Born in Northampton in 1957, Peter Murphy is to some observers forever the vampiric, balletic frontman of goth prime movers Bauhaus. With a discography much more than 1979’s totemic debut Bela Lugosi’s Dead, that group flamed out in 1983. Murphy duly began his solo recording career in 1986, with 2002’s Dust a particular highlight. Next month, Murphy returns with a new album, Silver Shade, where ’80s signatures and his love of David Bowie are prism’d through a taut yet heroic rock production courtesy of Killing Joke’s Youth. Along the way there was Mick Karn collaboration Dalis Car, a memorably windblown TV ad for Maxell cassettes and several Bauhaus reunions, most recently in 2023. Murphy spoke to MOJO’s Ian Harrison from his home in Istanbul, which he likens to “standing in the middle of chaos and somehow being utterly calm. That contrast suits me.”
**You had to postpone your 2023 Celebrating Bowie US tour for health reasons. How are you?
**I’m doing well. It’s been a necessary reset. Not everything that stops is a failure. Sometimes it’s a redirection. Fitness for me now isn’t about some ego-driven return to form, it’s about alignment.
Silver Shade is your second Youth collaboration. Why do you like working with him? The record does hark back to both your pasts.
Youth and I have a mutual understanding that doesn’t rely on explanation. He’s got this rare mix of chaos and control. He knows when to push a button and when to walk away from the machine. We trust each other’s instincts, which means we don’t get in each other’s way. With Silver Shade, there was this unspoken agreement that the songs should breathe. [2014 team-up] Lion was about urgency, almost combative in its textures. This record wanted to be something else entirely. There’s a nod to the ’80s, yes, but more in tone than imitation.
**There’s a quote by you that reads: “I’m like Bowie, Iggy, Frank Sinatra, Elvis all rolled into one.” It’s quite the assertion!
**Well, I’m cheeky sometimes, aren’t I? But there’s a personal perspective of truth in that. Bowie gave permission to be artful, strange, elegant, alien. Iggy gave the animal; the raw, unfiltered body. Sinatra had control. Authority in phrasing. And Elvis… well, Elvis had that channel, that supernatural ease. They all understood that singing is not just sound, it’s energy transfer. So do they possess me? Not like ghosts. More like tools in a box I can reach for when needed. They remind me of what’s possible.
It seems Bauhaus refuses to die. Could it happen again? And do people underestimate the reggae element in Bauhaus’s sound? Bauhaus was never built to be still. It had that Frankenstein pulse from day one! Awkward, electric, unstoppable in its own way. I see it with fondness now, but also with the kind of clarity you only get after a long walk away from something. People definitely overlook the reggae influence, that dub space, that sense of rhythm. It was always there, in the low-end, in the space between the hits. That tension, that’s what made it work. Could it happen again? Doubt it. Having said that, I’ve learned not to say never; but it would need to come from a place of authenticity, not nostalgia.
_How's it hanging? Murphy performs Bella Lugosi's Dead upside with Bauhaus at Coachella in 2005._Bauhaus’s undead idol on his new album, the enduring allure of goth, baldness, watching cartoons upside down and his secret bat-healing abilities.
**How do you regard the ‘Godfather of Goth’ tag? And why has goth endured?
**The ‘Godfather of Goth’ thing – I’ve always seen it as a journalistic shortcut. It’s not
inaccurate, but it’s reductive. Bauhaus wasn’t born from a scene. It created one, maybe. Or at least lit the fuse. But I’ve never lived inside a label. Goth endures because it
doesn’t apologise for seeing the shadow. It embraces the complexity of beauty and darkness without needing to resolve it. That’s always going to appeal to people who feel too much… I don’t mind it, if anything I am quite honoured, actually.
Did you really hang upside down as a kid to watch telly at home? Yes, absolutely true. Legs hooked over the back of the sofa, blood rushing to the head. It changed the whole rhythm of what you were watching. The Flintstones upside down? Much better. The absurdity makes more sense when your own perspective is off-kilter.
And did you use Maxell tapes?
Absolutely.
Do you have any advice or words of comfort for the bald?
Own it. The hat sits better and you never have to worry about a bad hair day again. Baldness is a crown, not a compromise. The light hits differently, and frankly, it’s a bit
more aerodynamic for spiritual transmission.
**Tell us something you’ve never told an interviewer before.
**I will tell you three things. I have a really fat cat at home. A fox bit me once on my foot. I healed a sick bat that flew in through my window.
Silver Shade is released on May 9 on Metropolis Records.
Photo: Jolene Siana