Dormannu – Illuminated Records 1983

Powdered Lover

Until The Fear

Mates of Sex Gang Children, Danse Society and Skeletal Family, this bunch could certainly out-funk most of the goths, unfortunately it left the band with a slight identity crisis, the public not knowing wether to dance to the percussion led beat, a la Adam And The Ants, or to stand around poseing. Dormannu had several line up changes, and after a 12″ and LP they disappeared and some members put the effort into Lets Wreck Mother, who were a Batcave Club (at Gossips W1) regular band. Maybe I will whack that 12″ up soon.

I seem to remember Simeon looked pretty cool though, a bit Ian Astbury during S.D.C era crossed with Mark Mob. I have just found out after following links in the comments (thanks Nuzz) that Simeon is living a life of a traveller and doing celtic tinged music – Have a look at his myspace site here

I put these tracks on at this time because it is new years eve and I am getting a little too  old to ‘traditionally’ enjoy this night (first side of the single may give a clue) so I decided to stay in with the wife and be sensible!

Richard North Interview

31 comments
  1. Nuzz
    Nuzz
    January 1, 2008 at 12:26 pm

    If yer into yer Dormannu, there’s a peel session, plus some other stuff up for grabs here: http://cactusmouthinformer.blogspot.com/ this singles great but I’m not sure about the rest of their stuff, think I prefer Door and The Window.

  2. Penguin
    Penguin • Post Author •
    January 1, 2008 at 2:25 pm

    I only really liked this single, I have the other stuff but like I say, I think they wanted to hit the big time, esp with the LP, but never managed it. Too danceable for goth, and too goth for the funkers. Early-ish 1980’s Cabaret Voltaire and 23 Skidoo did it better and were slightly more accepted I think.

  3. Nic
    Nic
    January 1, 2008 at 3:15 pm

    I think the ‘goths’ (for want of a better pigeonhole) wanted to like Dormannu (probably because of their style of dress), but the music just didn’t match up…

    I remember quite a few ‘Goths’ I knew liking them at the time of the release of this 12″, but they quickly discarded them like so much post punk shiny colourful detritus…

    Any band with a member called Roger can’t be all bad though…
    😉

    Interesting that one of their guitarists was the brother of the ‘dance artist’ Adamski…which means he was possibly the 2nd member of The Stupid Babies who appeared on the Fast Records ‘Earcom 3’ double 7 inch sampler in 1979 (which is where I first heard the first murmurings of American hardcore through the tracks by The Middle Class)…

  4. richpassivity
    richpassivity
    January 2, 2008 at 2:01 pm

    THE STUPID BABIES? Was that the band who did that song ‘Babysitters’?
    I remember seeing them on BBC1’s ‘Nationwide’ who made a big deal of this punk band with a pre-teen in them!

  5. Nic
    Nic
    January 2, 2008 at 2:41 pm

    Yes, that’s the one, rich!

    They had 2 tracks on the double E.P. (along with great tracks by From Chorley, The Middle Class, DAF, and Noh Mercy)…The second track was ‘Babysitters’ which had the immortal introduction “Hello – can you babysit for Tony?”…

    I did a bit of a search, and found this information online:
    “The Stupid Babies were a two piece consisting of the then 12 year old Adam Tinley on ukelele,(later to become famous as techno bod Adamski) and his 5 year old brother on vocals. They recorded a two song demo on cassette and sent it to Fast Records who included it on the double 7” ep “Earcom 3” issued in 1979. The two songs were the wordless “Baby Blues” and the quite hilarious “Baby Sitters”. They even got to appear on the BBC TV news/magazine programme ‘Nationwide’ where they were interviewed by nice uncle Frank Bough, and performed “Baby Sitters”. I remember Adam wore a demin jacket decked out in Two Tone patches. Adam used the royalties he got from the ep to purchase his first keyboard and later joined a band called Diskord Datkord (featuring a member of Specimen) who issued a 12″ single featuring a cover of X-Ray Spex’s “Identity” in 1988.”

    They were on ‘Nationwide’? Classic!

