Live footage of Daniel Ash and Kevin Haskin’s Bauhaus side project Tones on Tail is exceptionally rare, but the third and founding member of the project, Bassist and Bauhaus roadie Glenn Campling has unearthed live footage of the band performing in Scotland in 1984.
The concert was filmed during Tones on Tail’s May 27th, 1984, set at Night Moves in Glasgow, and was uploaded to Campling’s YouTube channel throughout the past week, with the first seven songs from the 11-song set now online. The only songs missing are a version of the Daniel Ash fronted Bauhaus’ track “Slice of Life,” Tones on Tail’s dancefloor hit “Go!,” “There’s Only One” and “OK, This is the Pops”.
Previously, one of the few Tones on Tail gems available online was the Media Blitz interview filmed in Los Angeles during the band’s only North American tour.
In a new interview with Torched Magazine, Campling explains how the footage was originally archived by ex Bauhaus manager Graham Bentley, and restored with a desk audio mix:
Ex Bauhaus manager Graham Bentley was – and still is – a video maestro and has a huge archive of mostly Bauhaus material dating back to their very early days. He has recently spent much time converting some of this from Betamax tapes to digital for preservation purposes.
Graham & family came to see us in Glasgow and decided to film the event. He re-discovered this material and gave me a copy along with the desk audio recorded by Pete Edwards (sorely missed Bauhaus, TOT o/f sound engineer) from the same gig.
After much fiddling & twiddling, I’ve combined the desk audio with the live footage to produce a very rich sound. I also thought to add some backstage fun & frollicks in the mix – a personal insight, reflecting our light-hearted mood at the time.
Formed initially as a duo by Ash and Campling in 1982, a mere two year later Tones on Tail would call it quits shortly after Bauhaus’ first demise, with Ash and Haskins forming Love and Rockets with Bauhaus bassist David J.
In 2017 in lieu of a Tones on Tail reunion, Daniel Ash, Kevin Haskins, and his daughter Diva, began touring as Poptone, a Tones on Tail-heavy live project that culled songs from the catalog of that band, along with a handful of Bauhaus and Love and Rockets cuts.
This past week, the two former Tones on Tail members have reunited with their Bauhaus bandmates for at least two sold-out shows in Hollywood right after Halloween, with more live dates likely to be announced in the coming weeks. As for the former Tones on Tail bassist, Campling, he’s still making music in a new project called Lonestation.
Head over to Torched Magazine to read the full interview with Campling, and watch the Tones on Tail footage below:
