Sexepil is a

Hungarian indie Budapest indie music scene was the indie music scene of Budapest, Hungary in the 2000s. It was often associated with bands like Amber Smith, The Moog, EZ Basic and We Are Rockstars. History Beginnings The early 2000s was the revival of the in ...

alternative Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film * ''The Alternative ...

rock band based in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

. The band was formed by Zoltán Hegyi, Viktor László, Tamás Kocsis, and Tibor Vangel in 1984.

Etymology

Sexepil was originally written as Sex-E-Pil and it is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsEnglish English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

punk band,

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they were one of the most groundbreaking acts in the history of popular music. They were responsible for ...

and the

abbreviation An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...

of Johnny Rotten's

Public Image Ltd Public Image Ltd (abbreviated and stylized as PiL) are an English post-punk band (and incorporated limited company) formed by singer John Lydon (previously known as the singer of Sex Pistols), guitarist Keith Levene, bassist Jah Wobble, and dr ...

History

Sexepil were formed in 1984 in Budapest, Hungary, on the ruins of notorious punk band ETA (Kocsis, László) and art rock formation ZOO (Hegyi, Vangel). Within virtually a few months after their first gig the band achieved cult status, playing for packed houses every weekend around the Hungarian capital's famous clubs. Their influences ranged from

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.Talkin ...

The Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith has re ...

and to Joy Division.

Egyesült Álmok

In 1988, the band's first

LP record The LP (from "long playing" or "long play") is an analog sound storage medium, a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specification; and a ...

entitled ''Egyesült Álmok'' was released by Ring Records. The LP was released by one of the country's first independent record labels, Ring. Many regard the record as one of the finest albums of that era. Besides gigging throughout Hungary, Sexepil played hugely successful concerts in

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. After the departure of the band's original front man and founder lead singer Zoltán Hegyi in 1989, the Dutch Mick Ness took over the singer duties.

...bi...

With Ness joining, Sexepil became one of the first English-singing bands in Hungary (the hardcore fans initially reacted with hostility to this fact). The band started playing gigs after just one rehearsal with Ness. After issuing a tape only unique collection of live recordings ''…bi…'', Sexepil released their first English-language album ''Love Jealousy Hate'' a year later in 1990 on Polygram's Nature label.

Love Jealousy Hate

The vinyl was also released in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Later that year a small

Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...

label, Zona Records, released the album in the ex-

Soviet states The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...

that resulted in countless gigs being played in those places. During the summer of 1992 Sexepil played a show in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

at the annual New Music Seminar. The following winter they went on a tour that covered the

Baltic states The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...

Against Nature

In 1993, T3 Records released the band's third LP entitled ''Against Nature''. ''Against Nature'' included the hit single ''Eroding Europe'' which had heavy airplay on Music Television’s

120 minutes ''120 Minutes'' is a television program in the United States dedicated to the alternative music genre, that originally aired on MTV from 1986 to 2000, and then aired on MTV's associate channel MTV2 from 2001 to 2003. After its cancellation, MTV ...

, where VJ Paul King cited Sexepil as one of his all time favourite bands. In the same year the band embarked on a triumphant European tour together with

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...

's former band,

The Sugarcubes The Sugarcubes ( Icelandic: Sykurmolarnir) were an Icelandic alternative rock band from Reykjavík formed in 1986 and disbanded in 1992. For most of their career, the band consisted of Björk Guðmundsdóttir (vocals, keyboards), Einar Örn Bened ...

. Next spring they performed at the

SXSW South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...

festival in

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

for the first time.

Sugar for the Soul

In 1995, ''Sugar for the Soul'' was released by

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...

. ''Sugar for the Soul'' was recorded in

and mixed in

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

at the famous

Smart Studios Smart Studios was a recording studio located in Madison, Wisconsin. It was set up in 1983 by Butch Vig and Steve Marker to produce local bands. The studio produced bands such as Killdozer, The Smashing Pumpkins, L7, Tad, and Nirvana. After in ...

. It was mixed and co-produced by Brian Anderson and mastered by Howie Weinberg in

and released on

Warner Bros Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

. worldwide. One reviewer referred to it as “Beatles in blender”. After the mixing the band did a mini-tour in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and played (again) at the

festival in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

as well as the legendary

CBGB CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in Manhattan's East Village. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for '' Country'', '' BlueGrass'', and '' Blues'', Kri ...

