CHICKS ON SPEED - "99 CENTS "…………VERY CHEAP!
On the eve of the long awaited release, of the 3rd Chicks on Speed album, many fans are wondering, "what can the chix possibly do next"!?. Chicks on Speed have explored and exploited all facets of music and art, but there is still one they have yet but touched, that of pop capitalism! "99 cents" is an album devoted to CHEAP ART! An art that is for everyon. Anyone can own "99 cents", but, not everyone can own a jeff koons painting!!! COS set out to revolutionize the art world with "99 cents" and turn high art into low art, making the art of Chicks on Speed, accessible to all!
A SHORT HISTORY OF COS
Chicks on Speed started as a fake band behind the Munich art academy in 1997, instead of attending classes they would organize their weekly illegal parties under the name Seppi bar. The three members, kiki moorse (germany), Melissa Logan (new york) and Alex Murray-Leslie (Australia) came together from all over the globe to create their own personal, international, "do it yourself" melting pot style! Establishing themselves in the fields of pop music, painting, graphic design, fashion and performing at "happenings" in art galleries, the 3 quickly received a reputation as being a group who liked to BREAK THE RULES and have fun at the same time!
"we may take off our skirts, but we won´t wear any pants"
cos 1997 COS have matured over the past 5 years, since the NME and FACE magazine began hyping them in at the beginning of their artistic careers in1998. Bearly even giving the chix time to develop and mature as artists, they were thrown into the music industry frying pan, from day one of bringing out their first 7" warm leatherette in 1998! It was do or die! And they did it relentlessly, ignoring and using the press to their own ends, even designing clothes based on quotes from English, us and isralei press clippings. COS successfully had the last word, over and over again, proving that an art group can survive on its own, with its fans and not with the music media in bed! COS ´s claim to fame may be through their true understanding of MULTI TASKING. The projects that they began as hobbies back then, have grown into fully functioning self supporting homemade structures, enabling the chix to create support networks in which they and their piers can develop artistic freedom. Chicks on Speed have also developed their own creative platforms, to present themselves on in their own terms, in the fields of pop music, fashion and art.
CHICKS ON SPEED….It's a PROJECT
It was always almost impossible for cos to be put into "a box" by any journalist, as they were constantly working in every possible direction in every possible medium at the same time! Cos diversified through making clothes, doing graphic design for magazines, painting boob monsters on the exterior of a building in Melbourne, australia, playing for 5 minutes in front of the prince of Norway in a park in moss, hosting a weekly berlin radio show, running their own web shop http://www.sellout.chicksonspeed.com, (with cos clothes now being available in boutiques in Tokyo, New York and New Zealand) and generally just by doing all this and making pop music hits at the same time! The chix believe in doing everything to the maximum, breaking down boundaries to reeducate, inspire and be inspired! The most important element is the dialog and the cross fertilization of art mediums with music and craft and making it accessible for all!
ITS ALL ABOUT POP!
Chicks on Speed had a number one hit in the german dance charts for 3 months with their smash hit version of "kaltes klares wasser" in 2001, the video receiving high rotation on MTV and VIVA with the chix being invited to perform at the Erricson Dance Awards and Top of The Pops. Chicks on Speed is made to exist on all levels of pop culture underground and overground, no one should be left out, their music is made for people of all walks of life, and everyone is welcome.
"THEY HAVE BECOME A REAL BAND!" self service, magazine, Paris, 2002
Cos never wanted to be a band, but somehow, they sort of slipped into becoming a band, after touring the usa 6 times over the last 3 years and playing numerous festivals in Australia and Europe. They developed a stage show and performance so visually and aurally stimulating that they were invited to support the b52´s on their 25th anniversary show in new york in 2001 at Webster Hall and opened for Kraftwerk and Underworld on the Big Day Out tour of Australia in 2002. A real band………the question still remains…?
CHICKS ON SPEED IS A GROUP THING
"Cos collaborations" with other artists have always been a very strong focus within their work. Cos collaborated with Karl Lagerfeld in 2001 on the cover photo of "Fashion Rules!", worked with the Viennese producer team Gerhard Potuznik and Ramon Bauer on the last 3 Chix albums, created a fashion collection with Jeremy Scott in 2003 called "Overalls for all!" and invited female musicians to contribute to their soon to be released album, " 99 cents" , including Tina Weymouth from tom tom club and Talking Heads, peaches, Nicola from Adult and Miss Kittin. Cos are also currently working with Cristian Vogel in Barcelona on their 4th album to be released in early 2004.
CHICKS ON SPEED RECORDS
The Chix have run their own record label Chicks on speed records with juergen soeder and upstart (peter wacha), since 1997. COS records release COS music and that of Le Tigre, Angie Reed, Dat Politics, Kevin Blechdom and Silvester Boy, supporting their favorite music in the international music arena. The label has had a major impact on the presence of women in the field electronic music, with the ambition of creating a long term infrastructure for and with other women together.
FUCK ART LETS CRAFT!
COS have been been actively involved in the field of graphics design, being invited to design record covers for jim o´rourke, fennez and pita rehberg for the record label Mego, Vienna, pages for sleze nation and the chix continually design all of their own cd covers, posters and web sites, sometimes collaborating with graphics design stars Tina Frank and Walter Schoenauer. COS won an art directors club prize in 1998, and feature in the annual design book Lutzers Archive 2003.
TODAY/TOMORROW
COS are currently working on a book with the London publisher Booth-Clibborn, to be released in October, this year, titled "Chicks on Speed, It´s a project!" the book´s focus is, the many facets of COS. Planned is a book launch and exhibition tour beginning in October 2003, continuing into 2004 at Deitch Project Space in New York, Palais de Tokyo in Paris and Von Rot in Berlin.
If you thought chicks on speed were electroclash, look again! In the tradition of pop music, Chicks on Speed have transformed themselves, into cheap art for all!
Source: http://www.powerline-agency.com
