Miranda Sex Garden

Formed in 1990, Katharine Blake, Kelly McCusker and Jocelyn West were originally a trio of madrigal singers, also skilled in the playing of various instruments.^[2][3] They had been educated at The Purcell School for Young Musicians in Bushey.^[4][5] The band's name came from the novel The Ticket That Exploded by William S. Burroughs.^[6]

To develop performance experience (and raise spare cash) the trio opted to busk on the streets of London. In an interview with Stubble Magazine, Katharine Blake would comment "sometimes I think it's better there is a lot less bullshit you just get out there and do it. If people like it they throw money at you if they don't they tell you".^[2] Consequently, Miranda Sex Garden were discovered by Barry Adamson while singing three-part harmony Elizabethan madrigals on Portobello Road.^[7] Adamson invited them to sing on his Delusion soundtrack, with the song Il Solitario.^[8] After that Daniel Miller invited them to sign a contract with Mute Records.^[9][10] They recorded their first single Gush Forth My Tears in March 1991 - a madrigal with a beat, mixed by Danny Rampling.^[11]

Their first album, Madra (August 1991), was produced by classical producer Tony Faulkner.^[12] Entirely a cappella, with the songs all based on traditional English verse, it took only two days to record.^[13] As part of the promotion, Miranda Sex Garden supported Blur in concert at the Astoria in London in April 1991.

Wishing to expand their sound, Miranda Sex Garden left their entirely-a-capella approach behind, first by incorporating violins (played by the original three group members) and then recruiting guitarist/keyboardist/bass player Ben Golomstock and drummer Trevor Sharpe.^[14] In 1992, Jocelyn West left the band to get married and move to the United States.^[2] She was replaced by Donna McKevitt (vocals, violin and viola).^[15]

By the time of their second release, Iris (1992), the band's sound had evolved into a blend of their original madrigal-styled vocal harmonies with new elements reminiscent of folk music, gothic rock, dark wave, ethereal wave, and industrial music.^[16][1] Some "startling" live shows were played with artists including Curve, Nick Cave and The Balanescu Quartet.^[14]

In January 1993, the "Play" single was released, to be followed in March of the same year by the band's third album Suspiria.^[14] Miranda Sex Garden toured with Levitation and Spiritualized, and worked on the soundtrack for Derek Jarman's "Blue" in collaboration with Simon Fisher Turner, Brian Eno and others.^[14] Kelly McCusker left the band in late 1993 to start a career in classical music, leaving Blake as the only remaining original group member.^[3][17] McCusker was replaced by Hepzibah Sessa (vocals, keyboards, violin)^[18] for tours with Einstürzende Neubauten and Depeche Mode (the "Devotional" tour).^[2]

With Kim Fahy joining on bass guitar in 1994, Miranda Sex Garden continued to pursue a deeper, darker and more sophisticated sound, including a developing interest in sexual fetishism.^[11][14] Adding to their work at various multi-media events, they hosted the "Lunatic Fringe" nights at Holborn's Leisure Lounge and developed an alter ego band called Waltzing Maggots for gigs at London fetish emporium The Torture Garden.^[14]

All of this was reflected in the content of the band's fourth album, Fairytales of Slavery, produced by Alexander Hacke of Einstürzende Neubauten.^[1] While the band retained its rich instrumentation, the "harder, colder" production pushed Blake more to the foreground, like a conventional pop vocalist, with fewer vocal harmonies backing her up: Einstürzende Neubauten's F.M. Einheit also contributed occasional industrial/musique concrete instrumentation from sources such as stones and electric drills.^[2]

A single "Peepshow", saw the band promoting its release with a live performance in the window of Tower Records in Piccadilly Circus. The "Lunatic Fringe" nights expanded via "genre-bending" nights at the Waikiki Lounge, where the band performed alongside Leigh Bowery's transgressive art-pop band Minty, transvestite rocker Sexton Ming and body artist Alex Binnie for the entertainment of "voyeurs, trendsetters and genuine bizzarros".^[14] The band toured in 1994, following which Sessa departed to join former Depeche Mode keyboardist Alan Wilder in his Recoil project.^[14] This period also saw the arrival of two further new members: Teresa Casella replacing Kim Fahy on bass guitar^[19] and Mike Servent replacing Hepsibah Sessa on keyboard.

At the turn of 1994 and 1995, Miranda Sex Garden toured with various bands including Hole.^[20] Then the band parted ways with both Donna McKevitt and Mute Records, and went on hiatus.^[2] In association with Dorothy Carter, Katharine Blake would go on to form Mediæval Bæbes (an all-female a capella early music group marketed like a pop girl group) who debuted at number 1 in the classical charts with their Salva Nos album in 1996. Trevor Sharpe drummed for Minty, Plastic Fantastic and The Servant. In 1998, Donna McKevitt would record and release Translucence (A Song Cycle) a collaborative album with the late Derek Jarman in which she set his poetry to classically-inspired string music: another former MSG member, Kelly McCusker, was among the musical contributors. Ben Golomstock formed a new band called Naked Goat with Flesh for Lulu's Nick Marsh, violinist Barney Hollington, bass guitarist Jon Golds and dual drummers Arthur Lager and Vince Johnson^[21]

Miranda Sex Garden's hiatus was brief, with Blake, Golomstock, Sharpe, Servent and Casella soon regrouping and being joined by Naked Goat's Barney Hollington on violin and Hammond organ. Now without a record contract or funding, the band played intermittent London gigs while the various members simultaneously pursued their other projects.

