(Photo by Roger op den Camp) COP International Records and Strict Tempo announce the USA leg of the CX40 World Tour by the legendary Anglo-Irish post-punk group The Cassandra Complex. The band has been celebrating their 40 year anniversary in 2024 with an extensive world tour spanning Europe and the Americas.

As part of the tour they will be making a rare visit to play in the USA in September – October, starting with an appearance at the Cold Waves festival in Chicago, and continuing through the West Coast of the USA. The last time The Cassandra Complex played in America was almost 20 years ago, so this will be a unique chance to see their live show. The second leg of the tour will commence with shows in the USA and Latin America in the Fall, followed by more shows in the UK and EU later in the year.

The band will be supported on USA shows by DJ Vox Sinistra and on European shows by the Swedish post-punk duo Sjöblom. Tickets can be order now.

• 29 Sep 24 Chicago IL, Cold Waves Festival
• 30 Sep 24 Portland OR, Dante’s
• 02 Oct 24 Seattle WA, Central Saloon
• 04 Oct 24 San Diego CA, Corazón del Barrio *
• 05 Oct 24 Long Beach CA, Que Sera *
• 06 Oct 24 Albany CA, The Ivy Room (SF Bay Area) *
• 12 Oct 24 Ciudad de México, Foro 28
• 15 Oc t24 San José Costa Rica, Amon Solar
• 18 Oct 24 Santiago Chile, RBX
• 19 Oct 24 Sao Paulo Brazil, Madame
• 23 Nov 24 Leeds UK, The Old Woolen
• 24 Nov 24 London UK, The Black Heart
• 26 Nov 24 Reading UK, The Facebar
• 28 Nov 24 Bochum Germany, Matrix **
• 29 Nov 24 Bielefeld Germany, Movie **
• 30 Nov 24 Cologne Germany, Blue Shell **
• 04 Dec 24 Berlin Germany, Urban Spree **
• 05 Dec 24 Copenhagen Denmark, Lygten Station **

* with Vox Sinistra
** with Sjöblom

About The Cassandra Complex

The Cassandra Complex was formed in 1984 by Rodney Orpheus (vocals, synths, drums machine), Paul Dillon (electronics), and Andy Booth (guitar, keyboards). Musically they bring a synthesis of post-punk, goth, EBM, and industrial music, coupled with Rodney Orpheus’ voice.

After a long hiatus, The Cassandra Complex recently returned with the album “The Plague”, recorded during the COVID lockdown. In March 2024 they released “Death & Sex”. Both albums are available from COP International Records on CD and on all streaming services.

Rodney Orpheus has also worked as a producer, remixer, and music technologist, working with artists such as The Sisters of Mercy, Kraftwerk, Beborn Beton, The Future Sound of London, Girls Under Glass, Faith & the Muse, Within Temptation, and many more.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

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(Photo by Roger op den Camp) COP International Records, International Booking Department, and Resistencia Booking have announce the second leg of the CX40 tour of the Anglo-Irish post-punk group The Cassandra Complex. This second leg will take the band, which celebrates its 40 year anniversary, to Germany, Belgium, USA, Mexico, Costa Rica, Chile, Brazil, UK, the Netherlands, and Denmark.

The second leg will commence this summer with festivals in Germany and Belgium, followed by dates in the USA and Latin America in the Fall. The tour continues then with more shows in the UK and EU later in the year. The band will also be supported on select European shows by special guests and labelmates Sjöblom.

You can order your tickets here.

• 11/08/24 Hildesheim Germany, Mera Luna Festival
• 24/08/24 Ostend Belgium, W-Festival
• 25/08/24 Sint-Niklaas Belgium, De Rembrandt Festival
• 29/09/24 Chicago USA, Cold Waves Festival
• 12/10/24 Ciudad de México, Foro 28
• 15/10/24 San José Costa Rica, Amon Solar
• 18/10/24 Santiago Chile, RBX
• 19/10/24 Sao Paulo Brazil, Madame
• 23/11/24 Leeds UK, The Old Woolen
• 24/11/24 London UK, The Black Heart
• 26/11/24 Reading UK, The Facebar
• 29/11/24 Bielefeld Germany, Movie
• 30/11/24 Cologne Germany, Blue Shell
• 01/12/24 Bochum Germany, Rockpalast
• 04/12/24 Berlin Germany, Urban Spree
• 05/11/24 Copenhagen Denmark, Lygten Station
• (More dates to be confirmed)

