18th Dye was a Berlin based German/Danish noise rock band formed in 1992 by German Sebastian Büttrich (vocals/guitar), Danish-German Heike Rädeker (vocals/bass) and Dane Piet Bendtsen (drums).

drone-heavy, fuzzed out debut LP Done, produced by Iain Burgess (Naked Raygun, Ministry, Big Black), was initially released in Germany in 1992 before the band gained a recording and distribution deal with US Independent label Matador Records in 1994, having been championed by Yo La Tengo. A second release, the self-produced six song EP Crayon followed in 1994.

In 1995 18th Dye moved to Danish label Cloudland Records and recorded their second album, Tribute to a Bus, recorded by Steve Albini in Nayant La Gracoyere, France. More dynamic and diverse than previous recordings, its skillful blended noise and melody suggest such influences as Sonic Youth and The Wedding Present, though the economic, sparse and angular playing call to mind Wire at their peak. It is characterised by oblique English-as-second-language, maths based lyrics.

The band has recorded three Peel sessions; in July 1994, March 1995 and February 1999.

18th Dye broke up in 1999 with Büttrich and Bendtsen going on to form kikkert and later Test, while Rädeker has played with evonike and Wuhling.

The band reformed in the summer of 2005 and began playing new songs at their shows around Europe touring with The Raveonettes.

In November 2007 18th Dye signed a recording contract with Danish based record label Crunchy Frog Records, and a new album, Amorine Queen has been released (the planned dates being : the 31st of April in Europe and the 6th of May in the US).

The band spilt again in early 2010 stating that: "It is not possible for us to compose, create and act as a band any more. We have decided to stop the band at this point."

http://www.18thdye.com

User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.