Assemblage 23

Assemblage 23 emerged as the singular vision of Seattle-based Tom Shear, who had already devoted ten years to assorted electronic endeavors before establishing himself as a respected figure in the EBM scene. Onstage he performs with Paul Seegers handling keyboards and Kevin Choby on electronic drums. Although Shear had composed music earlier, his direction shifted decisively in 1988 after exposure to industrial selections played by the opening DJ at a Depeche Mode concert. He moved away from the instrumental synth-pop style he had recorded as Man on a Stage and began blending punk, synth-pop, and industrial elements instead. Under the Assemblage 23 name he issued the self-released Wires in 1992, yet the recording attracted scant label attention. During the mid-1990s he also developed material for the Nerve Filter side project, which delved into dark, instrumental techno; his earlier activities had included bass duties with the Advocates and a brief synth-pop outfit called Procession.

Arts Industria eventually placed the first Assemblage 23 track, “Graverobber,” on a 1995 compilation. Canadian imprint Gashed signed the project in 1998 and issued its debut album, Contempt, the next year. Failure followed in 2001, a polished set of electro and industrial dance material that gained traction in clubs. After parting ways with Gashed amid contractual problems, Assemblage 23 joined Metropolis in 2001, which promptly reissued both Contempt and Failure. The first collection of original material for the new label, Defiance, appeared in 2002, succeeded by Storm in 2003. Meta arrived in 2007 and contained the hit single “Binary,” which reached the Top 25 on Billboard’s U.S. singles chart; that same year Metropolis also released Early, Rare, and Unreleased, a compilation spanning 1988 to 1998. The single “Spark” led into the 2009 releases Compass and Early, Rare, and Unreleased, Vol. 2. Bruise surfaced in 2012, and the eighth studio album, Endure, followed in 2017.