About The Cassandra Complex

The Cassandra Complex was formed in 1984 by Rodney Orpheus (vocals, synths, drums machine), Paul Dillon (electronics), and Andy Booth (guitar, keyboards). Musically they bring a synthesis of post-punk, goth, EBM, and industrial music, coupled with Rodney Orpheus’ voice.

After a long hiatus, The Cassandra Complex recently returned with the album “The Plague”, recorded during the COVID lockdown. In March 2024 they released “Death & Sex”. Both albums are available from COP International Records on CD and on all streaming services.

Rodney Orpheus has also worked as a producer, remixer, and music technologist, working with artists such as The Sisters of Mercy, Kraftwerk, Beborn Beton, The Future Sound of London, Girls Under Glass, Faith & the Muse, Within Temptation, and many more.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

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Out via Cop International on March 14 is “The Plague”, the brand new album by The Cassandra Complex. The album is their first since 2013 and while the streaming version of this album came out in 2022, it’s only now that the album will see a CD version, albeit in a fully remastered version. It will be supported by a world tour across 12 countries throughout 2024.

The band took a hiatus for several years while Orpheus worked creating some of the most widely used music technology today, as well as production work with other bands such as The Sisters of Mercy, Kraftwerk, Within Temptation, Sinead O’Connor, Die Krupps, and many others. During the COVID lockdown the band got together using online collaboration tech to create 10 brand new songs.

The Cassandra Complex revisits ‘Sex & Death’

Out the same day is “Death & Sex” celebrating the 40th anniversary of the moment Rodney Orpheus, Paul Dillon, and Andy Booth got together in a basement in Leeds, England with a collection of cheap second-hand guitar pedals, synthesisers, and drum machines to start recording material. In 1993 they released the legendary album “Sex & Death” and now the band re-recorded 7 tracks of this classic record from scratch (note the inverted album title).

This new version features the original founders of the band Rodney Orpheus and Andy Booth, with long time additional members Chris Haskett (Henry Rollins Band, David Bowie) on guitar and Mera Roberts (Faith and the Muse, Black Tape for a Blue Girl) on cello, plus new member Brent Heinze (Probe 7) on keyboards.

The Cassandra Complex – First Tour dates 2024

• UK – 14/03 Todmorden, The Golden Lion
• UK – 16/03 Gateshead, The Black Bull
• UK – 17/03 London, The Lower Third
• B – 21/03 Charleroi, La Ruche Verriere
• NL – 22/03 Amsterdam, Q-Factory
• NL – 24/03 Heerlen, Nieuwe Nor
• DK – 30/03 Copenhagen, Lygten
• CZ – 21/05 Prague, Palac Akropolis

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

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COP International has welcomed the influential industrial rock band, The Cassandra Complex, to its line-up of artists.

Originally formed in Leeds, England, The Cassandra Complex came together through the collaboration of Rodney Orpheus, Paul Dillon, and later journalist Andy Booth. Their debut single “March” was released in 1985. Rodney Orpheus later moved to Hamburg, Germany, where he teamed up with guitarist Volker Zacharias, a longstanding member of the band.

Over the decades, The Cassandra Complex’s music has evolved to encompass a rich blend of EBM, industrial, goth rock, new wave, and synth-pop elements. They have gained recognition for their unique blend of electronic music, post-punk vibes, guitar-driven compositions, and the distinctive vocals of Rodney Orpheus. Songs such as “Moscow Idaho”, “One Millionth Happy Customer”, and “The War Against Sleep” are considered iconic tracks of their genre.

Beyond his work with The Cassandra Complex, Rodney Orpheus is also noted for his significant contributions to music technology. He played a key role in developing and advocating for many of the tools that musicians globally use today, with a particular focus on Virtual Studio Technology (VST), which has been a game-changer for the music industry. His collaborative work in this field extends to a variety of artists, including Kevin Godley (10cc, Godley & Creme), Sinead O’Connor, Sisters of Mercy, Die Krupps, and Future Sound of London.

