Set List

1. Anarcadia: All Horned Animals
2. Amethyst Deceivers (Version 2)
3. Slur
4. A Cold Cell
5. Broccoli (Version 1)
6. Paranoid Inlay
7. A.Y.O.R.
8. Backwards

This was Massimo Villani’s first show with Coil and the first where he and Pierce Wyss did their Black Sun Productions routine. As the “Ghost Boys,” the pair would paint their naked bodies head-to-toe with gray makeup and a black line down their center, flank either side of the stage in front of the distorted mirrors, and perform choreography based on John’s direction and their own whims. Their choreography is nascent and slightly aimless, here; it would become increasingly deliberate as time went on.

This gig was also around the time the pair started a four-way polygamous relationship with John and Peter which would last until near the end of summer 2002. They briefly lived in Coil’s Weston Super-Mare mansion, recorded music in the studio, and regularly had MDMA-fueled orgies.

From Wikipedia, via old anarcocks.com webpages: “Self-described ‘artivists,’ Massimo and Pierce, met on October 26, 2001 on the set of an underground pornographic film in which both were performing. The pair, who had both worked as male sex-workers since their teens, formed a romantic and artistic relationship which culminated into the formation of the queer, post-industrial Black Sun Productions collective…Massimo and Pierce had previously been well known as artists in Switzerland and Italy; however, in 2002, the pair gained international attention when their ritual performance piece, Plastic Spider Thing, was included in industrial band Coil’s European and Scandinavian tour. Black Sun Productions explained Plastic Spider Thing as ‘A highly moral, yet sexually explicit exploration into the relationship between the spider and the fly,’ whilst Brainwashed.com described the performance as ‘The sex act turned into a sadomasochistic, predatory dance of sorts.’ Plastic Spider Thing included performance art from Massimo and Pierce, accompanied by loops and fragments of numerous Coil works that created a multi-layered electronic ‘dronewerk’, created by the third member of the Black Sun Productions artistic collective, DraZen. Coil members Jhonn Balance and Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson were introduced to Plastic Spider Thing while receiving a demonstration of various pieces of bondage paraphernalia at a private ceremony at Massimo and Pierce’s fetish club in Zürich, Switzerland. Balance and Christopherson, who were impressed by Black Sun Productions, signed the group to Coil’s Eskaton label and subsequently invited the collective to support their 2002 tour.”

Massimo and Pierce also performed at the next gig in Bologna, but did not join Coil proper until after the “Anarcadia” tour, starting with Den Haag. Artistic collaborator draZen sometimes accompanied Massimo and Pierce and filmed many Coil concerts.

Feeling: Reflective

“Anarcadia” tour, “Backwards / The Remote Viewer” phase.

Supporting act(s): Teleform; DJ: Marcus Maeder

In 2009, Black Sun Productions uploaded edited backstage footage of this show to Vimeo entitled “The Esoteric Mystery of Colour Sound Oblivion Revealed,” a year before that boxset’s release. For years, it was the only recording of this show available, until finally, on September 16th, 2016, Pierce Wyss and Massimo Villani asked thujone23 upload more complete footage to YouTube. Massimo later revealed this upload was a 2nd-generation copy, missing the last 11 minutes of “Backwards” which would surface separately a year later.

Anarcadia: All Horned Animals

Peter throws cymbals at the metal sheet and John growls into the mic towards the end of the song. This is the last time they do this, until John growls a bit at 2002-04-27 Barbican.

John (after the song): “Anarcadia, Anarcadia, Anarcadia.” This is the only time where he namechecks this title for the song. At the previous gig, he called it “Queer Wolf.” It’s possible this gig is where the official name change took place.

Amethyst Deceivers

John (before the song): “Amethyst deceivers.”

John (after the song): “That song was about the cockatiels, the strange birds that control time and space.” While John references “vultures” in every performance, later versions reference several bird species.

Slur

John: “This next song is called ‘Slur’ and [I’m] dedicating it to Antony of Antony and the Johnsons, a wonderful, wonderful person whom you must see live if you can.”

Coil would later ask Antony and Julia Kent to open for them at 2004-07-11 Jesi. Antony later renamed herself Anohni and publicly came out as transgender in 2016.

