During its existence, such a form of creative art as music has always been closely connected with another no less ancient art - theater. Musicians performing before the public sought to create for themselves a certain image that would characterize their work, their personality, which would identify the artist in the minds of listeners and viewers. Of course, not everyone succeeded, but the majority made attempts.
Take the second half of the previous century as an example. It is unlikely that anyone will argue that since the fifties, a new revolution has been taking place in the world of music with every decade up to the present day. Let's remember the image of Elvis, who forever became one of the most recognizable in the history of music, the war paint and costumes of the group Kiss, robotic, licked to perfection images of the participants Kraftwerk, conceptual costumes of members of the avant-garde rock group The Residents and many others. Each artist or group, in addition to music, is uniquely remembered by the audience for its unique appearance. This article is about the appearance of the artists!
website put together 15 electronic music musicians wearing masks, and also wrote down some data regarding the artists and their masks! Daft Punk And Deadmau5, cyberpunkers And bloody beetroots, silicone and household masks, unique projects and familiar facial garments - read about all this and see below.
Deadmau5
A country: Canada
Music style: electro, dubstep, progressive house, experimental
Mask: a large spherical head imitating a dead mouse. , made by order of the artist. The head is the subject of endless home copying by fans.
Daft Punk
A country: France
Music style: electro, house, disco
Masks: fantastic helmets from the future. A unique project, commissioned by the artists. Also massively copied. The designer Garison Crix achieved particular success in this matter. You can read about his helmet replica by going to.
bloody beetroots
A country: Italy
Music style: electro, rock
Masks: nylon masks resembling Spiderman. Use red and black. Constantly act in them, turning away the lower part to smoke.
cyberpunkers
A country: Italy
Music style: electro, noise rock, cyberpunk
Masks: standard masks for paintball. It's probably hot to perform in them, but cyberpunk is like that - harsh and spectacular.
SBTRKT
A country: London, Great Britain
Music style: experimental, post dubstep, electronic
Mask: wooden with fringe, borrowed from African tribes. Also uses another version of the mask, very similar to the main one. Rarely appears without it.
redshape
A country: Germany
Music style: techno, house, electro
Mask: red plastic mask resembling a mannequin's face. It became the basis of the artist's creative project.
Men In Masks
A country: London, Great Britain
Music style: big beat, electro, house
Mask: reminiscent of the props of American wrestling fighters. He uses several types of masks, therefore, in the nickname Men In Masks, the word mask is in the plural.
Dr Lektroluv
A country: Belgium
Music style: techno, electro, house
Mask: something between Shrek and Frankenstein. Covers the head completely and fastens with a zipper. The outfit also includes goggles and a leather jacket. Excellent doctor!
Scan 7
A country: USA
Music style: experimental, techno
Mask: black caps with pierced eyes, similar to those used by special forces.
Altern-8
A country: Great Britain
Music style: rave, hardcore, acid house
Mask: simple industrial respirators with the letter A in the mouth and nose. Also, the stage costume includes something similar to the OZK. Rave, such a rave.
Bl3nD
A country: Los Angeles, USA
Music style: electro house
Mask: a replica of the head of the evil Chucky doll from the famous film released in 1988 under the name Child's Play.
The world of human passions
For music lovers, the stage image of the performer is no less important than his music. Therefore, most musicians do everything to attract people to their work. Outrageous shocking clothes, numerous scandals and fights provoked by the performers themselves are used to reach the hearts and souls of the listeners.
The mask is one of the most mysterious attributes of the stage costume. This important detail in the image of a musician can both enhance the perception of creativity and symbolize an ardent protest against social injustice. Sometimes, some performers want to hide their appearance from fans and remain mysterious.
For groups playing heavy music, the mask serves as a protest and, as a rule, complements the brutal image of the musician. The famous feminists Pussy Riot, fierce rebels against Putin's power, put on balaclavas and became famous all over the world. They became the heroines of all foreign news feeds, turning into the most popular domestic group of our time.
Pussy Riot
In support of them, as a protest against imprisonment, the Queen of Pop Madonna also put a balaclava on her head at her concert. The band also received the support of many other legendary musicians.
