Member Since: 02/04/2007
Band Website: lumbertontrading.com
Band Members: 1989 - 1996: Richard Johnson (voice, guitar, samples, other sounds), James Machin (guitar, voice, other sounds), Paul Dudeney (drums, percussion, voice), Paul Wright (bass, voice, other sounds), Steve Pittis (analogue synths, samples, other sounds) and Colin Bradley (guitar, other sounds).1997: Richard Johnson, Colin Bradley, Stuart Carter (bass, other sounds), Hassni Malik (guitar, other sounds) and James Hodson (drums, percussion, bamboo flute).Numerous other people either helped the group or featured as guests along the way on previous recordings, too. Some of them included Stefx (drums), Somewhere In Europe (tapes), Steve Wright (rhythms, keyboards) and Gus Hilton (guitar).If the band succeed in regrouping, it would include: Richard Johnson, Steve Pittis, Paul Dudeney, Paul Wright, James Machin and Colin Bradley.Richard Johnson and Stuart Carter now operate as Theme. Hassni Malik is in The Vitamin B12. James Hodson is in Faust.
Influences: Musically, Splintered were originally motivated by mostly UK punk/post-punk (Wire, P.I.L., Echo & the Bunnymen, Cabaret Voltaire, The Cure, Joy Division, ATV, Slits, the Banshees, Gang Of Four...the usual stuff), Swans, Sonic Youth, Glenn Branca, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Whitehouse, Industrial music, electronic music/power electronics, psychedelia, The Stooges, Can, The Velvet Underground, Faust, Neil Young, The Doors, Captain Beefheart, etc. Beyond this, all or some of the following: nature, writing, literature, circumstance, space, exorcising demons, films, lateral thought, philosophy, experiences (past, present and future), 'art', the overwhelming torrents of apathy drowning us, control in all its forms, dangerous yet predictable situations, abstract forms, realism, surrealism, other worlds, architecture, absinthe, whiskey, internal conflicts, time, unanswerable questions, a confusing array of emotions, oblivion, etcetera.
Sounds Like: The unfolding of several personal hells...Musically, Splintered used to be quite often, however, compared to Skullflower and the more 'rock' incarnation of Ramleh. Generally, though, these bands were regarded as peers in what, during the early 1990s, seemed like quite a fertile time in music's more twilight-soaked margins in the UK. Splintered may have shared similarities (to a certain degree) with both groups in their aiming to tease new shapes out of time's discourse with music attired in essentially 'rock'-based forms, but it's possibly fair to surmise all three groups had their own agendas, goals and, indeed, failings (even if certain people from all these groups became or were already friends). Splintered also often utilised samples, electronics, keyboards, white noise, wind instruments, musique concrete and so on in their sound.Splintered's last album, a collaboration with Germany's RLW, from 1996, inspired Jussi Lehtisalo of Circle to record his Lehtisalofamily CD, anyway.Make of it all whatever you want but, meantime, here are a couple of reviews of Splintered albums the band don't necessarily agree with entirely, but may nonetheless 'help':"SPLINTERED Noumena CD (Amanita Records, France, 1994). We've unearthed yet another semi-obscure find from the UK drone rock/heavy noise/dirge rock underbelly, and are we stoked! Splintered's Noumena was released in 1995, and falls somewhere between the feedback and howling guitar sheets of early 90's Skullflower, the apocalyptic/hypnotic dirges of Swans and Godflesh, and the epic unfolding might of Neurosis. Sounds pretty rad, right? It is. Formed in 1989, this UK outfit maintained a relatively low profile during their existence in the late 1980's/early 1990's, releasing a healthy series of limited singles, four albums (to the best of our knowledge), and recording two Peel Sessions. The seven tracks on this full length blend relentless rhythmic structures and improvised guitar noise / feedback worship into monstrous squalls of ominous dirge rock, replete with thundercloud summoning drones and loops, crushing analogue synth buzz, bamboo flute, splattered samples, metal percussion, and vocals that sound like Gregorian chants recorded at the bottom of a submerged cavern, all coming together into lengthy, repetitive, droning hypno jams with titles like "Black Dwarf"! As dark and desolate as wasted urban landscapes and decaying skylines. Seriously hypnotic and heavy and eerily melodic, and definitely highly recommended to fans of punishing drone rock / dirge metal, particularly anyone into old Skullflower and Cosmonauts Hail Satan and other old school UK guitar abusers/feedback worshippers." - Crucial Blast, http://www.crucialblast.net/webstore/titles_s.html"SPLINTERE
D/RLW eponymous CD (Black Rose Recordings, 1996). A collaboration between the UK's Splintered, whose rock experimentations are well known, and Germany's manipulators of sound, RLW. Bare-to-the-bone rythms, searing guitar on full distortion drive this minima rock. Mixed with various residual sonics to form a collage of sound on the verge of a breakdown, this 'Art Concrete' draws from the likes of Scorn, Faust and PIL and puts them all in the blender. Bleak, uncompromising soundscapes to some urban nightmare, their vision is cold, grey and unemotional." - Bizarre Magazine
Record Label: Dirter Promotions, Black Rose Recordings, etc.
Type of Label: Indie