Human Drama

One of the longest-lived American goth-inspired bands, Human Drama is in many ways the vehicle for singer/multi-instrumentalist Johnny Indovina, who has overseen the band through a variety of lineup changes and stylistic experiments. Over time he has led Human Drama through a series of inspired releases, his strong, just tender enough singing and ear for darkly passionate and dramatic music always at the core of whatever the band is trying next. Supported by a small but devoted fan base in America and elsewhere, notably in Mexico, both Indovina and Human Drama look set to continue their work for some time to come.

Indovina began his career in an early-'80s new wave act out of New Orleans, Models, which never released anything beyond a couple of singles and a compilation appearance. A mid-'80s move to Los Angeles and the discovery of another band out of Australia called Models set the stage for Indovina and company to began a new incarnation. Human Drama's proper first came to wider attention via the heavily-hyped "Scream scene" of the mid-'80s, referring to the noted underground goth metal club that helped bring Guns N' Roses and Jane's Addiction to wider attention. Human Drama contributed a song, "Wave of Darkness," to the 1987 collection Scream: The Compilation, which led to a major label deal shortly thereafter with RCA. 1989 saw the release of a taster EP, Hopes Prayers Dreams Heart Soul Mind Love Life Death, and later that year a full album, Feel, both products of recording sessions in Wales and both accomplished enough but rather strident and overbearing. Indovina concluded after release that RCA wasn't doing enough in terms of promotion, making a leap to the small but worthy Triple X label, where he has stayed ever since.

The next major Human Drama release was a masterwork and still for many the best effort by the band still, 1992's The World Inside, a lengthy and, unlike Feel, much more focused and tender effort that deserved the heavy acclaim it won. A solo performance of various cover songs by Indovina at the album's release party inadvertently suggested the next Human Drama album -- 1993's Pin-Ups, an open tribute to David Bowie's album of the same name, being a collection of remakes of various sources of inspiration. A move to New York City accompanied a temporary co-release stint on the noted Projekt label, resulting in two further mid-decade releases -- 1994's self-titled EP, especially noted for its reworking of Feel's epic "The Waking Hour," and 1995's Songs of Betrayal, an extended meditation on the theme that was later re-released as two separate discs with extra tracks.

Having built up a considerable live reputation over the moons as the band went through various changes and musical explorations, it made sense that the next release would be a live album, 1997's excellent 14,384 Days Later, featuring many of the early Feel-era songs in newer, more accomplished versions, not to mention some fine new cover song choices. 1999 brought another lengthy studio effort, the varied and accomplished Solemn Sun Setting, touching on and often exceeding many of the past musical paths of the group, while the following year saw the appearance of a career overview, Best of Human Drama...In a Perfect World.

from Wikipedia:

Human Drama was a gothic rock/dark wave band led by singer/songwriter Johnny Indovina. They are primarily known for playing a mixture of sad acoustic and gothic atmospheric melodies. Although they don't count themselves as being only a gothic band, they are often named so by music critics.

Human Drama (1985 - 2005)

Human Drama began in New Orleans in 1980 as the Models. Human Drama's musical influences stem from artists such as Joy Division, Lou Reed, Tom Waits, David Bowie, and Leonard Cohen, among others. By 1985 they had relocated to Los Angeles where they changed their name to Human Drama and quickly became prominent in what was at the time the most celebrated and influential music scene in the world. The legendary "Scream Scene" developed around an underground LA club called Scream, and spawned dozens of major label acts, including Guns N' Roses and Jane's Addiction.

Human Drama was signed to RCA Records in 1988 and released both an EP, "Hopes, Prayers, Dreams, Heart, Soul, Mind, Love, Life, Death", and an LP, "Feel", a year later. When RCA failed to provide adequate promotional support, Indovina asked for the band's release.

Human Drama signed next to Triple X Records, and released "The World Inside" in 1992, which added soft acoustic guitars, flute, and touches of classical violin and cello to their instrumental mix, radically altering the band's sonic presentation. While RCA had promised a video but did not deliver, Triple X did. A video for "This Tangled Web" was directed by long time friend, roadie and tour manager for the band, Dave Eddy. The album proved so popular that Triple X eventually released a companion six-video compilation which included detailed narration from Johnny Indovina.

Pinups, a collection of cover songs which had influenced Indovina's artistic growth was released in 1993, followed by the simply titled "Human Drama" EP in 1994, and "Songs of Betrayal" in 1995 both on Projekt Records. In 1998 "14,384 Days Later", a live, career-spanning retrospective was released on both Hollow Hills/Triple X and the Mexican Opcion Sonica label. In 1997 Indovina asked Eddy to start putting together a book of Indovina's lyrics, fan thoughts and photos. When Eddy moved to the east coast another long-time friend who had maintained the band mailing list, Megan Ducker, finished the book, titled "My Bag of Secrets...the Words of Human Drama", and was published in 1998. The following year brought "Solemn Sun Setting", the band's seventh album, and in 2000, Triple X released "The Best of Human Drama...In a Perfect World".

Indovina then released "Momentos en el Tiempo", the first live document of his solo acoustic shows. Produced by long-time Human Drama guitarist Michael Ciravolo, the disc was culled from several performances recorded between 1995 and 2000, in such far-reaching venues as Café Bizarro in Mexico City and CBGB's in New York.

The final Human Drama album is “Cause and Effect” , released in the US on Projekt Records, and in Latin America by Noise Kontrol. Human Drama came to an end in 2005.

2005-Present: Post-breakup

In late 2006, Johnny Indovina released Sound Of The Blue Heart, Triple X Records. In an interview, Indovina announced he was working on songs for a second Sound Of The Blue Heart album.

Clips

Compilation appearances

Very Introspective Actually- A Pet Shop Boys Tribute - Human Drama "This Must Be The Place I've Waited Years To Leave"; Dancing Ferret Discs 2001.Orphee - Human Drama " A Single White Rose"; Projekt Records Compilation 2000.Songs from the Wasteland: A Tribute to The Mission - Human Drama " Kingdom Come"; Re-Constriction Records 1999.Death for Life A benefit compilation for AIDS research - Human Drama "Goodbye"; Mere Mortal Productions 1999.New Wave Goes To Hell - Human Drama "The Whole Of The Moon"; Cleopatra Records 1996.Scream The Compilation - Human Drama "Wave Of Darkness"; Geffen Records 1987.

Videos/DVD

The World Inside Video Collection (video); Triple X

Books

The book My Bag of Secrets (The Words of Human Drama) contains lyrics, photos and commentary from Johnny Indovina and his fans. It was released in 1997.