Editing Marc and the Mambas

{{Short description|British new wave band}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2014}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2014}}
{{Infobox musical artist
|name            = Marc and the Mambas
|image             = 
|caption        = 
|image_size        = 
|background      = group_or_band
|alias           = Raoul and the Ruined, Marc Almond and Friends
|origin          = 
|instrument      = 
|genre           = [[New wave music|New wave]], [[dark cabaret]], [[gothic rock]], [[alternative rock]]
|occupation      = 
|years_active    = 1982–1983, 2012
|label           = [[Some Bizzare]]
|associated_acts = 
|website             = {{URL|marcalmond.co.uk}}
|current_members = [[Marc Almond]]<br />[[Anni Hogan]]<br />Lee Jenkinson<br />Gini Ball<br />[[Martin McCarrick]]<br />Anne Stephenson<br />[[Steve James Sherlock]]<br />[[Peter Ashworth]]<br />[[Audrey Riley]]<br />[[Matt Johnson (singer)|Matt Johnson]]<br />[[J. G. Thirlwell|Jim Foetus]]
|past_members    = 
}}

'''Marc and the Mambas''' was a [[New wave music|new wave]] group, formed by [[Marc Almond]] in 1982 as an offshoot project from [[Soft Cell]].<ref name="Larkin">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|date=1997|edition=Concise|isbn=1-85227-745-9|page=796}}</ref> The band's line-up changed frequently, and included [[Matt Johnson (singer)|Matt Johnson]] from {{Not a typo|[[The The]]}} and [[Anni Hogan|Annie Hogan]], with whom Almond worked later in his solo career.

==History==
Marc and the Mambas marked the start of Marc Almond's career outside of Soft Cell. In 1983, Almond and Soft Cell were very close to the avant-garde scene around [[Foetus (band)|Foetus]], [[Psychic TV]] and [[Einstürzende Neubauten]]. Almond also took part as one of four members of [[The Immaculate Consumptive]], a group initiated by [[Lydia Lunch]]; they never released any album but did a few shows in [[New York City|New York]] and [[Washington D.C.]] at the end of 1983. Further members were [[J. G. Thirlwell|Jim Foetus]] and [[Nick Cave]]. Marc and the Mambas belonged to that scene, and continued the dark themes explored within Soft Cell, but musically used different instruments and more complex rhythms.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fromthearchives.com/ll/chronology12.html|title=From The Archives -The Immaculate Consumptive- Concert Chronology / Gigography|website=Fromthearchives.com|access-date=25 April 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://plex.page/The_Immaculate_Consumptive|title=The Immaculate Consumptive - Summarized by Plex.page &#124; Content &#124; Summarization|website=Plex.page|access-date=25 April 2022}}</ref>

The group's lineup was fluid, with members changing with each recording or performance; the only consistent members were Almond, Annie Hogan and [[Steve James Sherlock]].<ref name="Larkin"/> Further members included Billy McGee and [[Martin McCarrick]], who also later joined Almond when he formed Marc Almond and the Willing Sinners. Almond's Soft Cell partner [[David Ball (electronic musician)|David Ball]] was an associated member for the Mambas' first single "Sleaze", and Matt Johnson from {{Not a typo|The The}} was a member for the first and second album, but did not join for the last concerts in 1983 (put to vinyl and later to CD as ''Black, Bite & Blues''). Jim Foetus was an associated member, and did guest vocals and percussion on "A Million Manias" and "Love Amongst the Ruined."<ref name="discogs.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/release/1131366-Marc-And-Mambas-Torment-And-Toreros|title=Marc And Mambas - Torment And Toreros|access-date=25 April 2022|website=Discogs.com}}</ref>

The Mambas' second Some Bizzare released album, ''[[Torment and Toreros]]'',<ref name="Larkin"/> contained a mix of ballads, both with and without dance beats, and is a mix of vaudeville, French chanson, and goth sensibility, using guitar noise, piano, and string sections.<ref name="discogs.com"/> Almond later described this recording as an "attempted suicide put on vinyl."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dangerousminds.net/comments/soundtrack_for_a_suicide_marc_almonds_musical_masterpiece_torment_and_torer|title=Soundtrack for a Suicide: Marc Almond's musical masterpiece, 'Torment and Toreros'|date=29 January 2013|website=DangerousMinds.net|access-date=25 April 2022}}</ref>

===Post Mambas===
Almond has had a long career as a solo artist, and Mambas musicians have worked with him under the names The Willing Sinners and La Magia. Martin McCarrick left La Magia for [[Siouxsie and the Banshees]] in 1987, and the rest of that band dissolved in 1988. Lee Jenkinson (guitar) recorded a single with producer [[Flood (producer)|Flood]] under the band name The Poppyfields, and is currently in the band Jellynail. Almond always kept in touch with some of the Mambas' core members like Anne Stephenson and Gini Ball (David Ball's ex-wife), who performed with him during his ''Sin, Songs And Romance'' gigs at the Almeida in 2004. He frequently includes Mambas songs in his live repertoire.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/marc-almond/2004/almeida-theatre-london-england-63f452f7.html|title=Marc Almond Setlist at Almeida Theatre, London|website=Setlist.fm|access-date=25 April 2022}}</ref>

