live action 41

29jun84

tropicana - olympia, usa

william bennett, kevin tomkins, peter sotos

rapemaster, you don't have to say please, ass-destroyer, shitfun, queen myra, bloodfucking, cock dominant

notes: show interrupted by christian fundamentalists outside venue who invade the club / club management ignore their complaints / william bennett provokes some of them even further / christians subsequently call olympia police / police arrive in numbers and break up performance

live action 42

30jun84

ground zero - seattle, usa

william bennett, kevin tomkins, peter sotos

great white death, rapemaster, you don't have to say please, ass-destroyer, shitfun, queen myra, bloodfucking, i'm comin' up your ass, right to kill, we've got the power

notes: support groups are malfunkshun (this was the group of the original pearl jam singer who subsequently died) and a feast of friends

live action 43

03jul84

cargo - montreal, canada

william bennett, kevin tomkins, peter sotos

great white death, rapemaster, you don't have to say please, ass-destroyer, shitfun, queen myra, bloodfucking, i'm comin' up your ass, right to kill, we've got the power

notes: audience 180 / live action videoed

live action 44

11aug84

zoppo - horst, netherlands

william bennett, kevin tomkins, stefan jaworzyn

rapemaster, you don't have to say please, ass-destroyer, sadist, shitfun, my cock's on fire, bloodfucking, i'm comin' up your ass, right to kill, we've got the power

notes: audience 90-100 / live action videoed / no support act

live action 45

18jan85

666 - barcelona, spain

william bennett, kevin tomkins, glenn michael wallis

great white death, rapemaster, you don't have to say please, ass-destroyer, my cock's on fire, we've got the power, death penalty, sadist, thrill-killer, right to kill

notes: audience 300-400 / live action videoed by catalan TV / no support act / spanish national radio interview conducted

special biographical note: ‘Thrill-killer’ was a song written by Kevin Tomkins that was never recorded in the studio.

live action 46

19jan85

666 - barcelona, spain

william bennett, kevin tomkins, glenn michael wallis

great white death, you don't have to say please, my cock's on fire, we've got the power, death penalty,

notes: audience 400-500 / live action videoed by Catalan TV / no support act / local pirate radio interview conducted

special biographical note: This was to be the last Whitehouse live action for five years. All members of Whitehouse went to live outside London for varying reasons and pursued separate lives. There was a feeling in the group that all that could be achieved had been realised culminating in the very successful shows in Barcelona and the ‘Great White Death’ LP.

review (translated from Catalan):
Those who possibly didn’t control the distortion as well as Johnny Thunders or the Desechables were Whitehouse, an existential group along the lines of Psychic TV (sic) or Throbbing Gristle but even more extreme. They arrived here preceded by an aura of marginalisation heightened by the pictures of cunts on the concert poster, a show which one imagines isn’t really for the repressed elements amongst our rulers.

The sinister concert venue in Poble Nou was pretty appropriate for the Whitehouse show, a performance which left all of us rather confused. I still remember Cristof’s ironic comments of surprise that the audience put up so stoically with the din of tuneless sounds supplied to us by the three members of Whitehouse. If what this group intends is to provoke, then they fully achieved their aim; helped by beers and a pair of battery-operated mini-keyboards, they caused more destruction than an army of incompetent soldiers. Ramon Súriò (El Món)

live action 47

april90

union tavern - london, uk

william bennett, glenn michael wallis, stefan jaworzyn

thank your lucky stars, shitfun, try and be grateful, birthdeath experience, heads you lose, my cock's on fire

notes: live action videoed by hamish halley / live debut of ‘thank your lucky stars’ subsequently becomes japanese bootleg 7" / support act is god

review:
Despite their five year absence from the live scene, it’s all too easy to understand what Whitehouse are all about. They’re the sound of impending mental collapse, the sort of noise your mind makes when it’s waiting for the roof to cave in.

Actually it’s less of a sound than a sense. A feeling confirmed when , halfway through their clinical set of tortuous white noise, an extremely large fan throws his head back, grabs a nearby flight case and hoists it into the air, his mind twisted into an especially evil shape by the punitive squeal.

