to the mic and began singing about velvet-lined coffins and virginal brides with such conviction that their first-take re...
It didn’t take long for Peter Murphy to make an impression. Three minutes into Bauhaus’s first ever studio session, the former bookbinder’s apprentice from Northampton stepped up to the mic and began singing about velvet-lined coffins and virginal brides with such conviction that their first-take recording of “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” remained on the indie charts for two years.
In that time, Bauhaus managed to stake out a whole new musical territory. Murphy understandably bristles at the ‘Godfather Of Goth’ epithet, given that his wide-ranging solo career has taken in everything from violin-driven alt.rock (on massive US radio hit “Cuts You Up”) to experimental fourth-world pop (2002’s Dust). But any singer who’s ever blackened their wardrobe and whitened their face to sing about matters of the heart in extravagant metaphor owes something to Peter Murphy.
Having reformed Bauhaus for three dates at the Hollywood Palladium in late 2019 (and with a show at Alexandra Palace to come in October), Murphy is currently overseeing the reissue of his five Beggars Banquet solo albums, spanning 1985’s Should The World Fail To Fall Apart to 1995’s Pascal Gabriel-produced Cascade, along with a compilation of rarities from that period.
Furthermore, he’s kindly consented to a gentle grilling from you, the Uncut readers, for our next Audience With feature. So what do you want to ask the man in the translucent black cape? Send your questions to audiencewith@www.uncut.co.uk by Friday (Feb 26), and Peter will answer the best ones in a future issue of Uncut.
