The Hair & Skin Trading Company

The Hair and Skin Trading Company is a British drone / avant-noise group, formed in 1991 by ex-Loop members Neil Mackay (vocals/bass) and John Wills (drums). Joined by guitarist Nigel Webb and Richard Johnston on samples (who left as a band member during the recording of the first album, but periodically collaborated as a live engineer adding live dub to their sound; whose samples also appear on Psychedelische Musique uncredited), they released their debut album Jo in Nine G Hell on Beggars Banquet Records in 1992. They also played the Reading Festival that year. With tours of Europe, U.S.A. and the U.K, following their subsequent releases. Their first two albums bear influences of My Bloody Valentine and The Skids, while the vocal delivery can be compared to The Fall's Mark E Smith. By third album, 1995's Faust like Psychedelische Musique, The Hair and Skin Trading Company had dispensed with all conventional rock elements, and few of its songs bear titles; instead were denoted by letters or symbols.