DECADENCE EBM AND UNDERGROUND MUSIC.: THE CASSANDRA COMPLEX

The Cassandra Complex are an electronic rock group formed by Rodney Orpheus and Paul Dillon in 1980 in Leeds, England, later expanding to a trio with the addition of Andy Booth.

History

The band was initially composed of Rodney Orpheus and Paul Dillon, who met when Orpheus gatecrashed Dillon's 21st birthday party in Leeds. They began putting on large multimedia shows featuring various avant-garde acts from the Leeds area. Andy Booth was a journalist who interviewed the band and was later asked to join. The band released their first self-financed single, "March", in March 1985. A live cassette followed a month later, and the band signed to local label Rouska. Dillon left the band to get married and the band recruited Rodney's childhood friend John Marchini, with Jez Willis and Keith Langley guesting live and in the studio.

They released two albums on the Rouska label, Grenade (1986) and Hello America (1987), and added tracks to the compilation's Raging Sun (1985) and Zarah Leander's Greatest Hits (1987) - both compilations also featured Party Day. Afterwards they signed to the Belgian-based Play It Again Sam label, which issued the double-live album Feel the Width in 1987. During the production of the Theomania album in 1988, Marchini and Booth left, with Orpheus recruiting a new line-up for 1989's Satan, Bugs Bunny, and Me album. Hamburg guitarist Volker Zacharias from the band Girls Under Glass joined a year later, and has been a stable member of the group since then.

Booth went on to become a lawyer and the head of Company Commercial and Creative Industries at Manchester firm Turner Parkinson. The band continued with Orpheus and Zacharias releasing Cyberpunx, The War Against Sleep and Sex & Death. In 1995, Orpheus worked with Patricia Nigiani and Markus Giltjes on a side project called Sun God. In 2000, the band released the Wetware album on SPV in Europe and Metropolis Records in the USA.

Over the years, the band's sound has included elements of EBM, industrial, goth rock, new wave and synthpop, and the band's sound has been described as a blend of Joy Division, The Ramones and Kraftwerk.
In 2007, the original band members reformed and since then have played several festival shows in Europe and Brazil. They are currently working on a new album.

Discography

Studio albums

Grenade (1986) Rouska
Theomania (1988) Play It Again Sam
Satan, Bugs Bunny, and me ... (1989) Play It Again Sam
Cyberpunx (1990) Play It Again Sam
The War against Sleep (1992) Play It Again Sam
Sex & Death (1993) Play It Again Sam
Wetware (2000) Metropolis

Live albums

Live in Leather (1985) Complex (cassette-only)
Feel the Width (1987) Play It Again Sam
Beyond the Wall of Sleep (1992)

Compilations

Raging Sun (1985) Rouska
Hello America (1986) Rouska (first three EPs)
Zarah Leander's Greatest Hits (1987) Rouska
Work 1.0 (1995)

EPs and 12"

March (1985) Complex
Moscow, Idaho (1985) Rouska
Datakill (1986) Rouska
Kill your Children/Something came over me/Angels In The Sky (1987) Play It Again Sam
30 Minutes of Death (1988) aka "Gunship"
Penny Century (1988)
Finland (1990) Play It Again Sam
Nice Work (1990) Play It Again Sam
Gnostic Christmas (1991) free with limited edition of "War against Sleep"
Give me what I need (1994) Play It Again Sam
Twice as Good (2000)