Discipline is Whitehouse’s overwhelming passion. Musically, they’ve dispensed with pop’s normal ideas of melody and song structure in favour of Laibach-like doses of deharmonised noise, while their live performance echoes that of Non - all black suits, braces* and very forced, overly humorous smiles.

As an introduction, the scalding ‘My Cock's On Fire’ is as good as any. Repulsive, compelling and outstandingly loud, its blatant eroticism encapsulates the band totally, Singer William Bennett, a lithe David Byrne lookalike, struts about screaming the chorus while his smaller counterpart, who’s a dead ringer for Michael Palin, wails along.

In typically antagonistic style, the pair break off occasionally to abuse and taunt their audience. Songs like ‘Shitfun‘ and ‘I'm Comin' Up Your Ass’, with their repetitive riffs and verbal banter, seem hilarious given the group’s ridiculously serious attitude. Imagine Monty Python dressed as Jimmy Somerville singing ‘Time Is Money (Bastard)’ and you’ll get the joke. Sam King (Sounds)

*(Susan Lawly note) Whitehouse wore neither black suits nor braces.

review:
The place is packed, Whitehouse are screaming out white noise and everybody’s as thirsty as hell. The ringing of the tills is probably the sweetest music the landlord of the Union Tavern is hearing right now and it will take more than a mere flesh wound to convince him that the switch should be pulled on this potential ‘riot’.

Horseplay at the front was the cause of the split skull - apparently, an enthusiastic fan threw a metal box in the air and the law of gravity did the rest , . . Crazy? You bet! But perhaps to be expected as Whitehouse carry controversy to their performances along with their equipment.

It gets crazier! During a piece which involves over two minutes of silence, a fan gets up on-stage demanding satisfaction. "You need discipline," he howls. "No," grins Whitehouse member Glenn Michael Wallis, "You do!" The fan is then debagged, put over Glenn’s knee and given a sound spanking. He seems to enjoy it! The two minute silence falls on deaf eyes, screams of "GERRONWIVVIT!" fill the air while vocalist William Bennett gives an outstretched Las Vegas salute to the snorting throng. Whitehouse plug back in and wrench the volume up full, William’s voice tearing like a dentist’s drill into the most sensitive part of the audience’s ear. Meanwhile the twin synth backing throbs to the beat of the damned, an unholy rumble from the pit of hell. Whitehouse are a body bag of laughs. Edwin Pouncey (NME)

live action 48

28jul90

the venue - london, uk

william bennett, glenn michael wallis, stefan jaworzyn

death penalty, shitfun, try and be grateful, birthdeath experience, twice is not enough, the second coming, my cock's on fire

notes: audience 700 / live action videoed by hamish halley / steve stapleton controls PA sound desk / support act is dreadful punk band

william bennett, glenn michael wallis, stefan jaworzyn

death penalty, you don't have to say please, heads you lose, shitfun, the second coming, birthdeath experience, try and be grateful, my cock's on fire, hungry for pain

notes: audience 200

live action 50

apr91

nuremberg, germany

william bennett, glenn michael wallis, stefan jaworzyn

death penalty, you don't have to say please, heads you lose, birthdeath experience, try and be grateful, my cock's on fire, masters of the overviolence

notes: audience 140-160 / this was rearranged owing to punks threatening the original venue if whitehouse played / only live action where whitehouse ever performed an encore

live action 51

24jun93

spiral club - new york, usa

william bennett, peter sotos, jim goodall

dictator, my cock's on fire, i'm comin' up your ass, the second coming, birthdeath experience, shitfun

notes: audience 125 / support acts are intrinsic action, deadworld and candiru

live action 52

28jun93

mercury - knoxville, usa

william bennett, peter sotos, jim goodall

dictator, my cock's on fire, i'm comin' up your ass, the second coming, birthdeath experience, asking for it, twice is not enough, you don't have to say please, shitfun

notes: audience 65 / live action videoed / local radio interview conducted

live action 53

30jun93

pittsburgh, usa

william bennett, peter sotos, jim goodall

dictator, my cock's on fire, i'm comin' up your ass, the second coming, birthdeath experience, asking for it, twice is not enough, shitfun

notes: audience 85 / no audio recording is available of this performance / support acts are intrinsic action and seemen