David Cronenberg's Wife

"Motorik rock’n’roll minimalism"

David Cronenberg’s Wife was formed in 2004, following songwriter Tom Mayne’s move from Stockport to London. The other members of the band are Stuart Saunderson (drums), Thom Alder (guitar/violin), Rhi Tucker (keyboard), Mark Watts (guitar) & former Death in Vegas guitarist Ian Button (bass).

After over 120 gigs in London and across the UK – supporting the likes of punk legend Wreckless Eric, The Nightingales and Damo Suzuki David Cronenberg’s Wife (DCW for short) signed to the independent Blang label in 2007. Summer 2007 saw their first single release on limited edition vinyl & download (I Couldn’t Get Off), followed by two more singles in 2008 (My Best Friend’s Going Out With a Girl I Like and Runaway Pram), drawing positive reviews from Music Week and Drowned in Sound.

The debut album Bluebeard’s Rooms followed in August 2008, hailed by The Fly as “one of the albums of the year”. Their second album Hypnagogues was released in November 2009, and described by Loud & Quiet as “deliciously dark and compelling, full of tension and spook, bile and bite” and “bitterly humorous” by the NME.

The band has played sessions on Cerys Matthews and Marc Riley’s ‘Brain Surgery’ (both 6Music) with both Riley and Radio 2’s Mark Lamarr including Runaway Pram in their ‘best of 2008’ shows: Lamarr described it as ‘where genius meets idiocy’. 6Music’s Tom Robinson included Sweden in his ‘best of 2009’ show.

Tom writes the songs and, despite possessing only seven fingers (a congenital deformity), he also plays the guitar. With influences ranging from The Birthday Party to Jonathan Richman, DCW’s songs swing between the sweet and the disturbing. Their strength lies in the fact you never quite sure what side you’re going to get – DCW never play the same set twice. Whether playing acoustic twisted lullabies or in-your-face electric hollers the lyrics catch you off guard with their openness, black humour and sometimes troubling themes; DCW takes dark morally dubious story-telling to new lengths.