Bruce Clifford Gilbert (born 18 May 1946) is an English musician. One of the founding members of the influential and experimental art punk band

Wire Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample diameter 40 mm A wire is a flexible strand of metal. Wire is c ...

,Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 180-182 he branched out into electronic music, performance art, music production, and DJing during the band's extended periods of inactivity. He left Wire in 2004, and has since been focusing on solo work and collaborations with visual artists and fellow experimental musicians.

Education and early career

Gilbert studied graphic design at Leicester Polytechnic until 1971; he then became an abstract painter, taking on part-time jobs to help support himself. In 1975, he was hired as an audio-visual aids technician and slide-photography librarian at Watford College of Art and Design. Borrowing oscillators from the Science department, Gilbert started experimenting with tape loops and delays at the recording studio set up by his predecessor. Together with

Colin Newman Colin John Newman (born 16 September 1954) is an English musician, record producer and record label owner. He is best known as the primary vocalist and songwriter for the post-punk band Wire. Early life Newman was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire ...

and Angela Conway, who were students at Watford at the time, Gilbert formed a short-lived group called Overload. Newman and Gilbert were joined by

Graham Lewis Graham Lewis (born Edward Graham Lewis, 22 February 1953) is an English musician. Lewis is the bassist with punk rock/post-punk band Wire, a band formed in 1976. Biography On Wire's first studio album Graham Lewis was credited as ''Lewis''; ...

and

Robert Gotobed Robert Grey (born 21 April 1951) is an English musician best known as the drummer for Wire. He is sometimes credited as Robert Gotobed. Career In 1973, Grey joined his first band, an R&B group called the Snakes, as vocalist. The Snakes released ...

in the summer of 1976, and started practising and performing as

. Gilbert, who always considered Wire a living sculpture rather than a musical project,Wilson Neate & Jon Savage (22 April 2009)
"Jon Savage And Wilson Neate Discuss Wire And Punk."
''

The Quietus ''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics. Content ''The Quietu ...

''. fondly recalls early punk gigs as events where the audience, far from being mere consumers, became part of a shared dynamic experience: "I viewed it as a bit of a laboratory, not musically but culturally, because the people were experimenting with themselves: with their behaviour, their appearance and their clothes. Everything was up for grabs."The Quietus & Wilson Neate (1 April 2009)
"On Wire And Punk: An Extract From The 33 1/3 Book On Pink Flag."
''

''. Wire released three albums between 1976 and 1979, ''

Pink Flag ''Pink Flag'' is the debut studio album by English rock band Wire. It was released in November 1977 by Harvest Records. The album gained Wire a cult following within independent and post-punk music upon its initial release, later growing to be hi ...

'', '' Chairs Missing'' and '' 154'', before temporarily disbanding after a show at London's

Electric Ballroom The Electric Ballroom is a 1,500-capacity performance venue (primarily for rock bands) and indoor market located at 184 Camden High Street in Camden Town, London, England. History The Electric Ballroom started as an Irish ballroom in the 1930 ...

at the start of 1980. At this time, Gilbert formed a series of bands/projects with Wire's bassist, Graham Lewis, including Cupol, Dome, P'o, and Duet Emmo. Gilbert's collaborations with Lewis were experimental, featuring ambient music and

found sound Found objects are sometimes used in music, often to add unusual percussive elements to a work. Their use in such contexts is as old as music itself, as the original invention of musical instruments almost certainly developed from the sounds of nat ...

s.Mason, Stewart " Bruce Gilbert Biography,

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

, retrieved 2 November 2010 Dome performed at

art galleries An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

with visual displays that allowed audience interactivity. Gilbert and Lewis performed with tubes made of paper over their heads, thus restricting their vision. Artist Russell Mills frequently collaborated with Dome. In 1980, Gilbert and Lewis produced

The The () are an English post-punk band. They have been active in various forms since 1979, with singer-songwriter Matt Johnson being the only constant band member. achieved critical acclaim and commercial success in the UK, with 15 chart singles ...

