Cardiacs

Cardiacs are an English rock band formed in Kingston upon Thames by guitarist and primary songwriter Tim Smith and his brother, bassist Jim Smith, in 1977 under the name Cardiac Arrest. One of Britain's leading cult rock bands, their sound folds in genres including art rock, jazz, psychedelia and metal, which was topped by Tim Smith's anarchic vocals and hard-to-decipher lyrics. He was noted for his complex and innovative compositional style; Cardiacs have been credited with fusing circus, baroque pop and medieval music with progressive rock and post-punk. The band's theatrical performance style has often incorporated off-putting costumes with on-stage confrontations. Their sound and image has sometimes made them unpopular with the press, but they have amassed a devoted following and inspired many rock groups, including Blur. During the band's first decade, they self-released a series of demo cassette tapes with DIY production values: The Obvious Identity (1980), Toy World (1981), and The Seaside (1984). From 1984 to 1989, following several personnel changes, Cardiacs settled on a six-piece lineup comprising Tim, Jim and saxophonist Sarah Smith, percussionist Tim Quy, drummer Dominic Luckman and keyboardist William D. Drake. They created their own indie label, the Alphabet Business Concern, and developed an absurdist mythology as well as a live show involving uniforms, smeared clown-like makeup, and on-stage confrontations. Their debut album A Little Man and a House and the Whole World Window (1988) found mainstream exposure with the single "Is This the Life" and was followed by On Land and in the Sea in 1989. With the addition of guitarist Christian Hayes and the departures of Sarah Smith, Quy, and Drake, Cardiacs slimmed to a four-piece and displayed a harder edged, metal-leaning sound by 1992's Heaven Born and Ever Bright which was retained for their subsequent albums. Meanwhile, the spin-off group the...