A photo of The Severed Heads from the back of the album Since The Accident.

Severed Heads is an Australian electronic music group based and founded in Sydney in 1979 (see 1979 in music) as Mr. and Mrs. No Smoking Sign. The original members were Richard Fielding and Andrew Wright, and were soon joined by Tom Ellard. Fielding and Wright eventually left the group, leaving Ellard as the sole continuing member of the group. Image File history File links A photograph of the band The Severed Heads from the back cover of the album Since The Accident. ... Image File history File links A photograph of the band The Severed Heads from the back cover of the album Since The Accident. ... Electronic music is a loose term for music created using electronic equipment. ... Sydney Harbour looking south from the vicinity of the Sydney Harbour Bridge towards the CBD skyline; the Opera House is visible in the background on the left. ... This page refers to the year 1979. ... See also: 1978 in music, other events of 1979, 1980 in music, 1970s in music and the list of years in music // Events Disco reigned supreme in 1979, with several #1 hits from The Bee Gees and Donna Summer that year. ... Thomas Ellard, known as Tom Ellard (born 1962) is an electronic musician and core of the group Severed Heads and creator and director of sevcom. ...

A variety of people have played in Severed Heads, including Garry Bradbury, Paul Deering, and Stephen Jones, but over time the group has devolved to Tom Ellard. Stephen Jones (born January 23, 1951) is an Australian electronic musician and video artist. ...

History

Early Severed Heads music was characterised by the use of tape loops, noisy arrangements of synthesizers, and other dissonant sound sources, putting Severed Heads in the general category of industrial music. After several releases in that vein, Severed Heads began incorporating various popular music tropes, such as a consistent 4/4 rhythm, strong melodic lines, and resolving chord arrangements. This move was underscored by the incorporation of mimetic devices, such as drum machines and bass synthesizers. The result was a striking hybrid of the avant-garde industrial and pop. Tape loops are loops of prerecorded magnetic tape used to create repetitive, rhythmic musical patterns. ... Industrial music is a loose term for a number of different styles of electronic and experimental music. ... A Boss DR-202 Drum Machine A drum machine is a device designed to imitate drums and/or other percussion instruments. ... A work similar to Marcel Duchamps Fountain Avant garde (written avant-garde) is a French phrase, one of many French phrases used by English speakers. ...

Combined with Ellard's thin but gently eerie vocals and elliptical poetic lyrics, Severed Heads were signed to Nettwerk records in North America, and Volition Records in Australia, and charted in 1984 with the song "Dead Eyes Opened". This deal lead to a world tour, which was as much a multimedia event, thanks to the video work of Stephen Jones. They also charted in the United States in the late 1980s with a 12-inch single of "Greater Reward" (from the album Rotund for Success) assisted by several remixes by Sydney-based producer Robert Racic. Racic, who produced album tracks and various singles on and off through the late 1980s and early 1990s and became integral to the Severed Heads sound of that period. Nettwerk is a large Vancouver, British Columbia based independent record label and music management firm. ... Volition Records was an Australian record label specialising in electronic music styles such as house, techno, synthpop and trance. ... 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... // Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 60s and 70s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ... The 12-inch [30 cm] single gramophone record gained popularity with the advent of disco music in the 1970s. ... Sydney Harbour looking south from the vicinity of the Sydney Harbour Bridge towards the CBD skyline; the Opera House is visible in the background on the left. ... Robert Racic (c. ...

Nettwerk severed its relations with Ellard in the early 1990s, leaving the band adrift in the marketplace. Ellard sought out another label for his next release, Gigapus, in 1995, which was released on Volition in Australia and Decibel Records elsewhere. Around this time, the band had a major Australian hit with a remixed version of "Dead Eyes Opened". Both Volition and Decibel soon folded, and once again, Severed Heads were unaligned with the traditional music industry, and didn't fully own the rights to their music. This changed in 1998, when Sony Music sold Ellard the rights back for a nominal fee. // Events and trends The 1990s are generally classified as having moved slightly away from the more conservative 1980s, but otherwise retaining the same mindset. ... 1995 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1998 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... ...

With his music back in his hands and fully independent, Ellard took this on as a challenge and began developing an independent music system, which is entirely Internet based, at sevcom.com (the link is below). During the early 2000s, Tom Ellard blazed an independent path for his art and developed several innovative products, such as the Sevcom Music Server, a subscription based ambient music distribution system. Saddam Hussein shortly after his capture Major controversy over U.S. presidential election, 2000 September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on New Yorks World Trade Center and Virginias Pentagon killing almost 3000 people. ... Ambient music is a loosely defined musical genre that incorporates elements of a number of different styles - including jazz, electronic music, new age, rock and roll, modern classical music, reggae, traditional, world and even noise. ...

Ellard has worked on a side project, Coklacoma, which released a few CDs in the late 1990s. As of 2004, he is working on new music and is heavily involved with developing video. Ellard has also worked extensively during the 1990s with other Sydney based electronic musicians and groups such as Paul Mac of Itch-E and Scratch-E and Boxcar, former alumni of the now-defunct Volition label. // Events and trends The 1990s are generally classified as having moved slightly away from the more conservative 1980s, but otherwise retaining the same mindset. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Paul Mac (born Paul McDermott) is a musician, producer and remixer from Sydney, Australia (dont confuse with the UK Techno DJ and producer Paul Mac alias Paul Souter). ... Itch-E and Scratch-Es debut EP Irritable from 1992 Itch-E and Scratch-E is an Australian electronic music group formed by Paul Mac and Andy Rantzen in Sydney in the early 1990s initially recording on the Volition label. ... Boxcar is an Australian Sydney-based synth pop and techno band. ...

Selected discography

Main article: Severed Heads discography This is a discography of releases on LP, CD and other formats from the Australian industrial band Severed Heads. ...

• Ear Bitten (1980)
• Clean (1981)
• Blubberknife (1983)
• Since the Accident (1983)
• "Dead Eyes Opened" (1984)
• City Slab Horror (1985)
• Clifford Darling, Please Don't Live In The Past (1985)
• Come Visit the Big Bigot (1986)
• Bad Mood Guy (1987)
• "Greater Reward" (1988)
• Bulkhead (1988)
• Rotund For Success (1989)
• Retread (1991)
• Cuisine (1991)
• Gigapus (1994)
• "Dead Eyes Opened 94" (1994) (remix)
• Severything V. 1 (1996) (CD-ROM)
• Haul Ass (1998)
• Op (2002)
• Op2 (2004)
• The Illustrated Family Doctor (2005) (Soundtrack)

External links

• Sevcom.com Severed Heads official website which includes most previous releases and a mailing list for fans (known as Cliffords)
• Severed Heads discography