Eric Random – Live Performance

A key figure in post-punk Manchester, Eric Random’s musical journey began alongside Buzzcock Pete Shelley in the Tiller Boys and included spells as a member of Cabaret Voltaire and in Nico’s touring band, The Faction.

From the mid-80s Eric’s music moved beyond rhythm, noise, tapes and electronics to explore the musical idioms of India and Morocco, as heard on later recordings with Sons of Arqa and Free Agents and in live shows with Cabaret Voltaire’s Richard H. Kirk. Subliminal 1980-1982, LTM’s well-received 2005 compilation of early recordings for iconic indie labels New Hormones, Plurex, Doublevision and Les Disques Du Crépuscule brought fresh attention to the multi-instrumentalist whose solo work bears comparison with the output of his more illustrious collaborators.

A highlight of that output is the industrial-electro music he was making on 1984’s Time-Splice (LP) and Mad as Mankind (EP). The two records were jointly reissued by Viennese post-punk imprint Klanggalerie in 2013, encouraging Eric to put a new version of backing band The Bedlamites together for a live show at Manchester’s Band of the Wall in January this year.