In 1982 I Summoned The Courage To Interview Bauhaus ... And They Were Really Nice!

Originally published in Rave-Up #6 (1983)
Interview by Devorah Ostrov

Bauhaus publicity photo

The backstage dressing room at the Old Waldorf was pitch-black. A red light flickered in the corner. I was scared to death. A quarter of an hour earlier, Bauhaus had finished their set and left the stage, and for some reason, my friend Sara and I thought seeking them out for an interview would be a jolly way to end the evening. But now, I couldn't even see the questions on the piece of paper in my hand.

I finally found Peter Murphy, slumped in a chair and looking exquisitely bored. "Nope," I thought to myself, "no way." Instead, I stumbled into the empty area next to guitarist Daniel Ash. Soft-spoken and polite, he said he'd be happy to answer some questions for a fanzine (or something to that effect; I was busy fumbling with the tape recorder's on/off button in the dark). I must admit, in the impenetrable gloom, I didn't even see bassist David J sitting there until he joined in the conversation. He was very nice as well.

Daniel Ash - publicity photo

Q: I read an article recently which said Bauhaus didn't want to do the "standard tour" sort of thing and sing the "standard songs." But it seems like that's more or less what you're doing on this US tour.

Daniel: We're just being practical about it. It's different in America. It's at a different stage, you see. We're at a similar stage in the US to where we were about three years ago in England. The last English tour was a total sell-out. We were breaking records!

   In England, we've raised the whole thing to a certain pitch now. If we do something different, which we intend to do with our next tour, we're going to have the attention of a large majority of people. So, it's not like sort of screaming into the wilderness. 

Q: I thought you already had everyone's attention.

Daniel: Not over here. That's why we're doing this sort of tour, just to get attention; to raise it to a certain pitch. And then we can go off on a tangent.

Q: I wondered if that's why "Spirit" and "Bela Lugosi's Dead" weren't included in your setlist tonight. I thought perhaps it was part of your statement about not playing the standard songs. 

Daniel: Tonight? No, not at all! We've got about 85 songs and you can only fit so many into a set, obviously.

Mask (Beggars Banquet -1981)
gatefold cover artwork by Daniel Ash

Q: Yes, of course. It's just that those two songs are amongst the best known and most loved of your material out here.

Daniel: Really? I didn't know that. We wouldn't necessarily have played them anyway. It's just the case that there are dozens of songs we can play. When we played in Chicago, we did away with the conventional set and did one piece ["Antonin Artaud"], which lasted for the entire time.

Q: Wow! Was the audience prepared for that?

Bauhaus - publicity photo

Daniel: Well, we asked them to bring drums and things like that. We just handed all the instruments over to them in the end. So, that was good.

Q: I wanted to ask you about the recording of "Bela Lugosi's Dead." I've heard that you made the demo tape for it after only being together for six weeks.

Daniel: Four weeks.

Q: That's amazing! You must have known exactly what you wanted to do when you got together.

Daniel: Well, it was just one of those magical moments. It was recorded as a demo, but it worked out so well just on an 8-track that we decided on it as a single.

The Sky's Gone Out
(Beggars Banquet - 1982)

David J: We don't really believe in demo tapes. The best things happen the first time; that's usually the case. Or something happens...

Daniel: ...that you can never recreate. We like to go for accidents.

Q: You used an image from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari on the sleeve for "Bela Lugosi's Dead," and it's been noted that your stage lighting is reminiscent of the film. Is that something the band is greatly influenced by?

David J: Yeah... But the thing is, we started using lights like that before we'd seen any German Expressionist films. I'd seen photographs, and I've seen a lot of films since our live shows have started. It's remarkable, the similarity in their approach and our approach. It's just a common interest or idea; we're not copyists of that film.

Daniel: It's just a coincidence. We like to use black and white lights for a dramatic effect.

Q: The amazing photo on the cover of "Bela Lugosi's Dead" is another old movie still... What film is that from?

Front: Peter Murphy
Back row: David J, Kevin Haskins, Daniel Ash

David J: The Sorrows of Satan.

Q: Your new album [The Sky's Gone Out] is the first Bauhaus record to be released domestically in the US through a deal with A&M Records...

Daniel: That's right, yeah.

Tones On Tail - "There's Only One!"
Picture sleeve artwork by Daniel Ash
(Beggars Banquet 1982)

Q: Do you know why they didn't include the live album [Press the Eject and Give Me the Tape] with it, as Beggars Banquet did in the UK?

Daniel: They wanted to focus on brand new material for the first album. That was the idea originally, to put the two albums out together. But that was old material which had been coming in drips and drabs on import anyway. They wanted something totally fresh to promote. The live album is being sold separately now anyway. To begin with, it was a limited-edition free record; there were only 25,000 copies printed. Now, it's sold separately with a poster and an extra single.

Q: You've done the cover art for a couple of Bauhaus LPs, and your artwork has been used on a 45 sleeve for your side band [Tones On Tail]. Have you ever had a proper showing of your work?

Daniel: No, not since art school... exam times, you know. I haven't really had any time since Bauhaus started to do that much work. I do intend in a year or so to have some work done. Uhmm... see how it goes. I usually use things that I did about five years ago.

Bauhaus feature from The Face

Q: The music that you're recording as Tones On Tail...

Daniel: It's like a disco hit!

Q: Did you say disco?

Daniel: Yeah, with a difference. But it's disco.

Q: Have you ever performed live as Tones On Tail?

Daniel: No. There's supposed to be a thing going on New Year's Eve, just a fun thing in our hometown. We're all doing different things. I might be doing it then.

Q: Do you still live in Northampton?

Daniel: Yeah, we all do except Peter. He lives in London.

Q: Are you tempted to move to London?

"Bela Lugosi's Dead" (Small Wonder -1979)

Daniel: No. Definitely not! If you live in London, you get sucked up by the whole merry-go-round. It's almost a continuation of touring. It's much better to be away from that.

Q: I want to ask about a band you had previous to Bauhaus... I read somewhere it was called Jack Plug and the Sockets, which is a wonderful name!

Daniel: That band lasted what, five hours?

Q: I've also heard about an early lineup called Jam.

Daniel: That was years and years before. I mean, Kevin was about 12! That was ages ago. 

David J: The one that was more important than those was called the Submerged Tenth [archaic economic terminology for the percentage of the population living in poverty]. It was Kevin and I, and Daniel was going to join. He was rehearsing with us. 

Flyer for this Bauhaus show at the Old Waldorf
with support from TSOL - December 15, 1982

Daniel: I remember going to see the Submerged Tenth, but I arrived too late... for a change! The idea of a punk band was very new at the time. This was in '76, when it was actually happening. And it was very exciting to hear about because punk was very fresh. There were no other bands in our town. There was nothing to do with punk at all. So, it was very new and original. But I missed it. I got there just when they were loading the gear up.

Q: The live reviews I've read in the British music papers make it sound like Bauhaus is usually quite violent towards the audience. But it didn't seem at all like that tonight — not that I was disappointed.

Daniel: Well, sometimes it is like that. Occasionally, that'll be the case. It depends on how the audience reacts. There wasn't that element in the crowd tonight anyway. It'd be a bit pointless to just start belting people just for the sake of it. 

Q: Are there more Bauhaus shows planned after this US tour, or are you going to rest up?

Daniel: We keep saying that we don't intend to ever do this again, two tours one after the other. We'd just done a tour of England, and then we came straight over here. We only had a gap in between of about two weeks.

(Many thanks to Rave-Up reader Rodney Klein who kindly forwarded me this long-lost interview from issue #6)