's debut single "Black & White/Controversial Subject" for 4AD, as well as the single "Drop/So" by A.C. Marias for their own Dome label. Between 8 and 31 August 1981, Gilbert, Lewis, and Mills took over London's Waterloo Gallery and produced MZUI, an interactive audio-visual installation where visitors were encouraged to play a number of instruments created by the artists from objects found on the site.Wilson Neate (2011)
"MZUI. Bruce Gilbert. Review"
''

allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

''. The ''MZUI'' album, released by Cherry Red in May 1982, contains two untitled pieces based on recordings from the venue, finishing with the looped and distorted voice of

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

, whom Gilbert considers a key influence.Barry Alfonso (2000)
"Contemporary Musicians. Wire."
''

eNotes eNotes was a free student and teacher educational website founded in 1998 by Brad Satoris and Alexander Bloomingdale, that provides material to help students complete homework assignments and study for exams. Based in Seattle, Washington, eNote ...

''. Gilbert's experimental piece "Children", released in 1983 by

Touch In physiology, the somatosensory system is the network of neural structures in the brain and body that produce the perception of touch ( haptic perception), as well as temperature ( thermoception), body position (proprioception), and pain. It ...

, features his parents talking about significant events from their childhood.

Later career

Between 1984 and 1991, Gilbert was commissioned to create music for a variety of film and modern dance projects, by, among others, Michael Clark, Aletta Collins, and Ashley Page, with excerpts appearing on his albums ''This Way'' (1984), ''The Shivering Man'' (1987) (both combined on CD as ''This Way to the Shivering Man''), ''Insiding'' (1991) and ''Music for Fruit'' (1991). Wire re-entered the public arena on 7 June 1985 with a performance at the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, and Gilbert contributed sounds, lyrics, and occasional vocals to the various albums, EPs, and singles released by the band between November 1986 and February 1993. In 1989, Gilbert co-produced the A.C. Marias album ''One of Our Girls (Has Gone Missing)'', sharing author credits with Angela Conway for 10 original songs (the album also contains a cover version of

Canned Heat Canned Heat is an American band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1965. The group is noted for its efforts to promote interest in blues music and its original artists and rock music. It was founded by two blues enthusiasts Alan Wilson and Bob ...

's "Time Was", first released in 1988 as a single featuring Conway, Gilbert,

Barry Adamson Barry Adamson (born 11 June 1958)Biography
. Barryadamson.com. is an English pop and rock music ...

and Rowland S. Howard). Since the 1990s, Gilbert has appeared at London techno clubs under the name DJ Beekeeper, often deejaying inside a garden shed above the dancefloor. He has been quoted saying that being a DJ was just an excuse to "manipulate other people's music"Staff (2011)
"Us: Bruce Gilbert"
Pinkflag.com. – such projects include remixing "National Grid Pt 1 and 2" by the group

Disinformation Disinformation is false information deliberately spread to deceive people. It is sometimes confused with misinformation, which is false information but is not deliberate. The English word ''disinformation'' comes from the application of the L ...

for their double CD ''Antiphony'' released on Ash International in 1997.Staff (2011)
"Bruce Gilbert Discography at Discogs."
''

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the ...

''. In March 1996, he released ''Ab Ovo'', his first solo album not to result from external dance or film commissions. It was described in ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American crime drama television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The Wire'' premiered on June 2 ...

'' as "a forceful piece of work which sounds like nothing else around." Wire reconvened in London for a one-off performance of "Drill" to celebrate Gilbert's 50th birthday in May 1996. In January 2000, Gilbert teamed up once more with

, and the duo contributed the sound installation ''Alarm'' to the ''Audible Light'' exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford.Adrian Searle (25 January 2000)
"Electric light orchestra"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. Wire entered their third incarnation on 26 February 2000 with a performance at the Royal Festival Hall.Shannon Zimmerman (15 September 2002
"Wire's Taut Link to the Past; The British Band May Have Left Punk Behind – but Not Its Punch."
''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

''. In 2002, Gilbert wrote and recorded the soundtrack for "London Orbital", a film by

Chris Petit Chris Petit (born 17 June 1949) is an English novelist and filmmaker. During the 1970s he was Film Editor for ''Time Out'' and wrote in ''Melody Maker''. His first film was the cult British road movie ''Radio On'', while his 1982 film ''An Unsui ...

