Sclavunos, a half-Greek and half-Italian from Brooklyn, New York (known for his exceptional height at 6'7"), was memorably described in the pages of The Wire as an "infamous elegant degenerate". He has long been a prime mover in New York City's vibrant underground music scene, helping to kick-start the vital no wave movement in the late 1970s with Teenage Jesus & the Jerks and 8 Eyed Spy (both with Lydia Lunch), before playing with Sonic Youth and the Cramps. He has also recorded albums with Grinderman, Sonic Youth, Tav Falco's Panther Burns and Congo Norvell as well as recording sessions with many artists including Marianne Faithfull, Iggy Pop, Beth Orton, and Seasick Steve. He has also toured with Lunch, Alex Chilton and Wreckless Eric.
A key member of the Bad Seeds since 1994 and a founding member of the Bad Seeds offshoot Grinderman, he also formed his own New York-based musical ensemble The Vanity Set in 2000, releasing two studio albums to date.
Further to his work as a musician, Sclavunos has produced a wide range of bands including Gogol Bordello, the Horrors, the Jim Jones Revue, Black Moth, and Teenage Mothers (Lead guitarist and co-vocalist Raph Brous has dedicated his upcoming novel, Empire of Ants, to him).
He has done several remixes, both on his own and as one half of Silver Alert (along with Vanity Set bandmate Peter Mavrogeorgis). In 2012, Silver Alert performed "Faustian Pact" at the Perth International Arts Festival in Western Australia, a live adaptation of FW Murnau's film Faust, produced in collaboration with director/choreographer Micki Pellerano.
In 2012, Sclavunos began an ongoing collaboration with Australian performance artist/musician Michaela Davies on a composition titled "FM-2030" (named for the transhumanist philosopher Fereidoun M. Esfandiary) utilizing programmed electro-muscular stimulation of classical string players to generate involuntary playing movements. The composition premiered at the 2013 Sonica Festival in Glasgow.
Career
Early years
While attending NYU School of Arts, Jim Sclavunos co-founded No Magazine, an underground fanzine devoted to coverage of NY punk rock and the burgeoning No Wave movement.[1] He briefly fronted his own band Mimi And The Dreamboats,[2] before joining No Wave bands Red Transistor, and The Gynecologists with avant-garde composer Rhys Chatham and Nina Canal to play drums.[3] Around the time the Gynecologists were disbanding, Sclavunos joined Lydia Lunch’s band Teenage Jesus and the Jerks as bass guitarist, releasing both an EP Baby Doll (1979) and a compilation mini-album on pink vinyl on Lust/Unlust.[4] A short-lived side-project with Lunch called Beirut Slump featured Sclavunos’ first recorded work as drummer on the group's single "Try Me / Staircase" (1979) on Migraine.[5] Following their European tour in June 1979, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks broke up, and Lydia and Sclavunos joined 8 Eyed Spy.[6]
1980–1986: First album, Sonic Youth, and Trigger & the Thrill Kings
In 1980, Sclavunos and Lunch formed a short-lived live blues project, The Devil Dogs.[7] In 1981, following the death of bass player George Scott, 8 Eyed Spy released a self-titled album on Fetish.[8] Sclavunos designed the covers for both the ROIR 8 Eyed Spy release and for Suicide’s Half Alive album (1981).[9] Sclavunos ended up moving to Memphis and joining Alex Chilton's side-project Tav Falco's Panther Burns,[10] ultimately releasing an EP Blow Your Top (1982).[11] The same year he briefly joined Sonic Youth and recorded drums parts for their debut album, Confusion Is Sex, but quit before the sessions were over.[12] He moved on to co-founding Trigger & the Thrill Kings with Dutch singer Truus DeGroot, with the group touring extensively throughout the Netherlands and Germany with various line-ups including Jim Duckworth on guitar and Annene Kaye on keyboards.[13]
1987–1993: Session years and reunion projects
Sclavunos recorded with Kid Congo Powers’ band Congo Norvell releasing Lullabies (1992, Fiasco).[14] His recording sessions with The Cramps produced albums Look Mom No Head! (1991, Restless) and EP Blues Fix (1992, Big Beat).[15][16] In the fall of 1991 Sclavunos left Los Angeles to be reunited with Lydia Lunch, touring Europe with her and Rowland S. Howard under the band name Shotgun Wedding. Live recordings were later released under various titles, including Shotgun Wedding Live in Siberia.[17] Sclavunos both lived in and toured Europe with Wreckless Eric and Tav Falco's Panther Burns in the period 1992 – 1994. While living in Vienna, Austria, he played drums on, and arranged Panther Burns’ Shadow Dancer album in 1992 (released on Intercord in 1995).[18]
1994–99: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Following working with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds member Mick Harvey in a project Harvey was producing, Sclavunos joined the band on the 1994 Let Love In European tour as organist/ percussionist.[19] Sclavunos stayed on for their US Lollapalooza tour and became a permanent member that same year.[20] Sclavunos generally plays a variety of auxiliary percussion with the Bad Seeds (e.g., vibraphone, maracas, cowbell, tubular bells), while Thomas Wydler plays a standard drum kit though Sclavunos has also played standard drums, keyboards and other instruments for the Bad Seeds. Sclavunos recorded his first album as full band member in 1996 with Murder Ballads, which included the UK charting duet single with Kylie Minogue "Where the Wild Roses Grow".[21]Murder Ballads was followed by The Boatman's Call and a tour, before the Bad Seeds entered a hiatus period.
2000–2006: Debut solo album and continuing with the Bad Seeds
Sclavunos’ first solo album The Vanity Set is released in 2000 on Naked Spur Productions/Hitchyke,[22] while the same year saw him join The Gunga Din as drummer, touring and playing on their 2nd album Glitterati (2000, Jetset).[23] The following year, No More Shall We Part, Scalvunos' third studio recording with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, is released on Mute Records in April 2001.[24]
In February 2013 Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds released Push the Sky Away (Bad Seed Ltd) and toured the album extensively around the world.[39] At the end of their North American stint, a stripped-down version of the band (including Sclavunos on drums) recorded the album Live from KCRW, which was released that same year.[40] Sclavunos begins his collaboration with Australian musician and performance artist Michaela Davies on a composition utilizing EMS to create involuntary movement in performing musicians. The piece entitled "FM-2030" (and dedicated to the Futurist philosopher of the same name) premiered at the Sydney Opera House in 2013.[41] In 2014 Axels & Sockets (The Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project) is released with the featured track "Nobody’s City" mixed by Sclavunos, a duet with Iggy Pop and Nick Cave, with guitar by Thurston Moore.[42] More touring ensued for Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.[43]
2020–present: Bad Seeds hiatus and continuing solo work
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, Sclavunos has released multiple singles, starting in January 2021 with "Holiday Song", and continuing in April 2022 with a cover of Bob Dylan's "Lay Down Your Weary Tune".[49][50] He also confirmed that he was working on a solo album prior to the pandemic, and that it would be coming soon.[50] Also in the works is a collaborative album with Nicole Atkins; a lead single, "A Man Like Me" was released in 2019, with the album tentatively being released in 2023.[51]