Members of the Finnish shock rock band Lordi perform in masks and costumes inspired by horror films. During concerts, the audience is frightened by zombies, vampires and witches. Before the start of the concert, Mr. Lordi decorates all the musicians himself. A new musician, who came to the Finnish team to replace the previous one, receives a new mask and undergoes a baptism of fire.
Lordi's biggest competitor on the global music scene is Richmond-based thrash metal band Gwar. On stage, the Gwars deal with the effigies of not only their opponents - Lordi - but also all the politicians and businessmen they don't like. A lot of improvised blood is spilled during a frightening musical and theatrical performance.
An American thrash metal band performs in the masks of monsters from alien powers. In the texts, they sing not only about the destruction of individual high-ranking officials, but of the whole of America.
Not all rock musicians are so radical about masks and costumes. So, the American avant-garde group The Residents, famous for releasing one of the first videos in the history of music, uses masks to remain unknown. Formed in 1969, the experimental Louisiana rock band has released 60 albums over a long musical career, keeping the members' identities secret.
The Residents
Hollywood Undead, a rapcore band from Los Angeles, initially settled for the simplest masks to maintain anonymity, wearing them not only at concerts, but also during interviews. Later, the masks of the Hollywood Undead team became more sophisticated, and in recent years they have figured cutouts and a bright glow.
Hollywood Undead
For musicians playing electronic music, masks are a great way to enhance the experience of cosmic sound, cutting-edge special effects and witty samples.
Canadian Joel Thomas Zimmerman once discovered a dead mouse in a broken computer. Later, he began playing dubstep and progressive house, wearing a Mickey Mouse-like helmet on his head. The musician took the creative pseudonym Deadmau5. The mouse helmet at concerts glows with neon lights and bright sparkles.
Deadmau5
Fans of Deadmau5 love this helmet so much that they enthusiastically create something similar at home and offer new models to Joel Thomas.
Members of the popular French disco-house band Daft Punk at the dawn of their careers used ordinary masks, and on the threshold of the 21st century, they thought about modernizing their stage attributes. The guys came up with an amazing story, according to which in 1999 they became robots. Since then, the musicians have performed in helmets from the future and overalls from Yves Saint Laurent himself.
Daft Punk
The Swedish duo The Knife captivates the listener with the theatrical nature of their music and melodies interspersed with sounds of nature. Olof and Kerin Dreyer Anderson are fans of Charles Darwin's books. The musicians not only composed several tracks dedicated to evolution in nature, but they themselves were not averse to putting on black masks that looked like bird beaks.
Karin Dreyer Anderson organized a solo project Fever Ray, in which she also hides her face.
The London electronic experimenter SBTRKT is not indifferent to nature either. He specially went to the African jungle to communicate with the natives and get a fringe for his ethnic mask.
Fever Ray
Electronic musicians often draw inspiration from watching films, and therefore their interest in the masks of famous film characters is not accidental. The leader of the Los Angeles house project Bl3nD performs in the mask of the legendary Chucky doll from the movie "Children's Games", the Canadian group MSTRKRFT, playing a mixture of electro and rap, exploits the images of famous maniacs, and the Belgian techno musician Dr Lektroluv performs in a green mask reminiscent of Shrek.
Every year there is a huge number of new musical styles and trends. And this means that talented performers will repeatedly surprise the audience with bright stage clothes and mysterious masks.
Daft Punk
It was impossible not to start with this iconic French DJ duo. From the very end of the 90s, when these amazing musicians began to light up the dance floors, helmets were put on their heads. These are stylish, brilliant masterpieces, with constantly changing LED lighting. At that time, such experiments were new, so these guys caused a real visual delight. In all their years of performing, Daft Punk have never taken off their helmets, except to improve them. But on the Internet there are a lot of photos of guys without helmets. Search if interested.
Marshmello
The identity of this DJ is still a mystery. Some speculate that he is the American DJ Chris Comstock, because there is too much overlap in the biography of these two. His progressive house and trap is already adored by the whole world. In addition, he is one of the most recognizable DJs on the planet. Still, it's hard not to pay attention to a man who wears a giant marshmallow on his head. By the way, he has his own explanation for the disguise. "I just want to make good music and it doesn't require you to know who I am," the famous partymaker says in every interview.
