The House of Love

The House of Love are an English alternative rock band, formed in London in 1986 by singer-songwriter-guitarist Guy Chadwick and co-founder and lead guitarist Terry Bickers. They rose to prominence in 1987 with their first single "Shine On", released on the independent label Creation. The following year, the band released their critically acclaimed eponymous debut album and built their reputation over the next few years through subsequent releases, constant touring and the support of the English press. They signed with Fontana Records in 1989 and met commercial success in 1990 with their second self-titled album, which peaked at number 8 in the UK albums chart. Their third album, Babe Rainbow, was favourably met by the critics in 1992 and also reached the top 40 in the UK.

The House of Love are best known for their detailed psychedelic guitar sound and for other singles such as "Christine" and "Destroy the Heart". In the US, the songs "I Don't Know Why I Love You", "Marble" and "You Don't Understand" were also popular on alternative rock radio stations, respectively reaching number two, number five and number nine on the Billboard Modern Rock chart. The House of Love disbanded in 1993. After a hiatus of 10 years, they reformed in 2003 with Bickers, who had performed on their two first albums. They have been cited as an influence by shoegaze bands Slowdive and Ride.

In 2020, Chadwick announced a change of line-up and that he had recruited a new band.

History

Formation and debut album (1986–1989)

The House of Love were formed in 1986 in Camberwell, London, by former Kingdoms singer and guitarist Guy Chadwick: he had been inspired to start a new band after seeing the Jesus and Mary Chain in concert at London's Electric Ballroom. He wrote a new song called "Christine", which gave him ideas for progress: "The idea of the sound of the group and what kind of musicians to look for... female vocals... a good take on the Velvets' sonics... and of course the image." Chadwick teamed up with an old friend, drummer Pete Evans, and recruited the rest of the initial House of Love lineup via an advert in Melody Maker. This brought together an international band of London-born lead guitarist Terry Bickers (ex-Colenso Parade), described as "a genius guitar player," by Creation Records' Alan McGee, German rhythm guitarist/co-singer Andrea Heukamp and her bass guitarist boyfriend Chris Groothuizen (from New Zealand). Chadwick opted to name his new band The House of Love after Anaïs Nin's book A Spy in the House of Love. There was a considerable age differential in the band: Chadwick, by now aged 30, was nearly ten years older than Terry Bickers.

Signing to Creation Records, The House of Love released their debut single "Shine On" in May 1987 Looking back on the incident two years later, Bickers confessed "That was frustration. I just found at the time that I didn't have the same aspirations as the rest of the band. I was more into exploring music than exploring the exploitation of markets around the globe. They were really into crusading. And winning. I wasn't." It sold worldwide over 400,000 copies.

Babe Rainbow (1991–1992)

The delay proved costly for The House of Love, as it ensured that the band lost momentum. It also coincided with the rise of grunge in the United States and the arrival of The Stone Roses on the British music scene, both of which rapidly consumed the attention of the British music press and rock reviewers. In October 1991, The House of Love returned with a new single "The Girl With the Loneliest Eyes". Although this was hailed in the press as another piece of beautiful pop by the band, it failed to chart (amid accusations of record company distribution incompetence). but only sold respectably (peaking at number 34 on the UK Album Chart). From 1994 onwards, Evans began an ongoing collaboration as producer and musician with teenaged singer-songwriter Cat Goscovitch. He contributing heavily to her projects Billy Rain (1994) and Nut (1996) as drummer, guitarist and co-songwriter, and returned as one of her key collaborators in 2010.

Terry Bickers stayed with Levitation for two albums before acrimoniously quitting the band onstage in 1993. He went on to form another short-lived space rock band, Cradle, and was involved briefly with other projects during the late 1990s, but never returned to the prominence or consistent work he had enjoyed with The House of Love and Levitation. In the early 2000s, he re-established contact with Guy Chadwick.

Various re-releases and compilations kept the band in the public eye, including 1998's Best of The House of Love and 2000's The John Peel Sessions 88–89. In 2001, PLR reissued the entire set of recordings which the band had made during their most critically acclaimed period (on Creation Records) with the release of 1986–88: The Creation Recordings. In 2004, The Fontana Years was released, covering the turbulent period of the second album.

Reformation and Days Run Away (2003–2011)

In 2003, the reconciled Chadwick and Bickers reformed the House of Love In 2009, Live at the BBC featured selections from the band's post-Bickers in concert recordings from 1990 to 1992. In November 2012, Cherry Red announced the release of a 3-CD deluxe edition of their debut self-titled album, adding all the remaining Creation recordings and a disc of unissued demos and alternative versions.

