news

MARCH 15th 2024

Hi People,

Hope you are all very well.

I took part in interviews about the Blitz Club for Electronic Sound Magazine :

https://electronicsound.squarespace.com/shop/p/issue-111

All the best,

B

NOVEMBER 13th 2023

Hi People,

Hope you are all good!

My Keys and the Fiddle album has just got a release from Burning Shed. Fabulous !!!

I am very happy about that. Music from the nook and crannies of my life between 1983 and 1999. Music that didn't end up on an album. Featuring Steve Howe, Hazel O'Connor, Russell Bell & Toby Anderson.

My new album is evolving through the mist and will be released next year sometime.

https://burningshed.com/tag/Billy_Currie

All the best,

Billy

​

SEPTEMBER 8th 2023

Hi People,

Hope you are all very well & happy.

Here is an interview I did with the Blitz Magazine. I really enjoyed doing this.

https://blitzedmag.com/

JULY 26th 2023

Hi People,

Hope you are all very well and happy.

Here is an interview I did with Electronic Cafe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyaDBEU48vw

JULY 21st 2023

Hi People,

Here is an interview I have just done :

Hello Billy,

Thanks you very much for your time and contribution to my radio show.

The first part of the interview will premier on my laidback late night show here are the times / dates & stations

Wed 26th July 10pm (will feature @11pm) on Atlantic waves Ireland

https://atlanticwavesradio.com

11pm on Jubilee Hospital radio

https://jhr.gg/

You can listen through the Jubilee hospital radio app / tunein

Friday 28th July from 0000 hrs / midnight on

https://www.kgysradio.co.uk

It will also feature on Unique Radio Australia Saturdays please refer to schedule

https://www.uniqueradio.biz

Part two will feature same times week after,

Best wishes

Danny

OCTOBER 20th 2022

Hi People,

Hope you are all very well!

I have an interview with The Electricity Club here :

https://www.electricityclub.co.uk/vintage-synth-trumps-with-billy-currie/

Dave Spiers, from G force synths, introduced me to Dina Pearlman. She is the daughter of Alan R Pearlman who invented the ARP Odyssey. My first Synth that I adore. She is a lovely person. Very enthusiastic. This is what she is organising for November 5th :

https://alanrpearlmanfoundation.org/fall-synthposium-2022-a-50-year-arp-odyssey/

All the best,

Billy

JULY  20th 2022

Hi Guys,

If I go outside I start to melt. So hot!

It is cooler in my studio ( garage ). For now.

I have a feature in Electronic Sound (91)

https://electronicsound.squarespace.com/shop/p/issue-91?fbclid=IwAR1XLbz-llZW38efh-_l-lQ2_ruADsIb-xDbTzqG_IpOr1OOzbVg95wgqoU

Al the very best to everyone,

Billy

MARCH  8th 2022

Hi People,

Hope you are good!

Refine is now available on CD from Burning Shed.

It comes with a signed postcard.

I am very pleased to get a proper release for this album. Burning Shed are giving it some promotion as well.

There mastering is excellent and it has a very clear sound.

https://burningshed.com/tag/Billy%20Currie

All the best,

Billy

FEBRUARY  28th 2022

Hi People,

Hope you are all very well and happy.

Here is an interview I did a couple of weeks ago

Enjoy

anchor.fm/syntheticdreams/episodes/Billy-Currie-Ultravox-e1etdmq

​

All the best,

Billy

DECEMBER  2021

Hi People

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

September  2021

Hi People,

Hope you are all good!

Burning Shed have released my album Balletic Transcend. The sound has great clarity. Peter Dudley and I mastered it back in 2013 but Burning Shed seem to have some magic dust that they sprinkle on it. I really enjoyed listening to the music again with this extra high standard of sound.

So clear. I could hear every part in the music. Positive & Invigorating !

It comes with a signed postcard.

Hope you enjoy it.

Billy

Here is the link :

 https://burningshed.com/tag/Billy%20Currie

June  2021

Hi People,

Cheer up!

Burning Shed are releasing Doppel on CD. It will be available in a couple of weeks. 25th June.

I am so happy about this. Its good to get a proper listening experience and a good full on display of the artwork that Mick did at the time. I will be signing postcards again, like The Brushwork Oblast, so that is excellent.

Thank you Burning Shed and all you people of course.

Thank you for the support!

Billy

Here is the link :

 https://burningshed.com/tag/Billy%20Currie

March  2021

Hi People,

It seems that we are nearly getting back close to normal again. Soon anyway.

