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Product links on this page point to Amazon.com. If you would prefer to see what is available on Amazon.co.uk, please click here.
FLUX Europa
Mediaeval Baebes official Web Site Several changes in line-up and a number of years later, the Baebes are ready for the release of their next album Illumination. Their first ever single Miracle taken from Illumination was released in late 2008. Katharine is now the only original member of the Mediaeval Baebes, but somehow she has managed
to maintain a consistency in the group's image and output, which will hopefully carry on for many years to come. Trevor Sharpe has appeared on a number of Mediaeval Baebes albums and the albums have featured many unusual instruments. DO NOT miss an opportunity to see the girls live.
In 2006 Katharine produced the solo album A Universe Between Us from Nick Marsh and also performed on it extensively, along with Mike Servant and Ben Golomstock (guitar on the track Some Velvet Morning). The album is a highly personal Sinatra-esque effort with some great lyrics. In July 2007 Katharine released her first solo album Midnight Flower, not long before giving birth to her daughter Ava. Midnight Flower is a gorgeously sounding album, which leans more towards Mediaeval Baebes than Miranda Sex Garden. The album was co-written with Nick Marsh, who also performs on it along with Donna McKevitt, Trevor Sharpe and Mike Servant from Miranda Sex Garden. A must for any Miranda Sex Garden and/or Mediaeval Baebes fan. Katharine is currently working with Nick on a new project, as yet untitled.
Miranda Sex Garden links:
Huge site devoted to dark music, art, people, politics and culture. Although sadly this site is no longer maintained, there is enough cool stuf there to keep you happy for some time if you have never visited before. FLUX was one of the first major sites to link to Forever Burning. Cheers Rik and best of luck with your music. Have a look at these links in particular:
Miranda Sex Garden Feature from 1996
Halloween Concert 1997 (it was an incredible night - MSG fan Marc Pluckelman hitchhiked all the way from Germany to be there!)
Carnival of Souls release
The socalled official Miranda Sex Garden biography released by SugarDaddy Records (this one did not do them any favours!)
Mute Records
Miranda Sex Garden's first record label, who released Madra, Iris, Suspiria and Fairytales of Slavery. Not much information there, but at least they are still featured.
Mediaeval Baebes links:
Mediaeval Baebes on MySpace
The Mediaeval Baebes were formed in 1996 and consisted of a bunch of girls whom Katharine Blake liked to dress up with and sing on Hampstead Heath. They did a number of gigs around London and it wasn't long before they were noticed by Virgin, who ended up signing them. No doubt they saw potential in the "Mediaeval Spice Girls". After the two albums Salva Nos (no. 1 in the classical charts) and Worldes Blysse they were snapped up by BMG for the extravaganza that was Undrentide produced by John Cale from Velvet Underground (a union loved by some and loathed by others). Then it was back to more traditional territory with The Rose after switching to Nettwerk Records. Then came Mistletoe & Wine and in July 2005 the fan favourite Mirabilis.
In 2005 the Baebes also contributed songs to the soundtrack of the BBC TV series The Virgin Queen, including the title track.
Lilith Fair gave The Mediaeval Baebes one of their first major touring opportunities. Lots of info on the site, which promotes women in music.
Katharine Blake links:
In 1996 Ben started a band called The Naked Goat, which for some time featured Trevor Sharpe on drums and the mysterious Beat Girl on vocals. Naked Goat did haunting versions of old movie soundtracks and other cool and exotic material. Audrey Evans (one of the original Mediaeval Baebes) and Nick Marsh later joined the band.
In spite of some legendary live performances and an attempt to record an album, the only available track recorded under the name The Naked Goat can be found on an increasingly rare compilation released by the Torture Garden club called "Torture Garden - Bizarre & Eccentric Music Compilation". The track is a cover of Caravan, which was later covered by Miranda Sex Garden on Carnival of Souls (there's quite a big difference between the two covers). In 2006 Ben released an album under the name Stories From The Moon (also the name of the album). It featured collaborations with Katharine Blake and a number of
other usual suspects from the MSG circle of artists. Highly experimental and very exciting, this album has a feel similar to Suspiria, but with a very diverse range of styles.
