Cabaret Voltaire is a post-punk industrial and electronica band from Sheffield, England consisting of Richard H. Kirk , Stephen Mallinder and Chris Watson (who was also a founding member of the Hafler Trio). Their earliest performances were dadaist-inspired performance art. In 1978 (see 1978 in music), Cabaret Voltaire signed to Rough Trade and after several highly acclaimed initial singles/extended players, including "Extended Play", "Nag Nag Nag", Three Mantras and 3 Crepuscule Tracks began releasing punk-influenced albums of experimental music such as The Voice of America in 1980 and the widely-hailed Red Mecca in 1981.

In 1983 (see 1983 in music), co-inciding with the departure of Watson (who went on as part of The Hafler Trio ), Cabaret Voltaire began moving towards electronic dance music with the album The Crackdown on Virgin Records. In 1984, the singles "Sensoria" and "James Brown" from the album Micro Phonies (also on Virgin) charted on the independent music charts. In 1986 (see 1986 in music), the band released Code , followed by the house-influenced Groovy, Laidback & Nasty in 1988 (see 1988 in music). A series of completely instrumental works under the Cabaret Voltaire name were released on Instinct Records in 1993 and 1994, but appeared to be largely the product of Kirk. Since then, Kirk has begun a solo career under several names, including Electronic Eye and Sandoz, while Mallinder has relocated to Perth, Australia and records with a collaborator under the name Sassi & Loco.

Random trivia

In the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off you can see a Cabaret Voltaire poster in Ferris' room. It is the cover of their 1984 release Micro-Phonies.

External links

• Unofficial Cabaret Voltaire site with extensive discography