  6. John Liedown
    John Liedown
    January 3, 2008 at 1:45 am

    Loved this single and only just got reaquainted with it recently through cactusmouthinformer. The album was a shocker though the Play Dead bass replaced with awful disco funk. Well it was the eighties and they probably saw themselves on Frankie’s coat tails.
    Cheers for this and everything else you’ve posted recently.
    Esp The Wall. Anyone got a tidy copy of ‘Dirges & Anthems’ to upload cos mines leathered 🙂
    J

  7. Mark Tinley
    Mark Tinley
    May 8, 2008 at 9:28 am

    Hi there; I wasn’t in “The Stupid Babies” that was my younger brother Dominic but one of my other brothers is Adam Tinley a.k.a. Adam Sky formerly known as Adamski or something like that. I did the tour with Danse Society and also a John Peel Session. I was also in Lets Wreck Mother and Tabathas Nightmare with drummer Marcus who incidentally was a Banjo player in The Cropdusters – his brother played drums in that band along with a whole load of other mates from Lymington with whom both Adam and myself formed bands. Confusing isn’t it. I moved into production and have worked with Duran Duran for many years. Simeon has a new record out which is REALLY good and worth checking out. He is currently touring Morroco in a van and has taken my mate Sean Chenery – who engineered some of the Adamski albums. Find Simeon here http://www.myspace.com/longshotswarbz

  8. baron von zubb
    baron von zubb
    October 23, 2008 at 6:23 pm

    Jesus mary holy mother of god.
    Sam.
    Thats Chicken Mike!
    Remember him?
    (I met him in the middle of a riot in the ‘damn in 1980.)
    Then went back to one of the squats for some powdered loving.
    Then he became a mate and thus Chicken Mike
    Chicken Mike Muschamp what the hell happenend to him ?
    Think this band were all based in a squat off Tottenham Court Rd.

  9. JK
    JK
    April 13, 2009 at 7:36 pm

    I met Mike a few days ago. I didn’t know the guy but a friend of a friend brought him along to the friend’s house. We chatted. Its not until much later he mentioned about music in the 80s. I asked whether he was in a band. He mumbled something about a small band then under the shadows of Theatre of Hate and the like, a wee band I would not have heard of.

    I pressed him on and only then he told me it was Dormannu. Now, I’ve heard of the name from the days of reading Sounds, looking for UK Decay, The Mob and related news (“positive punk” was one term I find funny then), but i’ve never had the benefit of listening to their output. Until now that is.

    Mike is now in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He had just got here probably a few weeks ago (am not so sure). He got a gig doing Director of Photography classes for aspiring DOPs under the Malaysian National Film Board. He told me he was doing photography and has been involved in films mostly, that he lived and worked in Bangkok etc.

    I wish I had more time with him but it was raining and the missus wanna go home. He was telling me about meeting Gen P Orridge and how nice the man was.

    Hopefully I’ll bump into Mike again soon.

    Cheers,

    Joe – KL, Malaysia

  10. baron von zubb
    baron von zubb
    April 20, 2009 at 8:23 pm

    Joe.
    Great to here about Mike (muschamp).
    He was good mate of mine at one point. Say from 1980-82.
    We met in a riot in the dam, noticed we had the same clothes on and it was then ‘dopelganger lurv’, winkle pickers, dirty black drainpipes, long trench coat thing and orange hair too.
    We went to Paris together at that point, and he shagged loads of girls.
    Or was it the same girl? I can’t remember.
    He was always into photography.
    Great that he’s in Asia & doing well…
    If you see him tell him hello from me, Jake…
    cheers

  11. Penguin
    Penguin • Post Author •
    April 20, 2009 at 8:37 pm

    JK, added to Jake’s comment above, you might as well mention the book Jake has written to Mike, which has several pages on Amsterdam squats and riots.

    Mike may well be in the book under a different name!