's in

among others. The first single, ''Jerusalem'', and the accompanying video was frequently played on Music Television’s

120 Minutes ''120 Minutes'' is a television program in the United States dedicated to the alternative music genre, that originally aired on MTV from 1986 to 2000, and then aired on MTV's associate channel MTV2 from 2001 to 2003. After its cancellation, MTV ...

and Alternative Nation. During the summer they completed a headlining slot at Sziget Festival’s main stage. Later that year they were nominated in three categories for Arany Zsiráf (the Hungarian version of a Grammy): best album, best video clip and best cover art. They won all three categories. Despite of the critical success, Sexepil went on hiatus for almost a decade, although they did play at the Sziget Festival in 2001 and 2006.

Your Scream Is Music

Around 2007 became clear that Mick Ness didn't have the time, affinity or enthusiasm to continue as the band's singer. Mick Ness's last performance with the band happened in February 2007. Sexepil then started looking for a new singer and held auditions as well as listening to endless gigs of young bands in the hope of finding the right person. Eventually they found their man who happened to have been the band's drummer from the start, Tibor Vangel. Band members found a hard drive that belonged to Vangel, containing vocal ideas to new songs that were recorded by the drummer but kept in secret. They persuaded him that he had to switch to singing. The band started recording in 2008 but for various reasons it took almost 6 years to finally finish their new studio album '' Your Scream Is Music''. (In June 2012, while working on their new album, they played three highly successful gigs in Hungary with their original singer, Zoltan Hegyi The band also played at

Volt Festival The volt (symbol: V) is the unit of electric potential, electric potential difference (voltage), and electromotive force in the International System of Units (SI). It is named after the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745–1827). Defi ...

in Sopron, Hungary.), but then promptly returned to recording and mixing their current material. The new album was mixed by

Dávid Schram David Schram is Hungarian musician and record producer, best known internationally as the guitarist of the Hungarian rock band FreshFabrik and the producer of Sexepil's '' Your Scream Is Music'', and Shell Beach's '' This Is Desolation''. Li ...

and mastered by Gavin Lurssen in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. On 11 November 2014, Sexepil uploaded their new single, ''Rat King'', from their upcoming album on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. Your Scream Is Music was released on November 17, 2014 in digital formats. The CD and the double gatefold vinyl followed a month later.

The Acoustic Sessions

In 2017 Sexepil released an acoustic EP through Hungarian label Grund Records. The EP contains five slightly (or occasionally heavily) re-arranged songs from their rich back catalogue and a previously unreleased song (Disillusion), that was co-written with Mick Ness, the band previous singer. The EP sees guest vocalist Anesz Szalai filling the solo singer duties in two songs. The EP made available on CD/vinyl/digital.

Band members

;Current line-up *Tamás Kocsis - guitars, b. vocals (1984–present) *Tibor Vangel - drums, vocals, guitars, programming (1984–present) *Zsolt Ábrahám - guitars (2012, 2016–present) ;Former members *László Viktor - bass, b. vocals (1984–2016) * Mick Ness - vocal, guitars (1989-2007) * Zoltán Hegyi - vocal (1984-1989) *Endre Deák - guitars (2001-2016) * János Fazekas - guitar (1984-1986) * Gábor Varga - keyboards, samplers (1991-2001) * Judit Lőrincz - keyboards (2001-2007) * Csaba Mosonyi - bass, keyboards (1983-1986) * Zoltán Farkas - keyboards (1988) * Miklós Csala - guitar (1986) ;Touring members *Anesz Szalai - vocals (2014-) *Dávid Nagy - drums (2015-) *Ákos Örményi - bass (2016-) *

Bence Bátor Bence Bátor (born 23 July 1977) is a Hungarian musician, best known as session drummer and the drummer of the Hungarian indie band Amber Smith and "Frenk" and "ABBA Tribute Show" and also of "Bowies Keep Swinging", a David Bowie tribute band ...

