The band's name is a reference to the date of Hitler's execution of Ernst Röhm's storm troopers on June 30, 1934. In 1983, after the release of the debut album The Guilty Have No Pride, Wakeford leaves the group to soon found Sol Invictus. He is replaced by Richard Butler, who also leaves the group soon - in December 1984. In May 1985, almost immediately after the release of the Nada! album, Patrick Ligas, who founded Sixth Comm, also left. Thus, Douglas Pierce essentially becomes the sole member of Death In June, making this project a reflection exclusively of his own thoughts and visions.
Early works Death In June was a tribute to the musicians' past, rougher and edgier, with a clear influence of Joy Division. At that time, musicians sought to convey their ideas to the listener, not really caring about the melody and mood of the music. However, by the time Nada! The band's music overwhelmingly became what it remains to this day - dark, rhythmic songs performed on an acoustic guitar, mixed with synthesizers, violins, and many other instruments.
In Pearce's work there are intricately mixed acoustic guitar, an extensive percussive section, electronic samples, images of the twentieth century classics Yukio Mishima and Jean Janet, who inspired Pierce over the years, references to the occult and esotericism, symbolism. All this creates a genuine feeling of sadness, beauty and the poetry of despair. And a constant feeling of tragedy and eternal sorrow, on high level associated with the personality of Douglas Peirce himself and his interest in such tragic periods of history as the second World War. He is one of the founders of the phenomenon in modern musical culture, called "apocalyptic folk", and the founders of one of the most intellectual and influential publishing projects in Europe today - World Serpent Distribution, which united musicians with common ideology creativity. It is based on a general feeling of the impending End, when the entire history of mankind is perceived as “the history of preparation for the last Battle, not between the forces of Light and Darkness, but of Freedom and Emptiness.”
Today Douglas Pearce lives and works in Australia, where, through his label New European Recordings (NER), he continues his monologue with the world. At the end of 1995, he opened the Eastern European branch of NER - Twilight Command - in Zagreb.
"Of all forms of art, music awakens my feelings most powerfully. When I hear familiar songs or some memorable melodies, all the smells, tastes, emotions can come flooding back. It has an incomparable sadness, and that's why I love it "More than anyone else" - Douglas Pierce.
Death In June's Douglas Pearce is in trouble. Several concerts of his September US tour were disrupted by anti-fascists. The hysteria around Dougie's personality in America is growing every day.
Text: Sadwave Yesterday News Service
While we're sitting here idly, our friends at the San Francisco LGBT Anti-Fascist Front are busy. Last week they managed to disrupt a concert of the British dark folk duo Death In June in their city. Yes, yes, the same one in which gays participate in funny helmets and with totenkomf in all possible places.
“If you are straight, please do not lead the protest. As you know, Douglas Pierce is a gay fascist, so it would be better to have gays in the front row,” reads a call from the rainbow antifa front, published on the local activist blog Who Makes The Nazis. Below, the authors of the communiqué call on their supporters to hold non-violent protests against Death In June performances in all cities that Dougie and his helmet reach.
Phew. We naively thought that after a few years ago, members of dozens of punk and hardcore bands suddenly began performing in Death In June T-shirts, and the hipster company Mishka released - think about it - peacoats with their provocative logo, this scandal went sour , like the vomit on Sid Vicious's swastika T-shirt, has finally finally taken pride of place in the dustbin of history. But no, as they say, nothing is forgotten. This story seems doomed to be repeated over and over again in the form of a stupid farce a la “Tom and Jerry.”
Approaching the club, a crowd of 20 peacefully-minded activists saw that several people in Nazi uniforms were standing in line to enter, who, noticing opponents, began to show them figs and fakis, as well as their Nazi tattoos. Apparently, they couldn’t come up with anything more honest. Suddenly it turned out that the club’s security was almost entirely composed of black guys - and here it was, this awkward moment! After listening to the protesters, they decided not to interfere not only with the (peaceful) beating of 10 fascists, but also - attention - with the demolition of the club. As a result, having abused the establishments’ surely ornate interiors to their heart’s content, the anti-fascists successfully escaped before the police arrived.
However, some of them were smarter, deciding to “stay and sneak in.” We express our respect to the guys, we would do the same in their place. It is not reported whether the concert ultimately took place, but some witnesses to the massacre noted that representatives of VICE magazine, greedy for blood and tits, came to cover the fight. However, they did not write about this case, but they wrote about something else.
