The Danse Society

The Danse Society
The Danse Society, October 2011
Background information
Origin	Barnsley, England
Genres	Gothic rock, post-punk, synthpop, new wave
Years active	1980 (1980)–present (present)
Labels	Society, Arista
Associated acts	Johnny in the Clouds, Society, Meridian Dream, Party Day
Members	Maethelyiah Paul Nash Jack Cooper Sam Bollands Iain Hunter
Past members	Paul Gilmartin David Whitaker Steve Rawlings Lyndon Scarfe Tim Wright

The Danse Society are an English gothic rock band, formed in Barnsley in 1980. They were originally active until 1987, reforming in 2011. They achieved moderate success during their career. Their lineup included Steve Rawlings (vocals), Paul Nash (guitar), Lyndon Scarfe (keyboards), Tim Wright (bass guitar) and Paul Gilmartin (drums). Scarfe was replaced by David Whitaker (formerly of Music for Pleasure) after the Heaven Is Waiting album.

Originally called Y? and then Danse Crazy (changed due to the emerging Two Tone scene), Danse Society recorded and released their first single, "Clock", on their own newly formed record label Society in 1980. They released their debut studio album, Seduction, in 1982. It reached No. 3 in the UK Indie Chart.

Their second studio album, Heaven Is Waiting, was released in December 1983 on record label Arista. It reached No. 39 in the UK albums chart. The album contained a cover of The Rolling Stones' song "2000 Light Years from Home", also edited in 1984 as a 12" single and as a limited-edition double single. In 1986, after releasing their final album, Looking Through, as The Danse Society International, all of the band members except lead singer Rawlings left to form Johnny in the Clouds.

Rawlings continued as Society, and in 1987, released a single, "Saturn Girl". After 1987, Rawlings continued to pursue music with the electronic dance music act Meridian Dream.

A campaign titled The Danse Society Reformation Plot was started on Facebook at the end of 2009 and succeeded in bringing most of the band back together. The reformed Danse Society, featuring new vocalist Maethelyiah from the group Blooding Mask, released their fourth studio album, Change of Skin, in July 2011. This was followed in November 2011 with the first single to be taken from the album, "God Cry". In April 2012 they released the second single from Change of Skin, "Vatican", backed with a reworking of their classic early song "Seduction". Their first live gig in 25 years was performed at Germany's Wave-Gotik-Treffen festival in May 2012, followed by selected festival dates and the addition of bassist Martin Roberts.