The 1980’s UK post-punk and new wave scenes were some of the richest communities in musical history with countless top-tier bands swapping bandmates like musical chairs and creating gestalt classics that we still can’t put down. Time and time again I find yet another union of legends that briefly communed to create a sonic masterpiece, swept under the rug of time because the period was simply too vast to give the proper attention to every act. Like drawing a thought cloud, we attempt to document the connections of musicians once assumed to be disparate, linking brief collaborations or fully-fleshed projects that simply never saw the light of day. Luckily, one upshot of being inescapably globally connected these days is our ability to revise and revive history like never before, this time enlightening the nostalgic, thirsty masses to GETTING THE FEAR.
Formed in 1984 by Southern Death Cult’s Barry Jepson and David Burrows, Temple Ov Psychic Youth associate Paul ‘Bee’ Hampshire, and Fun-Da-Mental‘s Aki Haq Nawaz Qureshi, the new veterans were compelled by Thatcher’s bull-headed neoliberalism to blaze a creative friction and give voice to the dissent of their generation. Back in the days of major label mix-ups and bands lacking the proper support where it was due, the band made the joyless decision to split up before expending undue energy on an unassisted act that couldn’t be promised security.
This enigma is finally being revealed for public appreciation via DAIS Records on June 18th, combining all their unreleased tracks and demos with the added bonus of a photo gallery booklet on both LP and digital formats. The music itself is reminiscent of the era before post-punk was even referred to as such. When bands were just going at it relatively blindly, doing whatever they thought sounded best or expressed their message most precisely. Therefore, the album runs an interesting gamut from pillowy Cure-like disembodied laments to raging, tom-laden and politically driven chants. Marking the epoch is the tasteful use of saxophone and the archetypal bass chorus every new wave fan has an obligation to be in love with. As with contemporaries Danse Society and The Glove, there’s a scattered application of synth and drum machine dotting the dance floor where bootstraps and leather enjoyed their heyday cutting across the shimmer of party lights and low-laying fog.
We at Cvlt can’t wait to get our hands on a copy as this stands as another stellar release from DAIS Records.
