Country: Germany
Formed in: 1990
Location: Cologne
Website: www.the-house-of-usher.de
Members:
Jörg Kleudgen (voc.)
Ralf Dunkel (bass guit.)
Tom O'Connell (guit.)
Georg Berger (guit.)
Axel Burgard (drums)
Contact: joerg(at)the-house-of-usher.de
Biography
Summer 1990: Jörg Kleudgen and Markus Pick found the band inspired by E.A. Poe’s novel "The Fall of the House of Usher". In the beginning of 1992: René Löffler (guitar) and Robert Nessler (bass) complete the first lineup. First concerts. Autumn 1993: Release of the first vinyl-split E.P. "Relic" in collaboration with SUBSTANCE OF DREAM and BLUEFIELD. [. Shortly after release of the mini-album "Black Sunday" on NYCTALOPIA RECORDS .Summer 1994: Publiction of the fulltime debut album "Stars fall down" on CELTIC CIRCLE PRODUCTIONS, followed by a tour in Italy with concerts in Modena, Pisa and Turin. At the end of 1994: Split of the first Lineup, after a concert with the first appearance of a live-drummer in the crypts of "Haus Metternich"/Koblenz. It is a nice coincidence that this was the venue, where THOU had given their first concert. First half of 1995: Kai Schindelka joins THOU as guitarist. He leaves the band after half a year and a concert in Regensburg due to health problems. Summer 1995: Ray Nottinger (bass) and Victor Constrictor (guitar), former members of PERMANENT CONFUSION join THOU. 1996: Release of the "Succubus"-Single [Succubus-Cover] and the album "Zephyre" . THOU play at the NIGHT OF DARKNESS festival and the POPKOMM music-fair. October, 16th, 1996: Ray Nottinger and Victor Constrictor leave the band after a show in Bochum. They were replaced by Tom Dornebusch (bass, also at CADRA ASH) and Martin Krötz (guitar). Concerts at the BLACK CELEBRATION festival/Darmstadt and at LA LAITERIE/Straßburg/France. 1997: Delayed release of the "Earthbound" maxi-CD including a video bonus-track . Alexander Schneiders replaces Tom Dornebusch on bass guitar. Spring 1998: Markus Pick leaves the band after the release of the "To sow a storm"-single. Summer 1998: Release of the "Black Sunday Chronology"-album on the British label NIGHTBREED RECORDINGS . The band plays at the 1st Beirut Rock-Festival in the Lebanon. 1999: During the recording of the "Cosmogenesis"-album former ARTS&CRAFTS member Dominic Daub enters the band. A live recording of a concert in Eeklo/Belgium is released as a limited live-CD entitled "Cerebral Darkness" [Cerebral Darkness-Cover]. Release of the "Cosmogenesis"-album in autumn 1999 on ÉQUINOXE RECORDS[Cosmogenesis-Cover]. The new album was promoted on a tour together with MIDNIGHT CONFIGURATION. After that tour the band releases another live-CD: "Goth Wars".
New Millenium
April 2000:Alexander Schneiders leaves the band. He is replaced by Ralf Dunkel (FALLEN APART). Release of the Split-E.P. "Burning Gates" [Burning Gates-Cover]. The band plays at the M'ERA LUNA festival with FAITH & THE MUSE, THE MISSION, THE SISTERS OF MERCY and HIM. Summer 2000: In a one week retreat in St-Quay-Portrieux/Bretagne the band starts working on the new album “Inferno/L'enfer”. October, 6th, 2000: The band plays an acoustic concert at the "Haus des Buches" in Leipzig, supported by FALLEN APART drummer Axel Burgard. This concert was later released as "An Eve With Discord". May 2001: Concerts presenting Axel Burgard as the new live drummer in Leeds and London. November 2001: The band tours plays concerts in Düsseldorf, Bremen, Aachen, Wien (Austria), Hamburg and Münster. March 2002: Release of the "Inferno/L'enfer"-album. THE HOUSE OF USHER are called the probably last German Gothic-band. April 6th - 13th, 2002: In a one week retreat in Cornwall/UK the band starts working on material for a new album. They visit Tintagel, the Lizard peninsula, St. Agnes Head, St. Ives and many other exciting places. The working title "Radio Cornwall" for the new album is inspired by a BBC-logo on a ruin. Summer 2002: The band plays at the 11th WAVE & GOTIK TREFFEN in Leipzig and at the ZILLO-FESTIVAL. November 2002: The band plays in Lorient/Bretagne. This concert was live recorded and released later as "Engrammaton". Spring 2003: Guitarist Martin Krötz leaves the band. In autumn 2003 second guitarist Dominic Daub follows him after a farewell-show at the ZWISCHENFALL-Club in Bochum. Autumn 2003: Founding member Markus Pick (guitar) and former member René Löffler (guitar) rejoin the band. March 2004: Release of the Split-Single "Hegemony" with FALLEN APART. July 2004: The band plays an acoustic-show, supported by VIOLET in the Reckenhöhle/Balve (Germany). November 2004: The band tours Italy with concerts in Rome, Bassano del Grappa, Prato and Milan. Release of a Live-CD called "Il Canto dell'oscurità" contains portions of those concerts.April 2005: Release of the Split-Single "Sanctuary" with IKON. The band continues the work on the new album "Radio Cornwall". May 2005: Former THE CRACK OF DOOM-member Georg Berger joins the band as guitar player for concerts and soon becomes full member. René Löffler remains in the band as producer. Autumn 2005: German "Radio Cornwall" tour with shows in Hamm, Berlin, Greifswald, Mannheim and Hagen. 