The Auteurs – in session for John Peel – Feb. 20, 1996 – BBC Radio 1 –
The Auteurs to start the week off. Not all that well known on this side of the Atlantic, The Auteurs were highly praised by the British music press when their debut single, Show Girl was released. Their debut album, New Wave, issued in 1993 was nominated for a Mercury Prize and again, widely praised in the British music press. They were hailed as one of the cornerstones of the emerging Britpop movement.
Trouble was, Luke Haines, the singer-songwriter/guitar/vocals and piano founder of The Auteurs took big exception to that label, preferring to stay on the fringes of the music scene, rather than be pigeonholed by it. So rather than go with the Britpop movement and establish themselves on a commercial basis, Haines sought to go in a different direction, away from what was perceived as their sound.
This session comes from 1996, which also saw the release of their third album, After Murder Park. Another critically acclaimed album, but which found Haines in a wheelchair during most of the recording of it, due to jumping off a wall, presumably as a reaction to the strains of touring. This session features material from that album.
It was also around this time that Haines put together another band, Baader Meinhoff, based on the German terrorist organization. It was an alternative to The Auteurs and very often both bands played at the same venues, changing clothes and using disguises.
One last album was issued in 1999 before Luke Haines called it quits. Most of the founding members had, by this time left and gone off to other pursuits, and the legacy of The Auteurs and the unconventional roads they took wound up being their legacy.
You may or may not be familiar with them, they recorded only one session for John Peel, and this was it. Crank it up and give it a shot.
