Singer-guitarist Daniel Ash and drummer Kevin Haskins — who spent large swaths of the ’80s and ’90s performing together in the seminal acts Bauhaus, Tones on Tail and Love and Rockets — are reuniting to form a new band called Poptone with Haskins’ daughter Diva that will perform the music of those three classic acts on tour in the U.S. this summer.
Details of the project, including tour dates, have not yet been an announced. But a representative of the group confirms to Slicing Up Eyeballs that Poptone will take to the road this summer in the U.S. to perform the music of Bauhaus, Tones on Tail and Love and Rockets.
UPDATE: Poptone has announced its first public performance, on April 20 at Swing House Studios in Los Angeles. Tickets for the 250-capacity performance, priced at $75, are on sale now via Ash’s website.
UPDATE #2: With that performance sold out, Poptone has added a second show, on April 21 at Swing House Studios. Again, tickets are limited to 250 people, and this time are priced at $95. That includes a T-shirt, sticker and copy of the setlist, and those tickets are on sale now.
Diva Dompe, Haskins’ daughter, is a musician in her own right who previously played in BlackBlack.
Haskins and Ash, who have been DJing together of late, last played together in Bauhaus, with Haskins’ brother David J and frontman Peter Murphy, during a 2006 reunion and in Love and Rockets, again with David J, in a 2008 reunion. The comparatively short-lived Tones on Tail, which featured Ash, Haskins and bassist Glenn Campling, only ever performed live in 1984.
Fans will no doubt be overjoyed by Ash’s change of tune. After the the Bauhaus and Love and Rockets reunions in the 2000s, he swore off working with his old bandmates. In fact, in 2009 Ash told Slicing Up Eyeballs he was done with those groups:
“It’s boring for me to do those songs that are so old. … You’ve got to realize we’d been working in one capacity or another since 1979. That’s like a lifetime, you know. Time to move on.”
It’s not yet known whether Poptone will also dip into the small but beloved catalog of The Bubblemen.
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- Peter Murphy to release ‘Bare-Boned and Sacred’ live album from stripped-down tour
- David J pens ‘Who Killed Mister Moonlight?’ memoir — read excerpt on Ian Curtis
- Check out Daniel Ash’s electro makeover of Love and Rockets’ 1989 hit ‘So Alive’
- Tones on Tail ‘Weird Pop’ vinyl best-of to feature rare and unreleased tracks
- Daniel Ash closes door on Love and Rockets: ‘It’s boring for me to do those songs’
“Fans will no doubt be overjoyed by Ash’s change of tune”
Money talks, and these guys know without Peter Murphy there are not many other options. Solo careers have not been productive recently – so you fall back on what will sell…
This is the best case scenario, they can’t tour Bauhaus without Peter, they can’t tour Tones on Tail because too underground…Love and Rockets without David J is a fail….
Makes perfect sense, but again without David J, it’s not ‘what it could be’…
Any Canadian dates? Toronto?
YASSSS. Tones on Tail has been coming up a lot on the ol’ shuffle and it holds up.
Cannot wait! Come to Florida, anywhere. Will be there!
I’ve got to see this….. I try not to relive those long ago moments, but these guys are awesome in any context. Tell me where …. tell me when…
I was just playing Tones On Tail a few days ago and was lamenting that I missed seeing them live. I am BEYOND excited!!!
Can’t wait to hear Daniel and Kevin again! So love Danial’s distinct style in guitar. NYC is waiting with open arms ❤
This is absolutely great news… I need to get my Daniel Ash/Love and Rockets fix…One can’t help but wish for a full scale Love and Rockets reunion but we must not be greedy because I really thought we’d heard the last live music from Daniel Ash and Kevin Haskins…Oh and congrats on bringing the site back.. you were missed!
This is fantastic news.
Automatics on the setlist, right?:
So Alive
Go!
Christian Says
Ok This is the Pops
There’s Only One
Slice of Life
I would like to see:
(mostly barred all David J & David J cowritten compositions)
It Could Be Sunshine
All in my Mind
Hope
War
Twist
Performance
Burning Skies
Largatija Nick w Diva performing vox
Daniel pull the fucking sax out already man!
***and use as many backing tracks as needed!!!
go lush like Roxy Music not raw like the early Clash!!!
Money talks someone said, but think again, Bauhaus could pull big crowds and earn them a lot, but Daniel’s last solo tour actually left him with a big debt. This is going to be club shows, and with production costs deducted, I doubt it’s going to get him a swimming pool.
I hope the turnout for these shows will be great, and I’m excited that this isn’t strictly one of his previous bands. This is going to be very free and creative, pulling songs from all sources. Wobble!!
Really excited to see this. Heck, just excited to see Daniel doing ANYTHING live now, but to finally get the chance to see Tones material live is making me very happy.
Will there be another LA date? I have a ticket for Coachella for these dates – I’ll definitely go if another is added.
I don’t see what the big deal is, other than Daniel playing on tour with Kev? I mean, yea, he’s touring! But, if you’ve had the chance to see Daniel on tour solo: he does play Tones on Tail and those later BAUHAUS tracks from “Burning” (which he did vox on).
I think all the excitement is due to the internet goths and the “post-punk” resurgence. Hell, at the Peter Murphy “35 years of BAUHAUS” tour, it was all these fucking “bearded lesbians” (aka Hipsters); yet when Peter toured a year later, none of those kids were at the show.
Whatever’s trendy, I guess…
Anyway, stoked to see you again — and in this incarnation.
-An old Asshole from Boston
The concert was great here in San Diego few days ago, thank you Poptone, I love you guys ‘-)