Bauhaus -

Bauhaus was an English goth-rock band from Northampton that debuted as Bauhaus 1919 with the single “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” on Small Wonder in 1979, followed by four albums on 4AD and Beggars Banquet between 1980 and 1983.

Members: Peter Murphy (vocals), Daniel Ash (guitar), David J (bass), Kevin Haskins (drums)

Bauhaus was formed in the autumn of 1978 by guitarist Daniel Ash, who’d played in a string of unrecorded garage combos with brothers David J. (bass) and Kevin Haskins (drums). For his new band, Ash urged his longtime friend Peter Murphy to take the mic. Murphy, then a print factory worker, had never sang but Ash felt that he looked the part of a rock frontman.

At their first rehearsal with Kevin Haskins, things clicked and Murphy took his first stab at lyric writing, penning “In a Flat Field” there on the spot. The lineup finalized with David J, who nixed prior commitments with a tour-bound act to join his old friends. J suggested the name Bauhaus 1919, taken from the German art school that operated from 1919 to 1933.

Bauhaus 1919 made their live debut at Wellingborough’s Cromwell pub on New Year’s Eve 1978. A subsequent show was filmed by their visual associate Graham Bentley, who sent the video to several record labels. On January 26, 1979, the band entered Beck studios and demoed five originals: “Boys,” “Bite My Hip,” “Some Faces,” “Harry” (about Blondie‘s Debbie Harry), and the nine-minute show piece “Bela Lugosi’s Dead.” The last of those, titled after the late Hungarian-American horror actor, was issued that August as their first single by post-punk indie Small Wonder.

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