Recently, The Cassandra Complex has been independently releasing their music. Currently, they are in the process of producing a new album and revisiting and re-recording selections from their extensive back catalogue. As they approach their 40th anniversary in 2024, fans can look forward to a special, limited edition reissue of their work to commemorate this significant milestone.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

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“Into The Light” is the second single of Symphonic Noise Cult’s forthcoming (Summer 2023) debut album “Behind the Curtain” and is out on the Duisburg based record label VUZ Records.

Behind this melancholic dark pop band we find Winus Rilinger (The Eternal Afflict, Sara Noxx, Inside (TEA & Psyche), Form Follows Function, Stücker & Benecke and Neue Jugend), Scott Mick (Panic Or Pain, Theatre Of Shock Therapy, Dark State) and pianist and soundtrack composer Ulrich A. Beutgen.

Besides the album version the 6-track single contains remixes by Rodney Orpheus (Cassandra Complex), Tim V. (Shade Factory, Two Witches) and JL Marchal (I Love 80ies), a special “The Eternal Afflict” mix plus the non-album track “Dreaming”.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

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Here’s an odd duck on COP International label: the Fort Worth, Texas based act G.W. Childs IV. This project delivers electro country or synthwave with a disco falsetto actually. Behind the buttons we also notice John Fryer (Depeche Mode/NIN/Yazoo) and Rodney Orpheus (The Cassandra Complex).

The 7-track EP will be out next Friday (7th of April) on Bandcamp Day and features 2 original tracks (“You don’t know” and “Infinitely You”) plus “Tarrrant County” remixed by Rodney Orpheus / Cassandra Complex, DJ Joe Virus / Solemn Assembly, Josh Pyle (Aphorism), Ashes Fallen and one by by G.W. Childs IV itself.

You can already check the title track itself.

Here’s the previous single of the project, the 5-track EP “Tarrant County”.

Christian from COP International comments: “When John Fryer send me the first track I was blown away. We both had discussed the direction we expected COP to go for but this was something else entirely. Or was it? John always finds the emotional core in a track and brings it to the surface. But he also helped GW rediscover his roots and embrace them at the same time – what a beautiful gift. With his new band everything that has shaped GW is coming together. He grew up on a ranch among farmhands and livestock. He joined the Army and they took him all over the globe. His Passion for music brought him to California and gave him the opportunity to work for Lucas Arts as a sound designer. His love for his family brought him back home to Texas. GW Childs IV “Tarrant County” is the sum of all these experiences. GW Childs IV and COP have been working together for 20 years (GW was half of the storied Dark Wave Band Soil and Eclipse). But I feel that his new band is the first time we see the real person behind the music. It combines his early love for 4AD, the great balladeers of historic country music and his love for catchy melodies.”

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

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Genre/Influences: Cinematographic, electro, wave-pop, experimental.

Format: Digital, 2CD.

Background/Info: After his last year released album “13 Ghost Stories” Jean-Marc Lederman strikes back with a somewhat similar concept album. He asked an impressive number of guest singers to write lyrics about the theme ‘letters to gods and fallen angels’. The ‘old’ Weathermen protagonist took care of the music composition and he also wrote a few lyrical parts. The double CD features twenty four songs while twenty two singers contributed to the album plus Jo Quail playing cello on one song.

Content: This album is quite diversified, mixing very different genres. Jean-Marc Lederman transforms himself into a sonic chameleon who now moved back to the 80s and next experimenting pure soundtrack music. But I also noticed a song with a jazzy-like atmosphere while others are more into a kind of dreamy pop music. I also noticed some electronic minimalism and even a very personal cover version of Nick Cave’s “Into My Arms”.

The real tour de force is the impressive list of singers featuring names such as Tom Shear, Mark Hockings, Rodney Orpheus, Elena Alice Fossi, Frank M. Spinath, Stefan Netschio, Claus Larsen, Mari Kattman ao. Most of the singers also wrote the lyrics for their song.

