Artist description One of the UKs best Known Gothic Rock Band's

Music Style Gothic Rock

Similar Artists The Sisters Of Mercy, Rosetta Stone, Dream Discipes, The Mission uk, Balaam and the Angel

Artist History 1992 - 1993 After going to watch The Sisters Of Mercy at Birmingham N.E.C. in 1992, Matthew North and Steven Howson decided to form a Gothic Rock band. Their first rehearsal was in August, and the live debut was on September 1st at the Parrot in Torquay, the local student pub that held an alternative night every other Tuesday. The band played a set of cover versions, mostly Sisters’ tracks, and they went down very well as ALF were the only gothic band in the area. The band soon built up a following and two months later played to over 500 people at Monroes in Torquay. By this time, Matthew and Steve had started to write some original material and added Richard (Woulfie) Woulf to the line up on bass. The band swapped around bass players for different gigs and even gained a backing singer for a while but, nothing substantial came out of it and the band broke up. Matthew then wrote a few songs and recorded the 'Waiting' demo tape that was sold through an advert in the N.M.E. and Melody Maker - the first person to buy a copy was Ryan Swift, the lead singer with Emma Conquest. Not long after at a Psychophile gig in Exeter, Matthew teamed up with Michael Webb, a guitarist who likes to dabble with synths and who taught Matt Cope from the Cranes how to play guitar. Matthew and Michael practised a lot. Both joined Toxic Shock Syndrome for a gig at the Powerhaus in London then made their own live debut at the Cavern Club in Exeter playing a Riot Girl all day festival, second on the bill, with indie darlings Linus. The following day All Living Fear supported Moby's old band Flipper at TJs in Newport. Towards the end of the year All Living Fear supported Nosferatu, but the gig was a total disaster climaxing with local Goth band, Lilith Unveiled, joining for a rendition of "Clear" by the Cranes. It all went wrong – as if Frank Spencer had been in the band! That night Michael left, and Caroline Jago, (now of Seventh Harmonic), joined. Matthew and Caroline played one gig as a duo then Matthew gave up vocal duties Released :- 'Waiting' Demo 'Live on Tour' 1993 Demo 1994 - 1995 Enter Andy Racher, friend and fan of the band, he had no experience of being in a band, but that didn't matter, he just wanted to do it. Andy had a brilliant skill of writing lyrics, no stage presence at the time, but that didn’t matter, ALF were a Goth band after all. They recorded the 'Close Down' demo cassette in Matthew's small home studio and to its credit it sold quite well. Fanzine interest soon started up and the band had its first interview on BBC Radio. The band’s live debut was supporting S*M*A*S*H, heralded as the 'New Wave of New Wave' and had the front page of Melody Maker that week. Not long after All Living Fear supported XC-NN, the new band formed by Tim Brichenno, formerly of All About Eve and the Sisters Of Mercy. Steve Paine, of the band Legend, and co owner of Pagan Media Ltd, took an interest in the band and gave Matthew and Andy free recording time in the studio. (By now Caroline had moved to London to concentrate on her own band Frantic Spiders and Michael Webb re-joined for occasional live work only). The result was the "Jessica" EP, a CD of four tracks with the additional help of John Macklin on drums. The CD gave the band a German distribution deal with the now defunct Ossia records. Caroline returned to play live one more time at the then unknown Whitby Gothic Weekend. This now legendary festival, creation of one Miss Jo Hampshire, is now the premier UK Gothic event of the year. Not long after Whitby, Steve Tackle, a friend from Matthew's work, joined on guitar. Steve was very much of the Metal persuasion and gave the band a more rocky sound. The band started to gig further afield and bagged two support slots with Nosferatu. On the second night, in Cardiff, Matthew stepped in and played guitar for the Nossies as their guitarist, Damian Deville, had just quit. All Living Fear finished off the year by making their London debut at the Marquee club as support to the Bromley Gothic / Industrial band 'The Voice'. They also made their compilation CD Debut on the EFA album ‘When The Sun Settles Vol 2’ with ‘Close Down’ from the "Jessica" EP. . Released:- 'Close Down' Demo 'Jessica' CDEP 1995 This is the year that made All Living Fear: fanzines such as Low Life, Naked Truth and Bats and Red Velvet gave the band much needed positive reviews and interviews. The band played a few gigs here and there but the next thing to do was another trip to Runcorn to do some more recording. However, things didn’t work too well - no real reason - the tracks that were recorded just weren’t right so a new drum machine was purchased, and the band started to think about recording themselves. The first thing needed to do was to re record the 'Close Down' demo as the band were never that satisfied with the original. Fortunately, a lot had been learnt from Steve Paine and they were able to use that experience to good effect. The recording session was done with Matthew and Andy only, as Steve Tackle didn't have the time to commit to the band due to his college course, so he was replaced by Andy Heard, a bass player, from Exmouth. Summer 95 and ALF played their first tour proper as a headline band. It was supposed to be eight or nine dates on the trot, but with one thing and another