She Paints Words in Red and more touring (2012–2019)

In December 2012, The House of Love Official Facebook page confirmed that the band had recently completed a new studio album. The album was recorded with original members Chadwick, Bickers, Evans accompanied by bassist Matt Jury. In early 2013 the title was revealed as She Paints Words in Red; it was released in March by Cherry Red Records. The band toured intermittently over the following years, including two night at the Lexington in 2013 which were recorded for a live album and DVD.

In 2018, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their debut album, the band embarked on a six date British tour in autumn, peaking with a packed headline show at the Roundhouse in London in November where they played the album in full, though accidentally missed out one track!

More line-up changes (2020–present)

In 2020, Chadwick announced a new line-up for planned concert dates in the United States, with Keith Osborne (lead guitar, formerly of The Past Present Organization, Idlewild, Helicopter Girl and Reuben's Train), Harry Osborne (bass guitar, also of Someone Anyone) and Hugo Degenhardt (drums, previous work with Bryan Ferry, Rod Stewart and Steve Hackett). After Chadwick spoke of a new album in 2021, the first in 9 years, A State Of Grace was released on 16 September 2022. A UK tour was organised in September with eleven dates across the country, followed by the rescheduled 30th Anniversary Tour in North America in October.

On 7 October 2022, it was announced in Traueranzeigen im Munsterland that former House of Love band member Andrea Heukamp had died in Münster at the age of 57. Since her departure from the band, Heukamp had been living "a secluded life" away from the music business, although she had also contributed backing vocals to a Münster-based band called Loving the Sun.

Discography

Studio albums

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1"

|+ List of albums, with selected chart positions

! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:12em;" | Title

! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:16em;" | Album details

! scope="col" colspan="2" | Peak chart positions

! scope="col" style="width:3em; font-size:85%" | UK

! scope="row" | The House of Love

Released: May 1988
Label: Creation

| — || —

! scope="row" | The House of Love / Fontana or The Butterfly Album

Released: February 1990
Label: Fontana

| 8 || 134

! scope="row" | Babe Rainbow

Released: July 1992
Label: Fontana

| 34 || —

! scope="row" | Audience with the Mind

Released: June 1993
Label: Fontana

| 38 || —

! scope="row" | Days Run Away

Released: 2005
Label: Art & Industry

| 189 || —

! scope="row" | She Paints Words in Red

Released: 2013
Label: Cherry Red

| 159 || —

! scope="row" | A State of Grace

Released: 2022
Label: Cherry Red

| —|| —

Live albums

Live at the Lexington 13:11:13 (2014)

Charting compilations

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1"

|+ List of charting compilation albums, with selected chart positions

! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:12em;" | Title

! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:16em;" | Album details

! scope="col" colspan="1" | Peak chart positions

! scope="col" style="width:3em; font-size:85%" | UK

! width="35"| AUS

! width="35"| NED

! width="35"| US Alt

!Album

|rowspan="2"| 1987

| "Shine On"

| style="text-align:center;"|—

|rowspan="2"| Non-album singles

| "Real Animal"

| style="text-align:center;"|—

|rowspan="2"| 1988

| "Christine"

| style="text-align:center;"|187

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|8

| The House of Love

| "Destroy the Heart"

| style="text-align:center;"|76

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| Non-album single

|rowspan="2"| 1989

| "Never"

| style="text-align:center;"|41

| style="text-align:center;"|165

| style="text-align:center;"|—

|rowspan="4"| The House of Love

| "I Don't Know Why I Love You"

| style="text-align:center;"|41

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|2

|rowspan="2"| 1990

| "Shine On" (new version)

| style="text-align:center;"|20

| style="text-align:center;"|171

| style="text-align:center;"|24

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| "Beatles and the Stones"

| style="text-align:center;"|36

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|26

| style="text-align:center;"|50

| style="text-align:center;"|—

|rowspan="2"| 1991

| "Marble" (US promo only)

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|5

| A Spy in the House of Love

| "The Girl with the Loneliest Eyes"

| style="text-align:center;"|58

| style="text-align:center;"|—

|rowspan="4"| Babe Rainbow

|rowspan="3"| 1992

| "Feel"

| style="text-align:center;"|45

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| "You Don't Understand"

| style="text-align:center;"|46

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|9

| "Crush Me"

| style="text-align:center;"|67

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| 1993

| "Hollow"

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| Audience with the Mind

|rowspan="2"| 2005

| "Love You Too Much"

| style="text-align:center;"|73

| style="text-align:center;"|—

|rowspan="2"| Days Run Away

| "Gotta Be That Way"

| style="text-align:center;"|112

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| 2013

| "A Baby Got Back on Its Feet"

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| She Paints Words in Red

|align="center" colspan="12" style="font-size:8pt"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released.

The House of Love

History

Formation and debut album (1986–1989)

Babe Rainbow (1991–1992)

Reformation and Days Run Away (2003–2011)

She Paints Words in Red and more touring (2012–2019)

More line-up changes (2020–present)

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Charting compilations

References

External links