and

Iain Sinclair Iain Sinclair FRSL (born 11 June 1943) is a writer and filmmaker. Much of his work is rooted in London, recently within the influences of psychogeography. Biography Education Sinclair was born in Cardiff in 1943. From 1956 to 1961, he was educate ...

based on Sinclair's psychogeographical exploration of the M25 motorway.Sukhdev Sandhu (9 October 2002)
"Film. On the endless road to Essex."
''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

''. As part of the project, Gilbert and Wire performed live at the premiere of the film and Sinclair's book at the Barbican on 25 October 2002.Iain Sinclair (19 October 2002)
"On the road."
''

''. Gilbert left Wire in 2004, after the release of the '' Send'' album, pursuing solo projects and collaborations with visual and sound artists ever since. Gilbert's 2004 album ''Ordier'' is a collection of excerpts from a 1996 live performance.Staff
"Bruce Gilbert Ordier pt. 1 video."
''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

''. 2006 saw him contribute to Susan Stenger's ''Soundtrack for an Exhibition'' within the eponymous project curated by Mathieu Coupland that brought together artists from the realms of music, fine art, and film at the Musée d'art contemporain de Lyon.Staff (2006)
"Soundtrack for an Exhibition."
''forma.org.uk''. In 2009, Gilbert released ''Oblivio Agitatum'', which he recorded entirely at home.Kiran Sande (10 May 2011)
"Bruce Gilbert: shivering man."
'' Fact magazine''. In a review for Brainwashed, music journalist Creaig Dunton concluded that "even with his long silence, Bruce Gilbert is still an expert at shaping mini dramas and landscapes out of the raw clay of electronic music."Creaig Dunton (18 October 2009
"Bruce Gilbert, “Oblivio Agitatum”."
'' Brainwashed''. Revisiting his collaboration with

Pan Sonic Pan Sonic was a Finnish electronic music group founded in Turku in 1993. The group consisted of Mika Vainio, Ilpo Väisänen, and Sami Salo. Salo left in 1996 leaving Pan Sonic a duo. The group was originally named Panasonic until 1998. In Dec ...

as IBM in 2001, Gilbert paired up with Mika Vainio in May 2011 at the Netaudio London festival for an exclusively commissioned live performance.Sarah Reed (11 May 2011)
"TS12. Make beautiful music together."
''

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organisation publish ...

''. His 2011 recording, "Monad", was published by Touch as a vinyl-only 7-inch single on 8 August.Staff (8 August 2011)
"TS12. Bruce Gilbert. Monad."
, ''

''.Mat Smith (2011)
"Bruce Gilbert. Monad."
''Documentary Evidence''. In October 2011, Gilbert's short story "Sliding Off the World", first released as a spoken-word piece set to atmospheric noise on the CD ''Touch 25'' in June 2006,Staff (2006)

, ''

''. was published in the anthology ''Murmurations'' by

Nicholas Royle Nicholas Royle (born 20 March 1963 in Manchester) is an English novelist, editor, publisher, literary reviewer and creative writing lecturer. Literary career Author Royle has written seven novels: ''Counterparts'', ''Saxophone Dreams'', ''The Mat ...

(Two Ravens Press, ).Staff (20 September 2011)
"Bruce Gilbert contributes to Murmurations story anthology."
''

''. Gilbert's latest release, Diluvial, was launched at Beaconsfield Art Works in London on 13 September 2013. A collaboration between Gilbert and BAW (sound and visual artists Naomi Siderfin and David Crawforth), Diluvial is a seven-piece reflection on climate change and creation stories.Daniel Sylvester (3 September 2013)
"Bruce Gilbert & BAW – Diluvial"
'' Exclaim!''.Editors (27 August 2013)
"Bruce Gilbert releasing Diluvial, a collaboration with BAW artists"
''

''.

