Sexepil is a

Hungarian indie Budapest indie music scene was the indie music scene of Budapest, Hungary in the 2000s. It was often associated with bands like Amber Smith (band), Amber Smith, The Moog, EZ Basic and We Are Rockstars (band), We Are Rockstars. History Beginnin ...

alternative Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (Kamen Rider), Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * Alternative comics, or independent comics are an altern ...

rock band based in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. The band was formed by Zoltán Hegyi, Viktor László, Tamás Kocsis, and Tibor Vangel in 1984.

Etymology

Sexepil was originally written as Sex-E-Pil and it is a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

band,

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they became culturally influential in popular music. The band initiated the punk movement in the United Ki ...

and the

abbreviation An abbreviation () is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method including shortening (linguistics), shortening, contraction (grammar), contraction, initialism (which includes acronym), or crasis. An abbreviation may be a shortened for ...

Johnny Rotten John Joseph Lydon ( ; born 31 January 1956), also known by his former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a British-born singer, songwriter, author, and television personality. He was the lead vocalist of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols, which was ...

Public Image Ltd Public Image Ltd (abbreviated and stylized as PiL) are an English post-punk band formed by lead vocalist John Lydon (previously, as Johnny Rotten, lead vocalist of the Sex Pistols), guitarist Keith Levene (a founding member of the Clash), bassi ...

History

Sexepil were formed in 1984 in Budapest, Hungary, on the ruins of notorious punk band ETA (Kocsis, László) and art rock formation ZOO (Hegyi, Vangel). Within virtually a few months after their first gig the band achieved cult status, playing for packed houses every weekend around the Hungarian capital's famous clubs. Their influences ranged from

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1975.Talking Heads

The Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Crawley in 1976 by Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith (vocals, guitar) and Lol Tolhurst (drums). The band's current line-up comprises Smith, Perry Bamonte (guitar and keyboards), Reev ...

and to

Joy Division Joy Division were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Ian Curtis, guitarist and keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris (musici ...

Egyesült Álmok

In 1988, the band's first

LP record The LP (from long playing or long play) is an Analog recording, analog sound storage medium, specifically a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of revolutions per minute, rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use ...

entitled ''Egyesült Álmok'' was released by Ring Records. The LP was released by one of the country's first independent record labels, Ring. Many regard the record as one of the finest albums of that era. Besides gigging throughout Hungary, Sexepil played hugely successful concerts in

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. After the departure of the band's original front man and founder lead singer Zoltán Hegyi in 1989, the

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

Mick Ness took over the singer duties.

...bi...

With Ness joining, Sexepil became one of the first English-singing bands in Hungary (the hardcore fans initially reacted with hostility to this fact). The band started playing gigs after just one rehearsal with Ness. After issuing a tape only unique collection of live recordings ''…bi…'', Sexepil released their first English-language album ''Love Jealousy Hate'' a year later in 1990 on Polygram's Nature label.

Love Jealousy Hate

The vinyl was also released in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Later that year a small

Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Lithuania, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe ** Lithuanian language ** Lithuanians, a Baltic ethnic group, native to Lithuania and the immediate geographical region ** L ...

label, Zona Records, released the album in the ex- Soviet states that resulted in countless gigs being played in those places. During the summer of 1992 Sexepil played a show in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

at the annual

New Music Seminar The New Music Seminar (NMS) originated in New York City as an event dedicated to education and the celebration of music throughout history, taking place each June from 1980-1995. After several years, the annual NMS was relaunched in 2009. In 20 ...

. The following winter they went on a tour that covered the

Baltic states The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

Against Nature

In 1993, T3 Records released the band's third LP entitled ''Against Nature''. ''Against Nature'' included the hit single ''Eroding Europe'' which had heavy airplay on

Music Television Music television is a type of television programming which focuses predominantly on playing music videos from recording artists, usually on dedicated television channels' broadcasting on satellite, cable, or streaming platforms. Music televis ...

’s

120 minutes ''120 Minutes'' is a television program in the United States dedicated to the Alternative rock, alternative music genre, that originally aired on MTV from 1986 to 2000, and then aired on MTV's associate channel MTV2 from 2001 to 2003. After it ...

, where VJ Paul King cited Sexepil as one of his all time favourite bands. In the same year the band embarked on a triumphant European tour together with

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...

's former band,

The Sugarcubes The Sugarcubes () were an Icelandic alternative rock band from Reykjavík formed in 1986 and disbanded in 1992. For most of their career, the band consisted of Björk Guðmundsdóttir (vocals, keyboards), Einar Örn Benediktsson (vocals, trumpe ...

. Next spring they performed at the

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

festival in

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

for the first time.

Sugar for the Soul

In 1995, ''Sugar for the Soul'' was released by

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment and record label Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the "Record label#M ...

