Clan of Xymox

Clan of Xymox, also known as simply Xymox, are a Dutch rock band formed in 1981. Clan of Xymox featured a trio of songwriters — Pieter Nooten, Ronny Moorings and Anka Wolbert — and gained success in the 1980s, releasing their first two albums on a prestigious independent UK label, a third and fourth album on a major US label and scoring a hit single in the United States. Early pioneers of the dark and moody electronic music known as dark wave, their 1980s releases included synthpop/electronic dance music.

Though the band is still active and continues to tour and release records, of the original songwriters (Nooten, Moorings and Wolbert), only Moorings remains in the band today. After the departure of Nooten and Wolbert in the early 1990s, their music turned increasingly goth.

History

4AD and the Peel Sessions (1981–1988)

The band formed as a project of Ronny Moorings and Anka Wolbert in Nijmegen, Netherlands in 1981, before moving to Amsterdam and joining Frank Weyzig and Pieter Nooten who added their own contributions. Assuming the name "Xymox", the group released a mini-album, Subsequent Pleasures, in 1983. They were invited by Brendan Perry to support Dead Can Dance on a UK tour and were signed to the indie label 4AD, which released their eponymous debut album in 1985. The track 7th Time, with Anka Wolbert on lead vocals, was picked up by John Peel, leading to the band recording two of the Peel Sessions at the BBC, in June and November 1985. Peel referred to the band's dark and melancholic sound as "darkwave".

Anka Wolbert

Anka Wolbert (also Anke Wolbert, born 10 June 1963) is a Dutch musician, singer, songwriter and web developer, best known for her work with Clan of Xymox.

Music career

Xymox, Clan of Xymox

Anka Wolbert co-founded the band Xymox with Ronny Moorings in 1981, self-publishing their first mini-album Subsequent Pleasures in 1983. Pieter Nooten joined the band as third songwriter shortly after this release.

With the name Xymox lengthened to Clan of Xymox, they signed a recording contract with independent UK label 4AD and released their eponymous debut album Clan of Xymox in 1985. The track 7th Time, with Anka Wolbert on lead vocals, was picked up by John Peel, leading to the band recording twice at the legendary Peel Sessions at the BBC, in June and November 1985. Peel referred to the band's dark and melancholic sound as darkwave.

In 1986 Clan of Xymox released their second album Medusa on 4AD. The album was described by Sounds as 'an overriding achievement … every track sounds like the finale to a brooding epic overture' with the track Masquerade (written and sung by Wolbert) acclaimed as 'an elegant ballad with her bass high in the mix and scored with strings'. Wolbert and Moorings moved to London and the band toured the United States and Europe. As US success grew, Clan of Xymox left 4AD and signed to New York based label PolyGram.