Several of the tracks were actually recorded by Ben's other project The Naked Goat for the album that was never completed. Get a copy while they last!
Minty on MySpace
Minty was a ground breaking performance/pop/rock/electro/art/fetish/weird/wonderful outfit, which revolved around the famous artist and designer Leigh Bowery. After his death in 1994 the band carried on with Leigh's wife Nicola as the front woman. On drums: Trevor Sharpe from Miranda Sex Garden. Minty split up after only a few gigs supporting their only full album Open Wide in 1997. Trevor and two other members went on to form The Servant (see below). Other bands, which were part of the same creative circle as Minty, known as The Offset, are still active. In 2006 Minty re-emerged with a line-up consisting only of Richard Torry,
Matthew Glamorre and Nicola Bowery. They released the hilarious track It's a Game - Part 2, an upbeat version of their old track It's a Game featuring samples from the then latest series of Big Brother, mainly from contestants Nicky and Pete! For plenty of info about Leigh Bowery and some great Minty photos, visit:
Leigh Bowery Xtravaganza
The Servant links:
After Minty decided to call it a day in 1997, three of its members: Dan Black, Matt Fisher and Trevor Sharpe started a new band called The Servant together with Chris Burrows. Initially sounding like the more pop-oriented Minty material with a bit of Pulp (before Pulp started to help the aged) and a good portion of funk, the Servant played a number of very successful gigs and early on established themselves as a top live act. They recorded the EP Mathematics in 2000, which was well received by the critics and fans, but did not exactly set the charts on fire. This was followed up in 2001 by another EP With the Invisible, which disappeared into even deeper obscurity than the previous one. Then the band seemingly disappeared - from a UK perspective. Because in France they'd been having more luck and ended up achieving cult status. It was only when the band was commissioned to supply a track for the movie Sin City (an ace instrumental version of their track Cells) that the rest of the World started to catch up again. In spite of being featured on the trailer, the track didn't actually make it to the final cut of the movie or the original soundtrack. The original version is however available on the album The Servant from early 2004 and the instrumental version later appeared on the soundtrack for another movie, The Transporter 2. The band went into the studio again to record their next album How To Destroy a Relationship in August 2005 (released 2006). By this time their sound had become more mellow and dare we say mainstream. They played Glastonbury 2007 and a number of London gigs for the first time in ages. They looked set to take Manhattan and then Berlin. Then they broke up. You can still listen them on The Servant MySpace page and make sure you also check out their videos. Since the split Dan Black has been trying to launch what could become a very successful solo career.
Jocelyn West was one of the original three members of Miranda Sex Garden. Her marriage brought her to the US and away from Miranda Sex Garden before the recording of Iris. In the States she teamed up with film director and musician David Lynch (yes - that David Lynch!) for a recording of material by Hildegard von Bingen. This resulted in the critically acclaimed album Lux Vivens, where Jocelyn appeared under her married name as Jocelyn Montgomery. Jocelyn has since worked on several albums with the medieval music ensemble Sinfonye led by Stevie Wishart. In 2008 Jocelyn started recording her first solo album Salt Bird, which is due to be released in March 2009. Information and video clips about Lux Vivens from lynchnet.com
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Donna McKevitt replaced Jocelyn West and stayed with Miranda Sex Garden through to the recording of Fairytales of Slavery and part of the touring that followed. During MSG's work on Derek Jarman's film Blue, Donna became deeply involved with the material and went on to create an extraordinary work of music set to Jarman's poetry.
The song cycle Translucence was released in 1998, but had to be withdrawn almost immediately due to legal issues with Jarman's estate. It would be six years before the album was re-released. In 2007 Donna worked with Katharine again on the album Midnight Flower.
Hepzibah Sessa joined Miranda Sex Garden in 1993 and already left again in 1994. However the timing was such that she still managed to take part in the most active touring of the band's history. She also appeared on the Fairytales Of Slavery album and the first few performances that followed the release. However while on tour with Depeche Mode, whom MSG supported on their Devotional tour, Hepzibah had met Alan Wilder. It was obviously a lasting impression, because Hepzibah ended up marrying him and has contributed to most of the releases by Alan Wilder's project Recoil. She has also been very involved in promoting Recoil through their very cool Web site. No solo material has appeared.
