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The Auteurs were a vehicle for the songwriting talents of Luke Haines (guitar, piano and vocals). Formerly of the band "The Servants" (who had featured on the seminal compilation C86), Haines later created the Auteurs with his then girlfriend Alice Steadman (bass) and James Banbury (cello). Their first single "Showgirl" was praised by Melody Maker, and ensured the band a record deal with Hut. The following album, New Wave (1993), was nominated for a Mercury Music Prize and saw The Auteurs associated with the emerging Britpop genre.
However this association never sat well with Haines who frequently made derogatory remarks about his peers. After New Wave, the band remained on the fringes of the music scene. The critically acclaimed album Now I'm a Cowboy in 1994 built on the themes of New Wave and contained what remains probably Haines' best-known song, "Lenny Valentino". Demonstrating, again, their difference from their musical peers, the band's next release was The Auteurs vs µ-Ziq, Auteurs songs remixed by producer µ-Ziq (aka Michael Paradinas): in interviews at the time Haines claimed he found contemporary techno and house music more interesting than most Britpop bands.
In 1996 The Auteurs released After Murder Park, produced by Steve Albini, and including the songs "Land Lovers", "Unsolved Child Murder", and "Buddha." The album was recorded at Abbey road studios following a year during which Haines had spent most of the year in a wheelchair after jumping off a wall to avoid the strains of touring. Haines then went on to release an eponymous record under the name Baader Meinhof about the Baader Meinhof terrorist organisation that same year. The last Auteurs record, How I Learned to Love the Bootboys, was released in 1999.
Haines also worked as one third of the art-pop band Black Box Recorder, and in 2001 released the soundtrack album to the film Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry rapidly followed by his first solo album proper, The Oliver Twist Manifesto. 2003 saw him release Das Capital, a collection of re-recorded Auteurs era songs, with a couple of new tracks, apparently intended as closure for that band. Haines himself has asserted that his music will only be truly appreciated by later generations - possibly in the same way as The Velvet Underground achieved greater popularity after they had already split up.
The Auteurs' James Banbury has recently gone on to record an album with the eminent journalist/writer/musician Paul Morley under the name Infantjoy. Entitled 'Where the Night Goes', it is a radical stylistic departure from his earlier work with Haines, blending modern electronica, Erik Satie and glitch. It features a vocal performance by Sarah Nixey of Black Box Recorder singing a version of Japan's Ghosts. A new Infantjoy album entitled With is due out in October 2006 with collaborators including Tunng, Isan and Populous. |
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