Curve | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | London, England |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1990–1994, 1996–2005 |
| Labels | Anxious,Charisma,FatLip,Universal |
| Past members | Toni Halliday Dean Garcia Debbie Smith Alex Mitchell Steve Monti |
| Website | curve |
Curve were an Englishalternative rock andelectronic music duo from London,[5] formed in 1990[6] and dissolved in 2005. The band consisted ofToni Halliday (vocals, occasionally guitar) andDean Garcia (bass, guitar, drums, programming).[7] Halliday wrote the lyrics of their songs and they both contributed tosongwriting. ProducerAlan Moulder was a prominent collaborator who helped shape their blend of heavy beats and densely–layered guitar tracks set against Halliday's vocals.
Curve released five studio albums (Doppelgänger in 1992,Cuckoo in 1993,Come Clean in 1998,Gift in 2001, andThe New Adventures of Curve in 2002), five compilation albums (Pubic Fruit in 1992,Radio Sessions in 1993,Open Day at the Hate Fest in 2001,The Way of Curve in 2004, andRare and Unreleased in 2010), and a string ofEPs and singles.
Dean Garcia, half Hawaiian and half Irish, had played in some small bands when he auditioned forEurythmics.[8] The English-born Toni Halliday metDave Stewart ofEurythmics after he had read a rock magazine interview with her in which she praised his pre-Eurythmics band,The Tourists.[8] Halliday and Garcia were introduced to each other by Stewart.[9] Garcia had played bass guitar as part of Eurythmics' live band in 1983–84 and on two of their studio albums,[10] while Halliday was signed to Stewart'sAnxious Records label as a solo artist. The pair formed an ill-fated group named State of Play in the mid-1980s before parting ways, embarking on a no less ill-fated solo career (Halliday) and further stints as a backing musician (Garcia), and then reuniting for a more long-term partnership in Curve.
As Curve, Halliday and Garcia released three acclaimed and increasingly successful EPs (Blindfold,Frozen, andCherry) throughout 1991 on Anxious Records. They also made an impact on the UK album charts in 1992 with their debut studio albumDoppelgänger.[11] The group toured extensively during this period, with Halliday and Garcia being supported on stage by two additional guitarists (Debbie Smith, later ofEchobelly, and Alex Mitchell) and a drummer (Steve Monti, formerly ofIan Dury andthe Blockheads). Highlights of Curve's live career included a performance at the 1992Glastonbury Festival, and a package tour of the United States and Canada withThe Jesus and Mary Chain andSpiritualized.
In 1992, the band released the compilation albumPubic Fruit, containing their first three EPs and an extended mix of the single "Faît Accompli". Toni Halliday also featured on two songs ("Edge to Life" and "Bloodline") fromRecoil's album,Bloodline. In 1993, Curve issuedRadio Sessions, a compilation album of recordings made during their two sessions forJohn Peel's show on the UK broadcasting stationBBC Radio 1.
Curve's second studio album, the harder-edgedCuckoo (1993), did not repeat the UK Top 20 success of the band's debut. That coupled with the stressfulness of the tour in support of the record, may have contributed to Halliday and Garcia's decision to disband the group in 1994. "It got to the point where Dean didn't want to tour," Halliday toldSelect magazine (August 1996 edition). "We did reach that point of hedonistic head-fuckery: glugging JD, hollering, 'Where's the schnozz?' You finally get that out of your system and think, 'This is sad.' We couldn't have gone on like that."
During their hiatus, Halliday formed the band Scylla and Garcia began a solo project under the name Headcase. Scylla's track "Helen's Face" was featured on theShowgirls soundtrack. Halliday also collaborated withThe Future Sound of London for the song "Cerebral" fromLifeforms (1994), withFreaky Chakra for the song "Budded on Earth to Bloom in Heaven" fromLowdown Motivator (1995), and withLeftfield for their number 18 UK hit "Original" fromLeftism (1995). She also featured on "Original"'s music video.
Curve returned to the music business in 1996 with the EPPink Girl With the Blues. In the same year, Curve collaborated withPaul Van Dyk by reworking the mostly instrumental song "Words" from the albumSeven Ways and also adding Halliday's vocals.
In 1997, they released "Chinese Burn", the first single to be taken from their third studio albumCome Clean (1998).[12] The album is a set of songs displaying a more pronounced influence ofelectronic music than earlier releases.[12] Curve continued to do small-scale live shows in and around Europe.
The follow-up toCome Clean was an internet-only compilation titledOpen Day at the Hate Fest which was released in 2001. Also in the same year, Curve issuedGift, their fourth studio album.Kevin Shields ofMy Bloody Valentine also played guitar on the songs "Want More Need Less" and "Perish".[5] The opening song "Hell Above Water" has gained the highest public profile as a result of its use in trailers for the 2002 filmSpider-Man and the 2008 filmIron Man.
