PJ Harvey

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PJ Harvey : biography

9 October 1969 –

Music career

Automatic Dlamini: 1988–1991

In July 1988, Harvey became a member of Automatic Dlamini, a band based in Bristol with whom she gained extensive ensemble-playing experience. Formed by John Parish in 1983, the band consisted of a rotating line-up that at various times included Rob Ellis and Ian Olliver, two later members of the PJ Harvey Trio. Harvey had met Parish in 1987 through a mutual friend—Jeremy Hogg, the band’s slide guitarist. Providing saxophone, guitars and background vocals, she travelled extensively during the band’s early days, including performances in West Germany, Spain and Poland to support the band’s debut studio album, The D is for Drum. A second European tour took place throughout June and July 1989. Following the tour, the band recorded Here Catch, Shouted His Father, their second studio album, between late 1989 and early 1990. This is the only Automatic Dlamini material to feature Harvey and remains unreleased; however, bootleg versions of the album are circulating. In January 1991, Harvey left the band to form her own band with former bandmates Ellis and Olliver; yet she had formed lasting personal and professional relationships with certain members, especially Parish, whom she has referred to as her "musical soulmate." Parish would subsequently contribute to, and sometimes co-produce, Harvey’s solo studio albums and tour with her a number of times. As a duo, Parish and Harvey have recorded two collaborative albums where Parish composed the music and Harvey penned the lyrics. Additionally, Parish’s girlfriend in the late 1980s was photographer Maria Mochnacz. She and Harvey became close friends and Mochnacz went on to shoot and design most of Harvey’s album artwork and music videos, contributing significantly to her public image.

Harvey said of her time with Automatic Dlamini: "I ended up not singing very much but I was just happy to learn how to play the guitar. I wrote a lot during the time I was with them but my first songs were crap. I was listening to a lot of Irish folk music at the time, so the songs were folky and full of penny whistles and stuff. It was ages before I felt ready to perform my own songs in front of other people," and she also credits Parish for teaching her how to perform in front of audiences, saying "after the experience with John’s band and seeing him perform I found it was enormously helpful to me as a performer to engage with people in the audience, and I probably did learn that from him, amongst other things."

PJ Harvey Trio: 1991–1993

In January 1991, following her departure from Automatic Dlamini, Harvey formed her own band with former bandmates Rob Ellis and Ian Olliver. Harvey decided to name the trio PJ Harvey after rejecting other names as "nothing felt right at all or just suggested the wrong type of sound"Harvey, PJ. "We were playing around with other names but nothing felt right at all or just suggested the wrong type of sound or just wasn’t right. And I also felt I am the songwriter in the band and I know that I’m going to be wanting to write songs and continue making music for quite a while but I can’t guarantee that Rob and Steve will want to." Extracts from a transcription of an interview with PJ Harvey on 120 Minutes. Broadcast on MTV on 20 June 1993. and also to allow her to continue music as a solo artist. The trio consisted of Harvey on vocals and guitars, Ellis on drums and backing vocals, and Olliver on bass. Olliver later departed to rejoin the still-active Automatic Dlamini and then went on to form the Dub Liberators. He was subsequently replaced with Steve Vaughan. The trio’s "disastrous" debut performance was held at a skittle alley in Sherborne’s Antelope Hotel in April 1991. Harvey later recounted the event saying: "we started playing and I suppose there was about fifty people there, and during the first song we cleared the hall. There was only about two people left. And a woman came up to us, came up to my drummer, it was only a three piece, while we were playing and shouted at him ‘Don’t you realize nobody likes you! We’ll pay you, you can stop playing, we’ll still pay you!’"N.B. User must click "Listen" or "Download" to access MP3 stream.