Selected discography

with Wire

''See: Wire discography''

with Cupol

*''Like This For Ages'' EP (1980), 4AD

Gilbert and Lewis

*''3R4'' mini-LP (1980), 4AD *"Ends with the Sea" (1980), 4AD

with Dome

*''Dome 1'' (1980), Dome Records *''Dome 2'' (1981), Dome Records *''Dome 3'' (1981), Dome Records *''Will You Speak This Word'' (1982), Unition *''Yclept'' (1999), WMO ;Compilations & reissues: * ''DOME 1-4+5'', 5-LP box set (December 2011), Editions MegoGreg Barbrick (28 December 2011)
"Music Review: Dome – Dome 1-4+5 Box Set"
''

Seattle Post-Intelligencer The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington, United States. The newspaper was f ...

''.

with A.C. Marias

*"Drop/So", single (1980), Dome Records *"Just Talk/No Talk", 12" single (1986), Mute *"Time Was/Some Thing", 12" single (1989), Mute *''One of Our Girls (Has Gone Missing)'', album (1989), Mute *"One of Our Girls/Vicious", 12" single (1990), Mute

Gilbert, Lewis and Mills

*''Mzui (Waterloo Gallery)'' (1982), Cherry Red *''Pacific/Specific'' (1995), WMO

with Duet Emmo

*"Or So It Seems", single (1982), Mute *''Or So It Seems'', album (1983), Mute

with P'o

*''Whilst Climbing Thieves Vie for Attention'', album (1983), Court

Gilbert/Hampson/Kendall

''Orr'', album (1996), Mute (Parallel Series)

with Iain Sinclair

''Downriver'', CD (1998), King MobStaff
"Iain Sinclair – Downriver"
''

''.

Bruce Gilbert – Ron West

"frequency variation", 12" single (1998), Sähkö Recordings

with rude mechanic

''rude mechanic'', 2 x CD, (recorded 1996, released 1999), PianoStaff
"rude mechanic – pan sonic/hayley newman/david crawforth"
Beaconsfield/Piano.Staff
"rude mechanic – rude mechanic"
''

''.

gilbertpossstenger

''manchesterlondon'', album (2000), WMO

with IBM

''The Oval Recording'', album + 7" single (2001), Mego

with Souls on Board

''Souls on Board'', cassette (2009), The TapewormThe Worm
"TTW#07 – Souls on Board"
The Tapeworm.

with Meltaot

''Souls on Board'', vinyl LP (2010), Ash InternationalStaff
"Meltaot • Souls On Board"
''

''.

with BAW (Naomi Siderfin and David Crawforth)

''Diluvial'', CD (2013) Touch Music

Solo

Albums

* ''To Speak'' (1983), Dome * ''This Way'' (1984), Mute * ''The Shivering Man'' (1987), Mute * ''Insiding'' (1991), Mute * ''Music for Fruit'' (1991), Mute * ''Ab Ovo'' (1996), Mute * ''In Esse'' (1997), Mute * ''The Haring'' (1997), WMO * ''Ordier'' (2004), Table of the Elements * ''Oblivio Agitatum'' (2009), Editions Mego * ''Ex Nihilo'' (2018), Editions Mego ;Compilations & reissues: * ''This Way to the Shivering Man'' (1987), Mute * ''Mesmer Variations'', 2 x CD (1995), Ash InternationalStaff
"Ash 1.8CD2 – Mesmer Variations"
, Ash International. *''RRR 500'', LP (1998), RRRecordsStaff
"Various – RRR 500"
''

''. *''Antitrade'', CD (1999), Ash InternationalStaff
"Ash 4.1 – Antitrade"
, Ash International. *''Audible Light'', CD (2000), Education and Exhibition Dept. at The Museum of Modern Art, Oxford.Staff
"Audible Light"
''

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...

''. * ''This Way (25th Anniversary Reissue)'' (2009), Editions Mego * ''The Shivering Man (Enhanced)'' (2011), Editions Mego

Singles

* "Instant Shed Vol. 1" (1995), Sub Pop * "Instant Shed Vol. 2" (1996), Ash International * "Monad" (2011), Touch

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilbert, Bruce 1946 births English experimental musicians British multimedia artists English electronic musicians English DJs English record producers English rock guitarists Living people Mute Records artists People from Watford Wire (band) members Musicians from Hertfordshire Electronic dance music DJs