Biography Wikipedia
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Biography
Cult With No Name (often abbreviated to 'cwnn') is a music group from London, UK, comprising Erik Stein and Jon Boux. Influenced largely by electronic post-punk and modern classical music, they refer to themselves 'post-punk electronic balladeers’. Formed in 2004, the band is signed to Los Angeles label Trakwerx in 2007, founded by Jackson Del Rey of Californian punk legends Savage Republic and 17 Pygmies.
Having contributed three instrumental tracks to 17 Pygmies' comeback album '13 Blackbirds', Cult With No Name made their full debut with the album 'Paper Wraps Rock' in 2007. The album was met with broadly positive reviews, with the renowned music journalist Mick Mercer in particular championing the band, and making them his 'discovery of 2007'. The band's second album, 'Careful What You Wish For', was released a year later and included the instrumental track 'You Know Me Better Than I Know Myself', which featured Tuxedomoon's Blaine L. Reininger on violin, and a piano-based cover of The Stranglers' classic 'Golden Brown'. The album was met with positive reviews, with supporters that include the filmmaker Don Letts. Former Suede frontman, Brett Anderson, also invited Cult With No Name to open for him at the launch of his solo album 'Slow Attack'.
The band's next project was to record a new score for the classic German expressionist silent film, 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari', which was released simultaneously as a DVD and digital download in 2009 and coincided with the 90th anniversary of the making of the film. The score was notable for the inclusion of songs alongside instrumental soundscapes. In late 2010, Cult With No Name released their fourth studio album, entitled 'Adrenalin', which expanded the band's sound to include elements of trip-hop and psychedelia. The album is also notable for the sardonic and scathing disco-pastiche, 'The All Dead Burlesque Show'. The website dso.co.uk hailed the album as a 'serious contender for album of the year'.
'Above as Below', Cult With No Name's fifth album, was released in January 2012. For the first time, it saw the band collaborate with a number of outside artists. Kelli Ali (ex-Sneaker Pimps) contributed extensively, including co-writing the song 'Shake Hands with the Devil'. Other contributors included Bruce Geduldig and Luc van Lieshout of Tuxedomoon, ex-Stranglers and Peter Gabriel guitarist John Ellis and Meg Maryatt of 17 Pygmies. The cover art and packaging for the album was designed by David Bowie and Damien Hirst collaborator Jonathan Barnbrook and manufactured using a letterpress. Dance music icon Mark Moore (S'Express) described the album as 'such warmth, such style, such bliss'.
CWNN's music has been compared to Roxy Music, Tuxedomoon, the Pet Shop Boys, Colin Newman, The Nits, David Sylvian, early Elton John and Scott Walker, amongst others. They have supported the likes of ex-ZTT artist Anne Pigalle, Lene Lovich, Anne Clark and Client. The band were nominated for the UK's Exposure Music Awards in 2011.
Other work
In addition to their studio albums, the band have contributed music to two comedic stage productions at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 'Moz and the Meal' and 'Bored Stiff', and appear on several compilations. Erik Stein has also acted in several short films made by electronic music pioneer John Foxx as well as the 2011 short film 'Sonus', produced by Ridley Scott Associates.
Album discography
'Paper Wraps Rock', 2007
'Careful What You Wish For', 2008
'Lightwerx: The Cabinet of Dr Caligari', 2009
'Adrenalin', 2010
'Above as Below', 2012