. ''Sugar for the Soul'' was recorded in

and mixed in

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States * Madison (footballer), Brazilian footballer Places in the United States Populated places * Madi ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

at the famous

Smart Studios Smart Studios was a recording studio located in Madison, Wisconsin. It was set up in 1983 by Butch Vig and Steve Marker to produce local bands. The studio produced bands such as Killdozer, The Smashing Pumpkins, L7, Tad, Nirvana, Hawthorne H ...

. It was mixed and co-produced by Brian Anderson and mastered by

Howie Weinberg Howie Weinberg is an American audio mastering engineer. Over the course of his career, he has received over 2,257 mastering credits, three TEC Awards, 21 Grammy Awards, two Juno Awards, and one Mercury Prize. Career Weinberg mastered Herbie Ha ...

and released on

Warner Bros Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American film studio, filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and th ...

. worldwide. One reviewer referred to it as “Beatles in blender”. After the mixing the band did a mini-tour in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and played (again) at the

festival in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

as well as the legendary

CBGB CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in the East Village, Manhattan, East Village in Manhattan, New York City. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for ''Cou ...

's in

among others. The first single, ''Jerusalem'', and the accompanying video was frequently played on

’s

120 Minutes ''120 Minutes'' is a television program in the United States dedicated to the Alternative rock, alternative music genre, that originally aired on MTV from 1986 to 2000, and then aired on MTV's associate channel MTV2 from 2001 to 2003. After it ...

and

Alternative Nation ''Alternative Nation'' is an American television show dedicated to alternative music. It aired on MTV from 1992 to 1997, mostly on weeknights. It is hosted by Kennedy. History ''Alternative Nation'' began airing in 1992. It was a somewhat ...

. During the summer they completed a headlining slot at

Sziget Festival Sziget Festival (, ) is one of the largest music and cultural festivals in Europe. It is held every August in northern Budapest, Hungary, on Óbudai-sziget ("Old Buda Island"), a leafy 108-hectare (266-acre) island on the Danube. More than 1,0 ...

’s main stage. Later that year they were nominated in three categories for Arany Zsiráf (the Hungarian version of a Grammy): best album, best video clip and best cover art. They won all three categories. Despite this critical success, Sexepil went on hiatus for almost a decade, although they did play at the

in 2001 and 2006.

Your Scream Is Music

Around 2007 became clear that Mick Ness didn't have the time, affinity or enthusiasm to continue as the band's singer. Mick Ness's last performance with the band happened in February 2007. Sexepil then started looking for a new singer and held auditions as well as listening to endless gigs of young bands in the hope of finding the right person. Eventually they found their man who happened to have been the band's drummer from the start, Tibor Vangel. Band members found a hard drive that belonged to Vangel, containing vocal ideas to new songs that were recorded by the drummer but kept in secret. They persuaded him that he had to switch to singing. The band started recording in 2008 but for various reasons it took almost 6 years to finally finish their new studio album '' Your Scream Is Music''. (In June 2012, while working on their new album, they played three highly successful gigs in Hungary with their original singer, Zoltan Hegyi The band also played at

Volt Festival The volt (symbol: V) is the unit of electric potential, electric potential difference (voltage), and electromotive force in the International System of Units (SI). Definition One volt is defined as the electric potential between two points ...

Sopron Sopron (; , ) is a city in Hungary on the Austrian border, near Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő. History Ancient times-13th century In the Iron Age a hilltop settlement with a burial ground existed in the neighbourhood of Sopron-Várhely. When ...

, Hungary.), but then promptly returned to recording and mixing their current material. The new album was mixed by

Dávid Schram David Schram is Hungarian musician and record producer, best known internationally as the guitarist of the Hungarian rock band FreshFabrik and the producer of Sexepil's '' Your Scream Is Music'', and Shell Beach's '' This Is Desolation''. Li ...

and mastered by

Gavin Lurssen Gavin Lurssen is an American mastering engineer. He owns Lurssen Mastering in Hollywood, California.Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. On 11 November 2014, Sexepil uploaded their new single, ''Rat King'', from their upcoming album on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. Your Scream Is Music was released on November 17, 2014 in digital formats. The CD and the double gatefold vinyl followed a month later.

The Acoustic Sessions

In 2017 Sexepil released an acoustic EP through Hungarian label Grund Records. The EP contains five slightly (or occasionally heavily) re-arranged songs from their rich back catalogue and a previously unreleased song (Disillusion), that was co-written with Mick Ness, the band previous singer. The EP sees guest vocalist Anesz Szalai filling the solo singer duties in two songs. The EP made available on CD/vinyl/digital.

