Southern Death Cult (from the English - "The Southern Cult of Death") is a British musical group that worked in the genres of post-punk and early gothic rock from 1981 to 1983 . Despite the fact that the group released only one album, it became one of the most visible groups of the “first wave” of Gothic music [1] . After the collapse of Southern Death Cult in early 1983, its frontman Ian Astbury founded the band The Cult , which subsequently achieved significant commercial success.
| Southern death cult | |
|---|---|
| Genre | gothic rock postpunk |
| Years | 1981 - 1983 |
| A country |  Great Britain |
| City | Bradford |
| Where from | |
| Language of songs | English |
| Labels | Beggars banquet records |
| Composition | Ian Astbury (vocals) David Barrows (guitar) Barry Jepson (bass) Aki Navaz (drums) |
| Other projects | The cult Violation The nosebleeds Theater of hate Getting the Fear Into a circle Fun-da-mental |
Content
Group History
Southern Death Cult was formed in October 1981 in Bradford at the initiative of Ian Astbury, who brought together guitarist David Barrows and former members of the punk band Violation - bassist Barry Jepson and drummer Aki Navaz. The team was named after the "Southern cult of death" - the pre-Columbian culture of the North American Indians.
Already on October 29, the musicians played their first concert, presenting six songs to the public. During 1982, the group actively acted, which attracted the attention of the press: the October issue of New Musical Express magazine came out with a Southern Death Cult photo on the cover and included a detailed interview with team members. In December of the same year, the single “Moya / Fatman” [1] was released , which reached number one on the UK independent charts. The band, which was gaining popularity, had a successful tour with Bauhaus [1] , but on February 26, 1983, Ian Estbury unexpectedly announced the band’s dissolution.
After the collapse of Southern Death Cult, its members formed two new projects: Estbury founded the band Death Cult (later The Cult ), and the other musicians played together for a while under the names Getting the Fear and Into a Circle. Drummer Aki Navaz later organized the hip-hop band Fun-Da-Mental.
The band’s only full-length album, also called Southern Death Cult , was released after the band officially disbanded on Beggars Banquet Records [2] .
Style, influence
According to critic Wilson Neath, Southern Death Cult's music included, albeit “in its infancy,” all the elements that later became the hallmarks of The Cult's style — sharp, piercing guitar sounds, “savage” rhythms, and “dramatic” vocals [2] . At the same time, the compositions were decided in the spirit of a “raw and hungry” post-punk, contrasting strikingly with the pompous style that The Cult came to in the early nineties.
One of the main themes of the group’s songs was the culture of the North American Indians, idealized by Ian Astbury. So, in the song “Moya” the frontman of the team expressed his solidarity with the indigenous people of the USA and condemned the “American way of life”. Traditional punk music protests against capitalist society are also reflected in the work of Southern Death Cult [2] .
The band members themselves admitted in an interview that they were greatly influenced by the Sex Pistols , and music critics put the band on a par with Bauhaus [3] . Southern Death Cult is sometimes considered, along with the Sisters of Mercy , as one of the most striking and typical representatives of early Gothic rock [4] .
Discography
- 1982 - Moya / Fatman (single)
- 1983 - "The Southern Death Cult: Moya / Fatman / The Girl" (single)
- 1983 - Southern Death Cult (album)
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 John Bush. Southern Death Cult biography . AllMusic.com. Date of treatment October 9, 2011. Archived August 31, 2012.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Wilson Neate. Southern Death Cult review . AllMusic.com. Date of treatment October 9, 2011. Archived August 31, 2012.
- ↑ Paul Morley. Southern Death Cult - The last tribe . New Musical Express (No. 10/1982) (October 2, 1982). Date of treatment October 10, 2011. Archived August 31, 2012.
- ↑ Pete Prown, Harvey P. Newquist & Jon F. Eiche. Legends of rock guitar: the essential reference of rock's greatest guitarists / Jon F. Eiche. - Hal Leonard Corporation, 1997. - P. 237. - 264 p. - (Biographies and Commentary). - ISBN 0793540429 .