Let's hope so.

Just to remind you that my latest album The Brushwork Oblast comes with a signed postcard.

Also this is a documentary that I did that is now free to view.

I am in the ARP section near the end. The maker of the ARP Odyssey AIan R Pearlman is in the documentary.

I am not actually there with him but it is still quite amazing.

I can still remember reading his manual way back in 1977. At my flat in Herne Hill. Showing me string sounds, Violin sound, Clarinet sound etc. It was the use of the LFO to enhance and express the sound that got me. Emotionally. It reminded me of Vibrato on the Violin.

From an electronic machine :-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gXWgBEiNhs

January  2021

Hi People,

Hope you are keeping busy so this virus doesn't send us all insane.

Please stay safe!

The only film footage of Ultavox! from the 70's is now going to be released on February 15th.

We wrote our music in a room at Kings Cross four nights a week and all day Sunday for three years prior to this performance. This film shows us at last being able to play it to the people. 3000 people! It was an honour to play at the Rainbow.

This was our first big gig.

Writing is my main thing and so it was inspiring to play Slip Away and see and hear the response from the people.

We're excited to announce our next project, Live At The Rainbow 1977. Some 44 years after we played at the Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park, we'll be releasing the previously unseen concert footage in weekly video drops.

Join us on February 15th at 8pm (GMT) to watch the the first video, the performance of previously unreleased track 'I Came Back Here To Meet You'. The whole set list will be released as a digital EP on March 19th, and includes unreleased tracks “T.V. Orphans”, and “I Won’t Play Your Game”.

Pre-save Live at the Rainbow 1977 now

BIOGRAPHY

I was born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England, 1950. My full name is William Lee Currie. At a very early age I sang a lot, becoming aware that I had a keen ear for music. My cousin bought me a guitar when I was ten and it "blew my mind" to see that the melodies, I was singing, could be played by changing the length of a string with my fingers!

1961 was the year that I took up the Violin at school. I also sang in the choir performing with the "Huddersfield Choral Society". (Before my voice broke!) The following year I was in the school orchestra, and as I did so well, I was informed that there was a chance for me to get a place at the Huddersfield School of Music. This was a chance I would die for, so it only seemed a minor setback to be told that I would have to change over to the Viola. I had extra lessons at the weekend and had to forfeit my position of captain for the school football team!

Changing over was quite confusing, because of the different Clefs, but I made the grade and secured a place at the Music College in 1965. The course was to prepare me to become an orchestral player (I had started too late to do it on the Violin) with the piano as my second instrument. Composition and Harmony was also taught.

Playing the Viola had it's perks, it meant that I was invited to play in the best string Quartets!, led the Viola section in the orchestra and performed in a Viola, Clarinet and Piano trio with a friend. I loved the unique sound. In the second year the Music College moved to a new and fantastically well equipped building. This had a lot to do with the government of the day's priorities and good funding ("Harold Wilson" the Prime Minister of the time was a Huddersfield born man). This place had a large record collection and listening rooms which I used so much that I was eventually banned from! It was incredibly exciting to discover composers like Bartok, Schoenburg, Honegger, Varese (both Honegger and Varese used electronic sounds).

I thought it was very radical, back then, when I heard the last movement of the Bartok fifth quartet. Bartok starts up a southern American style, down home, hillbilly type country vibe which deliberately goes way out of tune just before the end of the piece. He also belts out a blues riff like a rock band.

This was a very full and stimulating time of my life! The orchestra played a lot of concerts, I was studying art and even had singing lessons (which had to be abandoned because of acute Tonsillitis). Herbert Whone, my Viola teacher was also a painter. Being more used to string playing it wasn't a natural, immediate affinity with the keyboard. Playing the piano started me off composing though. It was an interesting and elevating position to view things from. At this time (1967) I was becoming more and more interested in rock music. What grabbed me was the fact that some musicians, playing together in bands, were composing and creating something unique and original together! I found bands like "Spirit" (an American band) really interesting in the way that classical strings were used with a fantastically emotional guitar solo. Beautifully soft, shiny strings with a very intensely improvised metallic electric guitar.

The idea of improvisation amazed me. Orchestral players have to put the sole of the composer into the music at the time of performance. Miles Davis (the jazz trumpeter), on the other hand, was the Composer and performer, giving himself the freedom to explore inspirational moments, and change the form immediately if he felt the need. I noticed that some Rock bands where getting, for themselves, the best of both of these two worlds! It really was the start of fusing different styles of music together and I was totally captivated by the movement!

Moving up to 1969 things became a little intense! I achieved what I was at college to achieve by getting a place at the Royal Academy of Music in London, but I decided not to go. The amount of training that a musician goes through to get into a top orchestra is phenomenal! If I had gone on to the Royal Academy it would have been an extra five years of training making a total of nine years. I have all the admiration in the world for these amazing musicians but I felt that I just had to break into these other arias of music that were happening at the time.

The crossover music of Terry Riley intrigued me at this point. A drummer friend of mine, from Huddersfield, called Wayne Goddard had been working with "The Graham Bond Organisation" in London and was leaving and setting up a new band! I impulsively joined this band and found myself "getting it together in the country" at a beautiful house in Norfolk. The instrument line- up was Hammond Organ, Guitar, Alto and Soprano Sax, Drums and I played Viola (with an electronic pick - up). This was a Rock Band with strong Jazz and Blues influences! I felt that the Viola and the soprano Sax worked well together especially when improvising. We moved to London, living on Portobello road, and invited into the band an American female singer. We all lived next door to "Skid Row" Gary Moore's (x Thin Lizzy) band! This band had a lot of names but eventually settled on "Company Roadshow". Notable achievements, I remember, were doing music for a T.V programme about Yoga and being able to improvise it all, and jamming with Peter Green (Fleetwood Mac) at an open air festival on Eelpie Island, London. The very high point was at Sussex University where we went down a storm!

After I had done a lot of improvising that year I found that I wanted to move on. I had experienced a little of what it could be like to be in a successful band but it wasn't the kind of music I really wanted to make. In 1970 I moved back to Huddersfield and found myself getting involved in a Fringe Theatre Group put together by a drama teacher from the college called Barry Edwards. This was an experiment made up of four musicians and four dancers. Known as "The Ritual Theatre" all the musicians where classically trained but, like me, could improvise. I worked with Flute, Japanese Flute, Cello, Bassoon. The music began very atonal and eventually came to rest on a chanting and celebratory feel. The whole cycle of the ritual was one of reaching out for inspiration and becoming very powerful! Lynsey Cooper from the band "Henry Cow" played bassoon. We were friends with "Henry Cow" and did some gigs together.

This was an occasional project so I went to live in Bristol where I joined a band called "Flash Gordon" The guitarist was the guy who later had some success with "The Only Ones" This was my first disaster! At a gig in Birmingham I got blown off stage. My cheap and lousy Violin (I had moved to Violin) pickup could not compete with this band who thought they were " The Who" and played as loud! This was a big lesson, which stood me in good stead later when I could afford decent equipment!

I moved from Bristol to Bath and started working with a singer who also played guitar. This was in the Tim Buckley and Van Morrison vain. We wrote songs together with me now playing acoustic Piano as well as Viola. We had no group name. This was the first time that I played the piano at gigs. My classical style piano playing worked in a very interesting way with his soulful voice! This guy was called Jeff Starrs, he later recorded an album on Virgin Records with a band called "Interview". Notable achievements were supporting "The Strawbs" when they were number one in the British charts with "Lay Down". I can't remember where this gig was except that it held three thousand people and was near London.

The ability to improvise on the viola led me to work with another singer/guitarist of a more classical/folk nature. I met him in East Grinstead when I had a brief flirtation with the Scientologists. We were called "Wild Oats"(what a name!) and played at their parties, we also supported "Hawkwind" at Bradford St Georges Hall. That was FUN!

In 1972 Ritual Theatre got back together and performed in Holland. We also performed at the Edinburgh Festival, Sheffield Crucible, I.C.A London etc. I was playing music in a very theatrical environment. The expression of the music through my body became a very important part of performing for me. I incorporated this experience, later, into Ultravox.

I remember being in London later that year and we were all waiting nervously to hear whether we had got a grant from the Arts Council. All the money for the study of Ritual went to Peter Brook. This man had been studying Ritual for years and "there it is!" We just weren't credible enough for the Arts Council! I quit the group, deciding to concentrate on music.

One of the dancers/actors (Ed Francis who later put together the acts "Gloria Mundi" and "Eddi and Sunshine") from Ritual Theatre started dancing on stage to the music of a new band from London. This was 1973 and I had, again, moved back to Huddersfield and started working as a paste-up artist. A phone call from Ed made me get my skates on and I moved back down to London.