A few days after the canceled concert in San Francisco, Death In June performed in Brooklyn. Representatives from VICE got inside without any losses and asked visitors to the show what they thought about the controversial reputation of their idols. The result of the study can be formulated in two words: no one cares. Especially that guy from Kentucky. But the story doesn't end there.
American anti-fascists decided to chronicle the disrupted Death In June tour. It turned out that the day before the concert in San Francisco, they crashed Pierce's performance in Los Angeles, after which the organizers of the Death In June show in Salem, Massachusetts decided not to wait for the pogroms and closed up shop themselves. First, however, the police came upon them; in general, the autumn tour of Death In June will be remembered by many for a long time.
And now we come to the most important thing. No, it’s not about whether anti-fascists’ hatred of Death In June is justified, God forbid. Although... we understand that our task is to save your time (we have plenty of it, of course), so it was not difficult for us to study All incriminating, according to the fighters from San Francisco, excerpts from Pierce’s interview, which they published on their blog Who Makes The Nazis. Yes, we turned our heads on, which we try not to do unnecessarily, appreciate it.
So what? The only thing Dougie said intelligibly was that he admitted his dislike for Muslims living in Britain who “eat, reproduce and do nothing else.” Otherwise, he follows in the footsteps of, excuse me, Boris Grebenshchikov, keeping up with the classic neither in size, nor in the method of artistic expression (guitars here and there), nor in his ability to cast a shadow on the fence in an interview, or, as they say in Britain, blowing fog over Big Ben. However, if Pierce really is a Nazi, then by often performing in Israel, he at least demonstrates that he has a sense of humor, which is worth a lot these days. For the rest, McKay forbid we should express our point of view on this issue. We have never had it and never will have it. Having finally finished with the formalities, let's get to the point.
Only to no one: Death In June is coming soon will perform in Moscow. Where? When? That's what we told you. Firstly, we won’t be allowed to attend the concert for this anyway, and secondly, we know how peaceful protests are held in our country - we’ve had a lot of problems with the law, but they haven’t tried to close us down for calls for violence yet.
P.S. In addition to reasons to hate Death In June, the Who Makes The Nazis blog has a link to an article that explains why Douglas Pearce's ex-Crisis punk bandmate Tony Wayford, who has been playing in the left-wing dark folk band Sol Invictus for many years, In fact, he is a hidden Nazi. In particular, Tony is reproached for being fat and tired. Well, who is a fascist after this?
P.P.S. If an elderly British man in shabby trousers from the Military Store still seems like an adequate object of hatred to you, read the story of the Indian grandmothers from Leith, North Dakota. They gave a severe rebuff to the white power rednecks who decided to take over their city, in which 24 (twenty-four) people live. Of these, 23 are grandmothers and one is a black guy. This is what we understand as struggle. And you say Death In June.
The band's name is a reference to the date of Hitler's execution of Ernst Röhm's storm troopers on June 30, 1934. In 1983, after the release of their debut album The Guilty Have No Pride, Wakeford left the group to soon found Sol Invictus. He is replaced by Richard Butler, who also leaves the group soon - in December 1984. In May 1985, almost immediately after the release of the Nada! album, Patrick Ligas also left... Read all
The band's name is a reference to the date of Hitler's execution of Ernst Röhm's storm troopers on June 30, 1934. In 1983, after the release of their debut album The Guilty Have No Pride, Wakeford left the group to soon found Sol Invictus. He is replaced by Richard Butler, who also leaves the group soon - in December 1984. In May 1985, almost immediately after the release of the Nada! album, Patrick Ligas, who founded Sixth Comm, also left. Thus, Douglas Pierce essentially becomes the sole member of Death In June, making this project a reflection exclusively of his own thoughts and visions.
Death In June's early work was a tribute to the musicians' past, rougher and edgier, with a clear influence of Joy Division. At that time, musicians sought to convey their ideas to the listener, not really caring about the melody and mood of the music. However, by the time Nada! The band's music overwhelmingly became what it remains to this day - dark, rhythmic songs performed on an acoustic guitar, mixed with synthesizers, violins, and many other instruments.
