Theatre of Hate are a British post-punk band formed in London, England, in 1980.
Led by singer-songwriter and guitarist Kirk Brandon (formerly of The Pack), the original group also consisted of bassist Stan Stammers (formerly of The Straps and The Epileptics), saxophonist John "Boy" Lennard, guitarist Steve Guthrie and drummer Luke Rendle (formerly of Crisis and The Straps).
The Pack
The Pack were a British punk rock band formed in 1978, comprising Kirk Brandon on guitars and vocals, Simon Werner (died 26 November 2010) on guitars, Jonathan Werner on bass, and Rab Fae Beith (later of UK Subs) on drums. Beith was eventually replaced by Jim Walker. The band released two singles in 1979, ""Heathen" and "King of Kings", and the Kirk Brandon & The Pack of Lies EP in 1980, before splitting. Their posthumous releases were the Long Live the Past EP (1982), The Pack Live 1982 live album, recorded in 1979 and released on cassette only on Walker's Donut Records label, and the collection Dead Ronin (2001).
Discography
Live albums
- The Pack Live (1982, Donut Records)
Compilation albums
- Dead Ronin (2001, Yeaah!)
Singles and EPs
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!| Title
!| Release date
!| Label
!| UK Indie Chart position
|- style="background:#f0f8ff;"
| "Heathen"/"Brave New Soldiers"
| style="text-align:center;"| 1979
| style="text-align:center;"| SS Label
| style="text-align:center;"| –
|-
| "King of Kings"/"Number 12"
| style="text-align:center;"| November 1979
| style="text-align:center;"| Rough Trade Records
| style="text-align:center;"| –
|- style="background:#f0f8ff;"
| Kirk Brandon & The Pack of Lies EP
| style="text-align:center;"| 1980
| style="text-align:center;"| SS Label
| style="text-align:center;"| –
|-
| Long Live the Past EP
| style="text-align:center;"| April 1982
| style="text-align:center;"| Cyclops
| style="text-align:center;"| No. 12
|}
Theatre of Hate
In 1980, The Pack disbanded. Joined by Luke Rendle (drums), Steve Guthrie (guitar), and John Lennard (saxophone), bassist Stan Stammers completed Brandon's line-up to form Theatre of Hate; the Werner brothers subsequently joined The Straps, the street punk band Stammers had played for prior.
"Original Sin", Theatre of Hate's first single, was released in November 1980 as a double A-side with "Legion"; reaching No. 5 in the UK Indie Chart, it was followed by the singles "Rebel Without a Brain" in April 1981, and "Nero" in July. Guitarist Billy Duffy (formerly of The Nosebleeds) joined the band soon after the album had been recorded, and drummer Rendle was replaced by Nigel Preston. Recorded in September 1981 in Berlin, the live album He Who Dares Wins was also released in February in an attempt to curtail the sale of bootlegged recordings of Theatre of Hate concerts.
A follow-up single, "The Hop", was released in May 1982 and peaked at No. 70. Of the two further singles planned for release, only "Eastworld" was issued, in August. In 1984, and subsequent to Theatre of Hate's split two years previous, Burning Rome Records released Revolution, a compilation album that spent three weeks in the UK Albums Chart, peaking at No. 67. This posthumous album also included "Americanos", Theatre of Hate's final, unreleased single.
Other projects
Brandon went on to front Spear of Destiny with bassist Stammers. while Stammers formed Plastic Eaters in 1996.
Preston played with Sex Gang Children before joining former bandmate Duffy as drummer for The Cult on their 1984 album Dreamtime. Preston later played with The Baby Snakes and The Gun Club. He died in 1992.
Reformation
Theatre of Hate reformed in 1991 for the Return to 8 tour, which included original band members Brandon, Stammers and Lennard, with the addition of three Spear of Destiny members, guitarist Mark Thwaite (also formerly of The Mission), drummer Pete Barnacle and keyboard player Volker Janssen. A live recording of the London Astoria show featuring this line-up was later included in the Act 4 compilation.
Theatre of Hate's unreleased second studio album, recorded in 1982, was released as Ten Years After in 1993. Replacing him was Craig Adams (former bassist for numerous bands including The Sisters of Mercy, The Mission, The Cult, The Alarm and Spear of Destiny), joining Brandon, Guthrie, Lennard and Rendle for the reunion.
In May 2012, Theatre of Hate, with a line-up of Brandon, Stammers and Lennard, augmented by Adrian Portas (New Model Army, Sex Gang Children, Spear of Destiny) on guitar and Mike Kelly on drums, reunited again for three Westworld 30th anniversary concerts, held in Bristol, London and Crewe. 2013 concerts in Birmingham and Bristol with this line-up were self-released as the CD/DVD set Live 2013.
After Kelly was replaced by Danny Ferrani, Theatre of Hate recorded a new four-song EP, Slave, self-released in 2014,. The band issued a free single, "Day of the Dog", in 2015.
In 2016, Theatre of Hate released the album Kinshi, self-released via PledgeMusic. It was followed by Black Irony the following year and Utsukushi-sa (A Thing Of Beauty) in 2020.
Discography
Studio albums
- Westworld (1982, Burning Rome Records) <small>(UK No. 17)</small>
- Ten Years After (1993, Mau Mau Records)
- Retribution (1996, Dojo Records)
- Aria of the Devil (1998, Snapper Music)
- Kinshi (2016, self-released)
- Black Irony (2017, self-released)
- Utsukushi-sa (A Thing Of Beauty) (2020, Eastersnow Recording Company)
Live albums
- He Who Dares Wins (Live at the Warehouse Leeds) (1981, Burning Rome Records) <small>(UK Indie No. 1)</small>
!| UK Indie Chart position