Skeletal Family are an English
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band formed in
Keighley
Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parish
in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford.
Keighley is north-west of Bradford city centre, north-west of ...
, West Yorkshire, in December 1982.
[Kelly, Danny (1985) "Waiter, There's a Bone in my Curry!", '']NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'', 2 February 1985, p. 8 The band was formed from the remaining members of an earlier group called the Elements, and took their name from the title of the song "
Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family
''Diamond Dogs'' is the eighth studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on 24 May 1974 through RCA Records. Bowie produced the album and recorded it in early 1974 at Olympic and Island Studios in London and Ludolph Studios i ...
" from the 1974
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 ...
album, ''
Diamond Dogs
''Diamond Dogs'' is the eighth studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on 24 May 1974 through RCA Records. Bowie produced the album and recorded it in early 1974 at Olympic and Island Studios in London and Ludolph Studios i ...
''.
History
The original line-up of the band was
Anne-Marie Hurst (vocals), Stan Greenwood (guitar), Roger "Trotwood" Nowell (bass guitar), Ian "Karl Heinz" Taylor (keyboard/saxophone) and Steve Crane (drums).
[Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 506][Larkin, Colin (1998) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Indie & New Wave'', Virgin Books, , pp. 386–7] In 1983, after their first single, "Trees", the band signed to independent record label
Red Rhino Records
Red Rhino Records, also known as Red Rhino, was a British independent record label which was developed by the independent record shop and wholesaler of the same name, all formed and run by "Tony K" (Tony Kostrzewa) and his wife Gerri. It was part ...
. They recorded their first single for Red Rhino, "The Night", shortly after losing their original drummer Crane,
who was replaced by Howard Daniels.
Daniels soon left, joining My Pierrot Dolls, and was replaced by Martin Henderson (formerly of The Last Laugh).
Skeletal Family's first album, ''Burning Oil'', recorded in four days at a cost of £640, was released by Red Rhino in August 1984.
It topped the
UK Independent Chart
The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the rele ...
, staying in the top 10 until the end of the year.
[Lazell, Barry (1998) ''Indie Hits 1980–1989'', Cherry Red Books, , p. 207] The band began touring with
the Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy is an English rock band, formed in 1980 in Leeds. After achieving early underground fame there, the band had their commercial breakthrough in the mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasi ...
during the Sisters' ''
First and Last and Always'' tour. Skeletal Family released the ''Futile Combat'' album in 1985, along with the "Promised Land" single.
Hurst and Henderson left the band to develop new projects. Hurst eventually teamed up with
Gary Marx
Gary Marx (born Mark Frederick Pearman) is a British guitarist and musician. He was a founding member of British rock band the Sisters of Mercy and its lead-guitarist and songwriter from 1980 to 1985.
He left the band in 1985 to form Ghost Da ...
(formerly of The Sisters of Mercy) in
Ghost Dance.
Henderson joined former
March Violets
''March Violets'' is a historical detective novel and the first written by Philip Kerr featuring detective Bernhard "Bernie" Gunther. ''March Violets'' is the first of the trilogy by Kerr called ''Berlin Noir''. The second, '' The Pale Crimina ...
vocalist Simon Denbigh to create
the Batfish Boys.
Former
Colourfield backing vocalist Katrina Phillips replaced Hurst, while Kevin Hunter replaced Henderson. John Clarke joined as a second guitarist. The group signed with
Chrysalis Records and released two 1986 singles, "Restless" and "Just a Minute". The group disbanded later in the year after being dropped by Chrysalis.
Trotwood and Hunter formed a new band, Say You.
In 2002, Skeletal Family reformed with a line-up of Greenwood, Nowell, Taylor and Hurst. The latter had to drop out due to family commitments, replaced briefly by Phillips, and then by new vocalist Claire Bannister. They played several high profile shows, including
Wave-Gotik-Treffen
The Wave-Gotik-Treffen (WGT; ) is an annual world festival for "dark" music and "dark culture" in Leipzig, Germany. 150+ bands and artists from various backgrounds ( gothic rock, gothic metal, EBM, industrial, noise, darkwave, neo-folk, ne ...
three times as well as the
Drop Dead Festival in New York City. This line-up released an album, ''Sakura'', in May 2005 on Gepek Records.
Skeletal Family's next album, ''Songs of Love, Hope and Despair'', featuring new bassist Johnny Lorrimer, was released by Gepek in September 2009. Two months later the group announced that it had disbanded again.