Pierce's work intricately mixes acoustic guitar, an extensive percussive section, electronic samples, images of twentieth-century classics Yukio Mishima and Jean Janet, who inspired Pierce over the years, references to the occult and esotericism, and symbolism. All this creates a genuine feeling of sadness, beauty and the poetry of despair. And a constant feeling of tragedy and eternal sorrow, at a high level associated with the personality of Douglas Pierce himself and his interest in such tragic periods of history as the Second World War. He is one of the founders of the phenomenon in modern musical culture called “apocalyptic folk”, and the founders of one of the most intellectual and influential publishing projects in Europe today - World Serpent Distribution, which united musicians with a common ideology of creativity. It is based on a general feeling of the impending End, when the entire history of mankind is perceived as “the history of preparation for the last Battle, not between the forces of Light and Darkness, but of Freedom and Emptiness.”
Today Douglas Pearce lives and works in Australia, where, through his label New European Recordings (NER), he continues his monologue with the world. At the end of 1995, he opened the Eastern European branch of NER - Twilight Command - in Zagreb.
"Of all forms of art, music awakens my feelings most powerfully. When I hear familiar songs or some memorable melodies, all the smells, tastes, emotions can come flooding back. It has an incomparable sadness, and that's why I love it "More than anyone else" - Douglas Pierce.
Two classics of apocalyptic folk are coming to Moscow - the British Death in June and Sol Invictus. They are connected not only general genre, but also general biography: Douglas Pearce and Tony Wakeford, the leaders of these bands, started out together in the punk band Crisis, then played together in Death in June, and then fell out forever. Nevertheless, they still have a lot in common: a sincere love for old Europe, romantic occultism and occult romance, the perception of music as a ritual, and words as weapons. Afisha spoke with both.
Douglas Pierce (Death in June): "Have you ever seen a poor Islamic terrorist?"
— Neofolkers are usually considered unsociable Samoyeds - so you refuse to give interviews by phone, preferring e-mail. Can you call yourself a misanthrope? Is this due to the fact that your songs constantly talk about death, violence and conflict?
“I treat people with suspicion rather than contempt.” Although I keep in mind that misanthropy is lesson number 1 (Pierce refers to the Death in June album “Lesson 1: Misanthropy.” - Note ed.). In fact, any interviews take a lot of time, so I’d rather spend it on good, thoughtful answers - and these are difficult to give in an oral conversation, especially over the phone. Plus, as far as I remember, my voice on the radio sounds like someone is strangling a parrot. As for the topics that interest me and are reflected in the work of Death in June, these are Love, the Magic of Life, Disappointment and Inspiration. That is, it is not at all as simple as what you named.
— This year Death in June turns 30, which is quite a long time. Have you ever thought about leaving music and doing something else?
“Such meaningless hypotheses and destructive thoughts rarely linger in my head. What are they for? From the very early days I knew that Death in June was something special, that the struggle was worth it. Yes, there were very dark, colorless years, but still, Death in June has always been my personal success story.
This is what Death in June's last performance to date looked like
— How did you start collaborating with Miro Snejdr, the Slovakian who wrote all the music for your last album, “Peaceful Snow”? Will you be doing anything else together?
— Miro and I were introduced by fans of Death in June: they showed me several videos on YouTube, where he performed instrumental versions of songs from my previous album"The Rule of Thirds". I liked it, and I asked him to play an entire album of his favorite DiJ songs in this vein - that’s how “Lounge Corps” (the second half of “Peaceful Snow” came about). Note ed.). “Peaceful Snow” came later: I was listening to Miro’s recordings at the end of 2009, reflecting on the destruction that had occurred on my property in Australia due to late winter storms, and came up with new album. After recording several demo versions with guitar, I realized that I no longer wanted to make “guitar” albums, I just couldn’t hear it anymore. I really wanted to avoid the role of a musician altogether and asked Miro to do piano versions of the new songs. And then we recorded my vocals over them. In the end, I liked the result of our remote collaboration so much that I decided to combine these two albums into one. It was a unique, very compelling and redemptive experience. To preserve this feeling, I will most likely not repeat it again. As for other experiments within Death in June, time will tell. It's clear that over the years I haven't done anything like the second half of the All Pigs Must Die album that came out ten years ago.
This is roughly what Pierce means when he talks about the second half of "All Pigs Must Die."
— At some point you moved from England to Australia - why? What do you think about the riots in London?
