Curve

views updated May 14 2018

Curve

Rock band

For the Record

Childhood Traumas

Former Adversaries Reunited

Toured U.S.

Selected discography

Sources

I think Im optimistically paranoid. I dont know the I answers; Im just like everyone elseswimming around with the sharks biting. So Toni Halliday, lead singer of the band Curve, described the mind-set behind their haunting music to Jon Levy of Strobe magazine. Halliday and guitarist Dean Garcia, who provides the grating yet ethereal music that entwines the singers siren vocals, create the dark, menacing sound that is uniquely Curve. Both artists weathered difficult childhood circumstances, experiences that have no doubt inspired the macabre and cynical nature of their music.

When she was four years old, Hallidays father bought a yacht and decided to take the family on a cruise of the Mediterranean. We had this really idyllic fantastic life, and then it just stopped one day, she revealed to Caren Myers of Details magazine. The yachtsman abruptly deserted the family in Greece when Halliday was eight, her father simply informing her mother that he didnt love her anymore; the family never saw him again. His sudden departure left a profound impression

For the Record

Members include Dean Garcia (married Julie Fletcher), guitar, bass, keyboards; Toni Halliday, vocals; Alex Mitchell, guitar; Steve Monti, drums; and Debbie Smith, guitar.

Garcia and Halliday formed band State of Play, 1984 (disbanded, 1985); formed Curve, c. 1990; recorded EP Blindfold, 1991; band expanded to include Mitchell, Monti, and Smith; released album Doppelgänger, 1992.

Addresses: Record company Virgin Records, 790 Broadway, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10019; 338 North Foothill Rd., Beverly Hills, CA 90210.

on the young girl; she feels that most of her emotional issues stem from an inability to trust, which is perhaps why her sometimes agonizing lyrics fall so naturally unaffected from her lips. In order for you to be able to do something that is natural and part of you, you have to dig deep inside yourself, which can be quite a dangerous little journey, because you dont know what youre going to find. Often you find things that you fing hate. Still, when pressed by Levy, the singer admitted to her belief that the danger is everything.

Childhood Traumas

Garcias childhood traumas began before he was born. On learning of the impending pregnancy, his father, a Hawaiian G.I., conveniently disappeared, leaving Garcias Irish-Catholic mother to face her disapproving family and community alone. Unwed during the socially restrictive 1950s, she was pressured into having an abortion. Although she thought she had successfully terminated the pregnancy, a month later she was still pregnant, discovering that she had been carrying twins. One had been successfully aborted; the other, however, Dean, was born six months later. After his birth, Deans mother married twice. One husband was abusive; both marriages ended. While he says that he would like to hire a private investigator to track down his father one day, that day has not yet presented itself. From these shattered childhoods emerged the two battered souls that create the abrasive melancholy that is Curve.

When Halliday was 11, she realized that she could sing; at 12 she joined a punk band called Incest. Dave Stewart of Eurythmics discovered her when she was 15. I met [Dave Stewart] when I was 15 and we both lived in Sunderland [in the northeast of England]. He was still in the Tourists; they were about to do their last record before they split up, and he already had this idea of doing something with Annie [Lennox]. I used to do the B-sides of their singles, she told Paul Sexton of Billboard. Stewart urged her to join the Uncles, and she recorded a single with them called Whats the Use of Pretending? before they split up.

Garcia, meanwhile, had been playing in numerous small bands when he auditioned for Eurythmics in 1983. It was brilliant: One week Im on the dole, the next Im playing for Eurythmics, whod just got to number one with Sweet Dreams. Dave [Stewart] and Annie [Lennox] got me out of trouble and took me round the world, Garcia related to Mat Snow of Musician. It was backstage at a 1984 Eurythmics concert that Stewart introduced Halliday and Garcia to each other. Mesmerized by Hallidays look and sound, Garcia recruited her to help him form a techno-pop-funk band called State of Play, which was signed to Virgin Records.

