Crime & the City Solution
Biography Crime & the City Solution
Crime & the City Solution
Crime & the City Solution VI, the latest embodiment of the band Simon Bonney formed in 1977 in Sydney, includes Bonney on vocals, Bronwyn Adams on violin, backing vocals, loops and found sound, highly respected Berlin based Australian drummer Chris Hughes, Floridian synth and guitar maestro Georgio Valentino, Berlin based bass player Baron Anastis and long-time collaborator and friend, Melbourne guitarist and pianist Donald Baldie.
Formed in Sydney by Simon Bonney at the age of 16, Crime & the City Solution’s early performances from 1977-1979 had a big impact on key figures of the early Melbourne art-punk/post punk scene. In 1984, Bad Seed Mick Harvey shipped Bonney to England to form the London based Crime with their friend the brilliant and ever influential ex-Birthday Party guitarist Rowland S Howard, with his brother Harry Howard on bass and Epic Soundtracks on drums. Two years on, having toured Europe, the UK and US and released several EPs and an album, this lineup reached its zenith at its finale in a historic swansong performance in Wim Wenders’ cinematic masterpiece ‘Wings of Desire’.
Bonney has said his true voice and the definitive sound he sought emerged with the next, Berlin based incarnation of Crime & the City Solution, which recorded three studio albums and a live CD between 1986 and 1991. With a more experimental sound, which drew less on Melbourne post punk scene roots and took a more explorative musical approach, this lineup was 50% Berliner and featured Einstürzende Neubauten’s Alexander Hacke on guitar, ex-DAF/Liaisons Dangereuses electronic genius Chrislo Haas on vintage Korg patchbay synth, and free jazz bassist Thomas Stern. The lineup was completed by Australians Mick Harvey on drums and Bonney’s longtime lyrical collaborator Bronwyn Adams on violin.
In 2012, now based in their new home city of Detroit, the band returned with their fifth studio album, American Twilight: “as much an elegy to the American Dream that’s turned into a global nightmare as it is a damn fine rock & roll album” -The Quietus
