Girls Under Glass | |
|---|---|
 Girls Under Glass in 2017 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Hamburg, Germany |
| Genres | Darkwave, electro-industrial, gothic rock; trance (in side projects) |
| Years active | 1986–present |
| Labels | Cellar Door |
| Members | Volker "Zaphor" Zacharias (vocals/guitar) Axel Ermes (bass) |
| Past members | Hauke Harms (electronics/keyboards) Thomas Lücke (vocals) Lars Baumgardt Raj Sen Gupta (guitar) |
Girls Under Glass (GUG) is a musical group from Hamburg, Germany, founded in 1986 by Thomas Lücke, Hauke Harms, and Volker "Zaphor" Zacharias. Described as "an indispensable part of the German wave and gothic scene",[1] GUG began as a gothic rock band, but quickly crossed genre boundaries, incorporating metal and electronic music of various kinds. They have generally been classified as a darkwave act, but have ranged across the goth–industrial "dark music" spectrum, including into industro-metal, and their work has integrated elements of pop, techno, and trip hop. Grenzwellen-News wrote of the band: "Even after 20 years, it is almost impossible to define and pin-down Girls Under Glass stylistically."[1] A review in 2001 concluded that "even in its most experimental phases, the band has never lost its identity".[2]
Axel Ermes joined in 1989, and Lücke left the next year, but rejoined in 2016; Harms retired in 2017. The band's lyrical material is sometimes in German, sometimes English, or a mixture of both on some tracks. Trauma, a Zaphor and Harms side project, is primarily trance with new age influences, and Traum-B (Harms and Ermes) produced Goa trance and psy-trance. GUG formed as a replacement for an earlier gothic–wave band, Calling Dead Red Roses, which formed in 1985, produced one album, then splintered.