Roman lands of Roman sons and Roman sands
Roman lands of Roman sands and Roman sons

As I watch the sun sink down on the edge of town
On the edge of town, there are shadows for sale
On the edge of the night is a darkness seen
From the side of the light

And the winds blow ’round this sleeping town,
This sleeping town
This Roman land of Roman sands and Roman sons

Roman land of Roman sands and Roman sons

And it seems to me that when I close my eyes
All the lights in the world go out
And the night passes by and you whisper to me a thousand eyes
I stare in surprise towards the desert’s warm black
And the desert stares, and the desert stares back
With a thousand eyes
Piercing eyes
Ancient eyes

And I ask my lovers, “Do you know where the desert roses bloom and grow?”
I ask my lovers, “Do you know where the desert roses bloom and grow?”
Where the desert roses bloom and grow
And I ask my lovers, “Do you know where the desert roses bloom and grow?”
I ask my lovers, “Do you know where the desert roses bloom and grow?”

A Cold Cell

John: “This next song is ‘A Cold Cell,’ and it’s dedicated to all the prisoners in the world. Uh, this is prisoners in real prisons, prisoners of their own conscience, prisoners of conscience, prisoners who are trapped in their own…prisons of their own making, in their own minds. ‘A Cold Cell.’” Peter probably thought John was rambling so he started the track midway through John’s spiel.

Broccoli

John: “The next song is called ‘Broccoli.’ Moon musick, moon musick…music to play in the dark. And I urge each and every one of you to start your own compost heap. For the produce, the renewal, decay, and regrowth could be at your personal finger tips, in your own personal gardens, inside your head and in real soil in gardens. And everyday, find small moments today for your ancestors.”

Cliff comes into the song a little late.

Wise words from the departing
Eat your greens, especially broccoli
Wise words from the departing
The death of your mother, and the death of your father
Is something you prepare for for all your lives
For all their lives

Wise words from the departing
Eat your greens, especially broccoli
And always wear sensible shoes
And don’t forget to say “Please” and “Thank you”
Especially for the things you never had

Wise words from the departing
By cultivating the soil, we cultivate the sky
And enter the vegetable kingdom of heaven, of our own making
By working the soil, we cultivate the sky
And enter the vegetable kingdom of our own making

By working the soil
By working the soil
By working the soil, we cultivate good manners
And is to say “Please” and “Thank you”
Especially for the things you never had

Wise words from the departing
Eat your greens, especially broccoli
And always say “Thank you”
Especially for the things you never had
And always say “Thank you”
Especially for broccoli
Especially for broccoli
Especially for broccoli

Paranoid Inlay

John: “Uh, the next song is ‘Paranoid Inlay,’ which is about the malice contained within inanimate objects.”

Serenity is a problem when you’ve been this close to heaven
What you really want to see is the wonders of the underworld
I caught St. Peter’s disease as he rattled his keys
Now, serenity is a problem, serenity is a problem

Such a paranoid inlay
Such a paranoid inlay, just join the dots
Now, serenity is a problem

Bloody British bulldozers
These vegetables are suicidal
Bloody British bulldozers
These vegetables are suicidal
It seems concussion suits you
It seems concussion suits you
It seems concussion suits you

Now, serenity is a problem when you’ve been this close to heaven
When you really wanted to see the wonders of the underworld
I caught St. Peter’s disease as he rattled his keys
Now, serenity is a problem, serenity is a problem
Serenity is a problem

Dear Diary, these are the things I must give up
I must not be afraid of failure
Crystalline ladders, shiny things, mirrorballs
I used to believe in mirrorballs
Television
There’s even funny things, go ’round back page, entertain ourselves [?]
I must learn not to be afraid of people I have not met yet
To give up, it has to do with coming, pretend [?]
At least in dream, trolling, they trouble me
Trouble my friends, trouble me
Trouble me, trouble my friends
Trouble me, trouble my friends
Trouble me, now

Because serenity is a problem when you’ve been this close to heaven
And you really wanted to see the wonders of the underworld
On a clear day, I can see forever, I can see forever
I can see forever that the underworld, the underworld is my oyster
Now, serenity is a problem

A.Y.O.R.

John: “Uh-huh. Thank you, thank you. Uh huh huh huh, uhhh. The next song is called ‘At Your Own Risk,’ oh, hey, ‘At Your Own Risk.’”

A.Y.O.R. [repeated]

Backwards

John: “Uh, thank you. The next song, uh, is taken from a book I stole from the Pope’s secret library. There’s some good lyrics in there, hah. We went to the Cabaret Voltaire, today, and I think everyone should be aware it’s changing into something quite boring, so reclaim the Cabaret Voltaire, I say. Reclaim the Cabaret Voltaire!”

