Using their own cadavre exquis (“exquisite corpse”) technique, a collaborative work first generated during the surrealist art movement, post-punk pioneers Bauhaus pieced together their first new song in 14 years titled “Drink The New Wine.”
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Recorded during the lockdown, the song came together by combining shared audio files from each of the four band members. Each member was allotted one minute and eight tracks to fill with whatever vocals or instruments they desired without sharing what they had laid down with one another, then worked around an additional shared 60-seconds and four tracks to compose the end of the song. The only common link was a prerecorded beat made by drummer Kevin Haskins.
Interspersed with varied batches of lyrics—Bell bottom blues / No pain, no pain / I’ll never see the boys again / ‘Cause I’m off to the funny farm /Drown out the blues with booze/ Now it’s off to the funny farm—and refrains of Dreaming of a perfect world and The roulettista rolls the dice / The roulettista rolls, “Drink The New Wine” is a four-dimensional swing through the artsier sphere of Bauhaus, somewhat reminiscent of Mask track “1. David Jay 2. Peter Murphy 3. Kevin Haskins 4. Daniel Ash,” and the band’s other montaged renderings.
The title “Drink The New Wine” comes from the first time surrealist artists André Breton, Marcel Duchamp, Jacques Prévert, and Yves Tanguy came together in Paris for their own cadavre exquis in 1925 to share their individual parts for one composite work. Bauhaus has used cadavre exquis method in the past and even pay homage to the form in their 1982 The Sky’s Gone Out track “Exquisite Corpse.”
“[It] included words which when strung together make up the sentence, ‘Le cadaver exquisite boar le vin nouveau,’” said the band in a statement on the inception of the technique and song title. “The exquisite corpse will drink the new wine.”
“Drink The New Wine” is the band’s first new song since their 2008 album Go Away White. Bauhaus first disbanded in 1983 before reuniting for a tour in 1998 and again in the mid-2000s, including a memorable Coachella set in 2005 when singer and songwriter Peter Murphy hung upside down while singing the band’s 1979 song “Bela Lugosi’s Dead.” The band continued with more one-off shows and festival dates through 2006, including opening for Nine Inch Nails before breaking up once again prior to the release of Go Away White.
After reuniting in 2019 and playing two nights in Los Angeles, the band went on a forced break in 2020 due to the pandemic, before returning to play London and Mexico in the fall of 2021. They have rescheduled previously postponed dates in 2022 in addition to some new shows.
In the U.S., Bauhaus will play two days at the Cruel World Festival in Los Angeles, along with two nights at The Masonic in San Francisco, and additional dates in Denver, Arizona, Seattle, and Portland this summer with two shows at Kings Theatre in New York in September. The band is also set to play the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona, Spain in June.
Bauhaus 2022 Tour Dates
May 14 – Cruel World Festival (Pasadena, CA)
May 15 – Cruel World Festival (Pasadena, CA)
May 17 – Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall (Portland,OR)
May 20 – Paramount Theatre (Seattle, WA)
May 21 – The Masonic (San Francisco, CA)
May 22 – The Masonic (San Francisco, CA)
May 25 – The Mission Ballroom (Denver, CO)
May 27 – The Marquee Theatre (Tempe, AZ)
Sept. 8 – Kings Theatre (New York, NY)
Sept. 9 – Kings Theatre (New York, NY)
Photo Credit: Gary Bandfield