Ed introduced me to John Foxx the singer of this new band called "Tiger Lily". John and I played together acoustically first (John on guitar and vocals and me on violin) and got on well! The music of the band sounded very refreshing and new! It was tough and stripped down to the bare essentials. There was no improvisation at all, but that was the stance! I felt that this band wanted desperately to close the chapter of the 1960's (that was over staying it's welcome) and start something new!

Tiger Lily gig. Pied Bull, London 1975

One track had a very sensitive feel of classical music. This was a project I could really get to grips with and take part in its development. We worked hard rehearsing four nights a week and all day Sunday. I worked in a warehouse at this time, which was a lousy job, but I new we were going to get somewhere with this new kind of music! At first I just played the Violin. At the rehearsals I stood there doing nothing most of the time. Violin wasn't needed on every track and I agreed with that!

In 1974 we got a chance to do the soundtrack to a soft porn film called "Ain't Misbehavin" This was released as a single and the money went to buying an Electric Piano. Even though it sounded pretty awful I was able to get right into the heart of the writing process which now did include some improvisation.

1975 brought some good luck! We met Steve Lillywhite who worked in Phonogram studios, London. When no one was using the studio he invited us in to lay down our new songs. After a year we had good demos for about twelve songs. This was 1976 and Island Records signed us. As part of the deal Steve came along as house producer. Having had quite a bit of time to develop our sound we had, as well as the tough stripped down tracks, created a more expanding experimental style with European, filmic and anthemic melodies. We changed our name to "Ultravox". The three albums we did for Island were "Ultravox" produced by Brian Eno, Steve Lillywhite and Ultravox - "Ha! Ha! Ha!" Produced by Steve Lillywhite and Ultravox - "Systems of Romance" produced by Conny Plank and Ultravox. These albums came out in 1976 - 1977 - 1978 respectively at a time when Punk Music was dominant. Our music stood outside Punk (even though we were partly originators of it) because we would always experiment. 'Island' was definitely a label for musicians and financed the band to tour, many times, all over Europe.

It took till "Systems of Romance" for our music to really take shape and become more focused. As the album title suggests it was sensitive and electronic at the same time. We had finally found something that we could truly call our own against all the odds. Credit to Island records for sticking with us this far but because of low sales they had to let us go!

1979 started out with our first tour of America. We were getting good responses but all this was overshadowed by the fact that we had no record deal and our vocalist "John Foxx" was going solo on our return to England. I had become a bit of a survivor by now so I put myself about looking for a gig. I met a D.J. called "Rusty Egan" who invited me down to his club called (funny enough) "Billys". He was playing tracks from "System of Romance" especially the synthesiser based dance track - "The Quiet Man" as well as "Bowie, Kraftwerk etc". He asked if I would be interested in joining a band called "Visage" that would make music to fit the scene in his dance-oriented club. This seemed like a fun thing to do so I said " Why not!"

At this time I was also rehearsing with Ian Brodie (Lightening Seeds) who was putting a new band together called "The Original Mirrors". They sounded too much like Ultravox so I passed on this project. I started hanging out with the guys who were to be "Visage" - Rusty Egan, Steve Strange, Midge Ure, Barry Adamson, Dave Formula and John McGeogh. Adamson, Formula and McGeogh were from the band "Magazine" who I had crossed paths with in Europe while on tour with Ultravox. Early that year I went to check them out at the Drury Lane Theatre (London) and bumped into Gary Numan. Gary invited me to play on the British tour he was about to embark on. I was happily surprised how much he was into Synthesisers and how much he was into Ultravox!

The backing track for the Visage single "Fade to Grey" was written, while on tour with Gary, by me and Chris Pain (keyboards) during the sound checks. I took Chris and Ced Sharpley (Drum Machine and Drums) into Martin Rushents Studio (where the first tracks of the Visage album were being recorded) and put down the master backing track for "Fade To Grey". I suggested using it when Visage, at mix stage, realised that we were short of tracks for the first album. Midge put the vocal part on top. After the tour I continued making the album with Visage and later invited Midge Ure into Ultravox so at the beginning of 1980 I was in the amazingly productive position of finishing off two albums!

These albums - Vienna by Ultravox (produced by Conny Plank and Ultravox) and Visage by Visage (produced by Visage and Midge Ure) were very successful throughout the world! Ultravox signed to Chrysalis records U.K. and Visage to Polydor (New York).

1981 - Visage released the album The Anvil. Ultravox released the album Rage in Eden produced by Conny Plank and Ultravox.

1982 - Ultravox release Quartet produced by Sir George Martin

1983 - Ultravox release Monument - The Sound Track Produced by Ultravox.