In 2012, Hurst, Nowell and Greenwood reformed Skeletal Family with Owen Richards on guitar and Adrian Osadzenko on drums.
In 2018 Hurst left to form Killing Eve with
Andy Cousin
Andrew Cousin (born 28 June 1963 in Huddersfield, Yorkshire) is an English bassist and radio presenter from Huddersfield in England. He is principally known for being the bassist of All About Eve: he has also played for The Mission. Since 2016 ...
.
In 2019 Taylor rejoined and Hannah Small was recruited as the band's new vocalist, playing shows in the UK and Ireland. Hannah then left in 2020 to concentrate on her solo music and Anneka Latta joined the band in 2021.
With new vocalist Anneka Latta, the band wrote and recorded a brand new studio album entitled 'Light From The Dark' which is set for released in April 2023.
Members
;Current members
*Stan Greenwood – guitar
(1982–1986, 2002–2009, 2012–present)
*Roger "Trotwood" Nowell – bass
(1982–1986, 2002–2009, 2012–present)
*Ian "Karl Heinz" Taylor – keyboards/saxophone
(1982–1983, 2002–2009, 2019-present)
*Adrian Osadzenko – drums
(2012–present)
*Anneka Latta - vocals
(2021–present)
;Former members
*Hannah Small - vocals (2019-2020)
*Anne-Marie Hurst – vocals (1982–1985, 2002, 2012–2018)
*Steve Crane – drums
(1982–1983)
*Howard Daniels – drums
(1983)
*Martin Henderson – drums
(1983–1985, 2002–2009)
*Richard "Dik" Hawkins – drums
(1985)
*Kevin Hunter – drums
(1985–1986)
*John Clarke – guitar
(1985–1986)
*Katrina Phillips – vocals
(1985–1986, 2002)
*Claire Bannister – vocals
(2002–2009)
*Johnny Lorrimer – bass
(2009)
*Owen Richards – guitar
(2012)
Discography
Studio albums
*''
Burning Oil'' (1984,
Red Rhino Records
Red Rhino Records, also known as Red Rhino, was a British independent record label which was developed by the independent record shop and wholesaler of the same name, all formed and run by "Tony K" (Tony Kostrzewa) and his wife Gerri. It was part ...
)
UK Indie No. 1
*''Futile Combat'' (1985, Red Rhino)
UK Indie No. 7
*''Sakura'' (2005, Gepek Records)
*''Songs of Love, Hope & Despair'' (2009, Gepek)
*''Light From The Dark'' (2023, Chapter 22)
Singles and EPs
*''Trees'' 7-inch EP (1983, Luggage)
UK Indie No. 50
*"The Night" 7-inch single (1983, Red Rhino)
UK Indie No. 41
*"She Cries Alone" 7-/12-inch single (1984, Red Rhino)
UK Indie No. 8
*''Recollect'' 12-inch EP (1984, Red Rhino)
UK Indie No. 7
*"So Sure" 7-/12-inch single (1984, Red Rhino)
UK Indie No. 2
*"Promised Land" 7-/12-inch single (1985, Red Rhino)
UK Indie No. 2
*"Restless" 7-/12-inch single (1986,
Chrysalis Records
*"Just a Minute" 7-/12-inch single (1986, Chrysalis)
*"All My Best Friends" (2004, Roach Daddy Records)
*"My Own Redemption" (2022, Gepek)
*"My Own Redemption (acoustic)" (2022, Gepeck)
*"Cry Baby" (2022)
*"Beautiful Disaster" (2023)
Compilation albums
*''Together'' – cassette combining ''Burning Oil'' and ''Futile Combat'' (1985, Red Rhino)
*''Ghosts'' (1986, Onsala)
*''The Singles Plus 1983–85'' (1994, Anagram)
*''Burning Oil''/''Futile Combat'' (1995, Dojo)
*''Promised Land – The Best of Skeletal Family'' (2001, Anagram)
*''Eternal: Singles · Albums · Rarities · BBC Sessions · Live · Demos 1982–2015'' (2016,
Cherry Red Records)
Videos
*''Live at Sheffield 1984'' VH (1984, self-released)
*''Promised Land – Live 1983–1984'' DVD (2007, Cherry Red)
References
External links
Official Skeletal Family website
{{Authority control
English post-punk music groups
English gothic rock groups
Female-fronted musical groups
Musical groups established in 1982
Musical groups from West Yorkshire