Adrian Borland

Adrian Kelvin Borland (6 December 1957 – 26 April 1999) was an English singer, songwriter, guitarist and record producer, best known as the frontman of post-punk band the Sound.

The Outsiders trio then became the Sound, a quartet, with the arrival of Bi Marshall (real name Benita Biltoo), an acquaintance of Bailey's and the band from around 1977.

The new sound was augmented by her use of the clarinet (later saxophone) and synthesizer.

Borland became the kernel of the Sound, being the songwriter, main vocalist and guitarist, penning tracks for the early Propaganda sessions and the Jeopardy recordings (their debut album release, originally recorded by Budd for his Tortch label which had put out the band's first release, the Physical World EP. The album was subsequently released on Warner's Korova label and Budd became the Sound's early manager).

From this point on Borland became critically acclaimed, if never a household name.

The Sound's second album, From the Lions Mouth, was even more enthusiastically received, selling over 100,000 units worldwide.

Borland's personal productivity was enhanced even more with two collaborations that year, one with Jello Biafra in the Witch Trials, and another with Sound bassist Graham Bailey in Second Layer, which spawned the electronic album World of Rubber.

It was followed by a second album, Close Up, in 1978.

This received better reviews from the press.

During his time with the Outsiders he played on stage with Iggy Pop.

It was after this album that important changes took place that would decide the band's future: Lawrence left to be replaced by Borland's old friend Graham 'Green' Bailey, and Adrian Janes' departure to go to college allowed Geoffrey Cummant-Wood (the band's manager) to suggest 28-year-old Mike Dudley in his stead.

The Sound were caught on a downcurve, however, the following year with the release of All Fall Down (1982), an experimental and bitter album that represented the band's refusal to make more commercial music to satisfy their label (Korova, a Warner Bros. subsidiary).

Korova responded by dropping them, while the music press rapidly disowned them; a Sounds review called the album "virtually worthless".

The Sound never recovered from this setback, although they did release a mini album, Shock of Daylight, a live album In the Hothouse and two further albums Heads and Hearts and Thunder Up over the next five years.

These were all released on small independent labels, and never reversed the band's diminishing profile.

Although it is unclear as to when Borland was diagnosed with his condition, from 1985 onward the symptoms of his depression became more and more apparent.

His problems would manifest themselves in many of the songs on the Sound's final album, Thunder Up, as well as in the schizophrenic layout of the piece; while the initial tracks deal with confronting issues (for example "Acceleration Group", "Barria Alta"), the second half proceeds at an entirely different tangent, becoming either tortuous ("Shot Up And Shut Down"), frenetic ("I Give You Pain") or mournful ("You've Got A Way").

The touring for Thunder Up culminated in disaster for the band when Borland left halfway through a set at Zoetermeer, Netherlands.

It would be the last Sound gig.

The band continued without Dudley into 1988, but soon collapsed.

The Big Takeover lamented that it was "Like an old friend losing a long fight with a disease".

Borland would later blame himself for the break-up of the Sound.

While his former bandmates discontinued their musical careers, Borland moved to the Netherlands in 1988 to found yet another band, after initially going there on holiday and to meet his manager (Rob Acda).

Adrian Borland and the Citizens was formed there, taking advantage of the popularity of the Sound on the continent, and the relative inexpense of venues in the Low Countries.

In 1989, Adrian Borland and the Citizens released Alexandria, a huge departure musically from Thunder Up and featuring four backing vocalists, bass, cello, clarinet, drums and kettle drums, piano, saxophone, harmonica, tambourine, viola, violin and guitar.

Musically, this was a period of unprecedented collaboration for Borland; for instance, he worked (albeit under the pseudonym "Joachim Pimento") with the Honolulu Mountain Daffodils right up until their final release Psychic Hit List Victim in 1991.

Following a substantial musical career spanning numerous groups, as well as a solo career, he died by suicide after jumping in front of a train on 26 April 1999.

Some have speculated that his death was caused by his symptoms of schizoaffective disorder.

Adrian Kelvin Borland was born in the Hampstead area of London, the son of Bob Borland, a physicist at the National Physical Laboratory, and Win, an English teacher.

At primary school the young Borland was already friends with future Sound bassist (and Second Layer collaborator)

Graham "Green" Bailey, and would meet Stephen Budd, closely involved with his band the Sound in their early years, in his early teens.

Budd would later recall, "We met when we were both 14. He was the only other kid I knew with an electric guitar. Even at 14 you could see he was a genius".

Borland played guitar left-handed.

Borland's first band, the Wimbledon-based punk rock trio the Outsiders, was formed with Borland as its nucleus, on vocals and guitar.

Bob Lawrence was on bass, and Adrian 'Jan' Janes on drums.

Their debut LP, Calling on Youth, was self-released on their Raw Edge label and became the first UK self-released punk album.

It won them their first unfavourable reviews: "apple-cheeked Ade has a complexion that would turn a Devon milkmaid green with envy", reported the NME.

A single released that November, One to Infinity, was labelled as "tuneless, gormless, gutless" (again by the NME), but was praised elsewhere.

Dudley described the break-up in 2004:

"We had decided the three of us, Colvin, Graham and myself, to tell Adrian that the Sound needed a break and that he should get some rest and some help, and that in the meantime we would go off and look at other things...but when it came down to it I sat there and listened to the others say 'Yes, Adrian. No, Adrian' to Adrian, who wanted despite everything to go on, and I just said at that point 'I'm leaving the band', my intention being that the band would come to an end there and then, forcing Adrian into the position where he would get some rest, for his sake."