BY TOM MURPHY CABARET VOLTAIRE Around the spring of 2025, pioneering industrial and post-punk band Cabaret Voltaire announced it would reunite for its 50 year anniversary. Featuring surviving members Stephen Mallinder and Chris Watson, who hadn’t been in the band since 1994 and 1981 respectively, the reunion would miss Richard H. Kirk who kept the project going until he passed away in 2021. The duo with guests scheduled a string of shows only in the UK to honor the legacy of the music they’d made together. Since the band was a major influence on my own music, and because I’d never been to the UK before, I decided I would try to go. I put off getting a ticket too long to go see the Cabs in their hometown of Sheffield, but in July I was able to buy a ticket for their Birmingham show. As someone who grew up in the 70s and 80s I was an appreciator of UK television, film and music, watching Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Doctor Who, the Bond films and Hammer House offerings and listened to The Beatles and Pink Floyd among others. Into the 90s I learned the lore of UK punk and post-punk and in the late 90s, I bought an electric bass to teach myself to play what Peter Hook was doing in Joy Division and New Order. Earlier in the decade, I was drawn more to UK bands of the alternative rock explosion than their American counterparts. The sensibilities, humor, intelligence and creativity that seemed dense in music from the UK has stuck with me from a young age. Throughout the 90s I got into IDM-centered and ambient music around Warp Records and the experimental artists on Mute. It’s surprising I’d never previously made it to England. So of course for my first trip I would try to land in Manchester, the mecca for fans of UK post-punk. Before experiencing Manchester properly I had to take a coach, one of the easiest ways to travel between cities, to Birmingham to see Cabaret Voltaire. After checking into my hotel, I took an Uber to XOYO, a venue situated in a grimy part of the city that felt like home having gone to DIY spaces in gnarly parts of various cities for decades. The venue felt like an upgraded warehouse with excellent sound but no frills. If I had expected something good from the Cabs, it was better. Their mastery of early forms of sampling was on full display as well as their complete incorporation of various strands of electronic music, funk and rock. The day after, I walked around Birmingham and was struck by the beauty and history of the city with buildings established in the 12th century. I went to the renowned Swordfish Records before journeying to Bristol. There was a more laid back energy to Bristol than Birmingham. I visited PYNCHER HEAVEN 17 No. 145 HOLLY HEAD
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