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Bic Hayes

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"Christian Hayes" redirects here. For the chef, see Christian Hayes (chef).

Bic Hayes
Hayes in 2024
Hayes in 2024
Background information
Birth nameChristian David Hayes
Born (1964-06-10) 10 June 1964 (age 60)
Westminster, London, England
Genres
Occupations
  • Musician
  • singer
  • songwriter
Instruments
  • Guitar
  • vocals
Years active1983–present
LabelsIgnatia
Member of
Formerly of
PartnerJo Spratley[1][2]

Christian David "Bic" Hayes[a] (born 10 June 1964) is an English rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. Best known as the frontman of Dark Star and guitarist with Levitation, he has also released solo material as Mikrokosmos (stylised in all lowercase), which was produced by Tim Smith.

Hayes explained that he was nicknamed Bic because he "just stopped eating for ages and people started saying I looked like a Bic biro. I had this phase when I thought eating was boring".[4]

Career

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Christian David Hayes[5] was born on 10 June 1964 in London.[6] Hayes' first band, the live thrash band Panixphere (also written as Panixsphere), formed in 1983.[7][3]

By 1988, Hayes was playing guitar with psychedelic rock band Ring, moving on to become bass player with The Dave Howard Singers in 1989. In the same year he joined Cardiacs as second guitarist, replacing departing saxophonist Sarah Smith. Hayes appeared as part of the band on their 1992 concert film All That Glitters Is a Mares Nest (in which Tim Smith refers to him as a woman) and made writing and recording contributions to their studio album Heaven Born and Ever Bright (1992).[8]

Christian_Hayes
Hayes in 1991

Hayes had come to know former House of Love guitarist Terry Bickers through musical friends in South London. During 1990, Bickers invited Hayes to join himself and drummer David Francolini in a new project which evolved into indie-psychedelic rock band Levitation (and into which Hayes recruited his former Ring bandmate, Robert White). Initially Hayes divided his time between Cardiacs and Levitation, but as the latter rapidly gained more and more attention from British audiences and the British music press, he found it difficult to accommodate both bands. He left Cardiacs (somewhat reluctantly) in May 1991, admitting "they were the band I left for Levitation. I loved Cardiacs and thought they were the best band in Britain at the time. That's how much I believed in Levitation. The chemistry was explosive".[9] Hayes subsequently reformed Panixphere with Francolini and Cardiacs members Tim Smith and Jon Poole.[7]

Following the demise of Levitation in 1993, Hayes worked with Heather Nova and then with former All About Eve frontwoman Julianne Regan in a band called Mice.[10] In 1996, he reunited with former Levitation bandmates David Francolini and Laurence O'Keefe to form Dark Star. Having released their debut album Twenty Twenty Sound in 1999, the band recorded a second album but it was not released as a result of personnel changes at their record company. An unmastered seven track version of the album, omitting the tracks "Roman Road" and "Valentine", was leaked within a couple of years of the split. Titled Zurich, it is unconfirmed whether this was an official title. The album remains unreleased, though Hayes has stated his hope to release the second album soon.

Following the disbanding of Dark Star in 2001, Hayes toured with the Pet Shop Boys and worked as a guitar tech/tour/production manager for the likes of My Bloody Valentine, Kula Shaker and David Cassidy.[11][12] In 2007, Hayes began releasing archive releases of previously unreleased solo material (recording during and shortly after his time with Levitation) under the name of Mikrokosmos via Ingatia Recordings. A trio of releases -In The Heart of the Home, The Seven Stars and Terra Familiar - have been issued.[13]

In 2011, Hayes organised and compiled the tribute record Leader of the Starry Skies in aid of Cardiacs frontman Tim Smith (who had suffered two strokes in 2008 which left him paralysed down one side of his body and unable to speak).[1] He also toured with a stage version of Macbeth in 2011 and 2012, produced by Platform 4 and described as "a taut psychodrama that crackles with a wild electricity, brought alive by the sonic experiments of composer and guitarist Bic Hayes and sound designer Jules Bushel".[14]

More recently Hayes has been involved in the Brighton-based improvisational instrumental psychedelic band ZOFFF (previously known as Light Specific Data or LSD-25)[15][16][17] and with MUMMY (a duo with his partner, the singer Jo Spratley). Panixphere reformed as a trio in 2019 featuring Hayes, Poole and Cardiacs drummer Bob Leith,[18] releasing a live split single with Spratleys Japs via Hayes' label The Confinement Tapes in 2020.[19] In 2024, Bic Hayes provided vocals and guitar for a reformed, live touring version of Cardiacs.[20]

Discography

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As Mikrokosmos

  • In the Heart of the Home (2007)
  • The Seven Stars (2008)
  • Terra Familiar (2014)

With Cardiacs

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With Levitation

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Notes

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  1. ^ Written "Heyes" in a 2020 Louder Than War article[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b Gittins, Ian (3 February 2011). "Cardiacs tribute album to raise money for paralysed singer Tim Smith". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  2. ^ Evans, Matt (3 August 2011). "On A Knife Edge: An Interview With Kavus Torabi | The Quietus". The Quietus. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  3. ^ a b Banjo . (17 August 2020). "Levitations' Meanwhile Gardens: The great lost album of the 90s". Louder Than War. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  4. ^ "Top of the Pops Live Webchat – FULL TRANSCRIPT". 17 January 2009. Archived from the original on 17 January 2009. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  5. ^ "Songwriter/Composer: HAYES CHRISTIAN DAVID". Repertoire.bmi.com. Archived from the original on 20 September 2013. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  6. ^ "The Cardiacs - FAQ". Cardiacs. 8 March 1999. Archived from the original on 3 August 2002. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  7. ^ a b Sgrignoli, Marco (20 July 2022). "Cardiacs - biografia, recensioni, streaming, discografia, foto". Ondarock [it] (in Italian). Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  8. ^ "Cardiacs Official Website » Live Reviews - London Astoria 2002". 22 July 2011. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  9. ^ "Features | Whirled Around: An Oral History Of Levitation". The Quietus. 23 May 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  10. ^ Fiona Sturges. "Pop: The general theory of relativity | Culture". The Independent. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  11. ^ "L&Si Online – Lighting&Sound International". 18 July 2007. Archived from the original on 18 July 2007. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  12. ^ "Dark Star News". 7 February 2006. Archived from the original on 7 February 2006. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  13. ^ Ignatia Recordings. "Ignatia Recordings". Ignatia Recordings. Archived from the original on 19 March 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  14. ^ "Platform 4". Platform 4. Archived from the original on 24 June 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  15. ^ "ZOFFF 1 | ZOFFF". Zofff.bandcamp.com. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  16. ^ "Light Specific Data – 29 March 2013 @ Hotel Pelirocco". Brighton Noise. 29 March 2013. Archived from the original on 26 April 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  17. ^ "The Real Music Club Brighton". Therealmusicclub.com. Archived from the original on 27 February 2018. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  18. ^ "Lifesigns - Jon Poole". Lifesigns. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  19. ^ "Confinement/release6 | Spratleys Japs/ Panixphere". The Confinement Tapes. Bandcamp. 3 July 2020. Retrieved 18 November 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  20. ^ Turner, Luke (30 May 2024). "Four Gigs for Cardiacs' Tim Smith Announced". The Quietus. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
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