Squarepusher
This is one of the most famous DJs in the UK. He makes tracks in the styles of drill and bass, experimental jungle, acid and IDM. Thomas Jenkinson (real name) is not hiding from anyone at all, and his mask serves a very different purpose. He does not try to hide her identity or attract attention. Squarepusher's mask literally syncs with the LED show every time. She exists only to complement the delightful spectacle he puts on the stage.
Deadmau5
Perhaps the most outstanding of our list. Canadian Joel Thomas Zimmerman once went through the "innards" of his computer (or rather, replaced the video card) and accidentally found a dead mouse there. He tweeted about what happened to people and quickly earned the nickname "that guy with the dead mouse". At that time, he was already a DJ and decided to make this situation his hallmark: he took the pseudonym dead Mouse (later changed to Deadmau5), put on a mouse mask and set off to storm the world stage.
Cazzette
No rating ever goes without the Swedes, and ours did not. They appeared in 2011 and thundered with their tracks "Beam Me Up" and "Sleepless". Undoubtedly, the voluminous music cassettes that they wear on their heads played a role in their history. By the way, very unusual cassettes: messages for fans are scrolled on the lower luminous part of the masks during the concert.
Bonus: Kush Kush
These guys didn't make it into the top five just because they don't have as much experience behind them as the others. But not to mention them would be a crime. They appeared this year and blew up all the world charts with their debut track, and then with the video "Fight Back With Love Tonight". And these doge preferred to disguise themselves in full: they hid their names, and put on the masks of Scandinavian hares on their faces. So far, we've only glimpsed them in their one and only video. But, judging by how chic he went, the guys have a great future.
Famous rock musicians in masks In general, the psychologists of the world are unanimous in their opinion that behind the masks a person is trying to escape reality, hide, appear in a different role. And everyone who has tried on a “mask” at least once in their life will not dispute this. Behind the mask, a person becomes different, plays a different “role”. Life changes color, brings new emotions, causes new desires. And who knows how to live easier, in a mask on your face or with an open "visor"? But why do famous rock musicians in masks appear on stage? Why do they hide their faces during and after performances? So, let's voice those heroes of the musical Olympus who love masks. 1. KISS Rock musicians were the first to transform their faces beyond recognition with white paint. The “transformation” was initiated by J. Simmons and P. Stanley, and the rest of the guys from the team supported them. Everyone got their own image, taken from comics and “terrible” films that were popular at that time: Stanley put on the Star Child mask, but then changed it to Bandit, though the Child could not forget, Simmons was the Demon, Criss the Cat, Frehley the Cosmic Ace, Vincent the Ankh Warrior, Karr the Fox.
2. Lordi The hot Finnish hard'n'heavy rock band won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2006. Such a turn surprised, even horrified, many viewers who watch the broadcast and are not admirers of rock creativity. Against the background of elegant, beautiful contestants, musicians in costumes, orcs, monsters and some evil spirits, stood out strongly. The costume and mask of each "lordie" is made of latex, and the make-up before the performance takes more than an hour. Who knows, maybe the doors of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will open in front of them? In each new album, the musicians appear in new masks, I wonder where such a violent fantasy comes from? After all, each of them thinks over the stage image independently. The band members always appear in public in their costumes, so it's hard to describe how they really look. Even real “orcs” came to the meeting with the President of Finland T. Halonen, despite the request to come in a normal human form.
3. GWAR Another team of space monster musicians is GWAR from the USA. If we compare the appearance of the two bands GWAR and Lordi, we can see the similarity. And the members of the shock collective GWAR do not get tired of claiming that it is the insidious "lords" who plagiarize images. At their performances, the "guards" tear to pieces the effigies of famous politicians, media people, and for dessert they brutally crack down on the leader of the "lords" - T. Putaansuu , fake blood flows like a river. Soften or inflame the passions of the strippers present at the "bloody" performances.
4. The Berzerker The team, which took the form of ghouls and goblins, apparently did not puzzle over the external appearance of the participants for long, like the above groups. The musicians took rubberized masks as the basis of the “face”, corresponding to the terrible appearance of orc-like heroes. Judging by the criticism towards their work and appearance, most of the clips are banned from showing in many countries due to the storoboscopic visual presentation of material that causes seizures in epileptics. Surprisingly, such "blasphemous" creativity did not harm the psyche of the members of the composition a year after the band broke up, guitarist Ed Dacey became a lawyer, and Luke, vocalist, became a glamor photographer.