became five gigs over two weekends - Exeter, Southampton, Bristol, Birmingham and London, the legendary show where Matthew's car broke down on the way and he spent £198, (via Andy Fat Wallet), on getting towed to the venue! Matthew shortly joined the R. A. C. after that. Note that All Living Fear were supported that night by, the then unknown, Mesh. Andy Heard was a fantastic musician but, was again, like Steve, unable to commit fully to the band and so left after the Marquee club gig. All Living Fear were now officially a duo. It was now time for the band to make an album, so from the time the band thought of the title, 'The Widows Blame', they promoted it like mad - every gig flyer and fanzine advert mentioned it. There was a healthy Goth scene at that time and Matthew would be at countless gigs handing out flyers. (Remember, this was pre-Internet, almost!!). The album, recorded in one week in August, was often thought as the most fun week of the band’s life, and was mixed with the assistance of Tim Chandler, then of Sins of the Flesh, now of Manuskript. ‘Thee Vampire Guild’ based in Dorset and run by Phil White, now the singer with the Narcissus Pool, released the second in their series of compilation CDs, ‘What Sweet Music’ and the ALF track, ‘Crimson’, was featured on it. This single event is what made the band in the UK as club DJs were playing "Crimson" and the band were getting gig offers right left and centre and, as a result, "Jessica" was almost at the point of selling out. So, with a good publicity campaign helped by the band heavily promoting itself at the Necromantic Encounters festival in London and the Whitby festival, (even though the band didn’t play at either), most of the UK Goth scene knew that All Living Fear were happening. The CD was pressed and released officially on Halloween. In October the band went on a UK tour, preceded by a pre-tour show at the Borderline in London that was filmed by David Milner and which subsequently made it as the ‘Fear On The Road’ video. The tour proper started at home to a packed Cavern Club then up to Derby for the 'Carnival Of Souls' festival where Andy got VERY drunk on stage, then went to Newport, London, Nottingham, Coventry, Southampton and then finished back home in Torquay their first gig there since 1993. Later on the band played three high profile shows: London at the Borderline supporting Children On Stun, and Manchester & Birmingham with James Ray’s Gangwar. Released :- 'Closedown' Demo (ver 2.0) 'The Widow's Blame' CD Album 1996 After a great year in 1995, 1996 was to be even more rewarding. The first release of the year was ‘Fear On The Road’, a very good quality video of the Borderline gig in October 1995 plus has a promotional video for the club hit ‘Crimson’. In March the band started to write and demo material for the next album. Again, like with ‘Widow’s’, the band were quick to start promoting the new album ‘Minimum Resistance’, and three tracks were released in advance via the medium of compilation CDs: ‘Inside My Mind’ a demo of which was on ‘Magic Of The Place’; a demo of ‘Stranger To None’, for ‘What Sweet Music 3’, and a studio version of ‘Each And Every Way’, for Mick Mercer’s "Hex Files" CD. The "Hex Files" was the latest in Mick Mercer’s trilogy of books on the Gothic genre and gave All Living Fear worldwide exposure. A video for ‘Stranger To None’ was filmed at a gig at the very prestigious Camden Palace in London.The album was released, again, on the 31st October, and the band took their biggest tour thus far. The tour was extremely successful and very profitable, not only paying for itself but also covering the cost of the sixteen-track studio that the band bought, and the pressing cost of the album. I would say that All Living Fear were at their peak of success at this point, for now at least. Released :- 'Fear On The Road' Video 'Minimum Resistance' CD Album 1997 By now the band had played over seventy gigs, released two albums, appeared on many compilation CDs and toured the UK extensively. Eager to top the last tour, the band undertook an even bigger tour of the UK. The May 1997 tour was a lot of hard work going from Devon to Scotland and all the places in between, the only major city that wasn't covered on this tour was London. Unlike November 1996 many of the venues were not that well attended although one outstanding show in Sheffield made up for it. ALF only played two gigs in London this year, one at the Camden Falcon where the owner of the venue complained to the promoter that there were too many Goths in the venue and it didn’t look good, (the Falcon was all things Indie and N.M.E. friendly and Goth is not that!), then a show at the Camden Underworld as support to Gothic legends Christian Death. The duo line-up had always worked well but it came to the point where the band felt it needed another member, so enter Ant Whitehouse, a friend of the band and originally a drummer but also a more than competent guitarist and bass player. All Living Fear recorded one new track, "What If?", and a cover of the air-guitar classic "Born To Be Wild". Added to this was a new version of "Crimson" and two demos formerly released on compilations and we have the "Regeneration" EP, released on CD by way of Matthew’s new toy, a CD recorder. At the same time the band re-released, as a CD-R, the early works as an album, "Vintage Fear". A small tour of the UK was to follow; a warm up in Birmingham then off to Leeds to kick off "Regeneration 97", though things