History The Durutti Column

1 history

1.1 line-ups
1.2 1979–1990: factory records
1.3 1990 onwards: after factory

history
early line-ups

in 1978 tony wilson , alan erasmus, later partners in factory records, assembled band around remnants of local punk rock band fast breeder: drummer chris joyce , guitarist dave rowbotham. name derived misspelling of durruti column, anarchist military unit in spanish civil war, named after buenaventura durruti. name taken four-page comic strip entitled le retour de la colonne durruti ( return of durruti column ) andré bertrand, handed out amidst student protests in october 1966 @ strasbourg university.

on 25 january, vini reilly, former guitarist local punk rock band ed banger , nosebleeds, joined, followed weeks later co-member vocalist phil rainford and, end of february, bassist tony bowers arrived alberto y lost trios paranoias. line-up short-lived rainford sacked in july, , replaced actor colin sharp, became 1 of songwriters. rainford went on produce nico , suns of arqa.

the durutti column played @ factory club (organised managers), , cut 2 numbers first factory records release factory sample, double 7 compilation featuring joy division, john dowie , cabaret voltaire. on eve of recording debut album, band broke after dispute wilson , erasmus s choice of producer, martin hannett. rowbotham, bowers , joyce went on form mothmen (the latter 2 becoming members of red years later), sharp went on form roaring 80s, sf jive, , glow, , dedicated himself acting; reilly remained.

with s departure, durutti column defaulted reilly s solo project. other musicians contributed recordings , live performances occasioned. former alberto y lost trios paranoias drummer bruce mitchell doubled co-manager wilson throughout career on factory , many years afterwards.

1979–1990: factory records

the first album, 1980 s return of durutti column (title inspired 1967 situationist international poster includes phrase), produced martin hannett. reilly: ...he more or less got sounds me no 1 else understand wanted. , understood wanted play electric guitar didn t want horrible distorted, usual electric guitar sound , managed that. record featured sandpaper sleeve (like title of record, inspired situationist joke, book – guy debord s mémoires – sandpaper cover destroy other books on shelf). didn t know going album. case of jumping @ chance of being in studio. didn t in time, martin had physically me out of bed me studio – s how little believed happen. still doing late night petrol station shifts. more amazed when tony presented me white label. baffled. what, going album? must insane! no-one s going buy this! , tony got idea situationists sandpaper book, , decided sandpaper sleeve. joy division stuck sandpaper onto card. mortified.

the music unlike else performed post-punk acts @ time. reilly rooting himself in new wave ...an attempt @ experimental things ; record contained 9 gentle guitar instrumentals (later releases feature reilly s soft , hesitant vocals) including elements jazz, folk, classical music , rock. reilly: ...i had lot of classical training when young, guitar , formal training, scales write , techniques use classical techniques , scales – lot of minor melodic , minor harmonic scales, aren t used in pop music. s pentatonic . hannett s production included adding electronic rhythm , other effects, including birdsong on sketch summer . album accompanied flexidisc 2 tracks hannett alone.

lc ( lotta continua , italian continuous struggle ), released in 1981, recorded without hannett, , introduced percussionist bruce mitchell, reilly s frequent musical partner , occasional manager. recorded on four-track cassette deck @ home (while padded in studio, tape hiss intact); among first crisp, professionally released recordings made cheaply @ home. ep deux triangles, released in 1982, contained 3 instrumentals, piano emphasised on guitar. setting (1983) again reilly , mitchell; in 1984 band expanded include richard henry (trombone), maunagh fleming (cor anglais , oboe), blaine reininger (of tuxedomoon; violin , viola), mervyn fletcher (saxophone), caroline lavelle (cello), , tim kellett (trumpet). album without mercy, arranged john metcalfe, intended instrumental evocation of poem la belle dame sans merci john keats.

say mean departure roots addition of deep electronic percussion. kellett , metcalfe remained (metcalfe playing viola); appear alongside reilly , mitchell on circuses , bread (factory benelux in 1985) , domo arigato. latter live album recorded in tokyo , first pop album released in uk solely on relatively new compact disc format (and available on vhs , laserdisc.)

kellett left join red, guested on guitar , other machines (1987), first new uk album released on digital audio tape (as usual media of lp, audio cassette , cd). guitar , other machines has far more direct sound earlier records, guest vocals stanton miranda , reilly s partner, pol, , use of sequencer , drum machine in addition mitchell s drumming. album produced stephen street, produced morrissey s solo album, viva hate (1988), on reilly played guitar.

vini reilly (1989), produced reilly , street, features extensive use of sampling, looped samples of vocalists (including otis redding, tracy chapman, annie lennox , joan sutherland) used basis several tracks. initial copies came 7 or cd single, know how got note wrong , credited vincent gerard , steven patrick , in take of morrissey b-side know how got name dissolves laughter after reilly hits wrong note.

on obey time (1990) mitchell played on 1 track, album being otherwise solo recording reilly, heavily influenced contemporary dance music. album s title phrase uttered titular character of william shakespeare s othello toward fiance, desdemona in act one, scene two: have hour of love, of worldly matters , direction, spend thee: must obey time. accompanying single, mix , featured 2 reworkings of album tracks together, jonathon donaghy , suddi raval (donaghy killed in car crash in ibiza before single released). last durutti column record released factory, in 1991.

1990 onwards: after factory

the durutti column in 2006

for first few years after demise of factory, durutti column album releases lips kiss (a 1991 collection of singles, compilation contributions , unreleased material on separate label factory benelux), , dry (1991) , red shoes (1992), italian collections of alternate versions , unreleased outtakes.

former member dave rowbotham killed unknown assailant in 1991. later memorialised happy mondays in song cowboy dave.

in 1993 tony wilson attempted revive factory records, , sex , death first release on factory (a subdivision of london records). album once again produced stephen street, mitchell , metcalfe, , included, on track next time , peter hook of new order. time gigantic ... when kids, followed in 1998, produced keir stewart, played on album , has worked reilly since. fidelity released between these albums in 1996 les disques du crépuscule , produced laurie laptop.

the 8 albums recorded factory (the return of durutti column, lc, setting, without mercy, domo arigato, guitar , other machines, vini reilly , obey time) re-released additional material factory too/london, under banner factory once, between 1996 , 1998.

in 1998, durutti column contributed s life baby aids benefit compilation album onda sonora: red hot + lisbon produced red hot organization.

factory ended in 1998, , subsequent durutti column albums have been on independent labels artful records (rebellion [2001], else s party [2003], keep breathing [2006], idiot savants [2007]) or kookydisc (tempus fugit [2004], sunlight blue . . . blue blackness [2008]). kookydisc has released 2 further volumes of sporadic recordings (along edited re-release of first volume 1989), remastered versions of 2 scarce lps 1980s (live @ venue [2004] , amigos em portugal [2005]), , 2 subscription-club discs of rare , unreleased material. download-only release, heaven sent (it called digital, heaven sent), first appeared in 2005 via wilson s project f4, marketed fourth version of factory records.

on 7 september 2009, colin sharp died brain haemorrhage.