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Arguably the world's most elusive and exclusive senile delinquant rock band,
Sex After Death has long enjoyed a unique cult following - one fan living in
Brussels, the other in Washington D.C
The band is made up of Kiet Nguyen, who plays lead guitar on stage and
virtually all instruments on disc, and Barry 'Barrold' Gilbert-Miguet,
who 'sings' and writes the songs. Both were born young and studied pure and
applied Pornography in the University of Life.
They first met in a nucear fall-out shelter in Geneva, Switzerand - the only
placed deemed secure enough to cut their first demo. The song initially chosen,
'Sex After Death' was never recorded but was instead adopted - on Kiet's suggestion
- as the name for the fledgeling band.
Following a fortuitous meeting with Rolling Stones guitarist, Keith Richards,
which they did not have in the early 90s, Sex After Death abandoned plans to
embark on a 27 city 'You are cordially invited to go to Hell' tour of
the United States and instead concentrated on producing their first album -
the classic Twice in Nebraska (named after the best response to the question
'Sex?' on official job application forms for the International Labour Office).
The album - which, contrary to a deliberately circulated rumour, was never nominated
for a Grammy - was produced by Kiet at the legendary (few people can find them!)
Sun Studios in Geneva.
A first single from the album, Latin c/w Twice in Nebraska was mixed at Mountain
Studios in Montreux by Justin Shirley-Smith, who later went on to work with
the likes of David Bowie and Chris Rea. Unfortunately, Plastic Records failed
to give the record the promotion it deserved - with the result that it became
a limited-ability collectors item virtually overnight. Matters were not helped
by the fact that the accompanying video was turned down by Swiss television
on the grounds that one of the Fallen Angels, despite encouragement from the
band, insisted on turning up for the session topless (it was hot in the studio!).
The rest, as they say, is history as the band rose from notoriety on the local
'scene' to become legends in their own lunchtime, backed occasionally by their
shambolic array of elite musicians, The Grossbeats, as well as the Fallen
Angels, a 'loose' (in the honourable sense of the word) coalition of the world's
most stunningly attractive Rhone Ranger backing singers.
This
site provides an opportunity for a long overdue reassessment of the work of
this criminally underrated band (actually, on reflection, criminals were probably
the only sector of society which did NOT underrate them), and will eventually
make their entire recorded output (including the famous Migros Spirituals mini-album)
available again via the miracles of MP3 technology (see Discography).
The site also covers the work of solo and side projects, including Age Before
Beauty, Bert God and the Cherubs, Brandy, The Canettes, Loud, One for the Road
and The Partners (under which alibis classic tracks such as Kurry Kiss, Aga
Khan by Moonlight and Viagra Falls were originally recorded).