2001

ATTRITION:a history

“Forever there will be the speculation that the exploration of darkness as a beautiful place will lessen our fear of it all, ease the pain a little…”
Lilly Novak. from The Hand that feeds review. 2000

Festival tours in the UK ( the spring Whitby gothic festival), Poland (a return to the Castle party festival…headlining by default as lightening storms cancel sets from The Legendary Pink Dots and Das Ich..!), Sweden (Electric gathering with Apoptygma Bezerk, In Strict Confidence etc), Italy, France…..
Martin’s son Jordan is born…
Christine appears as contestant on the UK edition of Blind Date!…
Fly to Los Angeles at halloween to headline the Bizarre Vampire Bazaar in Long Beach…
Martin and Simon run a series of club nights in Coventry as The Glitch room, playing old school industrial to warped electronica…re-mastered versions of The Hidden agenda and Ephemera issued in the US on Invisible and the entire ATTRITION back catalogue is re-issued over the next year in europe on Big Blue (formerly SPV Poland) …Martin contributes liner notes to “Rash”…a book by Charles Romalotti…Keepsakes and reflections released…a collection of singles and rarities…A girl called harmony appears in Germany on the Orkus magazine “best of the 90’s” CD…

2002

Martin donates “heart and soul”… an ambient remix for the Lord Mayor of Coventry’s children’s charity CD…Marianne visits Martin for the first time since they split and contributes some vocals parts towards the as yet untitled new album…she later asked her name to be removed…CD Reissue of 1983’s Action and reaction and The Eternity LP – a collection of the original EP and the kissing a Virtual angel tracks for europe…Martin contributes spoken words on Black Tape for a Blue girl’s Scavenger Bride album…

2003

Recording sessions for Dante’s Kitchen with Julia, Christine, Liz Green from Swarf and new violin player Raf (Franck was last seen somewhere in South America…)…A ’97 re-recording of the song Mercy Machine appears on the soundtrack and promo video for the cult vampire movie “Shower of Blood”…Martin plays synth onstage as surprise guest of Synthetic in Colchester in March…his first ever onstage performance outside attrition!…Two Gods is lifted from the album for the New Face of Goth sampler on Projekt…

2004

Dante’s Kitchen “dark, atmospheric electro …a trip through a shadowy house of mirrors”… Starvox/USA.
released on Invisible (USA)….launch party shows in London…Martin remixes the Damage Manual…The Last Dance, Black Tape for a Blue girl…Christine sings on the new Sheep on drugs album…The first ever drum n bass single remixed by renowned drum n bass act Rascal & Klone (of Grand Theft auto soundtrack fame…)…ATTRITIOn’s song “the Mercy machine” is included on the US comedy/Horror film “Shower of Blood”…Martin is featured in Godiva Rocks…a book on the history of the Coventry music scene…

2005

Dante’s Kitchen released in Europe on Big Blue.
The US tour runs for 25 dates in January and february…the most successful so far…joined on stage and on the tour by Laurie and Brian of US band High Blue Star…play the Gotham festival in London (with Clan of Xymox, Cruxshadows…) and the Castle Party festival – Poland (with Wolfsheim, Cruxshadows…) …The Terminal Kaleidoscope live recordings from 1984 re-issued in beautiful packaging on French label Mecapop…Martin remixes Emilie Autumn, Zeitmahl, High Blue Star…
December 8th… 25 years since the first ever Attrition show….

2006

Two Gods appears on the soundtrack to independent film The Sun and the moon…
Cosmetic Citizen and Dreamsleep appear on the soundtrack to US cult film “Mint in Box”…
The Tricky business album is re-issued on projekt as a 25 year anniverary edition with extra material..Skander Keynes (Edmund in the film Narnia..) featured on a bizarre remix of the title track to Dante’s Kitchen
First release of a critically acclaimed new video for A girl called harmony by Russian film maker Edward 209.
Coventry, England is a city twinned with Dresden, Germany after both cities suffered devastation during the second world war… Two Gods chosen for the album Songs for Dresden celebrating that cities 800 years…Martin contributes vocals and synthesisers to the upcoming Pigface album..(alongside Martin Atkins, Chris Connelly, En Esch, Die Warzau…)… Remixes for Russian bands Necro Stellar and Requiem… Martin working on the narrators voice over dialogue for upcoming horror film C for Chaos …

Launch “Two Gods”, the band’s own record label with the debut release on april 10th..
Tearing arms from Deities…. the 25 year anniversary collection…
” A unique collection….Attrition provides a satisfying ride into the heart and soul of imagination…” Musictap.net, USA

