Stephen Thrower

British musician, composer and author.

Born December 9th 1963 in Ashton-Under-Lyne, Lancashire. Birth certificate name: Andrew Stephens. Adopted 1964 and re-named Stephen Thrower. Brought up in Yorkshire (apart from two years in Cheshire, directly beside the Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope). Schooled in various comprehensives: Marsden, Kinsley and Hemsworth.

In 1980, Stephen formed Possession with Victor Watkins and Anna Virgina War (aka Tiny, currently singer of indie group Ultrasound). They released one album: "The Thin White Arms, Obtusely Angled At The Elbow, Methodically Dipping And Emerging" (A-Mission, 1984). Label boss Gordon Hope was also briefly a member.

Stephen made contact with Throbbing Gristle by letter in 1979 and followed up his interest in the particular contribution of Peter Christopherson after learning that he and John Balance had left Psychic TV to found their own group, Coil. An exchange of letters exposed many shared interests and in 1984 a meeting was arranged. Following this, he was invited to join them in the studio to record tracks for the first Coil album, Scatology (co-writing the tracks "At The Heart Of It All" and "Solar Lodge"). He moved to London in the summer of 1985 and by the second album, "Horse Rotorvator", was an integrated member of the line-up. A decision was made in December 1987 to split from Possession and work solely on Coil recordings (including "Gold is the Metal...", "Angelic Conversation" and "Themes for Hellraiser"). He then became embroiled in the recording of "Love's Secret Domain", a long period of heightened creativity and escalating excess for all concerned. Visions and visitations were followed by a complex 'down' period as personal relationships deteriorated. After minimal contribution to "Stolen and Contaminated Songs" (the track "Wrim Wram Wrom" is his last Coil recording) Stephen left Coil in 1992.