In 1999 Miranda Sex Garden were given the opportunity to record and release a new album, Carnival of Souls, thanks to the setting up of the dedicated SugarDaddy Records label.^[2] The album was released in 2000^[22][11] with the small Cleopatra label handling distribution in the USA. However, without the promotional budget of a large label, the album received little attention, and in retrospect, the band would consider Carnival of Souls to have "never formally (been) released".^[14] A double A-side single from the album, "Tonight/Sex Garden", was released and saw the band attempting to make inroads into contemporary dance culture, but without commercial success.^[2] The only other released MSG work arising from this period was a cover of the Radiohead song "Exit Music for a Film" made for the tribute album Anyone Can Play Radiohead). With Blake now concentrating much more on Mediæval Bæbes, Miranda Sex Garden became inactive again.^[14][23]

Ben Golomstock would later refer to this period as "the Coma Years", and claimed that the band had never really split up: "I recorded a few ideas, Katharine sang on some new stuff, we thought we could have a crack at another CD. We started playing around with it as a band - and I got the sack because I fell asleep in the studio. They tried to get someone else in, but I guess it didn't work out. More Coma Years ensued."^[24] In 2006, Golomstock released a solo album, Stories From The Moon.^[24] This drew strongly on the original MSG sound and featured members of the band plus members of Mediaeval Baebes, Queenadreena, Colt and other projects.

In 2007 Katharine Blake released her first solo album, Midnight Flower, while another original MSG member, Jocelyn West released her own debut solo album, Salt Bird in March 2009.^[14] Donna McKevitt would release the classical/electronic mini-album Cut in 2015.^[25]

Ben Golomstock died in 2018.^[14] Spare copies of Stories from the Moon album were released in 2024 via Blake on the Mediæval Bæbes Bandcamp page.^[26]

In 2022, Miranda Sex Garden reunited. Blake, Sharpe, Casella and Servent from the 'Carnival of Souls' line-up were joined by Blake's Mediæval Bæbes bandmate Bev Lee Harling on violin and by guitarist Kavus Torabi (Gong, Cardiacs, Knifeworld, Guapo/The Holy Family etc), replacing Ben Golomstock. The revived group played a London concert at the 100 Club on 28 July 2022.^[14]

In 2023, Emmett Elvin (a long time collaborator of guitarist Kavus Torabi in Guapo and The Holy Family) replaced Mike Servent on keyboards. The band performed a UK tour during the same year.^[14]

2024 is the year the band will be touring Europe throughout May. Yet again there has been a change in keyboard player - Justine Armatage (The Cesarians, ex-Christian Death). She has contributed to various MSG related projects like Ben Golomstock's Stories from the Moon and Katharine Blake's From The Deep. MSG then released a new single, first in 2 decades - "Velventine" on April 5, which was partially recorded in 2000 with contributions of the new members, following a new video (first in 3 decades) for the same song. ^[14]

Current members:

• Katharine Blake (vocals, violin, recorders, keyboards, piano, glockenspiel, 1991–2000, 2022–present)
• Trevor Sharpe (drums, percussion, 1992–2000, 2022–present)
• Teresa Casella (bass guitar, 1994-2000, 2022–present)^[19]
• Bev Lee Harling (violin, 2022–present)
• Kavus Torabi (guitar, 2022–present)
• Justine Armatage (keyboards, 2024–present)

Former members:

• Jocelyn West (vocals, 1991)
• Kelly McCusker (vocals, violin,viola 1991–1993)
• Hepzibah Sessa (vocals, keyboards and violin, 1993–1994)
• Donna McKevitt (vocals, violin, viola, 1992–1994)
• Kim Fahy (bass guitar, 1994)^[27]
• Barney Hollington (violin and Hammond organ, 1995/1996–2000)
• Ben Golomstock (guitar, keyboards, harmonium, glockenspiel, piano, 1992–2000; died 2018)
• Mike Servent (keyboards, 1993–2000, 2022)
• Emmett Elvin - keyboards (2023–2024)

• Madra (1991)
• Suspiria (1993)
• Fairytales of Slavery (1994)
• Carnival of Souls (2000)

• Iris (1992)
• Sunshine (1993)

• "Gush Forth My Tears" (1991)
• "Sunshine" (1993)
• "Play" (1993)
• "Peepshow" (1994)
• "Tonight/Sex Garden" (2000)
• "Velventine" (2024)