KNOX BIOG:
There are two biogs on
here, the first is a longish general one, and the second one is a shorter more
musically specific one, take your pick.
KNOX (Ian M.
Carnochan) GENERAL BIOGRAPHY (8/2/2004)
KNOX, real name Ian M. Carnochan, was born in London in 1945, and spent his
formulative years in Cricklewood and then Watford, where he became interested in
the guitar at the age of thirteen. He was in various school bands, mainly based
at Watford Grammar School, the RENEGADES (black shirts and sunglasses) and KNOX
AND THE KNIGHT RYDERS, but this was gradually put on the back-burner when he went
to art school (WATFORD, and WEST OF ENGLAND) and developed a keen interest in
painting.
Knox's painting was inspired by both classical artists, and contempory artists
like Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol, Peter Blake, Richard Hamilton, etc., and one of
Knox's friends' called Andrew Garnet-Lawson. (Knox painted continuously from 1967
until 1992.)
In 1974 Knox returned to playing music and in early 1976 was a founder member of
THE VIBRATORS, one of the very first punk bands in the U.K. As well as being the
frontman he was the main songwriter for the band, writing such hits as "BABY
BABY", "LONDON GIRLS", and "AUTOMATIC LOVER" (all top forty). The band played the
legendary 100 CLUB PUNK FESTIVAL, and also gigged and recorded with CHRIS
SPEDDING which produced the single "POGO DANCING".
Knox also worked as a solo artist, recording an album "PLUTONIUM EXPRESS", which
came out on Razor in 1983. He did two shows working with ALEX CHILTON, (singer
with the BOXTOPS "THE LETTER", and later in BIG STAR) one of which came out as
the album "LIVE IN LONDON". Then in 1983 Knox played guitar and wrote material
for the URBAN DOGS, a band with CHARLIE HARPER from the U.K. SUBS (another punk
band), producing an album of the same name. In 1984 Knox started the FALLEN
ANGELS which exclusively performed his material. He used HANOI ROCKS
(Scandinavian precursors to Guns And Roses) as his recording band.
With the renewed interest in punk the original line-up of THE VIBRATORS reformed
in 1983, and has continued working until the present day doing several tours a
year. The band produced a further fifteen studio albums (their latest "ENERGIZE"
is out on Track Records), numerous live albums, compilation albums and albums of
early demos. The vast majority of the songs being written by Knox. During this
period a further two URBAN DOGS albums with material written by Knox were
released, plus two more FALLEN ANGELS albums written entirely by him. Knox's main
lyrical inspiration came from Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, Bob Dylan, and
Iggy Pop.
Knox is also writing some sci-fi/horror stories, and recently wrote a book on the
Vibrators - "nobody else seemed interested in doing it so I did it". The
inspiration for the sci-fi/horror stories are Ray Bradbury, Larry Niven, Isaac
Azimov, and Stephen King, but Knox is hoping to bring his own particular brand of
black humour, present in his lyrics, into these stories.
Knox is a very prolific songwriter and to date his two most successful covers are
the ballad "BABY BABY" which sold in excess of 250,000 copies when recorded by
DIE TOTEN HOSEN in Germany, (and was also recorded by R.E.M. as a Christmas
single for their fan club); and "TROOPS OF TOMORROW" covered by THE EXPLOITED
(the title track of their top twenty album). Currently Knox is about to record a
sixteenth studio album with the Vibrators, as well as being involved in several
other musical project. He's also updating his book on the Vibrators so it contains
the whole of the band's twenty-seven year history; trying to pull together his
sci-fi novel, and produce a lot more paintings. He recently painted portraits of
the late Joe Strummer, Joey Ramone, etc., as well as Leatherface (he of
the baby skin mask) from the film "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre".
KNOX (Ian M. Carnochan) MUSIC BIOGRAPHY (31/10/2002)
KNOX was a founder member of THE VIBRATORS, one of the very first punk bands in
the U.K., formed early in 1976. As well as being the frontman he was the main
songwriter for the band, writing such hits as "BABY BABY", "LONDON GIRLS",
AUTOMATIC LOVER" (all top forty), etc. The band played the legendary 100 CLUB
PUNK FESTIVAL, and also gigged and recorded with CHRIS SPEDDING which produced
the single "POGO DANCING".
Knox also worked as a solo artist, recording an album "PLUTONIUM EXPRESS", which
came out on Razor in 1983.
He did two shows working with ALEX CHILTON, (singer with the BOXTOPS "THE
LETTER", and later in BIG STAR) one of which came out as the album "LIVE IN
LONDON".
In 1983 Knox played guitar and wrote material for the URBAN DOGS, a band with
CHARLIE HARPER from the U.K. SUBS (another punk band), producing an album of the
same name.
In 1984 Knox started the FALLEN ANGELS which exclusively performed his material.
He used HANOI ROCKS (Scandinavian precursors to Guns And Roses) as his recording
band.
With the renewed interest in punk the original line-up of THE VIBRATORS reformed
in 1983, and has continued working until the present day doing several tours a
year. The band produced a further FIFTEEN studio albums (the latest "ENERGIZE" is
out on Track Records), several live albums, and albums of demos. The vast
majority of the songs being written by Knox. During this period a further URBAN
DOGS album with material written by Knox was released, plus two more FALLEN
ANGELS albums written entirely by him.
Knox is a very prolific songwriter and to date his two most successful covers are
the ballad "BABY BABY" which sold in excess of 250,000 copies when recorded by
DIE TOTEN NOSEN in Germany in 1992, (and was also recorded by R.E.M. in 1992 as a
Christmas single for their fan club!); and "TROOPS OF TOMORROW" covered by THE
EXPLOITED (the title track of their top twenty album), the U.K. SUBS and the
URBAN DOGS.
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Copyright 2002,
Knox
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Last update: 31 Oct. 2002.