Membranes

Post-punk provocateurs the Membranes ranked among the most visceral and divisive U.K. acts of the 1980s and 1990s. Their sound relied on serrated guitar lines, weighty bass tones, thunderous percussion, and scattered electronic textures while the members shouted lyrics addressing global disorder.

John Robb assembled the initial lineup in Blackpool, Lancashire, England during 1979 once earlier attempts with household objects and reel-to-reel machines proved inadequate. Guitarist Mark Tilton arrived carrying an instrument salvaged from a junk shop; Robb switched to bass, the quartet adopted the name the Membranes, and they simultaneously founded the fanzine Rox. Drummer Martin Kelly and singer Martin Critchley completed the first roster, yet Critchley departed quickly, prompting Robb and Tilton to share vocal duties while Kelly shifted to keyboards and thirteen-year-old Cooft Sid took the drum stool. The group debuted on the Rox-coordinated 1979 compilation Blackpool Rox and followed with the 1980 flexidisc EP Flexible Membranes. Their first conventional vinyl single, “Muscles,” arrived in 1982, gained club traction, and earned airplay from BBC broadcaster John Peel. Kelly exited that same year, and the band recruited guitarist Steve Farmery instead of replacing the keyboard. Rondolet Records issued the Pin Stripe Hype EP, but the label collapsed, sending the Membranes to Criminal Damage, which released the 1983 album Crack House and the 1984 single “Spike Milligan’s Tape Recorder.” Farmery had already left by then, and the group’s increasingly ominous, aggressive style began foreshadowing industrial music.

The 1985 EP Death to Trad Rock reached number eight on the British independent chart and secured a deal with Creation Records for the album The Gift of Life. Tilton had exited before recording; Robb moved to guitar and Stan Batcow joined on bass. A rift with Creation founder Alan McGee in 1986 prompted a move to Marc Riley’s In Tape imprint, at which point Batcow also departed and Wallas Terror took over bass. In Tape issued Songs of Love & Fury, produced by the Mekons’ Jon Langford (who had contributed to The Gift of Life); the record charted in Britain and became the band’s initial full American release on Homestead Records. Guitarists Nick Brown and Keith Curtis entered in 1988, and Steve Albini engineered the resulting album Kiss Ass, Godhead. The 1989 album To Slay the Rock Pig dissatisfied the members, leading to the Membranes’ 1990 breakup; the 1993 compilation Wrong Place at the Wrong Time and the 1999 retrospective The Best of the Membranes later documented their catalog.

My Bloody Valentine selected the Membranes for reunion shows at the 2009 All Tomorrow’s Parties festival they curated. The returning lineup included John Robb, Nick Brown, and Keith Curtis, augmented by Peter Byrchmore and Rob Haynes from Robb’s subsequent band Goldblade. After the initial ATP set proved successful, Shellac invited the group back the following year; additional concerts took place across the U.K. and in Istanbul. The Membranes issued the EP There’s No Place Like Home in 2009 and, in 2015, delivered their first studio album since 1989, Dark Matter/Dark Energy, recorded by Robb, Brown, Byrchmore, and Haynes.