the Auteurs

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = The Auteurs

| image =

| caption = "

| image_size =

| background = group_or_band

| alias =

| origin = London, England

| genre = {{hlist|Alternative rock|indie pop|baroque pop|Britpop| neo-glamLouise Wener, [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jan/18/luke-haines-britpop-louise-wener "Review: Bad Vibes by Luke Haines"], The Guardian, 17 January 2009. Retrieved 25 March 2019.}}

| years_active = 1991–1999

| label = Hut Records

| associated_acts = Black Box Recorder

| website =

| current_members =

| past_members = Luke Haines
Alice Readman
Glenn Collins
James Banbury
Barny C. Rockford

}}

The Auteurs were a British alternative rock band of the 1990s,{{Cite news|last=Hodgkinson|first=Will|title=The Auteurs: Now I am a Cowboy|newspaper=The Times|language=en|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/the-auteurs-now-i-am-a-cowboy-s8f7k6cnmdw|access-date=2021-05-05|issn=0140-0460}} and a vehicle for songwriter Luke Haines (guitar, piano and vocals).{{cite book

| first= Martin C.

| last= Strong

| year= 2000

| title= The Great Rock Discography

| edition= 5th

| publisher= Mojo Books

| location= Edinburgh

| pages= 35–36

| isbn= 1-84195-017-3}}

History

Formerly a member of the Servants,{{Cite web|title=Luke Haines|url=https://fracturedair.com/tag/luke-haines/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518195750/http://fracturedair.com/tag/luke-haines/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=18 May 2015|access-date=2021-05-05|website=FRACTURED AIR|language=en}} Haines created the Auteurs with his then-girlfriend Alice Readman on bass guitar,{{Cite web|title=Put out more flags|url=https://www.newstatesman.com/books/2009/01/luke-haines-vibes-britpop|access-date=2021-05-05|website=www.newstatesman.com|language=en}} former classmate Glenn Collins on drums,{{Cite web|date=2015-04-29|title=The Auteurs|url=https://www.toppermost.co.uk/the-auteurs/|access-date=2021-05-05|website=Toppermost|language=en-US}} and later added James Banbury on cello.

The Auteurs demo tape and gig led to the band gaining a recording contract with Hut.{{Cite web|title=The Fall Of The Outsider: Luke Haines|url=https://www.clashmusic.com/features/the-fall-of-the-outsider-luke-haines|access-date=2021-05-05|website=Clash Magazine|date=7 May 2012 |language=en}} Their first single "Show Girl" was praised by the British music magazine Melody Maker and the album New Wave (1993) was nominated for a Mercury Music Prize.{{cite book|title=The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=Virgin Books|date=1997|edition=Concise|isbn=1-85227-745-9|page=66}} The Auteurs later became associated with the Britpop movement. However this association was not liked by Haines, who frequently made derogatory remarks about his peers. After New Wave, the band remained on the fringes of the music scene. Drummer Glen Collins was replaced by Barny C. Rockford, after being headhunted from Out of My Hair by producer Phil Vinall. Their next album Now I'm a Cowboy (1994), built on the themes of New Wave and contained Haines' best known song, "Lenny Valentino". Demonstrating, again, their difference from their musical peers, the band's next release was The Auteurs vs. μ-Ziq, Auteurs songs remixed by producer μ-Ziq (aka Michael Paradinas). In interviews at the time Haines claimed he found contemporary techno and house music more interesting than most Britpop bands.{{Cite web|date=2017-02-15|title=Britpop songs – 10 of the best|url=http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2017/feb/15/britpop-songs-10-of-the-best-oasis-blur-pulp|access-date=2021-05-05|website=the Guardian|language=en}}

In 1996, The Auteurs released After Murder Park, produced by Steve Albini, and it included "Land Lovers", "Unsolved Child Murder", and "Buddha". The album was recorded at Abbey Road Studios following a year during which Haines had spent most of his time in a wheelchair after jumping off a wall. Haines made the Baader Meinhof album as a solo artist under the name Baader Meinhof, using some musicians from the Auteurs. The Auteurs supported Baader Meinhof at a London show in Camden's Dingwalls. The last Auteurs record, How I Learned to Love the Bootboys, was released in 1999.{{Cite web|date=1999-07-04|title=The Auteurs - How I Learned To Love The Bootboys {{!}} Album Reviews|url=https://www.musicomh.com/reviews/albums/the-auteurs-how-i-learned-to-love-the-bootboys|access-date=2021-05-05|website=musicOMH|language=en-GB}} Alice Readman left the band around the time of the last album, and was replaced by various musicians for live/touring purposes.

Post-Breakup

Haines worked as one third of the art-pop band Black Box Recorder. In 2001 he released the soundtrack album to the film Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry, rapidly followed by his first solo album proper, The Oliver Twist Manifesto. 2003 saw him release Das Capital, a collection of re-recorded Auteurs era songs, with a couple of new tracks, apparently intended as closure for that band.

Banbury went on to record an album with Paul Morley under the name Infantjoy,{{Cite web|title=Infant Joy|url=https://michaelputland.com/infant-joy-paul-morley-james-banbury/|access-date=2021-05-05|website=Michael Putland|language=en-US}} entitled Where the Night Goes{{Cite web|title=Where The Night Goes {{!}} Simon Corder|url=https://www.simoncorder.com/where-the-night-goes/|access-date=2021-05-05|language=en-GB}} featuring a vocal performance by Sarah Nixey{{Cite web|last=Corder|first=Simon|title=Sarah Nixey {{!}} Simon Corder|url=https://www.simoncorder.com/tag/sarah-nixey/|access-date=2021-05-05|language=en-GB}} of Black Box Recorder singing a version of Japan's "Ghosts". An Infantjoy album – With – was released in 2006 with collaborators including Tunng, Isan and Populous. {{Cite web|date=2006-10-15|title=CD: Infantjoy, With (Service AV)|url=http://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/oct/15/shopping.electronicmusic|access-date=2021-05-05|website=the Guardian|language=en}}

In January 2009, Haines released a book entitled Bad Vibes,{{Cite web|last=Wener|first=Louise|date=2009-01-18|title=Review: Bad Vibes by Luke Haines|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jan/18/luke-haines-britpop-louise-wener|access-date=2021-05-05|website=the Guardian|language=en}} which serves dually as an autobiographical account of his years with the Auteurs, and as a record of the Britpop movement of the 1990s. Throughout the book, he never refers to James Banbury by name, referring to him simply as "the Cellist", although he is named in full in the acknowledgements. Banbury later worked with Pete Davis under the name Dadahack. Their debut album TAP3 was a hybrid cassette/mp3 playing device and was released in April 2010.

In 2014, British independent label 3 Loop Music re-released all of the Auteurs' albums (along with Haines' "Baader Meinhoff" album) as expanded editions which featured b-sides, demos, radio session tracks, live recordings and remixes. New Wave and Baader Meinhoff were also re-released by the label on heavyweight 180gsm vinyl.{{Cite web|last=Wener|first=Louise|date=2009-01-18|title=Review: Bad Vibes by Luke Haines|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jan/18/luke-haines-britpop-louise-wener|access-date=2021-05-05|website=the Guardian|language=en}}