JURGEN ENGLER

When Sexagisma broke up, unremarked and barely recorded, in the mid-1980s, even the band’s own members doubted we’d ever hear their name again.

Formed in 1981 as a glam rock party piece, but swiftly developing into one of the most entertaining, not to mention visual, bands on the UK club circuit, Sexagisma made their vinyl debut on that year’s Sing As We Go various artists collection.

A scrapbook’s worth of press mentions and gig flyers followed, as Sexagisma wowed audiences opening for everyone from torch song diva Mari Wilson to goth pioneers Specimen, from the then newly-emerged The Alarm to revitalized glam hit makers The Glitter Band. Twice in three months they stunned The Batcave’s traditionally dour and darkest denizens; they gave the London Marquee its most glittering evening in years… they were, insisted prestigious UK weekly Melody Maker, “ratty and tatty and oozing subterranean sleazeball brilliance.”

But it was also the mid-1980s, and potential pop stardom was built around some very narrowly defined musical templates. And a band that Melody Maker, again, described as “trash rockers… who make The Sweet look like vicars” was never going to break that glass ceiling.

So the band split, the members dispersed, and a fistful of cassettes, a smattering of demos and a few concert recordings were quietly archived. Life went on… a full 40 years worth.

But some fans never forgot. A dedicated Facebook page attracted almost 700 followers based upon fond memories alone; a retrospective article in Goldmine magazine teased American audiences with a resounding “what if?”; and now, with their long, long, loooong delayed debut album poised for release, frontman and songwriter Vaughan Funnell admits, “I’m shocked.” For so many years, “Sexagisma was a bit of a joke about something I did in my 20s. And now, immortalized in plastic. Pink plastic!!!!”

Available also on CD and digital, From The Batcave 1981-1985 comprises 13 Funnell originals, plus a slew of CD bonus tracks drawn from the band’s glam-spanning repertoire of covers – David Bowie, Alice Cooper and The Sweet among them. All have been remastered from the original recordings; all recapture the sheer mayhem and magnificence of Sexagisma in full flight.

First, however, the band’s traditional set opener “Monster Fun” va-va-vooms out of the vault, a high octane “Batcave Deadly Mix” vivaciously remodeled by Die Krupps frontman Jurgen Engler – no stranger himself, of course, to the scene and sounds that nurtured Sexagisma in the first place… and revisiting it, too, with Die Krupps currently on tour with Ministry.

Sexagisma’s accompanying video, too, pays wide-eyed tribute to a live show that featured everything from onstage disemboweling to (probably) simulated sex, with the occasional fire-eater thrown in for good measure. Or, as another period review put it, “a blur of lame and leopardskin, a stage full of smoke… and boy dancer Andy spurting fake blood through the top of his head.”

SINGLE: https://orcd.co/ sexagisma_monsterfun
CD/VINYL: https://cleorecs. com/search?q=sexagisma
DIGITAL: https://orcd.co/ sexagisma_fromthebatcave

Track listing