My Bloody Valentine Artistfacts

1983-
Kevin ShieldsVocals, guitar1983-
Bilinda ButcherVocals, guitar1987-
Colm O Ciosoig Drums1983-
Debbie GoogeBass1985-
Joe ByfieldVocals1987
David ConwayVocals1983-1987
Tina DurkinKeyboards1984-1985
Stephen IversGuitar1983-1984
Paul MurtaghBass1984
Mark RossBass1983
Kevin and Colm first met at a karate tournament in South Dublin in 1978. They became fast friends with a shared musical goal: "When Colm and I started out in Dublin years ago we were determined not do anything that wasn't totally original. So we messed around with excruciating noises."

Those noises eventually developed into a groundbreaking genre called shoegazing, known for building walls of sound by using heavy distortion and feedback paired with ethereal vocals, along with the introverted stage presence of band members staring down at their shoes. MBV's second album, Loveless, is hailed as the epitome of the genre.
They took their name from the 1981 Canadian slasher flick My Bloody Valentine about a killer who wreaks havoc in a mining town on Valentine's Day.
After the critical success of Loveless, the band scored a deal with Island Records for their follow-up album. However, much of their advance was wasted on building a new and unsatisfactory studio, and the pressure to craft another masterpiece proved to be too much for Kevin. Legend has it, he locked himself away for years in a house surrounded by barbed wire, with only chinchillas to keep him company. Kevin admits to the barbed wire and chinchillas, but claims rumors of his insanity were greatly exaggerated.
Their follow-up would finally come 22 years later with MBV (2013).
Kevin and Bilinda were romantically involved throughout the late '80s and early '90s.
Kevin and Bilinda both developed tinnitus, a type of hearing loss that produces ringing or hissing sounds in the ear, during the mixing of Loveless.
Kevin on the group's songwriting process (Option, 1992): "It's not like we're thinking, 'Oh, I feel really bad or angry and I want to make something that will represent that. It's done more in a really unfocused sort of way. he only time it makes sense is when it all comes together. When I write lyrics, I take liberties with them because I'm not particularly trying to convey anything to anyone in words. It makes sense to me and gives me enough conviction to sing the songs, but it doesn't necessarily make a lot of sense to other people. That's what all our music is like. It's ambiguous, but in an ethereal, flowy way. It's kind of see-through. And the lyrics are only as substantial as the impression you get from the entire song."
Since leaving the band in 1987, David Conway has become an author of science fiction/horror novels like Tokyo Gothic (2009) and Celebrity Gotham (2010). He also started his own publishing company, Radical Robot Books.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

More Songfacts:

On The FloorJennifer Lopez

"On The Floor" by Jennifer Lopez samples the 1989 song "Lambada," which you might remember is about "The Forbidden Dance."

Highway to HellAC/DC

The "Highway To Hell" is the Canning Highway in Australia, which seems to go on forever, at least according to AC/DC.

SeptemberEarth, Wind & Fire

The chorus in "September" by Earth, Wind & Fire is "Bada-Ya, dancing in September." Maurice White left it "Bada-Ya" instead of a real word because he never let a lyric get in the way of a groove.

Touch MeThe Doors

At the end of the Doors song "Touch Me," Jim Morrison chants, "Stronger than dirt!" The line is from an Ajax commercial where a white knight rides around destroying dirt.

Sour TimesPortishead

The eerie percussion and guitar for Portsihead's "Sour Times was sampled from Lalo Schifrin's "Danube Incident," music composed by the Argentine composer for an episode of Mission Impossible.