The Wolfgang Press were an English post-punk band, active from 1983 to 1995, recording for the 4AD label. The core of the band was Michael Allen (vocals, bass), Mark Cox (keyboards), and Andrew Gray (guitar).
The group is best known for its 1992 international hit single "A Girl Like You (Born to Be Kissed)".
Style and influences
The official 4AD band profile describes them as "post-punk", transforming to "avant-dance groovers" with Queer. The group were frequently labelled "goth," though they denied the charge.
Allen's list of "important records" as of 1995 included De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising, Massive Attack's Blue Lines and "anything from Nick Cave and The Fall". He recalled that the record that "maybe started it all" for him was Public Image Ltd's Metal Box.
History
Rema-Rema, Mass (1978–1981) Allen started in the Models in 1977. Allen and Cox had both been members of Rema-Rema and Mass, while Gray had been a member of In Camera. All of these bands had also recorded for 4AD.
Rema-Rema were formed in 1978 by schoolmates Allen and Gary Asquith, with Cox, Marco Pirroni (also a school friend of Allen's and a fellow member of the Models) and Max Prior (who later recorded as Dorothy with Psychic TV). 4AD founder Ivo Watts-Russell said that hearing Rema-Rema's demo tape "was the first point I knew that we were actually doing something serious [with 4AD]." Their sole recording was the Wheel in the Roses 12"EP (4AD BAD-5, 1 Apr 1980). The band split when Pirroni left to join Adam and the Ants (although Pirroni says he had already left), and reformed as Mass.
Mass consisted of Allen and Cox with Asquith and Danny Briottet. Mass recorded a single, "You And I"/"Cabbage" (4AD AD-14, Oct 1980), and an album, Labour of Love (4AD CAD-107, May 1981). Mass split in 1981. Asquith and Briottet later (1986) formed Renegade Soundwave. (Asquith remained a friend and contributed to Queer.)
The Burden of Mules (1983) After Mass split, Allen and Cox continued working together. The Burden of Mules was described byTrouser Press as "dark and cacophonous, an angry, intense slab of post-punk gloom that is best left to its own (de)vices"; the AllMusic Guide to Electronica describes some tracks as "so morose and vehement as to verge on self-parody." ZigZag was more positive, regarding the album as an artistic success and an "emphatic statement." The band's career retrospective compilation, Everything Is Beautiful, contains no tracks from the album.
Guest musicians included Richard Thomas (Dif Juz), David Steiner (In Camera) and guitarist and percussionist Andrew Gray, who soon joined the band.
Early EPs
The EPs Scarecrow, Water and Sweatbox followed, produced by Robin Guthrie. These were later compiled (with some remixed versions) as The Legendary Wolfgang Press and Other Tall Stories. The AllMusic Guide to Electronica describes Scarecrow as "a lighter, more streamlined affair", Water as spotlighting "ominously sparse torch songs", and Sweatbox as "deconstructionist pop".
Standing Up Straight (1986) The 4AD band profile describes Standing Up Straight as "an intense blend of industrial and classical tropes". Trouser Press describes it as "as challenging and inventive as the band's other work, adding industrial and classical instrumentation to the creative arsenal", "dark and thoroughly uncompromising" and "not for the easily intimidated." The AllMusic Guide to Electronica describes it as "a challenging, even punishing album, but a rewarding one as well."
Bird Wood Cage (1988) The AllMusic Guide to Electronica notes Bird Wood Cage as "one of the most pivotal records in the Wolfgang Press catalog; here, the trio begins to incorporate the dance and funk elements which would ultimately emerge as the dominant facet of their work." Trouser Press describes Bird Wood Cage as "inserting fascinating bits of business into superficially forbidding songs", including female backing vocals, funky wah-wah guitar and elements of dub reggae.
The album was preceded by the EP Big Sex, which presages Bird Wood Cage's musical themes. "King of Soul", "Kansas" and "Raintime"/"Bottom Drawer" were singles from the album.
Allen later said that Bird Wood Cage was the Wolfgang Press album he was most proud of.
Queer (1991), "A Girl Like You" (1992) The genesis of the 1991 album Queer was listening to De La Soul's 1989 debut album 3 Feet High and Rising. As Allen put it, this was when they "rediscovered that music could indeed be fun." "It seemed such a joyous record. There was a freshness and ease about the way it was made that inspired us to reassess our working process."