![Cardiacs Tarred and Feathered [Official]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110831202741im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/BRZ2Xw_o6FY/0.jpg "Cardiacs Tarred and Feathered [Official]")
![Paolo Sala - Tarred and Feathered [Cardiacs cover]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110831202741im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Zow4KBds6xE/0.jpg "Paolo Sala - Tarred and Feathered [Cardiacs cover]")
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| Name | CARDIACS |
|---|---|
| Background | group_or_band |
| Origin | Kingston upon Thames, Greater London, England. |
| Genre | Art rock, psychedelic pop, progressive rock, punk rock, pronk |
| Years active | 1977–present |
| Label | Alphabet Business Concern |
| Associated acts | The Sea NymphsOceanLandWorldSpratleys JapsPanixphere |
| Url | cardiacs.com |
| Current members | Tim SmithJim SmithKavus TorabiBob LeithMelanie WoodsCathy Harabaras |
| Past members | Michael PughPeter TaggRalph CadeColvin MayersGraham SimmondsMarguerite JohnsonMark CawthraSarah SmithTim QuyWilliam D. DrakeDominic LuckmanChristian HayesJon PooleStephen GilchristJo SpratleyClare LemmonSharron FortnamDawn Staple |
Cardiacs have released eight studio albums plus a number of live albums, compilation albums and singles between 1980 and 2007, and are best known for the 1988 minor hit single "Is This the Life?" They are also noted for attracting strongly diverse responses: they have remained one of Britain's leading cult rock bands during their four-decade-spanning career, but have also attracted virulent critical attack (including a lengthy editorial ban from the British music magazine New Musical Express).
The band has been on indefinite (and possibly permanent) hiatus following the 2008 hospitalisation of Tim Smith after a heart attack and series of strokes.
The broad combination of styles in the band's music has sometimes been referred to as "progressive punk" - or "pronk" - and has led to Cardiacs being labelled the primary exponents of this musical style. Tim Smith rejects the term, and prefers the description "psychedelic" or simply "pop". Musicians which Smith and the band have cited as Cardiacs influences include XTC, Van der Graaf Generator, Gong, early Split Enz, Gentle Giant, Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias, early Genesis, Deaf School, Wire and Frank Zappa.
Brothers Jim and Tim Smith grew up in Chessington, Surrey, UK and formed their first musical groups in neighbouring Kingston upon Thames, Greater London.
By the time of their second concert (later in the same year) the band had changed their name to Cardiac Arrest. They went on to produce a seven-song demo at Elephant Studios in London and subsequently expanded to a sextet, adding Colvin Mayers (keyboards) and Ralph Cade (whose contribution was mainly theatrical, involving manic dancing and posturing with a saxophone which he didn't know how to play). The band honed their craft playing a mixture of pubs, youth clubs, schools, hotels and free festivals. In the early years, the band's line-up was flexible according to availability and circumstances - for example, Cardiac Arrest played the 1979 Stonehenge Free Festival as a three piece of Tagg, Mayers and Tim Smith (Smith played both guitar and bass while Mayers alternated between guitar and keyboards). A subsequent concert at Surbiton on July 6, 1979 apparently featured "about eight to ten people on stage" (including both Peter Tagg and his brother Derek Tagg). By this time, the band was beginning to operate in a similar way to a jazz band or football side by keeping various musicians in reserve to cover absences. Many of these people had other roles as part of the technical crew. Future Cardiacs percussionist Tim Quy first performed with the band (as a stand-in bass player) at Snoopies nightclub in Richmond at the start of 1980. This period also saw the arrival of saxophonist Sarah Cutts.
Later in 1980, Cardiac Arrest released a self-produced cassette album called The Obvious Identity. Smith returned the favour by inviting Drake to join Cardiacs following Cawthra's departure. Drake played his first concert with the band on August 31, 1983. Later in the year, Cardiacs added Marguerite Johnson (alto saxophone) and Graham Simmonds (guitar) and the band became an octet.
