electronic • gothic • industrial
THE CASSANDRA COMPLEX
40th anniversary tour 2024
COP International proudly welcomes iconic industrial rock pioneers, The Cassandra Complex, to our roster of exceptional artists.
Originating in the mid-eighties, The Cassandra Complex swiftly garnered attention for their distinct fusion of electronics, post-punk aesthetics, guitar-driven soundscapes, and the commanding vocals of Rodney Orpheus. Tracks such as “Moscow Idaho,” “One Millionth Happy Customer,” and “The War Against Sleep” catapulted them to fame across Europe. Extensive tours solidified their position as one of the foremost post-punk bands of their time.
Rodney Orpheus has also worked in the field of music technology helping to create and promote much of the tech that musicians around the world use today, particularly VST (Virtual Studio Technology) which revolutionized the music industry. He has worked with artists as diverse as Kevin Godley (10cc, Godley & Creme), Sinead O’Connor, Sisters of Mercy, Die Krupps, and Future Sound of London.
“When Rodney and I crossed paths we had an instant connection. Our shared enthusiasm and passion for music laid the perfect groundwork for a business partnership. Working alongside The Cassandra Complex, a band with such a profound influence on the industry, fills me with immense excitement.” – Christian Petke, Founder of COP International
We are incredibly pleased that The Cassandra Complex have chosen to collaborate with COP International following a period of self-released material. We value their trust and confidence in our label and eagerly anticipate a fruitful partnership. The Cassandra Complex is currently working on a new album and re-recording some of their back catalog. As the band celebrates its 40-year anniversary in 2024, we are already conceptualizing a limited edition reissue of their work to mark this momentous occasion.
We are thrilled to join forces with The Cassandra Complex as they continue their musical journey, and we eagerly anticipate unveiling the next chapter of their storied career together.
We are very sorry to announce that we have had to cancel our show at Mera Luna next month. Andy Booth, who plays guitar and keyboards, hurt his shoulder really badly in an accident and has been medically advised not to play for the next couple of months until it heals properly.
Our spot will be replaced by our good friends Girls Under Glass, featuring Volker Zacharias and Axel Ermes (who also play in The Cassandra Complex). So you people with tickets for Mera Luna will get to see half the band anyway 🙂
Good news though: we are already booking shows for 2024, and so far it looks like we will play in Germany, France, UK, and, for the first time in 20 years, America! Shows in more countries to be added. We can’t announce most of the dates yet, but we will definitely be headlining the Dark Skies Festival in Witten, Germany on March 25th – so don’t miss that one!
Another great review of The Plague from Amboss Magazine:
Dark post rock in perfection with the necessary portion of electronics. Energy and elegy go hand in hand and the overall construction captivates both in detail and in its entirety. Old, new heroes. A LEGEND returns fundamentally. GREAT.
THE CASSANDRA COMPLEX are an electro-gothic-industrial-cyberpunk outfit, with a new album out called ‘The Plague’ in May, which made it to number 1 in the German Alternative Charts. A difference of style now to the previous band, with first song ‘The Invisibles’ – a mix of harsher electronic beats with driving guitars. Fantastic lighting with additional LED stands, adding to the great onslaught of the band’s sound explosion. ‘Bad Faith’ stomped about magnificently, and frontman Rodney, already cheering the crowd while line-checking partly in German, partly in English, really enjoying his stage time, dancing around with abandon. He also gives a shout out to his band member Andy on guitar who couldn’t make it as he had become a dad that day, and introduces band members in a very tongue-in-cheek way.
Stand-out song ‘Old Boys Network’ got the crowd dancing and moving up to the back, no pause until the last song is announced. It is the quite punky and raw – ‘March’ – his first ever written song, the frontman lets us know. Overall it was an awesome and energetic show to remember!
Setlist: 01. The Invisibles / 02. Nightfall / 03. Hotline To Elvis / 04. Bad Faith / 05. Valis / 06. Ground / 07. The Crown Lies Heavy / 08. Old Boys Network / 09. Moscow Idaho / 10. March
Rating: 9 / 10
UK reviews site A Model of Control has picked Hotline to Elvis as one of their Tracks of the Month.
Remarkably the first album from this long-running band for over twenty years, The Plague has turned out to be a hugely enjoyable, and varied album – much as CX have often been (and apologies for not featuring this in the past month or so, as I originally intended to!). A band that don’t really fit into the usual pigeonholes – Rodney Orpheus is happy dipping into industrial, goth, post-punk, darkwave and even lush balladry whenever he feels like it – and this album just rams that sonic wanderlust home. The lead track is for me the pick of the album, a full-throttle electro-rock track where Orpheus pokes fun at claims Elvis is still alive, while doing his own best impressions of The King at points. Who knew a phone number could be such a catchy hook? “1-900-909-ELVIS…”
The Plague is yet again #1 this week in the German Alternative Chart! This makes 6 weeks in a row that we have been in the Top 3 position of the chart. Big thanks to all the fans, DJs, and journalists who have helped make this possible.
Great review of our show at New Waves Day from Monkey Press.
“The Cassandra Complex was much more electronic. The band came with a tailwind, as The Plague, the first album in 22 years, was released just a few weeks before the performance, which received good reviews and recently climbed to number two in the German alternative charts. [Actually it got to #1, but never mind 🙂 ]
Among other things, the title song and the anti-Boris Johnson and Donald Trump single The Crown Lies Heavy On Its King were also part of the setlist. Founder and singer Rodney Orpheus was a bit nervous, as he admitted in one of his interim announcements. The reason being that guitarist Andy Booth was about to give birth to a new generation – with the spontaneous replacement from the band’s environment, it was possible to rehearse exactly once.
However, the jump into cold water was successful. The anthemic Electro-Rock caused a lot of movement in front of the stage. The Northern Irishman Orpheus, who spent many years of his life in Aachen and Hamburg, among other places, apologized for his “not so good German”, only to talk a surprising amount in surprisingly good German between the songs. He was also the only musician who really communicated with the fans during the day – the other bands had almost constant silence between their songs.
We wish Rodney the best for this first regular Cassandra Complex concert since 2019 – and wish this likeable band more performance opportunities in the near future.”
We just reached #1 in the German Alternative Album Chart (and #6 in the Singles chart)!
Big thanks to all the fans, DJs, and journalists who have supported us. We couldn’t do it without you!
