Asylum Party: Cult band of the French Coldwave

More and more people are into Coldwave music, but there is a cult band which we should know before talk about this genre: Asylum Party. The band was formed in 1985 in Corbevoie (Hauts-de-Seine, located 8.2 km from the center of Paris) by the two founders Philippe Planchon (vocals/guitar) and Thierry Sobézyk (vocals/bass), and after Pascale Macé (keyboards). 

Asylum Party was one of the triads of the French Coldwave of the 80s alongside bands like Little Nemo and Mary Goes Round who shared the same director of their videoclips: Fabrice Brovelli. For instance, Brovelli filmed in 1989 the videoclip "Misfortunes?" by Asylum Party, "New Flood" by Little Nemo and "Mary's Garden" by Mary Goes Round.  

DESTROYING A FALSE MYTH

First, long time people have believed that Philippe Planchon was the only singer of Asylum Party, and this theory could have been in our current era, because through the videos "Julia" and "Misfortunes" we could suppose that there was one singer, but the truth is that Thierry Sobézyk also sang. On the other hand, if you noticed on the video "Julia", there is a keyboardist who smokes a cigarette, he is Olivier Champeau who was a past member of Little Nemo. 

Thierry Sobézyk singing and playing the bass.

JULIA

This song had not an official video, but the broadcast on FR3 was very important to obtain more attention. "Julia" was a song inspired by the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four published in 1949 by the English writer George Orwell. In fact, the lyrics is like a micro-story ("I love Winston/said Julia/and I'm falling down/said Julia [...]") and the atmosphere is gelid with the dark melodies of the bass accompanied by the acoustic guitar. It can be easily regarded as a hymn for band fans.

Performance in "Décibels" on FR3, France.

As part of the Nouvelle Vague in France, Asylum Party just realeased three albums: "Picture One" (1988), "Borderline" (1989) and "Mère" (1990). They disbanded in 1990. However, despite the ephemeral period of the band, nowadays we can abstract ourselves in these poetic lyrics full of melancholic rhythms with sad and existential thoughts. Some people compare them to the songwriter Ian Curtis (Joy Division), but make differences is very subjective. While Joy Division had songs just in English, Asylum Party had not only songs in English, because they did have also songs in their native language: French. Songs in French such as "La Tourmente", "La Nuit", "Sur La Route", "Pas Très Loin", "Un Sang D'Hier", "La Rivière", "L'Ennui" and "Le Voyage Immobile".

Asylum Party - "La Nuit"

Asylum Pary has not been a pre-elaborated band, their essence is obscure, I could consider more dark than other current gothic rock bands (if I would compare them) and contemporary bands such as She Past Away, Lebanon Hanover, Ciudad Lineal and so on were influenced by Asylum Party.

BONUS TRACK

Not all the members of Asylum Party left the music, for instance Philippe Planchon has a Coldwave project called Irrelevant Coda. It's a band from the 2000s, but with the feeling of the 80s that reminds a little bit to Asylum Party. 

Irrelevant Coda - "Easy" (2010)

"In raining bullets on those silent faces, already turned away from this world, you think you are disfiguring the face of our truth."

Albert Camus

Witching Hour UK (Trad Goth)

When I use to listen to Witching Hour UK I keep in touch with an atmosphere of mystery and also all the background turns dark, because if there is any idea about an obscure music, that's what we could perceive when hear their songs. 

First point, the band formed back in 1991 in London amongst other bands such as Nosferatu (UK), The House of Usher (Germany), The Servants of Mephistofelis (Greece) and so on. Basically, bands influenced by classic horror movies and horror writings, it was the gothic rock in the early 90s. However, Witching Hour UK went further... the band made some official videos ("She's Alive", "Slave to the Night" and "Your Cries") where they look an outfit very sinister wearing a pale makeup, black eyeliner, black lips, purple and black velvets and the ankh as necklace used by Trevor Barnes (vocals/guitar). It is important to note what they express on their videos, it reminds me the short movie named "The Grid" (1980) where Peter Murphy standed out the German Expressionism of the 20s. 

According to some songs, Witching Hour UK were admirers of Edgar Allan Poe, I mean, it is not difficult to understand what their lyrics mean and their connection with the darkside. By the way, do not forget that when you watch their videos, the environment is ethereal, the specter of the cemetery is inevitable, the presence of desolate forest is the essence of solitude in the darkness of nature.

I would like to mention how interesting is when a Gothic Rock band makes the connection with the mystical side of a culture like Egypt, because the ankh is part of this culture. It is instructive to recall how important is nowadays the ankh in the goth subculture. Despite their best contributions,Witching Hour UK has always been an underrated band, but essential to Goth. 

"We are so lonely in life that we must ask ourselves if the loneliness of dying is not a symbol of our human existence."

Emil Cioran