- drums (2017-) *Árpád Kiss - trumpet (2015-) *Zoltán Demeter - bass (2017) *Ferenc Golovics - drums (2014-2015)

Timeline

ImageSize = width:920 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:60 top:0 right:10 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1984 till:01/05/2017 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom ScaleMajor = increment:1 start:1984 Colors = id:Vocals value:red legend:Vocals id:Guitar value:green legend:Guitar id:Bass value:blue legend:Bass id:Keyboards value:orange legend:Keyboards id:Drums value:purple legend:Drums id:Lines value:black legend:Studio_Albums LineData = at:01/01/1988 color:black layer:back at:01/01/1990 color:black layer:back at:01/01/1993 color:black layer:back at:01/01/1995 color:black layer:back at:17/10/2014 color:black layer:back BarData = bar:Kocsis text:"Tamás Kocsis" bar:Vangel text:"Tibor Vangel" bar:László text:"Viktor László" bar:Deák text:"Endre Deák" bar:Ness text:"Mick Ness" bar:Hegyi text:"Zoltán Hegyi" bar:Varga text:"Gábor Varga" bar:Csala text:"Miklós Csala" bar:Lőrincz text:"Judit Lőrincz" bar:Mosonyi text:"Csaba Mosonyi" bar:Farkas text:"Zoltán Farkas" bar:Fazekas text:"János Fazekas" PlotData= width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Kocsis from:start till:01/01/1996 color:Guitar bar:Kocsis from:01/01/2001 till:end color:Guitar bar:László from:start till:01/01/1996 color:Bass bar:László from:01/01/2001 till:01/10/2016 color:Bass bar:Vangel from:start till:01/01/1996 color:Drums bar:Vangel from:01/01/2001 till:end color:Drums bar:Vangel from:01/01/2009 till:end color:Vocals width:3 bar:Ness from:01/01/1989 till:01/01/1996 color:Vocals bar:Ness from:01/01/2001 till:01/01/2007 color:Vocals bar:Hegyi from:start till:01/01/1989 color:Vocals bar:Hegyi from:01/01/2012 till:01/08/2012 color:Vocals bar:Fazekas from:01/01/1984 till:01/01/1986 color:Guitar bar:Csala from:01/01/1986 till:31/12/1986 color:Guitar bar:Deák from:01/01/2001 till:01/05/2016 color:Guitar bar:Varga from:01/01/1991 till:01/01/1996 color:Keyboards bar:Varga from:01/01/2001 till:01/09/2001 color:Keyboards bar:Lőrincz from:01/01/2001 till:01/02/2007 color:Keyboards bar:Mosonyi from:01/01/1984 till:01/01/1986 color:Bass bar:Farkas from:01/01/1988 till:01/09/1988 color:Keyboards

Discography

;Albums * '' Egyesült Álmok'' (Ring, 1988) * '',,,bi...'' (cassette only, WeAst, 1990) * '' Love Jealousy Hate'' (Polygram, 1991) * ''

Against Nature Against Nature may refer to: * ''Against Nature'' (album) (1989), a rock album by The Fatima Mansions * ''Against Nature'', a 2015 album by Marc Almond * Against Nature?, a museum exhibition on homosexuality in animals * Against Nature (band), a ...

'' (WeAst,1993) * '' Sugar for the Soul'' (Warner, 1995) * '' Your Scream Is Music'' (2014) * '' The Acoustic Sessions'' (Grund Records, 2017) ;Singles *''

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

'' (1995) ;Compilations *''Nap Nap Fesztivál'' (1992) *''Human Telex'' (1992) *''Magyar Narancs'' (1995) *''Biturbo'' (2006) ;Mixes * ''Mixepil - The Remixes (Warner, 1997) * ''Egyesült Álmok reissue with bonus tracks (1G, 1997, 2009)

Videos

*''Igazi Zöld'' *''Angel'' *''Somewhere'' *''Bliss'' *''Nobody is an Island'' *''Eroding Europe'' *''Eroding Europe'' (XPC Mix) *''Jerusalem'' *'' I Come'' *''Rat King'' (2014) *''Dormant'' (2015) *''Go Away'' (2016) *''The Wind'' (2017) *''Your Little Revolution'' (2017)

References

External links

''Sexepil on Facebook''Sexepil
at

ITunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

''Sexepil at Bandcamp''''Sexepil on Youtube''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sexepil Musical groups established in 1982 Hungarian indie rock groups 1982 establishments in Hungary