5. Mushroomhead The musicians of an extraordinary band at the beginning of their career tried to be unrecognizable only so that later, if the experimental musical project failed, they would not receive criticism in their address. After all, they continued to work with other, more serious teams. The arrival of popularity has changed everything, now masks have become a necessity, a recognizable chip. Initially, J. Hatrix performed as the Devil in a wedding dress fitted with football shoulder pads; St. Felton tried on a gas mask; J.Sekula turned into a bearded grandfather; T. Schmitz reincarnated as a clown crowned with a striped cap; J. Kilcoyne became a Nosferatu; R. Moore donned an insect-like mask; J. Lenkey acted as a jester; J. Popson surprised everyone with a mask with a big ugly nose. There are also dancers in the group - M. Vukcevich enters the stage in a masochist mask, and his girlfriend Jessica in a masquerade mask and pink wig, this couple does not change costumes. He just performs light, in his shorts! Rounding out the team is a clown and juggler named Chamberlain. After a short debriefing with musicians from the band Slipknot performing in similar masks, the mushroomheads chose a reasonable solution and changed the image to the same type of X-Face masks.
6. The Residents Perhaps the most interesting line of behavior in musical creativity was chosen by the members of this American band, formed in 1971. Nobody knows what the musicians look like! In clips, on posters, guys appear in stage images. Nobody knows their real names! They communicate with the world through faithful managers. And many suspect that the musicians themselves are hiding behind these proxies. According to the musicians, anonymity gives freedom for creativity, which one could not even dream of. Since 1985, the "residents" appear in masks, "equipped" with large eyeballs with different color irises.
7. Los Straitjackets The musicians put on wrestler masks and position themselves as an instrumental lineup that creates compositions without words. But over time, they have albums where guest vocalists "tell" a musical story in Spanish.
8. Slipknot Among the megabytes of information about the band, we will single out only the most important, on our topic. The idea to create a group came up with Sh. Crahan, who had not yet thought of hiding his face behind a clown mask. He first appeared in a mask at a rehearsal in 1995, which made his friends very happy. Somewhat later, the musicians also decided to choose suitable masks for themselves, reflecting the inner world of each of them. Overalls, which appeared on the musicians in 1997, were sewn to the masks. As the band members themselves say, they do not want to distract the listener to trifles, i.e. the real face of a musician, facial expressions, the main thing is music! Their external image is constantly changing, it seems that the change in the perception of the surrounding world is reflected in the appearance, which becomes more pretentious. Today we see Sh. Krykhan in the form of a Clown, with a leather “face” decorated with rivets and lightning; Cr. Fena - Pinocchio, with a mouth sewn with lightning; J. Ruth - in a somewhat modified mask of the red-eyed Joker, also with a sewn mouth; M. Thompson - Hockey player, brutal and cruel; S. Wilson - A man in a gas mask, in which "eye" glasses are knocked out. And what, and you can see well and breathe easier. But his last stage feature is the green Goblin "friend" of Spider-Man. J. Jordison wore a dramatic Japanese Kabuki mask, slightly tinted. And over time, supplemented with a wreath of thorns and hands-roots. Paul Gray, who left us in late spring 2010, wore a pig mask given to him as a child. Then he "tried on" a silent beaver, which has two wide slits instead of a mouth. And then he changed it to a dark-colored mask with a lattice mouth. K. Taylor glued dreadlocks to the mask, and then brought it closer to the image of Frankenstein, sinister and overdarned. On the album All Hope Is Gone, Corey appeared in a white rubber mask without a "head", with side slits and a slightly twisted "eye", and the other outlined in a circle.
In the 90s, Parisian electronics often appeared in public with black bags on their heads, and for photo shoots they preferred to buy a variety of idiotic Halloween masks. Even in the early 2000s, Daft Punk could look like this, for example. Designed for the musicians by an unknown friend from France and loved by them to this day, the helmets were once with wigs - one with curly hair, the other with loose hair - but then Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalte decided: let them be better bald. Paparazzi catch Daft Punk faces here and there - there are more than a dozen photos - while the musicians' hats have become a cult item: for example, they are described in detail about their modifications in different eras - from "Discovery" to "Tron".
For what
In an interview with Rolling Stone, the musicians spoke succinctly: "We are interested in the border between fiction and reality - so it was interesting to create fictional characters that now exist in the real world."
