Clock DVA
One of a batch of groups forming the so-called ‘industrial’ scene of Sheffield in the early '80s, Clock DVA's first release was, appropriately, on Throbbing Gristle's Industrial label. The cassette-only (until its re-release in 1990) WHITE SOULS IN BLACK SUITS featured Adi Newton (ex-the Studs, the Future, Veer; vocals), Steven James Taylor (ex-Block Opposite; bass/vocals/guitar), Paul Widger (ex-They Must Be Russians; guitar), Roger Quail (drums) and Charlie Collins (saxophone). However, there had already been three previous line-ups, including guitarist Dave Hammond, and synthesizer players Joseph Hurst and Simon Elliot-Kemp. 1981 saw the band's THIRST, available through independent label Fetish. With the ground for such ‘difficult music’ having been prepared by Throbbing Gristle, the press reaction was remarkably favourable. Nevertheless, the band disintegrated at the end of the year. Newton kept the name while the other three joined the Box. By 1983 replacements were found in John Valentine Carruthers (guitar), Paul Browse (saxophone), Dean Dennis (bass) and Nick Sanderson (drums). A brace of singles prefaced ADVANTAGE, their first album for Polydor. The following year Carruthers and Sanderson departed as Clock DVA continued as a trio. Though it would be five years before a follow-up, Newton was kept busy with his visual project the Anti Group (TAGC), and several singles. BURIED DREAMS finally arrived in 1989. By the time of 1991's TRANSITIONAL VOICES, Browse had been replaced by Robert Baker, a veteran of TAGC. Newton has long since described the process of making music as his research: ‘We feel music is something that should change and not remain too rigid, evolve with ourselves as we grow, change our perception . . .’ Although their recorded history is sparse, it represents a more thoughtful and reflective body of work than that which dominates their peer group. In particular, Newton's grasp of the philosophical connotations of technology have placed him apart from the majority of its practitioners.