BORN – July 13,1965 ….. (this is actually a lie concocted during T.V.V days)
Grew up in Crawley Sussex. In ’75’ saw girlfriends cousin play a wedding with his band BASTARD later to become THE DAMNED .Girlfriends cousin— ‘BRIAN JAMES’. School friend PORL THOMPSON sets up a covers band called EASY CURE in early 1976 later to become THE CURE. TEX joins local band THE EYE. Sees a Brighton band in local pub, fascinated by band he starts bunking off school and hitch-hiking to brighton to hang out with HUGH CORNWALL of THE STRANGLERS. Starts attending many early punk gigs and spends more and more time in Brighton, at one point moving into a squat with JEAN JAQUES BURNEL of THE STRANGLERS. In 1977 Tex moved to London to begin his Punk career in earnest.
PEROXIDE ROMANCE……….. 1977-1978
- Lenny – Vocals and all round inspirer
- Dave Martin – Guitar – later to join CHELSEA
- Neil – Guitar
- Steve ‘Rudi’ Thompson – Saxophone, later to join X-RAY-SPEX, THE MEMBERS, LORDS OF THE NEW CHURCH.
- Tex – Bass
- Rob – Drums, later to go to prison for armed robbery and upon release to joinTHE UNWANTED
Played about 80 gigs in and around London, The Vortex was the main gig spot due to them being managed by Barbara mgr. of the Vortex itself , also The Nashville, The Marquee, The Red Cow, The 100 Club, The Roxy, The Man in the moon, and various other toilets.
THE MOORS MURDERERS ….. 1978-1978
- Steve Strange— Vocals, later to become, not only a complete wanker, but also leader of the New Romantic movement and his group VISAGE
- Chrissy Hynde—Guitars, later to become THE PRETENDERS
- Topper Headon—Drums, borrowed from THE CLASH
- Tex—Bass
This band never managed to play a gig,but did achieve an unsurpassed notoriety by recording a single for Jet Records called “FREE MOIRA HINDLEY” one of Britain’s notorious Moors murder child killers, still in prison to this day. The record was banned before it was ever released, and the band appeared in The Sun Newspaper all wearing black plastic garbage bags over their heads. The British nation was appalled, Punk’s were the scourge of society at that time. Even with bags over their heads Steve and Tex were somehow recognized on Oxford street and beaten up very badly by members of the public.
THE SNIVELLING SHITS …….. 1978-1978
A mystery band, No one quite knows who was ever in this band, although it is believed to be the work of Giovanni Dodomo – a writer at N.M.E at the time. Rumored members were from Eddie & the Hot Rods, The Only Ones, and Tex has always claimed to have been a part. Released one single:TERMINAL STUPID / I CANT COME.
X-RAY-SPEX …… 1978-1979
- Poly-Styrene—Vocals
- Jak Airport—-Guitar, later to join CLASSIX NOUVEUX
- Paul—-Bass
- Steve Rudi Thompson—saxophones
- B.P Hurding— Drums, later to join CLASSIX NOUVEUX
X-Ray-Spex was a very successful punk band with songs like Germ Free Adolescents, Artificial, Oh Bondage-Up Yours, released many singles and one album on E.M.I. Tex joined the band just as it was falling to bits ,after polystyrene had a nervous breakdown and became a Hari Krishna. Initially taking over poly’s role the band continued before paul (Bass) left. the band changed their name to AGENT ORANGE before splintering into two parts. Jak and B.P left to join CLASSIX and Rudi and Tex stayed as Agent Orange.
THE OUTPATIENTS ….. 1979-1982
- Tom Newton—Bass
- Nick Burt – Guitars
- Paddy Carrol – Guitars
- Jents Olsen – Drums
- Tex Axile – Vocals
The Outpatients were the best, only one single exists, on Albion Records produced by Nicky Tesco (MEMBERS). the song was NEW JAPANESE HAIRSTYLES / CHILDREN. They played hundreds of gigs.Very theatrical. Tex used to start the set by being carried on stage nailed into a coffin, and would then proceed to sing the fist song from inside, lots of masks, props, swords, and even a huge plastic inflatable dolphin, for the song ‘Jaques Couseau’. Broke his ankle once on stage from excessive antics. Played all the spots of the time Music Machine, Marquee, Lyceum, Hope and Anchor, Moonlight Club, toured supporting THE MEMBERS, Played the 100 club supported by THE POLICE.Did a long stint at the Windsor Castle with friend JOHN ASHTONS new band THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS.Also played gigs with U.2, Ultravox,Wire, X.T.C, Headlined the fabled Roxy 48 hour Xmas party in 1980. They were way ahead of their time and should have been huge, Alas they fell apart in 1982.