1984 - Ultravox release Lament produced by Ultravox.

1985 - Ultravox perform at Live Aid Wembley Stadium London.

1986 - Ultravox release Uvox.

1988 - I release Transportation produced by myself.

1989 - Steve Howe recorded his "Turbulence" album in my Studio. I contribute Viola & Keyboards. Bill Bruford on Drums. I put together a new band called "Humania" no record release. Ray Weston plays drums.

1990 - I work on Stand up and Walk.

1991 - I release Stand up and Walk produced by myself.

1992 - Recorded the Ultravox album "Revelation."

1993 - I take part in a German film project dedicated to the late producer Conny Plank. I improvise with various musicians (that Conny worked with) from Can, Kraftwerk, D.A.F, Cluster, New Order etc.

1994 - Recorded the Ultravox album "Ingenuity"

1995 - Worked mostly on my own this year. I also travelled to Brussels to work with the violinist Blaine.L.Reininger from the (late seventies - early eighties) American band Tuxedo Moon.

1996 - Early this year I toured Germany performing the music I had written with the Tuxedo Moon Violinist. I concentrate mostly on Viola. We also did one gig at the "Garage" in London.

1997 - After soaking up the experiences of the last few years I felt the strong urge to start writing another solo album. So I moved into a West London Studio to make a start on what was to become Unearthed.

1998 - Unearthed was completed. Did two gigs in London performing “Unearthed” with a string section. I conducted and played Viola and Keyboards (Not at the same time).

Started writing new material with newly acquired digital recording equipment.

1999 - Continued writing new material. Started work on the music for a short film called "The Fragile Skin".

2000 - I put together an album called "Keys and the Fiddle" which contains the completed soundtrack to "The Fragile Skin" & my new Tracks plus some music I wrote and recorded for a Solo album in 1983 with Steve Howe & Hazel O'Connor. Also "Tekapo Blue" the lost track from "Transportation."

2001 - The release of "Transportation", "Stand up and Walk", "Unearthed", "Keys and the Fiddle" on my own label. PUZZLE. Continuing work on a new album.

2002 - My album "PUSH" is completed and released in October. I perform with Optik in London.

2003 - The release of my first Puzzle compilation album “Pieces of the Puzzle.”

2004 - My album "Still Movement" is completed and released in November.

2005 - The putting together of the Humania album “Sinews of the Soul”.

2006 – The CD release of the Humania album. I write sleeve notes about that time. I complete my album “Accidental Poetry of the Structure’ and release it as a download in July.

CD Release in November of Accidental Poetry of the Structure with new photos & 8 page colour booklet.

2007 – Start work on New Album.

2008 - Ultravox reform.

2009 - Release my album Refine. Ultravox perform the Return To Eden Tour in the UK.

2010 - Ultravox start work on a new album in Canada.

Ultravox perform Return to Eden pt 2 in England, Scandinavia & Europe.

2011 - Ultravox work In LA, Canada, Bath and London. The album is finished in November.

2012 - I start work on a new album.

The Ultravox album Brilliant is released in May.

Ultravox tour the Brilliant tour in Britain, Europe & Scandinavia.

2013 - I complete my ninth album Balletic Transcend. It is released as a download & CD in November.

My Refine album gets a CD release.

2014 - Start work on my 10th album.

2015 - Complete the writing and recording in October.

2016 - It is the 40th anniversary of the release of Ultravox! the first album by the band.

          Ultravox! Ha! Ha! Ha! & Systems of Romance are re-released as a boxset.

          After 43 loyal years I decide to draw a line under it.

          I mix & master my new album Doppel at Music Box 3, London, with Peter Dudley.

          Doppel is released in May.

2017 - Start work on my 11th album in my Cloudy Hands Studio London.

2018 - Continuing work on my music.

2019 - Complete the mixing of my album in November. It is mastered at Music Box 3 Docklands London.

2020 - The Brushwork Oblast is released in March. On Apple Music & Spotify.

2020 - In December Burning Shed release a CD of The Brushwork Oblast. It comes with a signed postcard.

2021 - June is the release time for a CD of Doppel from Burning Shed. This also comes with a signed postcard.

2021 - A CD of Balletic Transcend is released in September from Burning Shed. It comes with a signed postcard.

2022 - In February Burning Shed release Refine on CD. It comes with a signed postcard.

2022 - In June Burning Shed release a CD of Accidental Poetry of the Structure. It comes with a signed postcard

Instruments

Instruments That I Use and have Used