Born on 8 July: Rodney Orpheus, lead singer of The Cassandra Complex and high priest of British dark wave

Forty years in the service of the underground and a form of occultism. The career of Rodney Orpheus, born in 1960, is far from linear. Rather, it has been complex. To say the least...
Born in Northern Ireland, he spent his childhood in Leeds (England), where his band The Cassandra Complex was formed in the early 80s. Even if it wasn't until March 1985 that their first self-produced single, logically entitled "March", was released... Rodney has the soul of a nomad. He has wandered from Hamburg in Germany (where he set up a recording studio) to Brussels, home of his label Play It Again Sam in the early 90s, and also to California. Still fascinated by technique, he now lectures at colleges and music schools.

He also writes books that can be described as esoteric, such as "Abrahadabra", to, in his words, "better understand the thelemic magic of Aleister Crowley", one of the leading figures of 19th-century English occultism.

For over 40 years, Rodney has been performing regularly as The Cassandra Complex, a band clearly centred on his personality. Musically, we're on the side of post-punk incantations tinged with industrial electro, inevitably reminiscent of Joy Division or Sisters Of Mercy. Although a touch of humour can sometimes be detected on tracks like “Hotline To Elvis”. Darkwave doesn't necessarily exclude a smile, even if it quickly turns into a sneer.

Over the past year or so, Rodney has once again revived his band and set off on the road to spread the word and celebrate The Cassandra Complex's 40th anniversary with the help of Paul Dillon and Andy Booth, who were also founding members of the project.

As a reminder, the Cassandra syndrome (or complex), inspired by Greek mythology, refers to those situations we have all experienced when we prefer to ignore warnings or alarming signals. During the Trojan War, Cassandra tried in vain to convince her fellow citizens that the horse of the same name was a trap...

(MH with Stéphane Soupart - Photo : © Etienne Tordoir)

Photo : Rodney Orpheus (fourth from left) with The Cassandra Complex before their concert at Les Halles de Schaerbeek in Brussels (Belgium) on 9 October 1986.