“In terms of social tensions in the UK, things have gotten worse and worse over the years. There is a depraved, almost savage part of the population, perhaps not too noticeable at first glance - but has greatly increased in Lately. This was their first attempt at showing off their muscles. There is no particular surprise here: over 80% of the 1,500 people arrested during and after the riots already had police records and were well known to the investigation. The UK is a total disappointment. Fortunately, Fate and Love brought me to Australia. What do I think about the future of Europe? It's sad, but she will experience many unpleasant shocks.
— On the last album there is a line “Murder Made History” - and a song with that name. What did you mean?
— It seems that this phrase came to my mind a couple of years ago, when I watched a TV documentary about global terrorism after September 11. In Moscow, London, Madrid, New York, Washington, Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, hundreds of thousands of people - literally hundreds of thousands - have died as a result of terrorist attacks. Mainly at the hands of Islamists. I was amazed to learn such colossal numbers - it turns out that we don’t even know about every terrorist attack. The world goes real war, but it wasn’t officially announced. And in this war, “murder created history, murder created joy.” Have you ever seen a poor Islamic terrorist?
The same number “Murder Made History” from the latest album Death in June
— What’s the story with the clothes branded with Death in June logos, which are sold by the uber-hipster New York store “Mishka”? What's the point of this?
— “Mishka” unofficially used one of the group’s logos on some clothing models for several years, but I didn’t do anything about it — I decided that this was probably some kind of homage. And last year they contacted me and said they wanted to release a capsule clothing line this fall. This coincided with the 30th anniversary of Death in June, and I thought that a clothing line from Mishka could be an unexpected and interesting addition to the celebration of the round anniversary. Honestly, I'm not worried about their reputation, since I've known for a long time that a lot of real Death in June fans work for big houses fashion all over the world. They even told me that my songs sound like fashion shows! Which I think is great. In fact, this is an excellent continuation of the story that began with our collaboration with Enrico Charparin, who worked for Donna Karan and Prada - he designed our CDs back in the nineties. And in general: if GUM came to me and gave me carte blanche, I would make a collection for them too!
“Rose Clouds of Holocaust”, a classic old Death in June song that the concert probably wouldn’t be complete without
Death in June will perform at the Moscow club “Sixteen Tons” this Sunday, October 9.
Tony Wakeford (Sol Invictus): "Most people in this country are complete crap"
— Do you consider yourself a misanthrope?
“I used to be a much bigger misanthrope than I am now.” Now my dislike for humanity has slowed down: there is, of course, terrible people, and they are the majority, but there are also those who are quite good, and I like to be around them. What helped me change my views? I don’t know, maybe it’s that I got married? Over the years, it becomes more difficult to do everything alone, and then you begin to appreciate the help of worthy representatives of humanity. The day comes and you realize that everything around is far from black and white. Although I'm still pessimistic.
One of Wakeford's last public appearances to date.
— In your songs there were constantly images of war, murders, and so on. Is this already a thing of the past or do you still tend to wax poetic about violence?
“I have never been attracted to militarism in itself; I am attracted to war as a theme, as aesthetics, as a place and time where baseness and heroism are mixed. Militarism is a metaphor; I am in no way glorifying war.
— One of the key themes in your music is the decline of Europe. How much do you think this process is related to the gradual decline in the influence of Christianity?
— Christianity as driving force modern Europe is definitely in its death throes, but this is a concomitant phenomenon, and I am not sure that it is in in this case is primary. This is simply an inevitable process: civilization by its nature is the same organism as an individual person, and it ages and eventually dies, like everything living. England, being one of the countries that learned Christianity early, is experiencing this process more difficult than others - but I cannot say that this is good or bad. This is the order of things - you can worry as much as you want that you will die, but this will not cancel the fact of death itself. Understand, I am not against Christianity as such, as many people think. If your religion makes you a better person, then that's good, but don't forget that there is a downside - when people start treating others as inferior beings just because they don't share their faith.
— You once sang: “And when we fall, we’ll fall like Rome.” Don't you think now that Eliot was more right when he wrote that this world will end not with an explosion, but with a whimper?
- I completely agree with this. The decline of England is, after all, completely English in spirit: this country is passing away, as is customary with us, unnoticed, without attracting attention. Rules good manners, selfishness and indifference - that's what sank England.
