Wire | Artist

Wire is an English post punk band formed 1976 in London by Colin Newman (vocals, guitar), Graham Lewis (bass, vocals), Bruce Gilbert (guitar) and Robert Gotobed (drums). Bruce Gilbert left in 2004 and was replaced on guitar by George Gill, and later by Matthew Simms. Wire were initially associated with punk rock but later became central to the development of post-punk and art-punk. Their seminal debut album Pink Flag (1977) greatly influenced punk and post punk bands for several decades. The stark minimalism of Pink Flag, which has 21 short-sharp tracks over only 35 minutes, was refined on subsequent albums, with longer, more atmospheric songs and synthesiser parts added. Newman and Lewis have remained the core of the band since its inception, while Bruce Gilbert left in 2004 to pursue solo and collaboration projects. As for their recordings, the first three albums: Pink Flag (1977), Chairs Missing (1978) and 154 (1979) are masterpieces of punk/post-punk. Other outstanding albums include The Peel Sessions (1989), Send (2003), Behind the Curtain [arch.] (1995), On The Box: 1979 [live arch.] (2004) and the excellent compilation Nine Sevens (2018). Wire's influence has outshone their comparatively modest record sales. In the 1980s and 1990s, Big Black, Minutemen and Sonic Youth all expressed a fondness for the group. Minutemen bassist Mike Watt described their influence as key saying of Pink Flag "I don't know what we would have sounded like if we didn't hear it. According to Allmusic, Wire's debut album Pink Flag is "perhaps the most original debut album to come out of the first wave of British punk - contains songs that are diverse in mood and style, but most use a minimalist punk approach combined with unorthodox structures". Colin Newman has several solo albums, highlighted by his superb debut album A-Z from 1990. Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis also have solo albums as well as collaboration projects Dome, Duet Emmo, He Said and P'o, delivering variations of electronic, dark ambient and minimal synth musical styles. Wire's debut album Pink Flag was critically acclaimed on release, and has since been highly influential; today it is regarded as a landmark in the development of post-punk music. Although the album received critical acclaim, it was not a big seller. It was listed at number 412 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2012, then jumped up to number 310 in its 2020 edition. The album's thirty-five minutes are jammed with twenty-one songs, all pared back to the essentials. The band members tackled their songs as art projects: the title track "Reuters" is an attempt to rewrite Johnnny B. Goode using one chord, and "106 Beats That" is an effort to write an entire son g lyric in 100 syllables. No album from 1977 today sounds so starkly, uncompromisingly modern.

Artist Website: pinkflag.com

Featured Albums: Wire

Related Artists: Colin Newman, Graham Lewis, Bruce Gilbert, Dome, Duet Emmo, P'o, UUUU