Steven Peter Stapleton (born 3 February 1957) is an English musician who is best known as the only constant member of experimental improv outfit
Nurse with Wound. He is often seen as one of the pioneers of the British
industrial music
Industrial music is a genre of music that draws on harsh, mechanical, transgressive or provocative sounds and themes. AllMusic defines industrial music as the "most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music" that was "initiall ...
scene, alongside bands such as
Throbbing Gristle,
Monte Cazazza
Monte Cazazza is an American artist and composer best known for his seminal role in helping shape industrial music through recordings with the London-based Industrial Records in the mid-1970s.
Career
Cazazza, based primarily in San Francisco du ...
and
Cabaret Voltaire, although in his music he has explored a wide range of styles, including
free-form improvisation,
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fo ...
, and even
Latin American
Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-eth ...
dance rhythms.
Nurse with Wound, originally a three-piece ensemble, is Stapleton's main outlet for his musical work, occasionally in collaboration with other musicians such as
Foetus
A fetus or foetus (; plural fetuses, feti, foetuses, or foeti) is the unborn offspring that develops from an animal embryo. Following embryonic development the fetal stage of development takes place. In human prenatal development, fetal develo ...
or
William Bennett
William John Bennett (born July 31, 1943) is an American conservative politician and political commentator who served as secretary of education from 1985 to 1988 under President Ronald Reagan. He also held the post of director of the Office of ...
(of
Whitehouse Whitehouse may refer to:
People
* Charles S. Whitehouse (1921-2001), American diplomat
* Cornelius Whitehouse (1796–1883), English engineer and inventor
* E. Sheldon Whitehouse (1883-1965), American diplomat
* Elliott Whitehouse (born 1993), ...
). He has also appeared on records by other artists and worked as a producer.
[ He runs the United Dairies record label, which apart from the NWW output released records by ]Current 93
Current 93 are an English experimental music group, working since the early 1980s in folk-based musical forms. The band was founded in 1982 by David Tibet, who has been Current 93's only constant member.
Background
Tibet has been the only const ...
, the Lemon Kittens and Volcano the Bear
Volcano the Bear are an improvisational/experimental English band formed in Leicester in 1995. The group's members are Aaron Moore (drums, trumpet, vocals), Nick Mott (saxophone, guitar, vocals), Clarence Manuelo ( tapes, electronics) and Dani ...
, as well as krautrock
Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock
Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments ...
and several experimental artists. Stapleton is also a graphic artist and painter, and has designed album sleeves and book covers.
Under the name "Babs Santini", Stapleton has created the artwork for most of the Nurse with Wound recordings, as well as for other artists, such as Coil, the Legendary Pink Dots
The Legendary Pink Dots (LPD) are an Anglo-Dutch experimental rock band formed in London in August 1980. In 1984, the band moved to Amsterdam, playing with rotating musicians and having, as core members, singer/songwriter/keyboardist Edward Ka- ...
[ and Current 93.
Stapleton lives with his long term partner and wife Sarah Redpath, the family lives in ]County Clare
County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,817 ...
, Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, on a piece of land with houses and caravans hand-built and decorated by Stapleton.[ Stapleton is a fan of the ]Third Ear Band
Third Ear Band were a British musical group formed in London during the mid-1960s. Their line-up initially consisted of violin, cello, oboe and percussion. Most of their performances were instrumental and partly improvised. Their records for th ...
.
Discography
(Solo recordings only. Follow link for Nurse with Wound recordings.)
*1991 ''The Sadness of Things'' (with David Tibet
David Tibet (born David Michael Bunting; 5 March 1960) is a British poet and artist who founded the music group Current 93, of which he is the only full-time member.
He was given the name "Tibet" by Genesis P-Orridge, and in January 2005 he ...
)
*1992 ''Revenge of the Selfish Shellfish'' (with Tony Wakeford
Anthony Charles "Tony" Wakeford (born 2 May 1959) is an English neofolk and neoclassical musician, who primarily records under the name Sol Invictus.
Wakeford lives in London and is married to Sol Invictus violinist Renée Rosen.
Musical wo ...
)
*1993 ''The Apocalyptic Folk in the Nodding God Unveiled'' (with The Nodding Folk)
*1996 ''Musical Pumpkin Cottage'' (with David Tibet)
*1998 ''Octopus'' (with David Tibet, a collection of older recordings)
References
External links
"Brainwashed on Steven Stapleton"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stapleton, Steven
English electronic musicians
1957 births
Living people
Avant-garde composers
Experimental composers
English experimental musicians
English industrial musicians
People from Finchley
Male classical composers
Musicians from London
20th-century English musicians
20th-century British male musicians
Current 93 members
British noise musicians
English expatriates in Ireland