Bauhaus

At the origin of Bauhaus, Daniel Ash, David Haskins and Kevin Haskins, young teenagers forming group after group, the longest, and last on the list, was The Crazy. Unfortunately, as usual, the 3 musicians throw the sponge but Ash asks an old friend of his, Peter Murphy, to integrate his new project, recruiting Kevin Askins and a little later David J. Askins (in place of the very first bassist Chris Barber). After a first concert in early 1978, the quartet decided to name itself Bauhaus 1919 , inspired by the German artistic movement Bauhaus of the 1920s. The first stream is for a promo demo, which does not allow them to get a contract, but Bauhaus perseveres and records a demo in 6 weeks: 5 composed including the famous Bela Lugosi's Dead . The song in question was released in August 1979 under the simple name Bauhaus and made a carton on the English independent stage.
Other singles (Dark Entries , Terror Couple Kill Colonel , ...) and a debut album In The Flat Field in 1980 followed. The reception is less enthusiastic but negative reviews do not prevent the album from getting into the charts. The following year, Mask , their second opus, was born: more varied, diversified but less successful in the United Kingdom. However, Bauhaus's productivity did not decrease and The Sky's Gone Out was released the following year, as well as the single Ziggy Stardust (reprised by Bowie), which climbed into the charts and thus pulled the album's sales. Bauhaus then always appears as a sub Bowie and this single does not help in any way, as the resemblance between Murphy and David Bowie seems striking.
In 1983 Murphy was struck by pneumonia that prevented him from contributing to Bauhaus's latest album, Burning from the Inside. The duo Ash / David J. takes over the album, making it appear as Bauhaus's most "denatured" album so much Murphy's shadow seems to have disappeared. The musicians embark on a tour which will see the first end of Bauhaus. After a few concerts on July 5, 1983, the English gave their last concert, while Burning from the Inside released the following week. The reasons for the separation are multiple: disharmony between the musicians so each personality tries to take precedence over others, fatigue, ...
Peter Murphy worked with the band Dali's Car and released 2 solo albums: Deep and Love Hysteria. Daniel Ash played in Tones on Tail, David J released several solo albums and collaborated with Alan Moore (comics author) in The Sinister Ducks. Daniel Ash and the two Askins brothers (David and Kevin) formed Tones Of Nails, which had some success in the UK.
In 1998, Bauhaus reformed during the Resurrection Tour and took advantage of it to play a new song "The Dog's a Vapour", and record a double live album Gotham . Then the band fell into oblivion again, until 2005 when he toured in North America and Mexico, then with Nine Inch Nails in May 2006. 2008 sees the arrival of the new Bauhaus album: Go Away White . According to the musicians, this would be Bauhaus's real end, and no tour would follow this Go Away White ... Historically, Bauhaus remains one of the pioneers of the Post-Punk movement and the Gothic scene (via rather dark music and clothing). Despite a chaotic musical career (unsuccessful in England while the band is in the USA) and a rather short life span (4 years), the band's footprint remains present, as is that of many other musicians in this scene (Joy Division for example).