Band members

;Current line-up *Tamás Kocsis - guitars, b. vocals (1984–present) *Tibor Vangel - drums, vocals, guitars, programming (1984–present) *Zsolt Ábrahám - guitars (2012, 2016–present) ;Former members *László Viktor - bass, b. vocals (1984–2016) * Mick Ness - vocal, guitars (1989-2007) * Zoltán Hegyi - vocal (1984-1989) *Endre Deák - guitars (2001-2016) * János Fazekas - guitar (1984-1986) * Gábor Varga - keyboards, samplers (1991-2001) * Judit Lőrincz - keyboards (2001-2007) * Csaba Mosonyi - bass, keyboards (1983-1986) * Zoltán Farkas - keyboards (1988) * Miklós Csala - guitar (1986) ;Touring members *Anesz Szalai - vocals (2014-) *Dávid Nagy - drums (2015-) *Ákos Örményi - bass (2016-) * Bence Bátor - drums (2017-) *Árpád Kiss - trumpet (2015-) *Zoltán Demeter - bass (2017) *Ferenc Golovics - drums (2014-2015)

Timeline

ImageSize = width:920 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:60 top:0 right:10 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1984 till:01/05/2017 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom ScaleMajor = increment:1 start:1984 Colors = id:Vocals value:red legend:Vocals id:Guitar value:green legend:Guitar id:Bass value:blue legend:Bass id:Keyboards value:orange legend:Keyboards id:Drums value:purple legend:Drums id:Lines value:black legend:Studio_Albums LineData = at:01/01/1988 color:black layer:back at:01/01/1990 color:black layer:back at:01/01/1993 color:black layer:back at:01/01/1995 color:black layer:back at:17/10/2014 color:black layer:back BarData = bar:Kocsis text:"Tamás Kocsis" bar:Vangel text:"Tibor Vangel" bar:László text:"Viktor László" bar:Deák text:"Endre Deák" bar:Ness text:"Mick Ness" bar:Hegyi text:"Zoltán Hegyi" bar:Varga text:"Gábor Varga" bar:Csala text:"Miklós Csala" bar:Lőrincz text:"Judit Lőrincz" bar:Mosonyi text:"Csaba Mosonyi" bar:Farkas text:"Zoltán Farkas" bar:Fazekas text:"János Fazekas" PlotData= width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Kocsis from:start till:01/01/1996 color:Guitar bar:Kocsis from:01/01/2001 till:end color:Guitar bar:László from:start till:01/01/1996 color:Bass bar:László from:01/01/2001 till:01/10/2016 color:Bass bar:Vangel from:start till:01/01/1996 color:Drums bar:Vangel from:01/01/2001 till:end color:Drums bar:Vangel from:01/01/2009 till:end color:Vocals width:3 bar:Ness from:01/01/1989 till:01/01/1996 color:Vocals bar:Ness from:01/01/2001 till:01/01/2007 color:Vocals bar:Hegyi from:start till:01/01/1989 color:Vocals bar:Hegyi from:01/01/2012 till:01/08/2012 color:Vocals bar:Fazekas from:01/01/1984 till:01/01/1986 color:Guitar bar:Csala from:01/01/1986 till:31/12/1986 color:Guitar bar:Deák from:01/01/2001 till:01/05/2016 color:Guitar bar:Varga from:01/01/1991 till:01/01/1996 color:Keyboards bar:Varga from:01/01/2001 till:01/09/2001 color:Keyboards bar:Lőrincz from:01/01/2001 till:01/02/2007 color:Keyboards bar:Mosonyi from:01/01/1984 till:01/01/1986 color:Bass bar:Farkas from:01/01/1988 till:01/09/1988 color:Keyboards

Discography

;Albums * '' Egyesült Álmok'' (Ring, 1988) * '',,,bi...'' (cassette only, WeAst, 1990) * '' Love Jealousy Hate'' (Polygram, 1991) * '' Against Nature'' (WeAst,1993) * '' Sugar for the Soul'' (Warner, 1995) * '' Your Scream Is Music'' (2014) * '' The Acoustic Sessions'' (Grund Records, 2017) ;Singles *''

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

'' (1995) ;Compilations *''Nap Nap Fesztivál'' (1992) *''Human Telex'' (1992) *''Magyar Narancs'' (1995) *''Biturbo'' (2006) ;Mixes * ''Mixepil - The Remixes'' (Warner, 1997) * ''Egyesült Álmok reissue with bonus tracks'' (1G, 1997, 2009)

Videos

*''Igazi Zöld'' *''Angel'' *''Somewhere'' *''Bliss'' *''Nobody is an Island'' *''Eroding Europe'' *''Eroding Europe'' (XPC Mix) *''Jerusalem'' *'' I Come'' *''Rat King'' (2014) *''Dormant'' (2015) *''Go Away'' (2016) *''The Wind'' (2017) *''Your Little Revolution'' (2017)

References

External links

''Sexepil on Facebook''Sexepil
at

ITunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

''Sexepil at Bandcamp''''Sexepil on Youtube''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sexepil Musical groups established in 1982 Hungarian indie rock groups 1982 establishments in Hungary Musical groups established in 1984 Musical groups disestablished in 1996 Musical groups established in 2001 English-language musical groups from Hungary