+ + + : I like conceptual albums, but I have to admit, this one by Jean-Marc Lederman is a true original idea. He once again brought an impressive number of great names together, and also a few unknown names. The album sounds as a compilation, but it first of all reveals a musician who feels comfortable dealing with very different music genres. I noticed several jazzy-driven cuts, but also cool ‘film-noir’ compositions. It’s hard to give a favorite song, but I’ll go for “Heaven” featuring Scottish artist Lucia Fairfull on vocals. It’s also quite surprising to hear Tom Shear (Assemblage 23) singing on “Answer Me” in a different way we’re used to hearing from this artist. By the way, this song could be the perfect EP-title track. The very personal interpretation of Nick Cave’s “Into My Arms” sung by American singer Jenna Fearon is also worthy of examination for its intimate mood. 

– – – : If there’s one single point you can discuss about is the feeling you might be listening to a compilation.

Conclusion: This album even touches me deeper than “13 Ghost Stories”; it’s not an album with ‘hits’, but simply a genius concept featuring a great and renowned musician joined by a great selection of singers. Respect for this work Mr. Lederman!

Best songs: “Letter from Lucia Fairfull: Heaven”, “Letter from Tom Shear: Answer Me”, “Letter From Mark Hockings: Don’t Collect Me”, “Letter from Emma Barson: Under A Glass Sky”, “Letter from Rodney Orpheus: Sophisiticated Evening”.

Rate: (9).

Artist: www.facebook.com/jeanmarc.lederman

Label: www.wool-e-discs.be / www.facebook.com/woolediscs

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

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Set up in the 1980 by Rodney Orpheus and Paul Dillon, The Cassandra Complex got rapidly completed by the addition of Andy Booth. The album “Grenade” released in 1986 on Rouska became an instant success revealing the electro-punk style of the Leeds combo to the world. They next got signed to the Belgian label Play It Again Sam on, which they released several productions. In the meantime The Cassandra Complex had moved from England to Germany founding base in Hamburg. Rodney Orpheus remained the only core member, but got joined by the great German musician Volker Zacharias (Girls Under Glass, Trauma). The last studio album “Wetware” was released in 2000 on Metropolis Records (USA) and Synthetic Symphony/SPV (Germany). The band reformed in 2007 for new live concerts, but Paul Dilllon left again and got replaced by Axel Ermes (Girls Under Glass, Trauma, Nefkom, ao). Rodney Orpheus got also involved with the side-project Sun God (featuring Patricia Nigiani and Marcus Giltjes), became live member of The Sisters Of Mercy, produced several other bands like Girls Under Glass and Catastrophe Ballet, became creative director of the London Symphony Orchestra  and last, but not least he got active as writer. During the past few months several albums of The Cassandra Complex have been remastered, which gave me the idea of this interview. There’s too much to ask about this legendary band, but Rodney Orpheus kindly accepted to answer a few questions about the past, but also the future… For this interview I would like to thank Side-Line and Peek-A-Boo for their interest to each publish this interview as a kind of ‘collaboration’ between both Belgian online platforms.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Several Cassandra Complex albums have been recently remastered. I’m intrigued why you remastered some of these albums. Weren’t you satisfied about the original mastering or does it say something about perfectionism?

Rodney: When we originally made them we had very limited budget and technology at our hands. So the original records never sounded as good as they did when we recorded them in the studio. We wanted to fix that. The new remasters actually now sound the way we originally planned for them to be. So they aren’t some kind of new remix -it’s more like making them the way they originally sounded in the studio while we were recording them.

Q: You first official album “Grenade” is one that has been remastered. The album became an instant success revealing Cassandra Complex to the ‘world’. More than thirty years later now, how do you look back at this album and what has been its real impact on later work and your career? 

Rodney: The astonishing thing about remastering this album is how new and fresh it still sounds! It’s both raw and exciting, but also has some fantastic songs on it. When we first brought it out, I remember the record company complaining about the longer, slower songs on the second half of the record, but listening back those really stand the test of time. Stuff like “Helen Earth” and “Motherad“ still sound really strong and powerful.

