SPK

An industrial band whose later nucleus consists of multi-instrumentalist Graeme Revell and vocalist Sinan (b. Sinan Leong), SPK has explored both the metallic noise and the dance-rock ends of the industrial spectrum and provided a launching pad for Revell's subsequent career in movie music. Alternately standing for "Surgical Penis Klinik," "System Planning Korporation," or "Sozialistische Patienten Kollektiv" (the latter as a tribute to a German mental-patient-rights movement),

SPK formed in Germany in 1978 when percussionist Derek Thompson met Neil in a mental hospital -- the former as a worker, the latter as a patient. Joining female vocalist Sinan, they formed an industrial noise band owing strong debts to Throbbing Gristle, Test Department, and Einsturzende Neubauten. The noisy, abrasive early SPK releases (1980's Information Overload Unit, 1982's Leichenschrei and the live-in-Kansas The Last Attempt at Paradise) feature little information on the group -- personnel on the first album is listed as Operator on synth and vocals, Tone Generator on synth, and Mike Wilkins on bass, guitar, and vocals, while the live album features Oblivion and Jack Pinker.

SPK gained a reputation as a band that would do anything to shock its audience; early performances featured slides and films of surgery, eventually moving to more industrial themes with the use of flame throwers and oil drums. Problems ensued at their London gigs; in 1983, they nearly hit members of the audience with a heavy metal chain, and another gig was stopped due to fire-code violations (the band was welding onstage). 1983's Auto-Da-Fe moved SPK more into dance/shock-rock territory, but it wasn't until the addition of Australian multi-instrumentalist Graeme Revell in 1984 that their sound started to jell. Machine Age Voodoo, From Science to Ritual, and 1986's Zamia Lehmanni established a more varied, inventive approach, even if the press still dismissed the group as obnoxiously eager to shock.

Things took a downturn with 1987's Digitalis, Ambigua, Gold and Poison and 1988's Oceania, dance-oriented records that failed to live up to the group's most recent work. Revell moved into soundtrack work and began a successful career, composing music for films like The People Under the Stairs, Street Fighter, and The Craft, as well as producing other soundtracks like Until the End of the World, Hard Target, The Crow, The Basketball Diaries, Strange Days, and From Dusk Till Dawn.