Nurse With Wound (DEAF 2008)

Nurse With Wound open DEAF this year at Andrews Lane on Thursday 23rd October. Tickets on sale now www.tickets.ie [Limited capacity as this is a seated event.]

Nurse With Wound (formed in 1978) is the main recording vehicle of British musician Steven Stapleton (currently living in County Clare, Ireland).

Nurse With Wound has been Stapleton’s main musical outlet for some 30 years. He has also appeared on records by other artists and worked as a producer and remixer. As well as his musical output Stapleton is a highly accomplished and critically acclaimed painter and sculptor often working under the guise of ‘Babs Santini’.

There are now over 40 full-length NWW titles. Stapleton’s eclectic tastes in art, film and music is often reflected in the broad and often unpredictable and unlikely music of NWW, the output of which draws directly on nearly every musical genre imaginable yet consistently retains a distinctively and recognizable Nurse With Wound ‘sound’.

Although Stapleton has sole curatorship of NWW, the group has a long and illustrious list of collaborators including Diana Rogerson, James Thirlwell (Foetus), Colin Potter, Tony Wakeford, David Jackman (Organum), Andrew McKenzie (The Hafler Trio), Stereolab, Jim O’Rourke, Andrew Liles, Sunn O))), William Bennett (Whitehouse), Robert Haigh, Rose McDowall (Strawberry Switchblade), Christoph Heeman, Faust, Annie Anxiety, Jhonn Balance (Coil), Matt Waldron (Irr. App (Ext)) and, most regularly, David Tibet (Current 93).

In 2005, Nurse With Wound returned to live performance after a 21-year absence. Steven Stapleton, Colin Potter, Matt Waldron, Diana Rogerson and Andrew Liles played three concerts at the Narrenturm in Vienna, where they performed improvisations on the album Salt Marie Celeste. These concerts were not, however, billed as NWW appearances. The first official NWW appearances since 1984 were at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco in June 2006. In December of the same year, the group played at the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival organized by Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore.

Since 2005 the mainstay live members of Nurse With Wound are Steven Stapleton (voice, bowed and prepared guitar, CD turntables, electronics, sound FX, sundry implements)

Colin Potter (Mix, electronics, computer, live processing), Matt Waldron (prepared bass, sundry implements, voice, percussion, electronics, tapes, recorded sources) and Andrew Liles (keyboards, sound FX, recorded sources, lead guitar, percussion, sundry implements). NWW have played over 15 shows worldwide and performed full live NWW sets is in Austria, Belgium, France, Barcelona, London, Moscow, Berlin and Venice. Interestingly NWW claim that each live appearance is a rehearsal for the next show and no two shows have ever been the same. The NWW live experience is kept unique by featuring an array of different and ever evolving guest musicians.

Nurse With Wound and Steven Stapleton continue to be fervently hyperactive with a ceaseless zest for breaking new horizons both visually and sonically.

Just released is “Huffin’ Rag Blues” on United Dirter.

Forthcoming is much speculated Nurse With Wound ‘Rap’ album plus an assortment of live work and studio collaborations.