Neither Simmonds nor Johnson stayed in Cardiacs for long. Both left the band during the summer of 1984 (in July and August respectively), although Simmonds stayed on as Cardiacs' sound engineer. This left the band as the sextet generally referred to as "the classic line-up" – Tim Smith (lead vocals and guitar), Jim Smith (bass and vocals), William D. Drake (keyboards and vocals), Sarah Smith (saxophones and vocals), Tim Quy (percussion and bass synth) and Dominic Luckman (drums). (The article ultimately debunked the story by including a corrective quote from Tim Smith's mother). Band manager Mark Walmesley is thought to have started the whole rumour to gain some publicity for the band, predating the superficially similar strategy later employed by The White Stripes twelve years later. was a double album, due to the sheer amount of material that Tim had written over a number of years. The album was notable for a change in Cardiacs' working methods - whereas most previous material had been written and arranged by Smith, the Sing to God sessions saw extensive contributions from Jon Poole who played a strong role in orchestrating Smith's basic material with detailed riffs and keyboard parts (and contributed several songs entirely written by himself). Drummer Bob Leith also made significant contributions to the album's lyrics.
Sing to God was released in two formats - as a limited edition double CD, and as two separate CDs. At the same time, the band reissued almost their entire back catalogue on CD. This constituted all of the albums from The Seaside onwards, CD issues of live album All that Glitters is a Mares Nest and the Archive Cardiacs compilation, and a new compilation, the Cardiacs Sampler.
In April 1995, Cardiacs performed a BBC Manchester radio session on Mark Radcliffe's show. During May, they toured with Pura Vida and Sidi Bou Said and recorded a live acoustic session for GLR Radio. On 17 June, they appeared as special guests of (and concert openers for) Blur at their triumphant London Mile End Stadium concert. Cardiacs concerts were also rare over the next few years, although the band played the Glastonbury Festival on June 23, 2000 and played two subsequent Whitchurch Festivals on August 5, 2000 and August 3, 2001.
Counterbalancing the lack of tours, the band set up an annual tradition of one-off large-scale London concerts (the first of which took place on 11 November 2000 and the last in 2007). These usually took place in November at the London Astoria, and soon became a kind of Cardiacs family gathering in which the band was joined by various guests including former members and newer Cardiacs-inspired supported bands. During these concerts, Sarah Smith, William D. Drake, Christian Hayes and Dominic Luckman all appeared onstage with the band on various occasions, as did The Consultant and Miss Smith. Support bands were always musicians with a professed Cardiacs connection or influence, and included Oceansize, The Monsoon Bassoon, The Scaramanga Six, Stars In Battledress and Jon Poole's hard-rock band GodDamnWhores.
The concert also marked the first appearance in the band of former Monsoon Bassoon guitarist Kavus Torabi, a long-standing Cardiacs’ associate who'd served as the band's guitar technician since the mid-1990s. Torabi was covering for Jon Poole had filmed the entire three nights for later video release. This was debunked by Torabi in a 2009 interview, in which he stated that no such recordings existed.
In the autumn of 2004, Torabi officially replaced Poole as Cardiacs' second guitarist (with the latter going on to concentrate on GodDamnWhores, various Wildhearts-related projects, All Cardiacs-related releases and activity (including the unfinished work-in-progress album, provisionally entitled LSD) were immediately shelved until further notice. A year of silence followed during which Smith recuperated in private. In June 2009 a new announcement appeared on the official Cardiacs website, At time of writing, Smith remains hospitalised in a neurological rehabilitation centre in Wiltshire. as well as being hailed as a genius (albeit sometimes a "deranged" one).
Other musicians with a professed Cardiacs influence apparently include Dog Fashion Disco, System of a Down, They Might Be Giants, The Adicts, Estradasphere, Sikth, The Blood Brothers, Bus Station Loonies, Toy Dolls, Nomeansno, Uz Jsme Doma, Battles, Jellyfish, Melvins, Hella, This Heat, Primus, Kino, The Mars Volta, Pixies, Dominique Leone, Kinky Boot Beasts, The Young Knives, Clor, Talking Heads, Ott, Oingo Boingo, Flipron, The Smashing Pumpkins, and Super Furry Animals.
Category:1970s music groups Category:1980s music groups Category:1990s music groups Category:2000s music groups Category:Art rock musical groups Category:English rock music groups Category:Experimental musical groups Category:Musical groups established in 1976 Category:Post-punk music groups
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