    Details of the book below.

    https://www.killyourpetpuppy.co.uk/news/?p=822

  12. JK
    JK
    April 21, 2009 at 5:28 am

    Thanks Jake & Penguin, will relay the news to Mike if I ever meet him again. I may call his friend and set up a meet once I get rid of the job i’m doing.

    cheers,

    Joe

  13. mike muschamp
    mike muschamp
    November 3, 2009 at 6:10 pm

    i was the lead singer for dormannu, and the entire reason that simeon even got a record deal.
    but who cares it was over 20 BLOODY years ago, i am amazed this site even exists..after all that time..i have been through treatment…become a successful d.o.p….get over it…why is this site on-line?

    mike muschamp lead singer for dormannu

  14. mike muschamp
    mike muschamp
    November 3, 2009 at 6:13 pm

    and by the way that picture is mine…of the old lady..and powdered lover..my junkie ..heroin abuse..lyrics////can this be removed?

    have all the necessary info if required.

  15. mike muschamp
    mike muschamp
    November 3, 2009 at 6:53 pm

    sorry so sorry guys ..was on a gin binge..just to let you know…finish work..chill a bit…and do an internet search..then you discover that the band you were in over 20 years ago..with only one single and ..I think an album..still exists!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    amsterdam and the squat community,did indeed represent an ideal, anarchism, satanism..all things that allow you to make your own choices..are good ..very very good, what surprises me is that after over 20 years, a few FUCKED up junkies in a squat in brixton still have a post on a website..that a lovely person i met in k.l can tell me about..powdered lover?..it was just been about permanently addicted to heroin..with the paradox of when i went to treatment..I will get clean..if life is pointless ..I will (in the mishima sense) die..NO guilt…no loss.
    we always have the right to die..I came out..the realization of the real world.
    my 1st wife ..she was a born again Christian…now the one thing i hate the most is born again Christians..there morality..there anti gay status..all that fuckin shit..but well, I was pissed with life..so I go to the front part of the church..an then i feel some thing..NOT born again Christian not nothing just something..that TELLS ME THIS IS NOT your fucking time to die..believe me..I WANT to die..what post punk..band chaos..family..FUCK IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    then working in Thailand with my new thing ..lighting things..SWEATING LIKE A PIG..working such long hours I cannot believe..a monk comes straight to me..and tells me i must come and talk…now I know in my mind I have to have “the spiritual”..for fuck sake I tried to overdose on heroin twice..but then you could argue…then harder you knock at the door…the more it is opened to you..and without spirit and spiritual truth..in whatever way we understand it..be it satanic..whatever..well really what is the purpose to life?..to buy car, houses..and die?
    please any replies to mikemuschamp@hotmail.com

  16. Mark Tinley
    Mark Tinley
    November 3, 2009 at 10:57 pm

    Wow…
    Now I remember why he got thrown out 🙂
    Always will remember Mike’s tube train story, when confronted by danger, confuse them.
    It’s worked for me as well…
    So Mike, thank you for that.
    It is interesting to find you are still a junkie, inseperable from your ego and unable to see the world isn’t DOING it to you.
    You want to know what life is about?
    There is being a spiritual junkie (like a born again Christian), which is any place outside of yourself where you seek knowledge.
    And there is “being” spiritual.
    Finding satisfaction and bliss in the darkest depression.
    Being centred in your own soul and knowing who YOU are.
    You old cunt 🙂

  17. baronvonzubb
    baronvonzubb
    November 5, 2009 at 7:24 pm

    Oi Mike!!
    Its jake here.
    You came, you looked, you posted.
    welcome to old punks revisited.
    Not sure from that post if your using or not, but if you are them pink rocks are the best in the world. Surprised I survived Penang at all.
    Enjoy mate.
    Were in Asia every winter so next time we’re in KL maybe we’ll hook up….Wont be this year its India.
    You ever make it over to Tioman?
    The other side is called Juara.
    Very peaceful, and big nature if thats you’re bag.
    Take it easy and enjoy the moment.

  18. cynique
    cynique
    February 27, 2010 at 3:44 pm

    If Mike was the entire reason that Simeon got a record deal how come it was Simeon that stayed with the label and Mike that got kicked off?
    The plot thickens,
    C

  19. Mark Tinley
    Mark Tinley
    February 28, 2010 at 1:33 am

    @Cynique
    Which part of junkie didn’t you understand?
    The way I remember it, Mike spent the money on drugs and Simeon had a contractual obligation to the label.
    I went on tour with Dormannu, we supported The Danse Society if I remember that right.

