I love the circular nature of blogs, how one idea feeds another, then another. This is how today's post on Dr. Phibes & The House Of Wax Equations came about. Last month, I posted an old mix CD called Creation Myths, collating tracks from various Creation Records compilations, including a couple by Swervedriver. Two weeks later, Swiss Adam posted some more Swervedriver over at Bagging Area and I commented that I was reminded of the aforementioned Dr. Phibes. Two weeks later and... here we are.
As a teen, I was a big Vincent Price fan so I immediately got the references in the band name. Musically, Dr. Phibes & The House Of Wax Equations were at the psychedelic end of the spectrum and were reportedly an awesome live act. I was similarly struck by seeing Thee Hypnotics in concert as a support act a couple of years before, so I was drawn to Dr. Phibes similar vibe. I think I saw them at the Phoenix Festival in 1993 but if I did, I can barely remember and my friends were probably more interested in going to see something else on another stage.
The photo is of the only vinyl I own, a promo 12" of Deadpan Control Freak, with four remixes, including one by Orb/System 7 lynchpin and all-round genius Thrash aka Kris Weston. Unfortunately, you don't get that version here as I haven't ripped it yet but the other two versions included in this selection are pretty good.
In keeping with the band's penchant for merging and flowing songs, both in the studio and stage, I've tried to do the same here to create an (almost) seamless piece of music, climaxing with two cover versions.
The songs date from 1991 to 1993; Dr. Phibes & The House Of Wax Equations dissolved in 1995. The post-band story is largely a sad one: bassist Lee Belsham died of cancer at the age of 49 in 2017. A decade previously, in 1997, vocalist and guitarist Lawrence Howard King Jr., was sentenced to life imprisonment for his mother's murder. Drummer Keith York has had a varied and interesting career since, playing with Bivouac, Pitchshifter, Broadcast and Ladytron.
1) Sugarblast (Edit) (1991)
2) Neon Sundial (1991)
3) Misdiagnosedive (Album Version) (1992)
4) Deadpan Control Freak (Album Version By Barry Clempson) (1993)
5) Deadpan Control Freak (Dub Haze) (Remix By Simon Posford) (Edit) (1993)
6) I Am Forever (1991)
7) Psycho Killer (Cover of Talking Heads) (1992)
8) L.A. Woman (Cover of The Doors) (John Peel Session, BBC Radio 1, 11 May 1991)
1991: Hazy EP: 2, 6
1991: Volume One: 1
1991: Mr Phantasy (French promo CD single): 8
1992: Misdiagnosedive EP: 3, 7
1993: Hypnotwister: 3, 4
1993: Deadpan Control Freak EP: 5
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