Moya/Fatman - Southern Death Cult

space

I'm flagging this double A side as my late choice this time around. When this single dropped into my lap the world changed. Before this I was dressing all nicely nicely and seeing bands play like ABC and Kid Creole. After this point I was dying my hair black and listening to this lot, Bauhaus and The Birthday Party. Love it or loath it, it was my wind of change.

I know they went all soft and stadium like U2, but their beginning was beautiful and visceral and I loved it.

otis

space i always remember the advert for it in the NME, fat bloke in a mini tank. Nice one space 👌

Flaneur

It's got my head nodding...

90Piesanhour

Ha! I wondered how long it would be before someone mentioned SDC, as they became known to those in 'the know'.

First of all, we were all mates. All Bradford punks. Snotty, scruffy youth. The band themselves, minus Ian Astbury, were a punk band called Violation: Aki on drums, Barry on bass, Buzz on guitar and Mick Brady on vocals. They used to do their own stuff, with a Hawkwind cover chucked in for good measure (Assault and Battery, if memory serves). Anyway, one day, two brothers pitched up in Bradford, Ian and Brian Astbury, both fresh from Birkenhead. As it turns out, they were looking for a place to stay and we got friendly and I convinced my dad to let them stay at our house for a while, before they ended up moving in to a grotty place in Great Horton.

They got involved in the punk scene in Bradford pretty quickly and Ian's singing talents didn't go unnoticed and, somehow, he ended up replacing Mick Brady. They knocked together some songs, heavily influenced by Ian's obsession with native American culture (started whilst they were both living in Canada) and this gave rise to the heavy leaning towards their look.
I helped get them some gigs with people like the UK Subs and Chelsea in the early days (people who I knew for a variety of reasons) and then they ended up getting on a tour with Theatre of Hate. I was unemployed at the time, so I went on the tour, too, as a roadie/mate/cheerleader and had a scream. Each gig was a riot and sometimes an actual riot, but they were great times. They appeared on The Tube, amongst other programmes, and developed a bit of a following.

Although we were all good mates, Ian fucked off to the USA - the 'Coca Cola nation', as he put it, and I have not seen him since. Brian lives down south somewhere. Buzz lives in France, Aki might still live in Bradford and Barry lives down south, somewhere, too. I'm still in touch with Buzz, Aki and Barry via facebook, occasionally, and we have met up a couple of times. I could tell you some stories about Ian which would amuse you, should you be interested...

Anyway, as regards the song. It's okay, isn't it? I am a member of the SDC group on Facebook, but I never post anything, mainly because the band were/are mates of mine and I don't want to be rude, but the majority of the stuff they did has definitely NOT stood the test of time. It couldn't sound more dated if it had come out in the stone age. It sounded reasonable at the time, when there was lots of similar stuff around, but, blimey, it sounds poor today. There are endless videos posted by people and I do occasionally dip in to them, but I end up laughing to myself. We had a great time back them, but that was then and this is now and I cannot imagine ever thinking; 'Let's just pop this Southern Death Cult album on, shall we?' any more than I would some offering by Sex Gang Children or Specimen.

Thanks for posting, though, as I would guess not many people on here will have heard of them, however, I might be wrong?

Harvest

Good write-up Pies. Course I've heard of them!

Kevin_Stapleton

As with Otis I remember the fella-in-a-tank adverts from the music papers, but never consciously heard anything by them. This is alright, of it's time, and it maybe just me but the vocals remind me of Jim Kerr.

Harvest

He's channelling his inner Jim Morrison as he's always tended to do. Quite liked it, it's basically a cover of Hawkwind's Spirit of The Age with a different title and that's no bad thing.

90Piesanhour

Harvest He sang for the Doors for a while.

Young_Marxist_at_Tescos

Great story Pies. Remember Jools Denby telling an interesting tale about Ian 😐

Another post-punk/goth band I wouldn’t go out of my way to see.

Like the way they kept shortening the name though

Harvest

90Piesanhour I remember.

90Piesanhour

Sorry Space. Didn’t mean to barge in like that, but I had to get all that off my chest, as not many people outside of the scene, at that time, know much about them. However, a few on here, do, so there you go!
Did I ever tell you about the time I took some photos of my mates in New Model Army….? 😄🎸

Flaneur

@90Piesanhour - was Aki the asian lad with the mohawk.

Had a black leather jacket with fur detail and (I think) the word 'necromancy' on the back?

90Piesanhour

Flaneur Aki never had a mohican, that I remember. Kenny, of Sri Lankan descent, had one, along with a black leather jacket. He was famous around Bradford and his own punk bank, Complete Disorder, played at his punk wedding. He got done for grooming young girls about 20 years ago, and did some time. Don't know what's happened to him since. Got some good stories about Kenny, too...

Anchor

Great stories pies. You have the spine of a novel there. Really interesting to read your memories of that time. Must have been as cool as fuck.

You need to get on SDC's wikki as it's wrong!

I have heard of Southern Death Cult and knew there was a The Cult link and I thought Spear of Destiny were in the mix but I've never heard a track by them.

Thanks Space I've enjoyed listening and reading up on the history. 👍

Jon

Remember me and my dad pissing ourselves laughing at Ian on The Tube. The Native American obsession explains his dancing.
I thought they were shite. It still sounds shite.
Didn’t he move to Toronto at one point?
Hard to see how they morphed into The Cult of the magnificent Love album.
Good story Pies. Despite thinking they were crap Id be interested to read more.

white_dragon

Don't know if it's outdated, I hear a lot of bands sounding similar, when I go to Focus Wales.
Never heard it before. Thanks for posting it.

Djpekingman

I always thought this lot were Keighley? The name shortening always begged the question ‘where do they go from here’.

This lot to fight for my attention with the Sisters. It’s not a particularly bad track of its time, but it hasn’t stood that test. I thought Skeletal Family did it better.

Good posts though, even the Dark Space. Great to hear Pies account of having been there.

Young_Marxist_at_Tescos

Djpekingman Think it was The Skellys who were from Keighley?

Flaneur

90Piesanhour That's the one. Thanks.

90Piesanhour

Young_Marxist_at_Tescos Skeletal Family? Keighley, indeed. Anne-Marie Hurst, the original singer. Apparently, no longer with them. Additional bit of info. My brother played drums for them a few years ago when they did some recording work at Paul Weller's recording studio. He brought me back a signed photo of Mr Weller, signed by Paul that is.