Q: Cassandra Complex was a band from Leeds. What did you keep in mind from the Leeds scene, which featured some legendary bands such as The Sisters Of Mercy, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,  March Violets, Gang Of Four ao? What about friendship, jealousy, rivalry? 

Rodney: That scene was interesting in that you had a lot of bands in a very small area all at the same time. Of course there were rivalries, but in general I think most of us got on very well. We were pretty close to the guys from The Three Johns, knew The March Violets quite well, and saw a lot of early Sisters of Mercy shows 🙂

There were also other great bands that history has kind of overlooked, like Delta 5 for example.

It was a very exciting time and place to be a young person making music.

Q: The album you released with Sun God in 1995 has been remastered as well. This album was definitely something totally different and new for you. What did you keep in mind from that period and this opus? And what did this album maybe revealed about yourself?

Rodney: When I made that record I had been making records and touring constantly with The Cassandra Complex for about 10 years, so I really needed to do something different. My creativity was suffering because of doing the same thing over and over and over again. So I decided to do a record that had nothing at all similar to The Cassandra Complex -no guitars, lots of natural sounds and samples, a female vocalist. All sorts of things that would get me out of the rut that I was in.

Q: The Sun God-album was released when you were already living in Hamburg. I guess it must have been a shock moving from England to Germany, but at the other side, this city has been always a prolific place for German underground artists. What has been its real impact and the influence on the further releases of Cassandra Complex? 

Rodney: Yes, I was in Hamburg at the time. I loved living there, it’s a great city, and at that period there were some really interesting musicians, so it was kind of like Leeds had been a few years before. And of course Andrew from the Sisters was living there too. Around the period pretty much everyone involved with The Cassandra Complex was German anyway (except me). Not only the musicians, but our crew, graphics and video people etc. We all lived in 2 houses close to each other in Altona so we were able to work all day every day together writing and recording, and rehearsing for live shows – we did a LOT of live concerts back then! 

But in general, I just loved the atmosphere in Hamburg. I love being near water, and I love very laid-back international cities, and Hamburg just fit perfectly.

Q: The album “Cyberpunx” (1990) hasn’t been remastered yet although I think it has been a real special one. I mean the situation between Europe and the Arab states hasn’t really changed, don’t you think? But the situation in Europe became quite tricky  as well. What do you think about the evolution here in Europe, which lead in England to Brexit? 

Rodney: Brexit is the stupidest mistake that the British government has ever made. We have always considered ourselves a European band -there’s even an EU flag on the cover of the “Hello America”-album. Note that I am actually a dual national -I’m both British and Irish. So at least I get to stay a citizen of the EU, even after Brexit 🙂

The EU is far from perfect, but it’s definitely better than the wars we used to have in Europe. I’m a big supporter of the DiEM25 movement, which seeks to reform the EU from within. We need to keep it and make it better, not leave it!

Q: You’re now involved with music for more than thirty years! A lot of things has evolved, changed, disappeared and made place for new things. What’s you perception about it? 

Rodney: Damn, I’m so old now! 🙂

The technology has changed massively (and I was one of the people involved in doing that), but unfortunately the business side has changed very little -or it’s gotten worse. It’s still dominated by a very few massive corporations leeching off the work of artists while pretending to be their friends. It’s capitalism at its very worst.

There’s still some great music coming out though, and in the end that’s what counts.

Q: How much of the young Rodney Orpheus do you still recognize in the artist you are today? 

Rodney: A lot I hope! I think I’m still as revolutionary and opinionated as ever…  🙂

But yeah, I still hold all the same ideals. It’s nice to have more technology and resources to work with. I am definitely a lot happier in my life now than I was then, and that’s great, but that also makes it harder to make music in some ways -pain and loss is a great motivator to do art. But it’s not sustainable.

Q: You’re still a writer so I can imagine literature has  been always an important item in life. But it’s also interesting to see the contrast between a writer and a musician; the writer mainly working in the shadow, observing what’s happening around him (like a voyeur) and the musician/singer performing on stage in front of his audience (like an exhibitionist). What’s your feeling and experiences?  