When [[Anohni]] from [[Antony and the Johnsons]] curated the [[Meltdown Festival]] in London in August 2012, one of the acts on the bill was Almond, who performed the album ''Torment and Toreros'' in its entirety. A few months prior to the performance, Almond stated on his webpage that ''Torment and Toreros'' "wasn't a great success at the time of release, it was mostly critically panned. It was called a 'florid musical mess', a description I quite liked", but added that "In recent years it has been re-evaluated and re-appreciated as a (flawed) masterpiece, as I always hoped it would be. It is a dark album with themes of madness, depression, isolation, alienation, innocence lost and destructive love, all seen through a prism of fame. A nervous breakdown committed to vinyl".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thequietus.com/articles/09690-meltdown-festival-2012-review-antony-hegarty-lou-reed-laurie-anderson|title=The Quietus &#124; Features &#124; Three Songs No Flash &#124; Stellar Systems: Antony Hegarty's Meltdown Festival Reviewed|website=The Quietus|access-date=25 April 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/aug/12/antony-meltdown-review-festival-2012|title=Antony's Meltdown – review|date=11 August 2012|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=25 April 2022}}</ref>

==Main concerts==
* 1982 ''A Little Black Evening'' - at the Royal Drury Lane Theatre - 5 December.
* 1983 ''Three Black Nights Of Little Black Bites'' - at the Duke Of York's Theatre - 26th, 27th, 28 April.
* 1983 ''Bite Black and Blues'' - at the Duke Of York's Theatre - 18 December.
* 2012 ''Torment and Toreros'' - at the Royal Festival Hall - 9 August (as Marc Almond).

==Discography==
===Studio albums===
{|class="wikitable" style=text-align:center;
!rowspan="2"|Year
!rowspan="2"|Album information
!colspan="1"|Chart positions
|-style="font-size:smaller;"
!width="30"| [[UK Album Chart|UK]] <br /><ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums">{{cite book| first= David  | last= Roberts  | year= 2006  | title= British Hit Singles & Albums  | edition= 19th| publisher= Guinness World Records Limited | location= London| isbn= 1-904994-10-5| page= 20}}</ref>
|-
| 1982
|align=left| ''[[Untitled (Marc and the Mambas album)|Untitled]]''
* Released: September 1982
* Labels: [[Some Bizzare]], [[Phonogram Records|Phonogram]]
| 42
|-
| 1983
|align=left| ''[[Torment and Toreros]]''
* Released: August 1983
* Labels: Some Bizzare, Phonogram
| 28
|}

===Live albums===
{|class="wikitable" style=text-align:center;
! Year !! Album information
|-
| 1984
|align=left| Bite Black + Blues <small>(as Raoul And The Ruined)</small>
* Released: May 1984, December 2000
* Labels: Gutter Hearts, Blue Star Music
* The LP was an official fan-club release. The reissue was an official website release,
* Live at the Duke Of York's Theatre, December 1983. The reissue has bonus tracks from the same concerts.
|-
| 2012
|align=left| Three Black Nights of Little Black Bites – Live at the Duke Of York's Theatre, 1983
* Released: 12 November 2012
* Labels: Strike Force Entertainment, Cherry Red
* Limited Edition CD/DVD set. Recorded live in April 1983 during a 3-day run of concerts.
|-
|}

===Singles===
{|class="wikitable" style=text-align:center;
!rowspan="2"|Year
!rowspan="2"|Album information
!colspan="1"|Chart positions
|-style="font-size:smaller;"
!width="30"| [[UK Album Chart|UK]] <br /><ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums"/>
|-
| 1982
|align=left| "Fun City" / "Sleaze (Take It, Shake It)"
* Released: March 1982
* Labels: [[Some Bizzare]]
| –
|-
| 1983
|align=left| "[[Black Heart (Marc and the Mambas song)|Black Heart]]"
* Released: July 1983
* Labels: [[Some Bizzare]], [[Phonogram Records|Phonogram]]
| 49
|-
| 1983
|align=left| "[[Torment (song)|Torment]]"
* Released: November 1983
* Labels: [[Some Bizzare]], [[Phonogram Records|Phonogram]]
| 90
|-
|}

===Other releases===
* ''Discipline'' (7" flexi) - Throbbing Gristle cover,  free with Flexi-Pop magazine (as Marc Almond and Friends)
* ''In Session Volume One'' (CD 2003) - at the Maida Vale Studios, BBC Radio 1, February 1983. Compilation of John Peel sessions also including a Marc Almond one.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Marc Almond}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marc And The Mambas}}
[[Category:English new wave musical groups]]
[[Category:English gothic rock groups]]
[[Category:English alternative rock groups]]
[[Category:British rock music supergroups]]
[[Category:New wave supergroups]]
[[Category:Dark cabaret musicians]]
[[Category:Some Bizzare Records artists]]