About Me
White Cube existed between 1996 and 2000.
The story of the band began in 1996 when Greg, Tim, Dave and Phil, together with their friend Paul O'Sullivan, began improvising at Greg's flat after the pub closed on Friday night. At times they found themselves creating sounds from bowls of water, pots and pans and found objects and these experimentations were always recorded and archived for future reference. As time passed, more conventional musical instruments were added to the mix. Soon the band were augmented by additional personnel. The Friday night sessions continued with the addition of guitars, keyboards and paint tins.
During 1997, the band relocated their regular Friday night practice sessions to the basement of Greg and Phil's house in Didsbury - a precariously unlit room where switching on the electricity was a game of life or death. Now a full unit, the band recorded each practice session on a tascam 4 track recorder and listened back to the results til dawn. It became apparent almost immediately that something magical was forming from the collective creative juices of the group. Experimentation was encouraged and conventional rock band dynamics, chord progressions and time signatures were discarded in favour of a more freeform and open sound structure.
After a long creative incubation process and over 50 hours of material recorded, the band emerged from the basement to play their debut gig. The venue (Copperface Jacks) was a conventional pub on the corner of the Palace Hotel in Manchester and made for an interesting night of audience confusion and 'rabbit in the headlight' expressions. Satisfied and content that the evening was a triumph, the group decided to remove themselves from womble like hibernation and expose their music onto the public.
With added confidence, White Cube began a series of live gigs, spanning two years, in and around the Manchester region. Events often succumbed to bouts of audience disatisfaction and occasional violence, but the band took this as a sign that everything was right. During this time, the group produced a short run CD called 'In the Disease Free Hermeticum' which featured various recordings from the White Cube archives. The CD was sold at gigs. White Cube played more gigs including a park gig, a shop window performance as well as more concerts in conventional rock venues. The band played around 15 gigs. Other notable performances include a Black Sabbath tribute day alongside Elbow, Mum & Dad, Bone Box plus many more acts and an experimental music all dayer 'Digital Discharge' alongside Noise Girl, Jansky Noise, Ashtray Navigations, Magic City and Disco Operating System.
During 1999, the band entered Abraham Moss studios in north Manchester to record three tracks: 'Traffic', 'Dedau: The Sex of Metals' and 'Death Race 2000' for a projected release. Mixed and engineered by Johnny Skullknuckles, the tracks were completed in two days and thereafter flirted around a few record companies. At the time and before the current wave of post rock heard today, independent record companies were very conservative and willing to take no risks. This was the time of 'Britpop'. As a result, White Cube were a band out of time. The tracks featured on this web page now sound extremely contemporary ten years later.
The band entered their twilight years during the millenium, playing a handful of gigs including two great performances at the Star & Garter club and the venue 'Big Hands' in Manchester. Following these gigs, White Cube disbanded and members of the group went on to concentrate on further musical projects and non musical activities. To date, the only White Cube recording released was the track 'Golden Triangle' on the now defunct Planetsounds label.
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Where are they now?
Greg Johnson: AKA Lord Mongo . Greg lives in Manchester and plays and records with the Lord Mongo band. His music has been released on the Mandolin record label and has received attention on BBC radio and favourable reviews in magazines.
Su Li lives and works in Manchester and sells craft goods.
Phil Addyman & Pete Holdich live in Manchester and both work for Star Events, a PA and stage set up company.
Tim Jones lives in Manchester and records for and co-runs the Fflint Central record label releasing esoteric and abstract music under the name Pendro . He is also a member of experimental group Triclops .
Dave Clarkson lives in Manchester and records for and co-runs the Lotta Continua record label releasing electronic music under the name Illuminati . He also produces pop music under the name Monte Cristo , is a member of experimental group Triclops and co-runs the experimental club night 'Burst Couch'.
Clare Birtwhistle lives and works in Manchester and runs a card design business.
Dave Griffiths lives in Manchester and is involved as a film maker. His work has included short films for Lord Mongo and sound artist Lee Patterson. His films have been screened internationally to critical acclaim. More information here .
Johny Skullknuckles lives in Manchester and plays guitar for Goldblade . He has toured extensively and recorded with the band. More information here
Stu Johnson (brother of Greg) is a visual artist and lives and works in Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire.
Other persons who helped out and were part of the White Cube story included manager for a while Steve Manford , bassist Paul O'Sullivan, band website designer Woody, verbal promoter Acid Alan (Alan McGregor), guitarist Jay Taylor , Gary Robert Kelly and Mark and Paul from the Fred Aldous shop.
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This page is written and maintained by Dave Clarkson .
Any comments/queries relating to content and archived material - please get in touch. Also, if you have any additional photos, video footage, handbills and posters to those seen on the blogs to this page, please get in touch. Cheers.
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