Play the Convergence festival, New Orleans in April (with Stromkern, Rasputina, Bella Morte,Voltaire, Combichrist)…
Undergroundinc release an anniversary edition boxed set of 4 albums …The Hand That Feeds. The Hidden Agenda. Ephemera & Keepsakes & Reflections…with new artwork from John Santerineross and a free poster…
Release a limited edition interview CD…45 minutes including extracts from “Tearing arms…”
Perform for the first time in Mexico in September… Dada X in Mexico City….Play the Eccentrik festival in North Carolina/USA in October (with Ego Likeness, High Blue Star, Americlone, Andars Magna).. Martin makes his film debut in a cameo role for C for Chaos …

The second release on Two Gods is Something Stirs :a collection of those early 4 track and live recordings…1981 – 83
End the year touring the mid west and west coast USA – 18 dates again with High Blue Star as the first leg of the US anniversary tour

2007

Dante’s Kitchen released on the Shadowplay label for the Russian territories with 4 bonus remixes….
Take on a short European tour in April…7 dates in Belgium, Germany, England and Scotland….
….”Moments of euphoria like this are as rare as they come…”
DSO zine live review
The Two Gods reissue series continues with a remastered version of The Attrition of Reason and new versions of Esoteria , Action and reaction and The Eternity LP …
Return to the USA for the second leg of the anniversary tour…another 18 dates this time in the mid west and on the east and south coasts…
Martin has a chapter on the infamous ’97 German tour in Martin Atkins new book on the business of Touring…His Pigface track – Missing Angels – is included on the Undergroundinc label sampler…
Perform for the first time in Portugal and the Recession festival in Denmark..
Etude and This Death House remastered and reissued on Two Gods…

2008

Start the year with the first ever Attrition tour in Russia – touring with Russian band Purple Fog Side…6 shows (down from 8 after snow storms cut off 2 of the cities on the itinerary..!)..including the first show in Asia – in Siberia…More re-mastered Two Gods reissues in Hungry Ghosts and 3 arms… Play the Black Sun festival in New Haven, CT in March (with Assemblage 23/Seabound/Iris etc..)..All mine enemys whispers – the Story of Mary Ann Cotton is released on Projekt records to much acclaim and not an insignificant amount of drama…. Sin D’rella joins as new attrition vocalist….start touring in the UK in the summer with Sin’s solo project Imprint as support …with Martin joining her on live synths…Tour the west coast USA in October as the “Trial and verdict tour” …Including the Conflux festival in Portland, OR…Ashley rejoins Attrition on stage for the San Francisco show after a 23 year hiatus!…in Los Angeles Shok from Zeitmal joins the band on drums….! …play the UK Whitby gothic festival at Halloween..Artist Mark Lomax exhibits his art in his native Scotland as the “Ephemera” exhibition…including many of his works for attrition album covers…. the Ephemera album provides the soundtrack… .All mine enemys whispers used as the soundtrack to a UK documentary on victorian serial killer Mary Ann Cotton…First recording wirth Sin…”Lullaby” released on the US Sin-tech compilation…The song “Two Gods”featured on US vampire movie “Revival of Darkness”… At the fiftieth gate, Smiling at the hypogonder club and the Jeopardy Maze all reissued on Two Gods.

2009

Kill The Buddha on the 25 year anniversary tour of Europe , the USA and Mexico in 2006/07… released on Two Gods in Europe and Projekt for the USA… “a layered, haunting, hypnotic collection of genre-defying soundscapes that alternately seduce and frighten”
Play Stettin in Poland and the first ever show in Greece in Athens in March…
Across the Divide – Live in Holland. 1984 and Heretic Angels – Live in the USA remastered and reissued on Two Gods… completing a trilogy of Live recordings to represent each of attrition’s 3 decades….. Play Vienna and Paris…for the first time in over 20 years!…More Two Gods reissues….release Wrapped in the guise of my friend – and album, and digital EP, of bands covering ATTRITION songs from over the years…..play Edinburgh and a first show in Kiev in the Ukraine in September, the amalgamation festival in Leeds in November and end the year with a show in Vicenza, Italy….

“Attrition is opera, Attrition is experimentation of the highest order, Attrition is in a world all of their own, orbiting some strange star with an atmosphere of fear to breathe. Attrition is extraordinary music for connoisseurs of challenge” Musictap.net

2010

We enter our thirtieth year… The Two Gods reissue series is completed with remastered versions of Ephemera and Dante’s Kitchen… 24 albums to date…Sin leaves ATTRITION to concentrate on her solo work….. …
Return to Russia for shows in Moscow and Kursk in March and play Manchester, England for the first time at Sacred Trinity church in April… play The Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig in May and then Canada for the first time ever with shows in Ottawa and Toronto in June…
Play the dark side of Worcester festival in August and return to Paris in October…
End the year with a 30th anniversary show at the Slimelight in London… with an all new line up of Martin, Sim on synths, Alexys on vocals and electronic drums and Ian Arkley of My Silent Wake on guitar…