What are the masks
Giant eyeballs have been hiding the identities of American avant-garde artists for more than forty years. In 1985, a mask was stolen from one of the band members - so a man named Mr. Skull, choosing just a skull as the new one. The eyeball, however, was returned - but the group considered it "too dirty" and decided not to use it again. The Residents' image is still associated primarily with eyeballs, but now there is a man named Randy Rose in the group - he is hiding behind the mask of an old man.
For what
The elusive The Residents never give interviews and therefore didn't bother to explain to anyone why they wear masks. For this, in fact, they wear.
What are the masks
Thrash-metal parodists from Virginia donned not only masks, but also frightening costumes, inventing a story for themselves: in fact, Gwar were not born in America, but flew from space to exterminate the remnants of life on Earth. Frontman David Brockie - that is, of course, Oderus Urungus, "an intergalactic barbarian humanoid with devilish horns" - was found dead last week, so whether Gwar will be donning alien costumes again is unclear. The band Lordi, wildly similar at first glance to Gwar, Brocky called them the "children's version".
For what
On the one hand, to attract attention - Gwar and became popular primarily due to costume shows. On the other hand, according to the legend, they were born that way.
Photo: Getty Images/Fotobank
What is the mask
Once Joel Thomas Zimmerman, changing the video card, found a dead mouse in the system unit. How she crawled in there and how long she lay there is unclear - but, judging by the stench that reigned in Zimmerman's room, for a long time. After that, Zimmerman changed his nickname from Halcyon441 to Deadmau5 - and the electronic musician, who is now gathering stadiums in America, chose the appropriate mask.
For what
Dislike of DJs and an accompanying desire to distance themselves from them: Deadmouth sees nothing interesting in mixing tracks live, and hopes that those engaged in such activities will die out like dinosaurs.
Photo: Getty Images/Fotobank
What is the mask
Designed specifically for SBTRKT, inspired by the tribes of either Africans or American Indians - at least triangles, according to the creator of the mask, most likely came from the Congo. A simple idea - to convey the spirit of ancient rituals - sometimes gets an original embodiment at concerts: at the Bestival festival, masks almost the same as those of the London electronics engineer were handed out to a huge crowd. It is curious what he experienced, watching from the stage for a crowd of two thousand, similar to himself.
For what
“To create a new identity that is not connected to my face or my biography. The music that you or your creative alter ego makes is not necessarily related to who you really are." ( from an interview with Complex)
Photo: flickr.com/photos/alanwhitney
What is the mask
Multi-coloured, torn, with pigtails, made by Lightning Bolt drummer-vocalist Brian Chippendale, it looks like it was for Mexican wrestling or a circus performance in purgatory. A few years ago, during an appearance at the ATP festival, Chippendale revealed that he had to create a new mask because one of the fans stole the old one: “I've been trying to keep track of where my mask is since then. This strange Briton ... He somehow really needed it. By the way, the Briton Chippendale figured out and with the help of his brother (!) returned the mask to himself. But he only put on a new one.
For what
Chippendale, it seems, was not asked, but this is understandable - to increase intimidation: he puts on a mask only during concerts, which Lightning Bolt, without exaggeration, one of the most fierce.
There is nowhere to buy, how to make it is also not clear; apparently, the truth can only be stolen during a concert, which usually looks like this
For what
Each has its own story and explanation. Sean Crahan was the first from Slipknot to put on a mask - he was simply afraid to go on stage without it. But vocalist Corey Taylor, for example, claims: masks are the second essence of musicians; it, for example, expresses the inner world that Taylor hates.
Photo: 4ad.com/artists/zomby
What is the mask
Of the huge list of masked musicians (of course, in the comments they will ask “where are Clinic, Mushroomhead, Mr. Bungle, MSTRKRFT, The Mummies etc.) electronics Zombie is almost the only one who does this with a clear selfish goal: so that they don’t find out and not beaten by promoters or spectators for another very bad or completely canceled concert. After the Moscow performance, in which Zombie stupidly played random tracks from iTunes, the audience even asked if the musician actually came to Russia.
For what
“My mask has nothing to do with rebellion. I have nothing to do with rebellion. I just want to make great music and disappear into the sky." (From Dazed)
