pindrops and cathedral bells | home
pineal ventana | chad rullman | praying for oblivion | lockweld | mark hejnar | warcom media | gaya donadio | den of iniquity | kimberlee traub | lux mammoth | whitehouse | necrophilia | horace walpole & julius evola | nicolo paganini & ancient roman creation beliefs | reviews | distro | links
(william bennet)
"get down on your knees!" - a history of whitehouse
"whitehouse specialize in extreme electronic music, a genre they pioneered in 1980, which greatly influenced, if not spawned, in the late 80's and right up to the present day, a wave of (in particular japanese) "noise" groups. trademark sounds are layers of white and pink noise, subsonic bass sounds, and ferocious electronic effects. singer william bennett also has an idiosyncratic vocal style which, combined with feedback sounds, often creates a very violent sound." - from the faq page at: http://www.susanlawly.freeuk.com
"the name is a play on words: whitehouse is the name of a british porno magazine and the surname of mary, an english activist on a constant crusade against the alleged proliferation of filth on tv." - also from the faq page.
formed in 1980 by william bennett at age eighteen from the ashes of the band come, whitehouse have influenced (either directly or indirectly) the majority of noise artists who exist or have existed since the time of their inception. the original line-up consisted of william bennet, daniel miller, and peter mckay and together they created the sound which was to become infamous as their own. there were six albums released before any new members joined in 1982. these were: "birthdeath experience" (1980), "total sex" (1980), "erector" (1981), "dedicated to peter kurten" (1981), "buchenwald" (1981), and "new britain" (1982). 1982 saw the arrival of peter sotos (roland) and philip best (yamaha, vocals). although i'm not sure of peter's activity during this period, he has since become notorious as the writer of such underground books as "index" and "total abuse". he is currently based in chicago. philip was a fourteen year old runaway when he joined the group and it should also be noted that he is an original member of the act consumer electronics. 1982 also saw the appearance of the first whitehouse live action and the release of the album "psychopathis sexualis". next, in 1983 came "right to kill", an album of which, unfortunately, there were only around 2-3 hundred copies pressed of. this is also the year of the legendary live action that was interrupted by the police and their dogs after they were barricaded out of a london club in which whitehouse were performing. several arrests were made after the barricade was broken through, including that of whitehouse's former manager. it should also be noted that kevin tomkins (sutcliffe jugend/bodychoke) was a direct member of whitehouse at this time and remained so until after the release of the arguably best whitehouse album "great white death". following the death of the come organisation (a label originally created in 1979 to release works by come, but later to concentrate predominantly on whitehouse) in 1985, there was a long period of inactivity, but in 1988 the label susan lawly was created during the recording of "thank your lucky stars" (1990) in chicago. following the release of "thank your lucky stars", there was a great upsurgence of noise bands across the globe. during the next seven years whitehouse released five more albums, these being: "twice is not enough" (1991), "never forget death" (1992), "halogen" (1994), "quality time" (1995), and "mummy and daddy" (1998). the group's popularity rose with the appearance of each new release and continues to do so to this day and it's not hard to imagine why. susan lawly is still their current label and they're also responsible for the "extreme" series of compilations. whitehouse began the recording of a new album entitled "movement 2000" in february and it should see the light of day within the next couple of months. they are still performing live (although not in the u.s. due to various problems they've had here in the past) and you can be sure that they've lost none of their ferocity and, in fact, judging by the mp3 of "movement 2000", are more vicious than ever! the impact that whitehouse have had on extreme music is incredible and none worth their weight can deny their might. they are the ones who will be remembered. today, noise bands are a dime a dozen with more popping up everyday and, not surprisingly, most are nothing more than pathetic attempts to copy the greatness of whitehouse, but they will fade into oblivion while whitehouse will continue to stand as a monument to all that is truely extreme in the field of music. long live the white noise!
other releases not included in the above text: "the second coming" (compilation, 1981)/"hoisting the black flag" (compilation, 1981)/"fur ilse koch" (compilation, 1982)/"the 150 murderous passions" (album collaboration with steven stapleton, 1982)/"thank your lucky stars" b/w "sadist" (7" single, 1988)/"cream of the second coming" (2xlp/cd, 1988)/"still going strong" b/w "ankles and wrists" (7" single, 1991)/
"dictator 2" (3" cd single, 1994)/"tokyo halogen" (live cd, 1995)/"just like a cunt" (wb vocal version)(3" cd, 1996)/"history of abuse" volumes 1-3 (compilations of whitehouse material, 2000)/"instrumentals" (self-explanatory, 2000)/"anthology 1" (2xcd compilation, 2000)
come discography: "come sunday" b/w "shaved slits 2" (7" single, 1979)/"rampton" (album, 1979)/"i'm jack" (album, 1981)/"the second coming" (compilation, 1981)/"fur ilse koch" (compilation, 1982)
(peter sotos)
(philip best)
listen to whitehouse mp3 files!
click the link to discover many infamous and rare tracks!