"An English Garden": Sol Invictus's gloomy British eschatology at its best
“Does this not bother you?” Don't you feel like fighting? Or are you completely satisfied with the observer's position?
— As I already said, this is an inevitable process, we just witnessed it. I have no desire to come into conflict with the nature of things - I might as well fight the onset of winter. I spent a lot of time studying different ideologies, preaching great utopias, and, frankly, none of them stand up to criticism. They are similar to the speeches of teenagers in love, who believe that their feelings will last a lifetime, and they will live forever. As for me, one person composing music cannot influence anything. I'm more of an observer than a participant.
- I apologize, but you give the impression of a very tired person from life - and in your opinion latest works this is also noticeable. Is there anything left that really touches you?
- I'm not offended by the truth. I am truly an elderly tired person, health problems bother me more than any other ( laughs). I prefer to spend time in London, with those who are close to me, reading books. In addition, I am constantly involved in the administrative side of my business, various negotiations with publishers and promoters - this is hard work, but it is captivating in its own way and allows you to escape.
“Fools Ship”: a song from Sol Invictus’s latest album released this year, which, to be honest, is not easy to listen to the end
— What do you think about the riots in London?
“For an atomized capitalist society torn from within, these are very predictable events. When there are no values to respect, this is what happens. This is a very good political metaphor: people who rob those who managed to acquire something valuable, simultaneously destroying the values themselves. I think the riots are primarily a consequence of the fact that most people in this country are complete crap.
— Are you not surprised that there are still those who protest against your concerts, accusing you of fascism - only on the basis of your connections with the British National Front a quarter of a century ago?
- Here the answer will be similar to the previous one. Yes, every time there are a handful of people who need to blame someone and demonstrate their fear and hatred, based on only a couple of facts from the extensive history of the group. On the other hand, it’s nice that all the famous anti-fascists and their organizations simply ignore such ideas; they have more serious things to do. And so... What can we do with five idiots who just like to attract attention?
"Believe Me" is another Sol Invictus classic
Sol Invictuswill perform at the Moscow club "Dom" on Saturday, October 22.
The band's name is a reference to the date of Hitler's execution of Ernst Röhm's storm troopers on June 30, 1934. Soon, in 1983, after the release of the debut album The Guilty Have No Pride, Wakeford left the group to soon found Sol Invictus. He is replaced by Richard Butler, who also leaves the group soon - in December 1984. In May 1985, almost immediately after the release of the Nada! album, Patrick Ligas, who founded Sixth Comm, also left. Thus, Douglas Pierce essentially becomes the sole member of Death In June, making this project a reflection exclusively of his own thoughts and visions.
Death In June's early work was a tribute to the musicians' past, rougher and edgier, with a clear influence of Joy Division. At that time, musicians sought to convey their ideas to the listener, not really caring about the melody and mood of the music. However, by the time Nada! The band's music overwhelmingly became what it remains to this day - dark, rhythmic songs performed on an acoustic guitar, mixed with synthesizers, violins, and many other instruments.
Pierce's work intricately mixes acoustic guitar, an extensive percussive section, electronic samples, images of twentieth-century classics Yukio Mishima and Jean Janet, who inspired Pierce over the years, references to the occult and esotericism, and symbolism. All this creates a genuine feeling of sadness, beauty and the poetry of despair. And a constant feeling of tragedy and eternal sorrow, at a high level associated with the personality of Douglas Pierce himself and his interest in such tragic periods of history as the Second World War. He is one of the founders of the phenomenon in modern musical culture called “apocalyptic folk”, and the founders of one of the most intellectual and influential publishing projects in Europe today - World Serpent Distribution, which united musicians with a common ideology of creativity. It is based on a general feeling of the impending End, when the entire history of mankind is perceived as “the history of preparation for the last Battle, not between the forces of Light and Darkness, but of Freedom and Emptiness.”
Today Douglas Pearce lives and works in Australia, where, through his label New European Recordings (NER), he continues his monologue with the world. At the end of 1995, he opened the Eastern European branch of NER - Twilight Command - in Zagreb.
"Of all forms of art, music awakens my feelings most powerfully. When I hear familiar songs or some memorable melodies, all the smells, tastes, emotions can come flooding back. It has an incomparable sadness, and that's why I love it most." - Douglas Pierce.