A year and £100,000 in debt later, the band split up. Halliday sued Garcia, and Garcia tried, unsuccessfully, to countersue Halliday. Garcia then married Julie Fletcher and moved to Spain. Halliday signed to Stewarts Anxious label and released a solo album, Hearts and Handshakes. In spite of having no commercial success and leaving nothing but debt in its wake, the record is now a collectors item.

Former Adversaries Reunited

In December of 1989, Garcia returned from Spain and found, to his amazement, that Halliday was trying to contact him. Once he was completely convinced that he would be meeting with Halliday, and not a legal representative, he agreed to see her, and they began to heal the old wounds. Amid the drunken bliss of their reunion, they conceived of Curve. They agreed that State of Plays main problems were an open budget, an excessive tendency to waste time, and too many outside influences.

Learning from these lessons, when they finally got together to record Blindfold, they wrote and recorded all the tracks in one day at a cost of under £300, with producer Alan Moulder on hand, who also played guitar on the EP. Seemingly overnight, the EP became a success in England, which caught Halliday and Garcia off guard. Everyone immediately expected us to play gigs and be brilliant. But there was only me and Toni. Alan [Moulder] didnt want to know about playing guitar live, Garcia told Alan Di Perna of Guitar Player. So they enlisted the help of drummer Steve Monti and additional guitarists Alex Mitchell and Debbie Smith. That May they released the Frozen EP, followed in November by the Cherry EP.

Toured U.S.

In February of 1992, they unveiled another short disc, Faît Accompli, just prior to the release of their much-awaited full-length album Doppelgänger. In late 1992 the band toured the United States with the Jesus and Mary Chain and Spiritualized in support of their U.S. only release Pubic Fruit, a compilation of their first three British EPs. They had determined to shoulder the responsibilities of album production largely by themselves.

Garcia explained the process to Di Perna, remarking, Its a unique situation. Because the co-producer is usually there from the start. But we like to take it to 80% ourselves. Then we transfer and bring someone with us to sprinkle on a little fairy dust. Although it seems like an isolated way to work, this method keeps the band close to the musical core of Curve and prevents anything from adulterating their unique musical chemistry.

Their 1993 follow-up album, Cuckoo, was well received by both their fans and the press. When asked about her still melancholy tone in the face of such acceptance, Halliday told Gary Lineker of Raygun magazine, I dont know why, but every time I open my mouth, a minor melody seems to come out. When asked about her goals, the singer told Strobes Levy, My main wish is to tell great stories, to teach. Its alright to be terrible, and its alright to be brilliant, but to be mediocre is the worst thing ever.

Selected discography

Blindfold (EP), Anxious Records, 1991.

Frozen (EP), Anxious Records, 1991.

Cherry (EP), Anxious Records, 1991.

Faît Accompli (EP), Anxious Records, 1991.

Doppelgänger, Anxious Records, 1992.

Pubic Fruit (U.S.) Anxious/Charisma, 1992.

Blackerthreetracker (EP), Anxious/Charisma, 1993.

Cuckoo, Anxious/Charisma, 1993.

Sources

B-Side, December 1993/January 1994.

Billboard, April 18, 1992; October 9, 1993.

Details, August 1992.

Guitar Player, June 1992; August 1992; December 1992.

Melody Maker, February 29, 1992; March 14, 1992; June 20, 1992; July 4, 1992; December 19, 1992; June 5, 1993; August 21, 1993; August 28, 1993; September 11, 1993; September 18, 1993.

Musician, February 1992.

Raygun, November 1993.

Rolling Stone, May 14, 1992.

Spin, April 1992; January 1993.

Strobe, January/February 1994.

Additional information for this profile was obtained from Virgin Records press material, 1994.

Charlie Katagiri

Curve

views updated May 29 2018

Curve

In general usage, a curve is a line that is not straight, but continuously and smoothly bends throughout its length. With respect to analytic geometry, a curve is defined as the set of points in a coordinate system that are defined by an equation (whose coordinates are functions of an independent variable) and satisfy a definite set of conditions within the equation. Such a definition, however, includes a line as a type of curve.