R.V.K. ….. 1982-1983
- Chris Thompkinson – Bass
- Cree McKenzie – Guitars
- Alex – Keyboards
- Phil – Drums
- Tex Axile – Vocals
The less said about this the better. A band comprised of Old Etonians ( very posh British Public School) Managed by another old etonian, Kim Kindersley, an old friend of tex’s. It was very much like Genesis / Yes and was produced by Robin (the Earl of Baccardi ) Lumley of BRAND X. Played lots of upper class parties, the Embassy club in London and events on the Debutante Social calender. Dreadful music, although Tex says about this period of time; “Yeah the band was terrible ,but I was having the time of my life shagging all of those upper class birds and staying in the most beautiful houses that I had ever seen. I even got invited up to Victor Lownes (PLAYBOY CLUBS BOSS) house STOCKS where all of the Playboy Bunnies were trained. I probably overstayed my welcome (every weekend for three months) but I sure had the time of my life.”
SOLO WORK ….. 1983-1986
Tex Axile—All instruments and vocals . All work was executed under the name Qxx
Released album ‘THE SILENCE OF THE BIG SPACE’ ltd. edition. 1000 copies all in blank sleeves were arranged on a warehouse floor and tex executed one giant painting over the whole lot, so that each sleeve was 1/1000 th of a giant 1000 sq.ft. painting. Each album came with a master photo showing the piece that you owned. Released on the” CHIEN MECHANT” Label 1984. cat no. C.M 01
Tracks;
- 1-VIOLENCE
- 2-WORK
- 3-RED,YELLOW,BLUE
- 4-GIVE US MORE ( NUCLEAR POWER)
- 5-IN THE RELAXING MOOD (MODE)
Released single ‘GIVE US MORE NUCLEAR POWER’ in exactly the same format as the album.The B side has a series of pictures relative to the subject actually ENGRAVED into the vinyl. It is a very pretty work of art and becomes the ULTIMATE throw-away ‘B’ side because you cant actually play it ,only look at it. CHIEN MECHANT 1986. cat no. Qxx02
Tracks:
- A-side:–GIVE US MORE NUCLEAR POWER
- B-side:–ENGRAVED PICTURES (not to be played)
Also recorded four instrumental pieces in 1985, for a series of work entitled “Music—Seen but not heard”. Each piece was about 20 mins long. Pressed up 250 cassettes of each piece of music and then super glued the cassettes together to form a sculpture. This sculpture was then exhibited and as the master tape was played, the sculpture was set on fire. Also as the master tape passed through the tape recorder it was not wound onto the second reel , but fed onto the burning sculpture.
CHIEN MECHANT 1985. cat no.
C.M.C 01:— INDUSTRY. exhibited June 1985 at Olympia art fair London. Destroyed
C.M.C 02:— PAP MUSIC. exhibited June 1985 at The Serpentine Gallery London Destroyed
C.M.C 03:— MELTING ENO BY STORM, exhibited August 1985 at Industria gallery Paris. Destroyed
C.M.C 04:— MODERN RUSSIAN TEA ROOM. exhibited December 1985 at Arena Gallery New York. Destroyed.
As you can see Tex went through a period of combining Music and Art. Most of this work is extremely difficult to come by, if not impossible. He also completed a large number of Paintings during this period, and exhibited in a number of art galleries in London, Paris and New York.
TRANSVISION VAMP ….. 1986-1992
- Wendy James—Vocals, Later to release solo album’ NOW AINT THE TIME FOR YOUR TEARS’
- Nick Christian Sayer—Guitars
- Dave Parsons—Bass, Later to join ‘FUTURE PRIMITIVE’ who six months later became ‘BUSH’
- Tex Axile—Drums / Keyboards /Programming
Transvision Vamp were a hugely successful pop / punk band, charting with everything that they released.Selling in total about 4 million albums with no.1 singles all over the world. An extremely energetic and exciting live show took the band all over the world for the five years that they were together. The live show was augmented by musicians MALLETT on Drums and JAZ PIPER on Guitars. There is too much info on vamp to list here, but you can follow the links on the main page to learn more. There are lots of reviews and a complete history on these pages.
MAX ….. 1992-1994
- Kevin Mooney – Vocals, ex-Adam and the Ants
- John Reynolds – Drums ex-Sinead O’connor
- Matthew Ashman – Guitar ex-Adam and the Ants, Bow Wow Wow
- John Keogh – Bass
- Tex – Keyboards
Band recorded album ‘SILENCE RUNNING’ produced by TREVOR HORN and released on RED DOT RECORDS Great band , a fore runner of THE VERVE the band came apart after being dropped by Warners. John Keogh died just as this was happening, to be followed by Matthew Ashman six months later.
SOLO WORK ….. 1995- ?
Tex Axile
- All Instruments
- All Vocals
- Production
- Artwork
- Photos
Released solo album ‘DIARY OF A GENIUS in 1997 on SPERMBOY PRODUCT
- 1—THIS LOVELY WORLD
- 2—CAR IN A LAKE
- 3—I LOVE
- 4—A LA MAISON
- 5—SO HARD
- 6—CUT THROAT
- 7—BETTY
- 8—SLUGS & SNAILS
- 9—A,B,F,C,& P.
- 10–BLUE
You can order this album through the main site.
Tex now lives in New York primarily, but also has a house in the Pyrenees France where he spends time. It is not unusual to find him in Cadaques Spain, or Barcelona, which is only a couple of hours drive from his French residence. This is a general overview of Tex’s output although he has been involved in many other projects with many other musicians. If you feel that something is missing from this page, please E -AIL from the main site and we can add it.
