British music group from Sheffield, England.
Initially composed of Stephen Mallinder, Richard H. Kirk and Chris Watson, the group was named after the Cabaret Voltaire, a nightclub in Zurich, Switzerland that was a centre for the early Dada movement.
Their earliest performances were dada-influenced performance art, but Cabaret Voltaire later developed into one of the most prolific and important groups to blend pop with dance music, techno, dub house and experimental electronic music.
The band formed in Sheffield in 1973 and experimented widely with sound creation and processing. These early experiments are documented on the triple album CD set "Methodology" (Mute 2002). They eventually turned to live performance. At their first ever gig on 13th May 1975, Mallinder was hospitalised with a chipped backbone after the band had objects thrown at them. However the arrival of punk rock brought a more accepting audience for their industrial, electronic sound and they were championed by Sheffield punk fanzine Gunrubber edited by Paul Bower of local band 2.3, and Adi Newton of The Future/Clock DVA.
In 1978, Cabaret Voltaire signed to Rough Trade Records. With Rough Trade they released several acclaimed musically experimental singles and EPs, including "Extended Play", "Nag Nag Nag" and "Three Mantras", and albums such as "The Voice of America" in 1980, and "Red Mecca" in 1981.
Chris Watson left the group in late 1981, for a job in television. He went on to found The Hafler Trio with Andrew M. McKenzie before becoming a BBC sound engineer and has released many field recording works.
During this time they toured Europe, Japan and America without major record label support, releasing "Hai!", a live album recorded in Japan, in 1982.
In 1983, Cabaret Voltaire decided consciously to turn in a more commercial direction, with the album "The Crackdown" on Some Bizzare / Virgin Records. This decision was rewarded with the album reaching number 31 in the UK Albums Chart - over 60 places higher than their previous (and then only) chart placing. In 1984, the singles "Sensoria" and "James Brown" from the album Micro Phonies (also on Virgin) charted on the UK Indie Chart, as well as getting play in the underground dance scene.
In 1987, the band released "Code", followed by the house-influenced "Groovy, Laidback & Nasty" in 1990. A series of completely instrumental works under the Cabaret Voltaire name were released on Plastex/Instinct/Apollo between 1992 and 1994. The last Cabaret Voltaire release to feature Mallinder singing was on the album "Body And Soul" in 1991.
Since the mid-late 1980s, Kirk began a solo career under several names, including Electronic Eye and Sandoz, while Mallinder relocated to Perth, Australia and recorded with a collaborator under the name Sassi & Loco and, more recently, in another collaborative effort the Kuling-Bros. Mallinder also helped run his own Offworld Sounds label and contributed to synthesizer and programming on Shaun Ryder's solo album Amateur Night at the Big Top. Mallinder has since returned to the UK, and records as part of Wrangler, Creep Show and in a number of collaborations.
In 1996, Mallinder reported to Inpress magazine's Andrez Bergen that "I do think the manipulation of sound in our early days - the physical act of cutting up tapes, creating tape loops and all that - has a strong reference to Burroughs and Gysin; in terms of the Dada thing, there's a similarity between the Dadaists' reaction to the bourgeoisie and the war and our own position - we felt alienated from popular culture ourselves. I think those kinds of attitudes become embedded within you, but I'm not sure how it relates now..."
Hopes of a Cabaret Voltaire reunion were raised when Kirk dropped hints in the late 1990s, the most significant being in the notes of a reissue of Radiation, but this never happened. In a special 'Depeche Mode/History of Electro-pop' edition of Q magazine, Kirk suggested he is still considering resurrecting the Cabaret name, but this time he plans to "Get some young people involved". Kirk has used the Cabaret Voltaire name since 2009 in collaborations with Kora, The Tivoli, and in the "Johnny YesNo Redux" reissue.
In 2014, Richard H. Kirk resurrected the Cabaret Voltaire moniker live for a solo performance at the Atonal Festival in Berlin, playing brand-new material only. The overwhelming success of that show led to a string of live appearances around Europe since 2015 and a return to full activity of Cabaret Voltaire in the solo persona of Richard H. Kirk with the release of the "Shadow Of Fear" album in November 2020.
Richard H. Kirk died on 21 September 2021.
On 25th October 2025, Stephen Mallinder and Chris Watson reactivated the Cabaret Voltaire name for an exclusive live performance at the Forge Warehouse, Sheffield. A 4 date tour of the UK followed in November 2025.
During the 2025 tour, the 'Final Tour' for Cabaret Voltaire was announced, comprising a series of dates in the UK and Europe during 2026, ending with a performance at The Octagon Centre, Sheffield on 25th October 2026