  20. cynique
    cynique
    March 11, 2010 at 5:24 pm

    Actually I heard that the reason the band split was that Mike was in love with Simeon and whenever Simeon was out of the squat Mike would put on Simeons clothes and start wanking, jacking up and speaking in a northern accent.
    Can you confirm.
    Cynique

  21. Pat MS
    Pat MS
    August 13, 2010 at 3:17 pm

    I was half of Illuminated Records at the time of Powdered Lover. Kid Jensen played it on release with a truly great build-up. It sounded fantastic, just a shame the lyrics of a debut single and their best tune, were so overtly a hard-drug paean – that should come after the band is tortured by success. They had a lot going for them, looks, funk, proto-rap. They should have stayed more close to the ‘cult with no name’ than the goths. At least they were more likely to forgive shambolic gigs as a statement.
    Yes Mark, you did support Danse Society on a tour of quite good gigs – I remember the old Dominion, Tottenham Court Road – and it’s good to see that MIke is D.o.P’ing to such effect in SE Asia.
    I remember the squat in Brixton. Keith and I had to pick the band’s gear up from somewhere the day after a gig. No-one home so (possibly for the only recorded instance) we had to break into a squat via a window to return property.
    Pat

  22. mike muschamp
    mike muschamp
    August 15, 2010 at 1:58 am

    well given it was over what 25yrs ago?..it really doesn,t matter who did what when,but to answer the question of drugs ,,no ckean ..working and lighting feature films..witha baby boy on the way

  23. mike muschamp
    mike muschamp
    August 15, 2010 at 2:00 am

    an yes it was wonderful masturbating in simeons clothes..aaah the love

    no

    I didn,t alrady say that but then heh

  24. mike muschamp
    mike muschamp
    August 15, 2010 at 2:02 am

    yes now i said it twice,are ego is that what it all about..I see,an yes loved masturabating in simeons clothes..the love it,s so good

  25. Lion
    Lion
    August 15, 2010 at 6:29 am

    Reading these memories brings back a lot for me too — let’s just say that I was as angry and f***d up as a lot of the others on the current thread — and it’s a pleasure to see that some of us made it out of that dysfunctional, suicidal place to have a good chance of a new start.

    Good luck with the baby boy Mike.

  26. mike muschamp
    mike muschamp
    September 15, 2010 at 2:08 pm

    thanks mate,just been over to the phiilipines to collect my little baby boy,all he does at the minute is sleep..wake up,drink milk an sleep again,sounds like he has life sorted!trying to tell him it will change,but all I get at the minute is guuulum,,muuuuh

    yes good to get out of that one,though i suppose the weirdness of life still carries on..anyway mate,just wanted to say thanks!!..do you know a contact for simeon?..as have done loads of searches for him..but just can,t find him!!..all the best mate.

    mike

  27. Mark Tinley
    Mark Tinley
    September 25, 2010 at 10:14 pm

    @Mike
    Fucks sake Mike I told you how to contact him earlier in the thread!
    http://www.myspace.com/longshotswarbz
    Bloke with beard = Simeon!!!
    If you send me an email we can get you in touch with him (and Marcus) from there…
    I am also friends with WIG on FaceBook…
    TINLEYx

  28. jack
    jack
    December 19, 2011 at 7:45 pm

    i always really liked the band esp The Dread, thought they were the way the goth thing should have gone instead of all that rockist sisters of mercy bollocks.

  29. Gregory Carlin
    Gregory Carlin
    July 30, 2012 at 6:34 pm

    I remember stuffing that 12″ into sleeves for Keith Bagley at 452 Fulham Road.

  30. Mark
    Mark
    December 15, 2016 at 4:34 am

    I loved Dormannu’s ‘Return from Quebec’ then and still love them 30 whatver years later .. if the Peel session is still available please let me know … 🙂

  31. Mark
    Mark
    June 29, 2020 at 5:35 am

    I purchased Nomads Land by Longshot Swarbz ..Thank you Mark for the info

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *