Bourbonese Qualk

In 1980, vocalists and multi-instrumentalists Julian Gilbert and Simon Crab launched the experimental industrial group Bourbonese Qualk alongside drummer Steven Tanza. Their output merged funky, dub-tinged post-punk textures with shouted vocals that tackled anarchy and political themes. Eleven albums followed the 1983 debut Laughing Afternoon, yet Gilbert and Tanza exited by 1985—the former to focus on writing, the latter to start the State. Successive additions to the lineup included guitarist Miles Miles, drummers Owen Rossiter and Kif Cole, engineer Andy Wilson, vocalist Isa Soares, lyricist/vocalist Craig Runyon, and DJ Christophe Fringeli.

Complete autonomy remained central, as the band recorded exclusively in its own studio and operated the Ambulance Station venue. Three of the first four full-lengths—Laughing Afternoon, Hope, and Preparing for Power—appeared on the self-operated Recloose label, after which releases moved elsewhere: Atonal/Dossier issued The Spike in 1986, New International handled both the self-titled 1987 album and Bo-Qu in 1990, Funfundvierzig released My Government Is My Soul in 1990 and Feeding the Hungry Ghost in 1994, Spark put out Autonomia in 1994, Praxis oversaw the techno-influenced Autonomia LP along with the Knee Jerk Reaction and Qual EPs, and Korm Plastics delivered the more ambient On Uncertainty. The group ended after guitarist Miles Miles died in 2002. Mannequin Records, an Italian imprint, later assembled a self-titled compilation of early material in 2015.