Rodney: That’s very true. It’s like two sides of the same coin. Writing is a very solitary experience -you spend a LOT of time alone with your thoughts. That’s a good thing because it helps you get inside your own head and work on understanding and improving yourself. But on the other hand, humans are designed to be social creatures, so it has its negative sides too. That social side is one of the things that keeps driving me to music. That’s why I tend to move between one world and the other, to keep myself balanced.

Q: I read there’s maybe a new Cassandra Complex album in the make? What brings the future? 

Rodney: Am actually working on it right now 😉

We are hoping to have it all finished in the Summer. It’s really starting to sound pretty good I think…

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Jean-Marc Lederman (The Weathermen, Fad Gadget, The The, Ghost & Writer, Lederman-Demeyer) has released a new release under the Jean-Marc Lederman Experience moniker. With this project he calls up singers from different niches and countries to write lyrics and sing them on a common theme. The end result is then being packaged in a 2CD 36 pages hardcover art book with artwork and pictures by Erica Hinyot.

2019 saw the release of “13 Ghost Stories”, and now he offers “Letters To Gods (and fallen angels)” including performances from 21 different singers, from the USA to Italy, Mexico or Wales. The concept this time is very topical in this strange reset time: “You can write a letter to a God, or a fallen angel. What do you say?”

This time, the artists are:

• Agi Taralas (Our Banshee, Greece)
• Emma Barson (Promenade Cinema, UK)
• Ghost & Writer with cello by Jo Quail (Germany/Belgium UK)
• Mari Kattman (Helix, USA)
• JP Aston with backing vocals by Julianne Regan (Gene Loves Jezebel/Wales All About Eve/UK
• Coline Wauters (Atome, Belgium)
• Christina Z (comics Witchblade writer, Magnesium Burn/USA)
• Das Vintage (Mexico)
• Lucia Fairfull (Lusca And The Best Boys/ Scotland)
• Stefan Netschio (Beborn Beton/Germany)
• Hunter S. Thompson (Writer, USA)
• Elena Alice Fossi (Kirlian Camera/Stalingrad Valkyrie Italy)
• Tom Shear (Assemblage 23/ Helix USA)
• Mark Hockings (MESH/ UK)
• Jenna Fearon (USA)
• Emileigh Rohn (Chiasm/USA)
• Miriam Christina (The Other Side Of Who, 580 Miles/ Germany)
• Haydn Park-Patterson (The Ninth Wave/ Scotland)
• Rodney Orpheus (The Cassandra Complex/ EU)
• Louise Fraser (USA)
• Lis van den Akker (Holland)
• Claus Larsen (Leaether Strip/ Denmark)
• Friedrich Nietzsche (Patrimonia Universal de la Humanidad)
• With 3 novels by:
• Christina Z. (comics Witchblade writer, Magnesium Burn/USA)
• Ceratomia (USA)
• Philippe Genion (à;GRUMH /Belgium)

Check the previews below.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

side-line.com

(Picture by Daniela Vorndran) Almost 20 years ago (it’s like yesterday if you ask us) the influential goth-electro-industrial-cyberpunk band The Cassandra Complex released “Wetware”, a milestone in the dark wave scene. Now it is finally being made available again, fully remastered and resequenced, in three linked releases.

First up is the 3 track “Twice As Good” EP on November 22, featuring legendary electronic acts Front 242 and Apoptygma Berzerk, who were now both called in to do remixes. December will see the release of the other songs from “Wetware” split into two parts: “Hardware” and “Software”.

Rodney explains this special re-release treatment of the “Wetware” material: “When we were originally working on Wetware we ended up writing so many great songs that we couldn’t fit them all into one 70 minute CD, so we had to leave some songs off. When it came time to remaster it for streaming I realised that I could now add in the missing stuff, and split the whole thing into two albums instead. So now Hardware contains the harder, faster, more in-your-face songs, while Software contains the longer, slower, more psychedelic pieces. Listening to each one individually is a much more coherent experience – it’s the two halves that make up the totality of The Cassandra Complex.”

