ZAINE GRIFF-Live At The Water Rats 10/1/25

Event information

ZAINE GRIFF will be playing a rare and exclusive performance at THE WATER RATS in King's Cross, London on FRIDAY 10th JANUARY 2025.

In 1974 Zaine Griff had stints in BABY FACE and SCREEMER, before going on to study mime under Lindsay Kemp alongside Kate Bush, and joined Kemp’s production of ‘Flowers’, a play by Jean Genet.

In 1979, Griff launched his solo career, with composer Hans Zimmer and ULTRAVOX drummer Warren Cann among the members of his backing band for an appearance at the Reading Festival.

Griff was soon signed by Automatic Records, a subsidiary of Warner Bros who brought in Tony Visconti to produce his debut solo album ‘Ashes & Diamonds’.

It was during these recording sessions for ‘Ashes & Diamonds’ that David Bowie walked in to visit Visconti and was slightly taken aback by the resemblance between himself and Griff. Despite this, Bowie invited Griff be part of the band to record three new versions of his songs.

Griff recorded Figures in 1982, produced by Hans Zimmer and featuring Kate Bush and Yukihiro Takahashi from Yellow Magic Orchestra.

In 1983, Griff collaborated on six songs for Hans Zimmer and Warren Cann’s ambitious HELDEN album ‘Spies’, which despite the independently released duet with Linda Allan titled ‘Holding On’ was not officially released. After recording with Midge Ure and Gary Numan, Griff opened a jazz club in New Zealand.

In 2011, Griff recorded his third album ‘Child Who Wants the Moon’ and in April 2013, Griff released his fourth album The Visitor, produced by Eddie Rayner of Split Enz. Later that year, Griff found a box of old studio demo recordings he thought were long lost. They were recorded in London between 1978 and 1983 and consisted of three early versions of songs he re-recorded years later for his album Figvres. He had the tapes repaired and the demos remastered before he released them as his fifth album “Immersed” in May 2014.

In January 2016 Griff released his sixth solo album “Mood Swings”.

Then, in 2021, there came the announcement that Zaine was to join Rusty Egan and ‘Fade to Grey’ co-writer Chris Payne (Visage/Gary Numan) to perform the songs of VISAGE in a live audio-visual presentation and on a new album to be released on Egan’s label Future Music via InGrooves.

Zaine has revisited the “Helden -Spies” project, originally recorded with Hans Zimmer, Warren Cann and Hugo Vereker in 1983 but not released, and recorded a new version of the album, released by Sony in November 2022.