John Doran of The Quietus uncoils Coil

Stuart Maconie's Freakier Zone
John Doran from The Quietus un-coil's the complex history of Coil. Formed by visionary poet John Balance and his partner Peter 'Sleazy' Christopherson in the early 80s the British avant-garde group covered transgressive psychedelia, neo-folk, deep house as well as European industrial music and never shied away from embracing dark brutal themes.
Music played:
Restless Day ~ Coil (Scatology)
Dark River ~ Coil (Love's Secret Domain)
Ether ~ Coil (Music To Play In The Dark 2)
Remote Viewing ~ Coil (The Remote Viewer)
Going Up ~ Coil (The Ape Of Naples)
The episode aired on Sun 15 Nov 2015
Freakier Zone homepage: www.bbc.co.uk/p...

[@reddsdeville4550]

Very earrly on, John Doran gets muddled up about John Balance's schooldays, & conflates several different stories. John Balance did NOT go to Oundle Public School, & therefore was NOT the schoolboy who was responsible for getting TG a gig there.

[@neilmason139]

I was in the same year as John/Geoff..Lord Williams School, Thame Oxon. A Comprehensive, though he was a border. Composer Howard Goodall went there also.

[@clebras]

I thought knew this band but it turns out I only had three albums and a couple singles and there was still more to learn and hear. What a great discovery! I am sad to learn they are both gone now, though. I still listen to what I have, I will try to get other recordings.

[@twitchygiraffe4636]

Thankfully some of their back catalogue is now getting an airing after a decade since Peter’s death, but it’s a shame that someone like say mute records or one little indian haven’t picked up the rights to the coil albums, instead of dodgy rip off russian and american labels releasing them and charging extortionate retail prices for them on both vinyl and cd! (Yes even the cd editions are a rip off!!!!)

[@twitchygiraffe4636]

Well the American releases on Dias records cd editions are normal price, but not the Russian ones! £25 quid for a double cd?! Fuck off!!!!

[@williamlee1674]

One of the most important band in the history of music

[@nickmoran1]

Coil rereleased quite alot of their previous albums with the help of Thighpaulsandra, contrary to what this chap John Doran says.

[@delhidelirium9091]

it would even be fair to say that Thighpaulsandra was the catalyst for a lot of the `musicality` in Coil´s live productions. Very underrated member, without him Coil would have probably remained a studio project exclusively.

[@JasonPizzolato]

I've been digging into Thighpaulsandra's solo releases as of late. There's a lot of killer stuff on 'em! You get a wide variety of styles. He's a true master, for sure!

[@musicuniverse1356]

R. M Yes he did a pretty crappy job, he chopped off some of the intro certain albums.

[@myneighbourjohnturturro]

Their music speaks to me like no other. Dark River, Ether & Going Up have all moved me to tears on occasion.

[@aquacamel]

It just is

[@robertmunro5382]

if you want more info on coil /current 93/nurse with wound/the great book england's hidden reverse has been re published and is a great deal cheaper than the original

[@stellac9338]

Personally I can't agree that EHR is great, but it deserves reading.

[@dawesgap6544]

@@williamdew7143 Care to expand on this? I read this some time ago and felt ambivalent about it - what do you think he missed out?

[@anarchoautism]

Restless Day (Scatology) - 3:43 Dark River (Love's Secret Domain) - 10:45 Ether (Musick To Play In The Dark, Volume 2) - 18:42 Remote Viewing (The Remote Viewer) - 27:53 Going Up (The Ape Of Naples) - 35:11

[@groovynut222]

What a great programme. Inconsistencies or factual errors aside, it's great that this was able to be made and broadcast for so many people to be introduced to such a strange and mesmerising band.

[@musicuniverse1356]

Coil are my favorite band, thanks for the interview! Dark River is amazing, one of their best, I remember listening to this on my brother’s cassette when I was a teenager in 1996

[@clungebucket23]

The Horse Rotorvator title and imagary was, in part, reference to the IRA bombing at Hyde Park that killed both servicemen and horses near the bandstand. And Restless Day was penned whilst housebound with a delerious fever hence the claustrophobic and queasy themes

[@twitchygiraffe4636]

Really?! The 1982 IRA bombing of hyde park was an influence on the title of horse rotorvator??

[@youtub-fj8mu]

​​​@@twitchygiraffe4636 Only the album covers. The title was based on Jhonn's dream of the horsemen of the apocalypse killing their horses and turning them into a machine to "plough" the world. He made a poem of it, and it is in the original Vinyl cover (the bandstand one) and inside the CD liner notes (the horse statue (form and fury is the name, I think))

[@youtub-fj8mu]

Actually the statue is calles physical energy. Don't know where I got the other name from

[@goddy7737]

I don't say anything new, but this music is amazing!

[@synapticmemoryseepage4447]

This is so cool - brief history of Coil!

[@williamlee1674]

One of the most important band in the history of music

[@37wolverinedreams]

Thanks for posting this!

[@Stensilhead]

Geoff passed 19 year ago this week. Hard to believe it's been so long. Miss them both still. Nothing has really come along to fill the void of their output, they covered so much ground sonically. One of the few bands that up till there termination used so much new technology to drive their sound (amongst other catalysts).

[@VictorKibalchich]

Remote Viewer is one of my faves

[@creepycraig73]

Doran is a great chap.

[@tonverfall_studio]

Coil is a band I have remained fascinated by ever since I bought "Horse Rotorvator" on cassette from Grunts & Postures in Salt Lake City in 1989 I think it was. Truly their own thing, even in the realm of underground and industrial of the time. Thanks so much for putting up this great interview.

[@olivierdube8110]

How come this Doran guy says there have never been remastered material from Coil when this broadcast aired in 2015?

[@tonverfall_studio]

@@olivierdube8110 I think you meant to reply in the main thread?

[@thehowlingterror]

Sweet.