didn’t go well. Andy was tired of touring and really didn’t like the prospect of going up to Edinburgh and quit the band. Worried about what to do, the Scotland gig was cancelled and Matthew and Ant decided to practice like stink and do the last three dates as a duo. The last three gigs of the tour were actually good fun, with the added surprise of Martin appearing on stage to handle vocal duties on "Blue Sky"; attendance was far better then the summer tour and the band even made a bit of money. Released :- 'Regeneration' CD-R EP 'Vintage Fear' CD-R Album 1998 A new year and a new start for the band, the first hurdle to overcome was to find a new singer - that was relatively easy. Ant was in another band, the Gypsy Dogs, and vocalist Paul Roe was borrowed as a stand in until something was sorted out. Matthew and Paul hit it off first time and the band started to work really well. Many of the songs were re arranged, most notably making "Tomorrow" a dance track. Playing live for the first time together the new look All Living Fear supported The Marionettes, (a band Matthew and Andy always wanted to support), at the Borderline in London, this has a mixed reception - 70% hated it and 30% loved it, because although All Living Fear were a tight band, a lot of people were faithful to Andy and didn’t want the band to be seen with anyone else. Paul was overjoyed with the show and so stayed permanent with the band. Ant had to leave the band due to ill health and All Living Fear were again a duo. Matthew and Paul played two gigs with the Dream Disciples in Manchester and Southampton and Ant came back to play a show in London again at the Borderline, but not long after he had to leave the band again, but he is still a good friend to All Living Fear. Matthew and Paul were offered the big gig, middle on the bill of the Saturday night at the ‘Whitby Gothic Weekend’. They recorded three new songs and re-recorded a few of the old classics and released a CD-R, ‘Bridging The Gap’, which sold all fifty copies made at Whitby and soon was selling well by mail order. Meanwhile, Matthew and Paul wrote and recorded ‘Into The Light’ and the band took to a small UK tour to promote the new album, which was released properly in Spring 1999. Released :- 'Bridging The Gap' CD-R Album 1999 ‘Into The Light’ was getting mixed reviews, some good some not so good, but the band had to take a bit of a break as Paul had to go to Canada to work for a few months and Matthew got married. The band played a few one off shows, the best being at the Devonshire Arms in London shortly after Mike North, Matthew’s father and regular fixture at ALF gigs, passed away. Released :- 'Into The Light' CD Album 2000 Matthew and Paul played a few shows here and there, but then decided to start writing again. It had been nearly two years since ‘Into The Light’ was written. Some of the new material was quite different to anything else that All Living Fear had done before, and the audience for the band had fallen mostly due to the change in the Goth scene between 1998 and 2000, with many great bands like Children On Stun, Die Laughing and Rosetta Stone having all split. Techno was the order of the day and Guitar Goth was out. The new material was performed a few times and to critical acclaim, however, it wasn’t the sound of All Living Fear, so the only sensible thing to do was to start a new band. So, after eight years it was ALF RIP. 2001 Matthew and Paul formed a new band, Corrosion, initially sounding very rough, but by the end of the year had managed to polish up their songs, dispensing with the vast majority of ALF tracks, apart from "Armageddon In A Can" which was a Roe/North composition anyway. They recorded a CD EP, ‘The Elemental’, and managed to win the Meltdown Magazine Demo of the year. For the first time in ages they had achieved something, and now Corrosion are a successful band in the Gothic scene, fusing guitar Goth with synths. Meanwhile Matthew was getting itchy feet about All Living Fear. Andy had already expressed an interest in doing something and a record label from Poland were interested in releasing a compilation CD of All Living Fear material, but as part of the deal they wanted new material as well, so it got Matthew and Andy back together, though the compilation has yet to materialise. With Paul’s full approval All Living Fear, the classic line up, reformed and played two low-key shows at the end of the year, just over a year after their "demise". 2002 All Living Fear are back; gig offers started coming in; the Gothic scene began returning to the guitar again and in 2002 All Living Fear played some of the best shows in their career - most notably in Reading, London’s Devonshire Arms and especially at The Garage where Paul joined Andy on stage for an impromptu version of "Stranger To None". Matthew and Andy along with, the ever present, Martin, have started writing their third album together and hope to have it released on 31st October 2003 when they will play at the 10th anniversary "Whitby Gothic Weekend". The Future looks very bright for All Living Fear, (as it does for Corrosion).

Group Members Matthew North - Lead Guitar, Bass Guitar Cromwell Knightshade - Drums Andy Racher - Vocals Paul Roe - Vocals (1998-2000) Martin Johnson - Logistical Advisor

Instruments Guitar, Bass, Synths, Drum Computer

Albums The Widows Blame, Minimum Resistance, Vintage Fear, Into The Light

Location Bovey Tracey, Devon - United Kingdom

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