Curves were studied by numerous scientists throughout the history of mathematics and the sciences. Many Greek geometers (mathematicians who specialize in geometry) studied curves. Specifically, geometer and astronomer Apollonius of Perga (c. 262190 BC) studied them along with conic sections. They were also used by German astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler (15711630) when he studied astronomy and developed his laws of planetary motion.

Informally, one can picture a curve as either a line, a line segment, or a figure obtained from a line or a line segment by having the line or line segment bent, stretched, or contracted in any way. A plane curve, such as a circle, is one that lies in a plane; a curve in three dimensional space, such as one on a sphere or cylinder, is called a skew curve.

Plane curves are frequently described by equations such as y = f(x) or F(x, y) = 0. For example, y = 3x + 2 is the equation of a line through (1, 5) and (2, 8) and <\d> x2 + y2 - 9 = 0 is the equation of a circle with center at (0, 0) and radius 3. Both of the

curves described by the equations y = 3x + 2 and x2 + y2 - 9 = 0 are examples of algebraic curves. On the other hand, a curve described by an equation such as y = cos x is an example of a transcendental curve since it involves a transcendental function.

Another way of describing a curve is by means of parametric equations. For example, the parabola y = x2 can be described by the parametric equations x = t, y = t2 and the helix by x = a cos θ, y = asin θ, I = bθ.

A closed curve is a curve with no endpoints such as a circle or a figure eight. A curve that does not cross itself is a simple curve. Therefore, a circle is a simple closed curve whereas a figure eight is closed but not simple. Figure 1 shows another simple closed curve, a curve that is simple but not closed, and a curve that is closed but not simple.

curve

views updated May 29 2018

curve / kərv/ • n. a line or outline that gradually deviates from being straight for some or all of its length. ∎  a place where a road deviates from a straight path. ∎  (curves) a curving contour of a woman's figure. ∎  a line on a graph (whether straight or curved) showing how one quantity varies with respect to another: the population curve. ∎  a system in which grades are assigned to students based on their performance relative to other students, regardless of their actual knowledge of the subject: grades were marked on a curve. ∎  Baseball another term for curveball.• v. form or cause to form a curve: [intr.] her mouth curved in a smile [tr.] starting with arms outstretched, curve the body sideways.

Curve

views updated Jun 11 2018

Curve

Informally, one can picture a curve as either a line, a line segment, or a figure obtained from a line or a line segment by having the line or line segment bent, stretched, or contracted in any way. A plane curve, such as a circle , is one that lies in a plane; a curve in three dimensional space, such as one on a sphere or cylinder, is called a skew curve.

Plane curves are frequently described by equations such as y = f(x) or F(x,y) = 0. For example, y = 3x + 2 is the equation of a line through (1,5) and (2,8) and x2 + y2 9 = 0 is the equation of a circle with center at (0,0) and radius 3. Both of the curves described by the equations y = 3x + 2 and x2 + y2 - 9 = 0 are examples of algebraic curves. On the other hand, a curve described by an equation such as y = cos x is an example of a transcendental curve since it involves a transcendental function .

Another way of describing a curve is by means of parametric equations. For example, the parabola y = x2 can be described by the parametric equations x = t, y = t2 and the helix by x = a cos θ, y = a sin θ, I = b θ.

A closed curve is a curve with no endpoints such as a circle or a figure eight. A curve that does not cross itself is a simple curve. So a circle is a simple closed curve whereas a figure eight is closed but not simple. Figure 1 shows another simple closed curve, a curve that is simple but not closed, and a curve that is closed but not simple.

curve

views updated Jun 08 2018

curve †curved XV; sb. short for curve line XVII. — L. curvus, app. rel. to Gr. kurtós curved, and further to circus CIRCLE, corōna CROWN.
So curve vb. XVII. — L. curvāre. curvature XV. — OF. or L.