David J

David J Haskins is a British musician from Northampton, England, born in 1957. He is best known as the bassist of Bauhaus, the post-punk and gothic rock band he helps define. He also writes lyrics, contributes backing vocals, and sometimes sings lead, including on “Who Killed Mr. Moonlight?” when Peter Murphy is ill.

Bauhaus and post-punk work

David J writes the lyrics for several Bauhaus songs, including the band’s first single, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead.” While still in Bauhaus, he begins writing material for a solo career, which continues after the band’s breakup. He releases the solo albums Etiquette of Violence and Crocodile Tears and the Velvet Cosh.

Love and Rockets and other bands

In 1985, he forms Love and Rockets with Daniel Ash and his brother Kevin Haskins, after an attempted Bauhaus reunion without Peter Murphy. In the group, he plays bass and shares songwriting and vocal duties with Ash. His best-known lead vocal from this period is “No New Tale to Tell.” Love and Rockets later splits after seven albums, and David J takes part in a Bauhaus reunion soon afterwards.

He also plays bass on two Jazz Butcher albums, A Scandal in Bohemia and Sex and Travel, and appears in the short-lived project The Sinister Ducks with saxophonist Alex Green and graphic novelist Alan Moore. His other associated acts include The Bubblemen, Nukes, and David J’s Cabaret Obscuro.

Later projects and collaborations

David J appears as a guest musician at some of Peter Murphy’s solo concerts and also features on a Porno for Pyros release. He works with Joyce Rooks and Don Tyler in the instrumental group Three, which releases Evocations. In 2003, he begins work on the instrumental score for an independent film about Elizabeth Short directed by Ramzi Abed, with guest contributions from Dame Darcy, Julee Cruise, Abby Travis, and Nora Keyes.

Other work

Alongside his music career, he shows visual art in galleries around the world and serves as a resident DJ at venues in Hollywood, including The Standard Hotel and the Knitting Factory.