SPK (band)
| SPK | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | SoliPsiK, SepPuKu, Surgical Penis Klinik, System Planning Korporation, Sozialistisches Patienten Kollektiv |
| Origin | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Genres | Industrial, experimental, noise, synthpop, avant-garde |
| Years active | 1978–1988 |
| Labels | Side Effekts, M Squared, WEA, Industrial, Mute, Fresh Sounds, Regular Records |
| Past members |
Graeme Revell Neil Hill Danny Rumour David Virgin Dominik Guerin James Pinker Karel van Bergen John Murphy Derek Thompson Brian Williams Sinan Leong Jeff Bartolomei Mary Bradfield-Taylor Sam McNally Jan Thornton Karina Hayes Paul Charlier |
SPK were an Australian industrial music and noise music group formed in 1978. They were fronted by mainstay member, Graeme Revell on keyboards and percussion. In 1980 the group travelled to the United Kingdom where they issued their debut album, Information Overload Unit. In 1983 Sinan Leong joined on lead vocals. The group disbanded in 1988, two years later Revell and Leong relocated to the United States, where Revell has worked as a Hollywood film score composer. According to Australian rock music historian, Ian McFarlane, SPK were "at the forefront of the local post-punk, electronic/experimental movement of the late 1970s ... [their] music progressed from discordant, industrial-strength metal noise to sophisticated and restrained dance-rock with strange attributes".
SPK was formed in 1978 in Sydney when New Zealand-born Graeme Revell (a.k.a. "EMS AKS", "Operator", "Oblivion") met Neil Hill (a.k.a. "Ne/H/il"). Revell was working as a nurse on a psychiatric ward at Callan Park Hospital where Hill was also working. Hill and Revell shared a house and an interest in the manifesto of the German radical Marxist group known as the Sozialistisches Patientenkollektiv (SPK). The duo were influenced by Kraftwerk, Can, Neu!, Faust, and John Cage – they started playing their own variety of industrial music as SPK. According to rock music historian, Ian McFarlane the acronym SPK is variously given as "SoliPsiK, SepPuKu, Surgical Penis Klinik, System Planning Korporation and Sozialistisches Patienten Kollektiv". The band recruited two teenagers, Danny Rumour (later of The Cruel Sea) on lead guitar and David Virgin on bass guitar (both ex-Ugly Mirrors, and went on to form Sekret Sekret), on early recordings by SPK in 1979. In that year they independently released three 7" pressings: SoliPsiK as a three-track extended play in April, "Factory" as a single in August and "Mekano" in November.
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