Clan of Xymox, also known as simply Xymox, are a Dutch rock band from
Nijmegen
Nijmegen (;; Spanish and it, Nimega. Nijmeegs: ''Nimwèège'' ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and tenth largest of the Netherlands as a whole, located on the Waal river close to the German border. It is about 6 ...
formed in 1981 best known as pioneers of
darkwave
Dark wave (also typeset as darkwave) is a music genre that emerged from the new wave and post-punk movement of the late 1970s. Dark wave compositions are largely based on minor key tonality and introspective lyrics and have been perceived as be ...
music. Clan of Xymox featured a trio of singers and songwriters –
Ronny Moorings,
Anka Wolbert
Anka Wolbert (also Anke Wolbert, born 10 June 1963) is a Dutch musician, singer, songwriter and web developer, best known for her work with Clan of Xymox.
Music career
Xymox, Clan of Xymox
Anka Wolbert co-founded the band Xymox with Ronny Moor ...
, and
Pieter Nooten
Pieter Nooten (born 22 January 1961 in Oss) is a Dutch musician and composer best known for his work with Clan of Xymox.
Music career
Nooten's musical career began in the late 1970s. Starting out as the drummer in a local symphonic rock band, ...
– and gained success in the 1980s, releasing their first two albums on
4AD
4AD is a British record label owned by Beggars Group. It was founded in London under the name "Axis" (after the Hendrix album) by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent in 1980 as an imprint of Beggars Banquet Records. The name was changed to 4AD af ...
, before releasing their third and fourth albums on
Wing Records
Wing Records was a record label subsidiary of Mercury Records founded in 1955, that found its greatest success during the late 1950s.
In 1986, the label was revived by Mercury's parent company, PolyGram
PolyGram N.V. was a multinational ent ...
and scoring a hit single in the United States.
Their 1980s releases included
synthpop
Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...
/
electronic dance music. The band is still active, continuing to tour and release records with Moorings as the sole remaining original songwriter and singer.
History
4AD and the Peel Sessions (1983–1988)
Clan of Xymox were formed in
Nijmegen
Nijmegen (;; Spanish and it, Nimega. Nijmeegs: ''Nimwèège'' ) is the largest city i