In 2002, Curve released the internet-only fifth studio albumThe New Adventures of Curve and various download-only tracks via their official site. In 2003, Toni Halliday collaborated with the Japaneseindustrial rock bandAcid Android on the song "Faults" from the album with the same name.
A two-CD retrospective compilation entitledThe Way of Curve summarized the group's output in 2004. The first disc included the band's singles. The second disc contained a selection of B-sides, rarities and remixes. In early 2005, Halliday announced that she had left Curve for good.
In 2010, Curve published some of their most important releases asdigital downloads on theirBandcamp page, including a new compilation with 39 songs entitledRare and Unreleased.[7]
In 2017 Curve re-released theDoppelganger CD as a double album. This release included their first three EPs. TheCuckoo album was also re-released as a double album and included, amongst other songs, several remixes.
The band's website, maintained by Garcia, has at various times since 2004 posted updates on projects by Halliday and Garcia. It has also stated that there is unlikely to be future new Curve music.
Toni Halliday was featured onThe Killers' 2006 Christmas track "A Great Big Sled". This song was later included in the 2011 compilation(RED) Christmas EP.
On 27 February 2008, she introduced onMySpace a new solo project called Chatelaine.[13] A number of tracks could be previewed, and were credited to Halliday/Dowd/Salmon, and its MySpace blog declared that a new album was in progress.[14] Chatelaine's debut albumTake a Line for a Walk was released on 16 June 2010. It featured nine new tracks: "Broken Bones", "Oh Daddy", "Life Remains", "Stripped Out", "Shifting Sands", "Killing Feeling", "Take a Line for a Walk", "Head to Head" and "Seen and Lost".[15]
In 2012, Halliday contributed vocals toOrbital's soundtrack for the film remakePusher.
Dean Garcia is currently a member of the bandSPC ECO with his daughterRose Berlin andJoey Levenson (2007–present).[16] In February 2009, SPC ECO released their first album,3-D, through their website and via Collide's labelNoiseplus Music.3-D was followed by the albumsYou Tell Me in 2011 andDark Notes in 2012.
Garcia is also member of the bands The Black Holes (with Jo Neale; 2007–present),[17] The Chronologic (2006–present),[18] Inkraktare (with Mark Wallbridge aka Vasko The Pig; 2009–present),[19]The Secret Meeting (with kaRIN and Statik ofCollide; 2007–present),[20]KGC (withSascha Konietzko andLucia Cifarelli ofKMFDM; 2006–present) and Morpheme (2010–present).[21]
Garcia's newest project Morpheme is a collaboration with Perry Pelonero (Clenched Fist, Skylight, Bliss City East), and Kim Welsh (Skylight, Bliss City East).[21] On 8 December 2010, Morpheme released their first track, "Infection"[22] and on 5 May 2011, they released their second track, "Stratosphere", on their debut single "Infection".
Garcia releasedHow Do You Feel?, a solo album, on 1 January 2011. It features special guests Vasko the Pig, Todd Astromass andJeff Beck.[23]
Stephen Thomas Erlewine ofAllmusic described Curve's style as a "towering monolith of guitar noise, dance tracks, dark goth, and airy melodies". He also regarded the band's music as a combination of "shoegazer atmospherics andtechno beats".[1] Halliday citedPatti Smith andNico, qualifying them as "marble giants",[24] plusSiouxsie and the Banshees.[25]
Toni Halliday has occasionally commented on the comparisons between Curve andGarbage, stating that she could "see bits of Garbage in what we've done, just like we see bits ofSonic Youth orthe Valentines or really any band that was doing something supposedly outside the norm. [...] But eventually Garbage are a pop band, and Curve were never a pop band."[26]
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [34] | US Heat [36] | AUS [37] | EUR [38] | ||
| Doppelgänger |
| 11 | 18 | 136 | 35 |
| Cuckoo |
| 23 | 18 | — | 77 |
| Come Clean |
| 103 | 26 | — | — |
| Gift | — | — | — | — | |
| The New Adventures of Curve |
| — | — | — | — |
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| UK[34] | ||
| Pubic Fruit |
| — |
| Radio Sessions |
| 72 |
| Open Day at the Hate Fest |
| — |
| The Way of Curve |
| 197 |
| Rare and Unreleased |
| — |
EPs and singles[edit]
| Music videos[edit]
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| Release date | Song | Compilation(s)[41] |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | "Faît Accompli" (live) | In a Field of Their Own: Highlights of Glastonbury 1992 |
| November 1992 | "I Feel Love"
| RUBY TRAX - The NME's Roaring Forty The Way of Curve |
| 19 July 1993 | "What a Waste" (feat.Ian Dury) | Peace Together The Way of Curve |
| December 1996 | "Test" | Volume 17 |
| 1997 | "Nowhere" | Music From the Gregg Araki Movie Nowhere |
During the mid 1980s, the leading purveyors of dream-pop were My Bloody Valentine, Lush (with female guitarists Miki Berenyi and Emma Anderson), and Curve...
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| National | |
| Artists | |
