Confirmed: THIGHPAULSANDRA (uk) - Experimental/Avant-Garde Electronics
Born in Pontypridd, South Wales into an exceptionally musical family, Thighpaulsandra developed an early interest in modern classical and electronic music. Whilst still in school he formed an avant-garde rock group incorporating influences from his admiration for Cage and Stockhausen . Feeling constrained by the British educational establishment, he left school and spent five years working first as a psychiatric nurse and later on as a piano technician. Because of his technical expertise gathered with his group, The Rachel Dennis Sisters, he was offered a job in a local recording studio, which eventually led to him becoming the manager and house engineer. Among his many clients was Julian Cope, who after discovering Thighpaulsandra's shared appreciation of Krautrock and electronics invited him to become the keyboard player in his group. They recorded many albums together between 1994 and 2002 including 'Autogeddon' and 'Interpreter' and also formed the glam-electronic duo Queen Elizabeth producing two albums.
During Thighpaulsandra's tenure with Cope he garnered the attention of John Balance from Coil who, after an introduction via Thighpaulsandra's management, became a great friend. Thighpaulsandra was eventually asked to join Coil leading to a creative renaissance in the group's career, he was elemental in convincing the notoriously hermetic Coil to perform live.
He contributed to all major Coil albums from 1999's 'Astral Disaster' to 'Colour Sound Oblivion' in 2010, a retrospective live DVD set, released after Balance's untimely death in 2004. His influence is especially poignant on fan-favourites 'Musick to play in the Dark Vol 1 and 2'.
From 1997 to 2008 Thighpaulsandra also performed as keyboard player in Spiritualized. Drafted in after the sudden departure of Kate Radley, he contributed to the albums 'Live at the Royal Albert Hall', 'Let it Come Down', 'Amazing Grace' and 'Songs in A&E' and also engineered 2012's 'Sweet Heart Sweet Light'. In 2007 Thighpaulsandra joined Cyclobe for their first live performance at the Donau Festival in Krems, Austria. He also contributed to the Cyclobe album 'Wounded Galaxies Tap At The Window'. After several years of working on an as yet unreleased studio project with former Cocteau Twin Elizabeth Fraser, Thighpaulsandra played keyboards and electronics for her first post-Cocteau Twins solo live shows in 2012 at the prestigious Royal Festival Hall. 2013 saw Thighpaulsandra touring with friends Wire performing in the UK and Europe.
Honouring a long-time dream of his friend and Coil co-founder Peter Christopherson who had passed on in 2010, Thighpaulsandra was elemental in compiling and editing the first ever book of his photographic art, 'Peter Christopherson Photography' as well as a book of John Balance's little known sketches and drawings, 'Bright Lights and Cats With No Mouths', which were published to universal acclaim by Timeless in 2014. Thighpaulsandra's music was used in the 2015 production of 'Caitlin' by Light, Ladd and Emberton, which won Best Dance Production in the Wales Theatre Awards.
Encouraged by Balance and Christopherson, Thighpaulsandra started to release his own music in 2000. The initial 'Some Head Ep' to which Balance contributed vocals was followed with series of albums including 'I, Thighpaulsandra', 'Double Vulgar', 'Double Vulgar 2', 'Rape Scene', 'Chamber Music' and the 'Lepore Extrusion'. Several years in the making, Thighpaulsandra's latest album, 'The Golden Communion' was released on Editions Mego in September 2015.
Thighpaulsandra is currently working on several new projects with members of Wire and Zu and also performing extensive restoration work on the Coil back catalogue with a view to future release.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dppwax2Uyqk
