Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Peter Murphy of Bauhaus Tonight @ Mezz!

When Peter Murphy first joined Bauhaus in 1978, in Northampton, England, at the behest of guitarist Daniel Ash, he had never written a single song. It was impossible to tell that Bauhaus would be the gut-busting, genre-defying phenomenon it turned out to be - that is, for about six weeks, which is how long it took Bauhaus to get noticed and shoved into the studio at Beck Studios in Wellingborough. Within a couple of years they were hugely successful in the UK, and scored their second-biggest hit with a distorted, up-tempo cover of Ziggy Stardust. Bauhaus is largely considered to be the first gothic rock group, which makes Peter Murphy the first goth singer - in fact, he has been dubbed "The Godfather of Goth."

Five years and four albums later, the group split up, but Peter Murphy kept on making music, often with a penchant for metaphysical or religious lyricism, which went over the heads of many of his fans in the UK - but his video for "All Night Long" became a hit on MTV, and his career in the US began to escalate. When he released his album Deep in 1990, his popularity in the United States was at its peak. After converting to Islam in the 1990s and moving to Turkey with his wife, Murphy's music began to take on Middle-Eastern influences. He was particularly inspired by Sufi mysticism, which fed into his already-established taste for philosophical lyricism.

Murphy continued to make albums throughout the 2000s, including Dust, Unshattered, and his latest release, Ninth (2010). He has toured extensively around the globe, won over millions of fans, and contributed permanently to music history; it is no small honor to have this living legend play for us tonight at Mezzanine, and one that you wouldn't want to miss for anything.
Get your tickets here.

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