Hieronymus Bosch (band)

Hieronymus Bosch is a New Zealand-based dark industrial experimental noise punk act formed around 1985-86.

Hieronymus Bosch
Origin	New Zealand
Genres	Industrial
Years active	1985–present
Members	Mark Wallbank Trevor Donaldson

Style

They used many reel-to-reel tape recorders, loop effects, steel objects and an arsenal of classic analog synths and drum machines. They performed only three times as this incarnation, twice in New Zealand and once in Sydney, Australia. The live art performances included poetry and slide shows and were performed in art galleries. Their sound has changed greatly throughout the years, due to collaborating with a myriad of engineers, percussionists, guitarists, and like minded artists. Hieronymus Bosch were amongst those at the forefront of experimental music in New Zealand.

As part of an early 1986 performance the entire interior of a soon to be demolished house was torn apart in a frenzied ritual, accompanied by looping noise tapes fed through a generator driven PA system. Around 30 people took part in this now infamous display of art terrorism.

Bosch were considered very experimental and 'outside the box'. The mid 1980s saw them become a three piece of Gothic proportions, fusing Goth and Industrial along the lines of Neubauten / Foetus hatchling. This version only lasted a few months, but managed one, very loose live set which accompanied a gothic/dark art fashion show at an inner city nightclub.

Changes

1990 saw a new development. A guitarist, Morpheus Ire, was added from a local dark metal band and a bassist/percussionist, Paul Blanchard, was recruited to play alongside the machines and keyboards, which instantly gave the group a whole new direction; one more chaotic, angst ridden and almost anarchic. Live performances meant the destruction of stage sets and props. Audience participation was always encouraged live. Hieronymus Bosch, though misunderstood by many during this period, attracted quite a large and loyal following from the death/punk and dark metal communities whilst still maintaining their dedicated industrial/experimental fanatics. They performed quite extensively throughout 1990 - 1993. In the mid 1990s, Hieronymus Bosch resumed their earlier, more industrial sound. In 1996, Hieronymus Bosch reduced itself to two core members. Original member, Mark Bizarre and Trevor Donaldson, ex Sudersuk and classic NZ Punk band Armatrak joining, and the two headed off into some rather scary, electronic grinding 'nightmarescape' territories. We've managed a few style changes overs the years but we always turned back to what we were all about.

Releases

Their first recorded efforts were on limited tape cassette format on zero budget and duplicated on a double stereo cassette deck. However a more adventurous visual project was to emerge in 1990, on video format."Our concept is a visual one, so we decided this was the best way to SHOW our sound". The five track release entitled simply HIERONYMUS BOSCH - THE VIDEO was limited to 300 copies and was swallowed up quickly within the hungry world underground scene. In 1997 HIERONYMUS BOSCH released a self-titled album of dark and horrific scapes which has been circulating well throughout the world, mainly around the UK and European countries.

1998 saw the creation of their second album, THE DIVIDED SELF. Another dark journey into the world of BOSCH. THE DIVIDED SELF is a collection of some sorts, a merging of styles and textures, lightness and darkness. They have also featured on a number of international underground compilations and made a couple of appearances on the mid 1990s performance/video release series TECHNOHELL.

Hieronymus Bosch have produced short film soundtracks for video artists in Belgium and Australia and have had tracks in many various international compilations. In 2003 they released their third album 'The Dream Songs' on Polish label, Fluttering Dragon. In 2010, Hieronymus Bosch released a limited edition 7 inch vinyl, "Black Light / Black Star" in celebration of their 25th anniversary.

Discography

Albums

• Hieronymus Bosch - Abducted cassette (1986)
• Hieronymus Bosch vs Leper Asylum - Split Cassette release (1990)
• Hieronymus Bosch - The videos. VHS (1990)
• Hieronymus Bosch - Faded. 3 track CD-R - Limited to 25 copies (1994)
• Hieronymus Bosch - Self Titled (1997)
• The Divided Self (1998)
• The Dream Songs (2003)
• Black Light/ Black Star 7" vinyl - limited edition of 150 (2010)