Reclaim the Cabaret Voltaire
Reclaim the Cabaret Voltaire

John’s closing words: “Thank you, thank you, and good night, thank you.”

John Balance – vocals, sleigh bells on “Anarcadia: All Horned Animals”
Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson – Ableton sequence, video projections, Clavia Nord Modular Synthesizer, cymbals and metal sheet percussion on “Anarcadia: All Horned Animals”
Simon Norris (Ossian Brown) – Clavia Nord Modular Lead Synthesizer, sleigh bells on “Anarcadia: All Horned Animals”
Cliff Stapleton – hurdy-gurdy
Mike York – Border bagpipes, bombarde on “Anarcadia: All Horned Animals,” balalaika on “Broccoli” and “Paranoid Inlay”
Massimo Villani – Black Sun Productions’ “Ghost Boy” performance art
Pierce Wyss – Black Sun Productions’ “Ghost Boy” performance art

Andy Ray – live engineer

Please contact us if you have any ticket stubs from this event: info@live-coil-archive.com

Elektrip
Rote Fabrik / Action Hall
Seestrasse 395
Postfach 1073
8038 Zürich

Below is a review of this gig (original text in German, which can be found here):

Coil in the red factory
incantation
6.4.2002

The scales finally stopped in the face of irritation and irritation. And obviously intoxicated with aesthetic shock and confusion – should one now laugh or pray? -, the audience in the Red Factory almost forgot the final applause.

The scales finally stopped in the face of irritation and irritation. And obviously intoxicated with aesthetic shock and confusion – should one now laugh or pray? -, the audience in the Red Factory almost forgot the final applause. Only minutes after the cult performance of the English band Coil had culminated in the final of the noise and the apocalyptic light-ballet, some enthusiasm was thrown back to the stage, which was, of course, orphaned. The three musicians had never looked back in the wrong nebula from which, dressed in white shirts and overskirts, accompanied by stomping basses, menacing noise, and throbbing voices, had danced a good hour before. There were also two naked, pointed Iroquois, who were absorbed in a slowly twisted dance before a distorted mirror.

So short the performance, so lush the sound plot, which illustrated in its theatrical and dynamic design the long way the coil has gone. John Balance, who now spoke, preached or bellowed his lyrics, had founded the band in 1983. Later, Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson, who was now working on a sleek laptop in the background, had joined in. Influenced initially by the dark, hard aesthetics of Industrial and Gothic, the musicians were inspired by House and Acid in the late 1980s to electronic experiments and the play with spoiled tape. Today, they are often regarded as pioneers of the electro-avant-garde, but the Zürich concerto proved that Coil paid tribute to a different spirit from the children of the nineties. They are not hedonists, and God is not a DJ for them. Rather, they cultivate a kind of musical animism. In concert, the sound and rhythmic force of the electronics, supplemented by acoustic sounds of bells and shawls, often contradicted the thrifty and awkward movements of the musicians. Rather angry priests as sovereign artists, they seemed to conjure more than dominate the music. In the midst of the tracks, which alternated between rhythmic staccato and rambling, floating loops, the music could be combined by bar and text, but in the marginal zones of the compositions, the sound was free in exuberant fiddling and gurgling, clapping and rippling, thunder And snorting. Which was supplemented by acoustic sounds of bells and shawls, often contradicted the thrifty and awkward movements of the musicians. Rather angry priests as sovereign artists, they seemed to conjure more than dominate the music. In the midst of the tracks, which alternated between rhythmic staccato and rambling, floating loops, the music could be combined by bar and text, but in the marginal zones of the compositions, the sound was free in exuberant fiddling and gurgling, clapping and rippling, thunder And snorting. Which was supplemented by acoustic sounds of bells and shawls, often contradicted the thrifty and awkward movements of the musicians. Rather angry priests as sovereign artists, they seemed to conjure more than dominate the music. In the midst of the tracks, which alternated between rhythmic staccato and rambling, floating loops, the music could be combined by bar and text, but in the marginal zones of the compositions, the sound was free in exuberant fiddling and gurgling, clapping and rippling, thunder And snorting.

DISPLAY

InRead invented by Teads

The music, coined by mandala-like or documentary visuals, proved to Coil as a religious animistic power, which on the one hand enables sensory marginal experiences, but on the other hand can also intensify the thrust of political engagement – whether it is the fight for the rights of prisoners or the For the preservation of a Zürich Dada house.

Ueli Bernays

Zürich, Red Factory, April 4th.