1st of December 2005: The new album "Radio Cornwall" is released. January 2006: The band starts working on a new album. Summer 2006: "Radio Cornwall" is re-released in Russia under license by Shadowplay Release. It contains a video bonus-track of the title song. Markus Pick leaves the band. He is replaced by Martin Krötz who returns after a break of three years. March 2007: Release of the new single "Conspiracy" by THOU and their friends THE ESCAPE. The songs "Into The Blue" and "Friendly Fire" are produced by Ingo Klemens (THE ESCAPE) who also plays guitar on both tracks. April 2007: Besides working on their new album THOU recorded by order of the German publisher's house BLITZ-VERLAG their own interpretation of PINK FLOYD's 1968's classic "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun" as title theme for the Science Fiction-audio book "TITAN". November 2007: The Pink Floyd coverversion opens the 80-minutes enduring retrospective "When our Idols fall", which is released by the russian label SHADOWPLAY RECORDS. The album is presented live on a club-tour in Germany, playing in Koblenz, Hilden, Leipzig and Soest. January 2008: THE HOUSE OF USHER start to produce the new album, which should be entitled "Angst". The release is scheduled for autumn 2008. At the end of January THOU supports the legendary Art-Punk-pioneers SAVAGE REPUBLIC on a concert in Hilden/Germany October 2008: THOU interrupt the recordings for the new album and play a successful concert in Brno/Czech Republic. December 2008: The recordings for the new album "Angst" are finished short before Christmas. Later than the recordings are given away for mastering. February 2009: Release of the new album "Angst". April 2009: THOU are invited to the biggest Gothic-event in Great Britain, the Whitby Gothic Weekend. There the band plays two concerts. After a long period they play again a acoustic-set in "The Metropole" hotel. The other day the band is performing an excellent rock show in the "Whitby The Spa Pavilion Theatre". June 2009: THOU play a concert in Dortmund/Germany. Short after that, all the members are heading towards their summer holidays. Autumn 2009: After some shows in Dornbirn/Österreich, Frankfurt am Main and Berlin their NECROLOGIO-DVD and the same titled book are finished. THE HOUSE OF USHER start working on their forthcoming album which is planned to be released in Spring 2011. December 2009: Guitarist Tom o'Connell (ex Garden of Delight) joins the band, replacing Martin Krötz.
New Decade
January 2010: Release of the first DVD "Necrologio", which contains Live-footage from concerts over the last 20 years and a big collection of fotos. Concurrently a book with the same title is also released accompanying the DVD. It contains a collection of short storys, compiled and partly written by Jörg Kleudgen and is published by the german publisher Blitz-Verlag. February 2010: The band starts to record and produce the next album. Spring 2010: The band plays a concert on Good Friday in Berlin together with FIREHEAD 92 und GROOVING IN GREEN. Shortly after that THE HOUSE OF USHER plays a Gig in Bochum together with PSYCHE, ROZENCRANTZ und EPIC DREAMS. In April there's the beginning of a new series of CDs starting with [ARCHIVE ONE], which contains rare recordings and old albums that are not available anymore. Summer 2010: THE HOUSE OF USHER plays a Gig at the Gothic-Festival in Waregem/Belgium and at the 5th NCN-Festival in Deutzen/Leipzig. Release of [ARCHIVE TWO]. Autumn 2010:THE HOUSE OF USHER interrupts the production of the new album and play a Gig on November, 12th 2011 in Prague/Czech Republic together with the Czech band XIII. Stoleti. January 2011: THE HOUSE OF USHER plays their first gig of the year at the Musiktheater Piano in Dortmund. February 2011: Release of [ARCHIVE THREE] (containing Stars fall down/Black Sunday), [ARCHIVE FOUR] (containing Zephyre/Succubus/Earthbound) und [ARCHIVE FIVE] (containing Cosmogenesis/Live-Gig Heidelberg 21.07.1999). March 2011: Deeply shocked by the nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima/Japan the band releases with the song "Dark Prophecy" a musical statement. The song is already available as a free download. June 2011: Release of the eigth Studio-Album "PANDORAS BOX". The official CD-Release is celebrated at a concert on June 17th, 2011 in Bochum, supporting CHAMAELEONS VOX. October 2011: A youtube video is released as a teaser for the Release of [ARCHIVE SIX], containing a cover-version of the THOU-song "You're the fire I'm the ashes" produced by the german electro-group GINTRONIC. [ARCHIVE SIX] contains several remixes and cover-versions of old THOU-Songs. In addition to that there's also a mini-DVD which shows the concert in Prague in 2010. October/November 2011: THE HOUSE OF USHER are on tour in Germany promoting the new album. The tour is played together with the GOLDEN APES and later on together with VENDEMMIAN. The band plays concerts in Bochum, Mannheim, Nürnberg, Ulm, Hamburg, Berlin and Dresden/Radebeul
Discography
1993:
Relic (Split Single)
Black Sunday (MCD)
1994:
Stars fall down (CD)
1996:
Succubus(MCD)
Zephyre (CD)
1997:
Earthbound (MCD)
1998:
To sow a storm (Vinyl Single)
Black Sunday Chronology (CD)
1999:
Cosmogenesis (CD)
2000:
Burning Gates (Split Single)
2002:
Inferno / L'enfer (CD)
2004:
Hegemony (Split Single)
2005:
Sanctuary (Split Single)
Radio Cornwall (CD)
2007:
Conspiracy (Split Single)
When our Idols fall (Album)
2009:
Angst
2010:
Necrologio (DVD)
2011:
Pandoras Box
2013:
Reincarnation (Single)
