The Guilty Have No Pride
| Death in June | |
|---|---|
Douglas P.
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| Background information | |
| Origin | England |
| Genres | Neofolk, post-industrial, post-punk, experimental, martial industrial |
| Years active | 1981–2017 |
| Labels | NER |
| Associated acts | |
| Website | www |
| Members | Douglas P. |
| Past members |
Patrick Leagas Tony Wakeford David Tibet Boyd Rice John Murphy |
Death in June were a neofolk group led by English folk musician Douglas Pearce, better known as Douglas P. The band was originally formed in Britain in 1981 as a trio, but after the other members left in 1984 and 1985 to work on other projects, the group became the work of Douglas P. and various collaborators. Douglas P. now lives in Australia.
Over the band's three decades of existence, they have made numerous shifts in style and presentation, resulting in an overall shift from initial post-punk and Industrial Records influence to a more acoustic and folk music-oriented approach. They are sometimes considered controversial (largely due to usage of themes and imagery relating to Nazi Germany). Douglas P.'s influence was instrumental in sparking neofolk, of which his music has subsequently become a part.
In 2017, Douglas P. claimed he will be retiring from live performances, perhaps putting an end to the project.
Pearce formed Death in June in 1981 in England, along with Patrick Leagas and Tony Wakeford. Pearce and Wakeford had been members of the political punk band Crisis, which formed in 1977. Crisis had gained a substantial following in the UK punk subculture. Crisis performed at rallies for The Right to Work, Rock Against Racism, and the Anti-Nazi League.
Death in June soon left the reticent punk scene behind and began to infuse their sound with electronics and martial style drumming, combined with a Joy Division-influenced post-punk sound. Then a few years later to the synth-heavy folk stuff with acoustic guitar. The synths were phased out. The later stuff had atmospheric sound loops, dialogue samples, industrial beats, etc added. Their lyrics maintained much of the poetry and political urgency of the early Crisis recordings. Tracks such as the early single sides "Holy Water" and "State Laughter" demonstrated an ongoing fascination with political systems. The new name of the band is an allusion to the "Night Of The Long Knives", when Adolf Hitler had the main members of the SA arrested and some executed by the SS, as it was suspected they were planning a coup. Douglas P. explained in a Sounds magazine interview, 1985 - "Our interest doesn't come from killing all opposition, as it's been interpreted, but from identification with or an understanding of the leftist elements of the SA which were purged, or murdered, by the SS. That day is extremely important in human history... They were planning execution or overthrow of Hitler, so he wouldn't be around. We'd be living in a completely different world, I should imagine..." Further on, Douglas P. would abandon any overt interest in politics in favor of a more esoteric approach to his work.
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Wikipedia