Opera Multi Steel
Opera Multi Steel was founded during the winter 1983–84 in Bourges. The original members were Franck Lopez, his brother Patrick L. Robin and Catherine Marie. A four-track 45 RPM recorded in 1984 was the first studio recording from the group. The following year, OMS released “Cathédrale”, a 10-track album dedicated to the gothic building of Bourges. The band gave many concerts and played in several French festivals. It also contributed to many K7 and record compilations on French and European independent labels.
Opera Multi Steel recorded with lighter sound material on several K7s. Many of these tracks were never released, or were available in limited editions.
Xavier Martin, an electric guitar player, joined the band in 1987 for the studio session of “Personne ne Dort”, a 2-track 45 RPM with a cover designed by the French painter Speedy Graphito. Martin left the group after one year to pursue his interest in rock music.
In 1988, Eric Milhiet, who had played with Franck in other bands, joined the band for the recording session of the 8-track album “À Contresens”.
“Les Douleurs de l’Ennui”, an 11-track album, was released in 1990. The cover was decorated with a painted photograph which represents a female medieval knight, made up by Pierre et Gilles, designers from Paris. Percussionist Jean-Marc Bougain first appeared on this record, and joined the band in stage performances as well.
The band’s 17-track album, “Stella Obscura” took all of 1991 to record. Robin, the band’s lead singer, suffering from schizophrenia, was hospitalized for some time shortly after its release, because of several suicide attempts. The band went into hiatus during this time.
In 1995, the Brazilian independent label Museum Obscuro, division of Cri du Chat Disques, released a compilation, Days of Creation, representing the ten first years of the band, recordings, which had become popular at São Paulo gothic dance clubs. In 1997 the label then issued a new 14-track album called “Histoires de France”, which included of lyrics that Robin wrote during his convalescence. Later that year the Robin, Lopez, Marie and Patrick, Franck, Catherine and Milhiet, with support from Carine Grieg of Collection d’Arnell Andréa, came to Brazil for a concert tour, playing music from their recordings.
In 1998, the band recorded 11 tracks for a new album, titled “Eternelle Tourmente”, at “Studio du Rempart de la Misericorde” in Dijon, France. Four of these were new versions of very old songs from limited edition K7 tapes, and seven were new compositions. Most lyrics were written by Robin, but “Pauvre Sens…” was written by the medieval French poet Rutebeuf and “Tristesse” was by the French realistic poetress Marie Mareau. The cover design shows “Wounded Angel” (1903), a picture by the Finnish painter Hugo Simberg. The album included folk, medieval music, synthpop, darkwave and coldwave music, and included vocals by Grieg took. “Eternelle Tourmente” was re-released by the label Triton in May 1999. In August 2000, the CD re-edition of the entire OMS discography was released as “À Contresens”.