It’s probably a blessing that Peter Murphy still embraces the vampy theatrics associated with his early music career.
Otherwise this goth-rock icon would be trapped in a bit of pop culture amber of his own making.
Take the poster for tonight’s Peter Murphy solo show at the Ogden Theatre. The ad features a photo, easily 25 years old, of the sinewy singer with spiky hair and new wave makeup akin to the look he sported in the early 1980s. It’s evidence that even after eight solo albums, the music industry has immortalized Murphy as the batlike frontman of Bauhaus, the essential post-punk band.
“I’m not an apologist about Bauhaus in any sense,” Murphy said last week during a tour stop in Atlanta. “Peter Murphy in or out of Bauhaus is
autonomous.”
It might not have helped matters much in the arena of artistic autonomy that in April, after receiving a last-minute call from Coachella Music Festival organizers, Bauhaus performed a one-time reunion gig; Murphy sang while dangling in chains over the stage. It was déjà vu for anyone who recalled the performer’s eerie nightclub cameo in the 1983 vampire flick “The Hunger,” which came out the same year Bauhaus disbanded.
But don’t expect tonight’s show – or this afternoon’s in-store appearance at Vendetta Music on Bayaud Avenue – to have much of that spooky vibe. With few exceptions, Murphy, touring in support of his latest album, “Unshattered,” stopped performing live Bauhaus tracks years ago.
“I played a couple of Bauhaus songs on my first-ever solo tour in 1986,” he said. “Even though they sounded great and it was me singing them, it was kind of like karaoke to Bauhaus.
“I want to come out and not be like a cover version of myself. Bauhaus only happens when all of us are there,” he said, referring to ex-bandmates Daniel Ash, David Jay and Kevin Haskins.
Half-English and half-Irish, Murphy is a practicing Muslim and lives in Turkey with his wife and two teenagers.
Band support on this tour comes courtesy of drummer Justin Bennett from Skinny Puppy, guitarist Mark Thwait from The Mission and bassist Jeff Schartoff from the Human Waste Project. “It’s an extraordinary collective,” Murphy said.
“Unshattered” is another reason Murphy departs from goth references on this tour. While he remains a dark poet in his songwriting, the new album is uncharacteristically pop. Its opening track, “Idol Flow,” features U2-type guitar work behind Murphy’s familiar moan but has a light, sing-songy chorus. The harmonica sequences and intermittent “bap-bap-bap-ooooo” during “Kiss Myself” could almost be a John Mellencamp tune. Still, just as he did with hits such as “Cuts You Up” and “Indigo Eyes,” Murphy makes you want to listen.
“(The album) sort of surprises me in its universal sound,” he said. Instead of his usual routine of going into retreat to write new material, he collaborated with several people, including French-Canadian producer Ned Bouhalassa and the Toronto-based musician and visual artist Kurt Swinghammer. The result was the album’s buoyant, moody sound.
Murphy recorded these songs all over the globe and included the likes of Jane’s Addiction drummer Stephen Perkins and longtime pop producer Gardner Cole (Madonna, Tina Turner, Chaka Khan) in the process. “It’s accessible, yet it remains Peter Murphy,” he said.
The love song “Piece of You” is airy synth music with sweet acoustic guitar. But Murphy’s esoteric lyricism remains. “Face of the Moon” is a slower, jazzy piece, while “Emergency Unit” has a slight country twang. Characteristic or not, Murphy feels positive about the album’s eclecticism.
“It’s kind of an explosion of creativity,” he said. “I think I may even get bigger than Bauhaus on this tour.”
Staff writer Elana Ashanti Jefferson can be reached at 303-820-1957 or ejefferson@denverpost.com.
Peter Murphy
In-store appearance today at Vendetta Music, 11 E. Bayaud Ave.|5 P.M. TODAY|Sarah Fimm opening|Ogden Theatre, 935 E. Colfax Ave.|8 P.M. TODAY|$22-$24|through Ticketweb, 800-965-4827 or www.ticketweb.com.
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– Ricardo Baca
