Wire

Edvard Graham Lewis

Edvard Graham Lewis is an artist whose career has spanned twenty years and nearly as many music styles. From his beginings with Wire (pictured at right, from left to right, Newman, Gilbert, Gotobed, and Lewis), through his colaborations with fellow Wire-mate Bruce Gilbert (Dome, Duet Emmo, Cupol, P'O, MZUI), to his solo project and recent colaborations (He Said, H.A.L.O., He Said Omala, Ocsid, Hox), he has been responsible for much ground-breaking and style-setting work.

His Work with Wire

See The Wire Page.

His Work without Wire

During Wire's hiatus from 1980 to 1986, Lewis and Bruce Gilbert continued their partnership under the name Dome. They explored experimental music, from electronic noise to ambient drones on "Dome One" and "Dome 2" in 1980. They recorded the single "Like This For Ages/Kluba Cupol" as Cupol, and the album "3R4" as B.C. Gilbert/G. Lewis on the 4AD label in 1980. The album "Dome 3" was released in 1981.

They then undertook a number of collaborative projects. As MZUI on 1982's "Waterloo Gallery" Dome collaborated with Russell Mills placing mics around a London art gallery. They were also involved in the production of MZUI's "Australia" with Russell Mills and Graham Bartlet, a live air-to-satellite mix from Sydney to London. "Or So It Seems", the 1982 album released under the named Duet Emmo (an anagram of Mute and Dome), was the result of a collaboration between Dome and Mute Records chief Daniel Miller. This project began their (and Wire's) relationship with Mute. In 1983, Dome recorded an EP with Angela Conway as P'O, "Whilst Climbing Thieves Vie For Attention". They also released "Will You Speak To This World: Dome 4".

Lewis's solo work was done under the name He Said. Released in 1986, the same year as Wire's reformation, the first album, "Hail!" includes contributions by Gilbert, John Fryer, Brian Eno, Anglea Conway and others. The follow-up, "Take Care", was released in 1989.

After moving to Sweden and changing record labels to MNW Zone, Lewis renamed his solo project H.A.L.O.. The 1995 release "Immanent" was recorded with Orjan Ornkloo from Misery Loves Co and engineer Thomas Hedqvist. A collaboration with the Swedish ambient/industrial band Omala produced the 1997 album "Catch Supposes" and a disc of remixes titled "Matching Crosses," which were released under the name He Said Omala. Since then, he has released "It-ness" with Andreas Karperyd (half of Omala) under the name Hox. A collaboration with Carl Michael von Hausswolf and Jean-Louis Huhta produced the album "In Between" released under the name Oscid.

Edvard Graham Lewis

"A Lewis Sampler"

Here is a list of some of my favorite Lewis songs that he wrote and/or performed on. I actually wrote down this list for this guy who stopped by my office one day when I was playing the H.A.L.O. disc, asked who it was, and then went out and bought it. I thought he might like to buy a few more albums, for the total Lewis experience.

  1. "Blessed State" by Wire, from "154", 1979
  2. "Rolling Upon My Day" by Dome, from "Dome 1", 1980
  3. "Or So It Seems" by Duet Emmo, from "Or So It Seems", 1983
  4. "Pump" by He Said, from "Hail!", 1986
  5. "Ambitious" by Wire, from "The Ideal Copy", 1987
  6. "Finest Drops" by Wire, from "It's Begining To And Back Again", 1989
  7. "So and Slow it Grows" by Wir, from "The First Letter", 1991
  8. "Skip the Sausage" by H.A.L.O., from "Immanent", 1995
  9. "Post Code Orange" by He Said Omala, from "Catch Supposes", 1997
Vote for your favorite Lewis songs at Wireviews!

Warning to the uninitiated! While I believe that the above songs represent the best of Lewis's work, some of the rest of the music on these albums is very different. In particular, most of the Wire vocals are actually done by Colin Newman, and much of the Dome disc is very experimental and hard to listen to (which does not mean it's bad).


Album Covers Mentioned Above

Wire, 154 Dome, Dome 1 & 2 Duet Emmo, Or So It Seems Wire, The Ideal Copy Wire, It's Begining To And Back Again Wir, The First Letter H.A.L.O., Immanent He Said Omala, Catch Supposes
Album cover graphics shamelessly stolen from The Wire Page.

Random Flamage

One of the reasons that I respect Lewis so much is his adherence to what I like to call the "One Band Lineup Per Name Rule". Many bands (Sisters of Mercy, Depeche Mode, and Genesis pop immediately to mind) keep the same name despite major changes in lineup. Thus, if you have an album that you really like by some band, and you go buy another album by the same band, you may find that the musician that was responsible for what you liked has since left the band, but the rest of the band kept the name. For example, The Revolting Cocks were never the same after Richard 23 left.

Lewis has been very consciencious about changing the names of his projects whenever there was a change in lineup (to the point of even changing names when he recorded for different record labels). Thus, you get Lewis and Gilbert recording as "Dome" on their own Dome Records, but when they released tracks on 4AD, they used the name "Cupol" for one record, and their own names for another. Add Daniel Miller from Mute Records to the mix, and you get "Duet Emmo". Add Russell Mills and you get "MZUI"; add Angela Conway, and you get "P'O". His solo project is called "He Said", but a collaboration with Orjan Ornkloo became "H.A.L.O." and a collaboration with Omala became "He Said Omala". And, of course, "Wire" without Robert Gotobed became "Wir".

Links

Broken Links

Credits

Kent H Lundberg (email address) Last updated February 14, 2000.