“We had gotten fairly burnt out”

The “Wetware” songs were originally written in 1999 in Los Angeles and Hamburg, and were seen by the band as the culmination of the work they had been doing in the previous 15 years of near-constant recording and touring.

Rodney Orpheus: “From the moment I started The Cassandra Complex we had basically never stopped working on music – when we weren’t touring we were in our studio in Hamburg doing production and remix work for other European alternative bands. I literally lived in our studio. We had gotten fairly burnt out by that stage which left us wondering where to go next.”

With the band lineup down to just Rodney and guitarist Volker Zacharias, Rodney was offered a job with music software company Steinberg in Los Angeles, and things looked bleak for the band’s future.

“Getting out to LA forced me to look at our past from a new perspective. I started listening to our older records in order to rediscover what had made them so good in the first place. I had also been doing some work with Kraftwerk, which got me involved with their interest in the Man Machine interface. I realised that was something also intrinsic to what we were doing with The Cassandra Complex – the synergy between very rigorous and computerised rhythms and human improvisation and emotion. That got me thinking about computer systems, where you have Hardware, which is the chips in the machine; Software, which is the information running on it; and Wetware, which is the biological operator controlling and directing the whole thing i.e. us. That became the working basis and title for what we wanted to do next.”

Working on the record meant frequent trips back to Hamburg where Rodney and Volker would feverishly work on finishing songs in the limited time they had together. The final mix was then completed back in LA.

Formed in 1980, still going strong today

The Cassandra Complex was originally formed by Rodney Orpheus, Paul Dillon, and Andy Booth in 1980 in Leeds, England. Over the years, the band’s sound has included elements of EBM, industrial, goth rock, new wave and synthpop.

Earlier in 2019 the band remastered and re-released their two earliest albums “Grenade” and “Hello America”. In recent months Rodney and Volker have again joined up along with band co-founder guitarist Andy Booth and keyboard player and “button-pusher” Axel Ermes to tour across Europe with The Cassandra Complex. This year they have successfully played to thousands of fans at WGT Festival and Amphi Festival in Germany, W Festival in Belgium, and DarkMAD Festival in Spain; and have a forthcoming headline performance in December at BIMFest in Belgium. Coming into next year the band have already committed to major shows in Germany and Greece, with more European dates to be confirmed.

You can view a full video of the band’s recent concert at WGT Festival in Leipzig, Germany below.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

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(Picture by Xavier Marquis) The classic The Cassandra Complex album “Grenade” from 1986 is once again available. Over 30 years after making their debut, the legendary industrial post-punk band have finally rereleased their classic self-produced first album in a newly remastered version for streaming services.

The Cassandra Complex are based around the nucleus of principal songwriters Rodney Orpheus (vocals, computer) and Andy Booth (guitar, keyboards), with the addition on this album of John Marchini (bass, saxophone), Keith Langley (percussion) and Jez Willis (bass, keyboards) who would later go on to form Utah Saints.

“I had started off listening to a bunch of early 70s synth rock stuff , like Kraftwerk, Hawkwind, Suicide, Can, and Bowie’s Berlin albums, then got into early industrial acts like TG and Cabaret Voltaire, and combined that with punk influences we loved like Buzzcocks, Joy Division, and Gang of Four,” says Orpheus, the Northern Ireland-born singer of the band. “We ended up with something that was a synthesis of all of those disparate elements into something that was quite unlike anything else around at the time, especially on the UK scene.”

Listen to “Grenade” on Spotify

Small label, big sales

Despite getting little reaction in their homeland, the album quickly achieved critical and commercial success in the growing goth/alternative music scene in Europe, selling over 20,000 copies for their small independent label, with the band doing multiple sold-out tours in support of it.

“We were never really happy with the version that came out on the original record. At the time we just didn’t have the money or the technology to make it sound the way we envisaged it,” says Booth, “But now we can finally release it the way it sounded in the studio when we recorded it.”

Anno 2019

In recent years, both Orpheus and Booth have become significant players in the background of the modern music biz: Orpheus as a producer and technology designer, and Booth as a music lawyer, but they have recently continued touring with The Cassandra Complex once more, playing to fans at festivals in Germany, Belgium, Sweden, and Spain.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

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