Southern Death Cult

Southern Death Cult was a gothic rock band in the early 1980s. It is now primarily known for having given its lead singer and parts of its name to the multi-platinum hard rock band The Cult. Despite the similarities in the names, "Southern Death Cult" was distinct from "Death Cult"/"The Cult".



Southern Death Cult emerged from the ashes of the seminal Bradford punk band Violation. In place at that time were Aki Nawaz-drums, Barry Jepson-bass, Mick-guitar & Mick Brady-vocals. Notable songs in their set were 'Boys in Blue' & 'Assault & Battery'- The high point for this line-up is probably their support slot to the Clash at Bradford's St. Georges Hall in 1980.



In 1981, Aki Nawaz and Barry Jepson and Buzz had a rehearsal room in the basement of New Model Armies happy house (they were called something Hustler Street band at that time)- Buzz saw Ian dancing at a new romantic club and liked his weird dancing and invited him down to rehearse with them. Ian Astbury (performing under the name "Ian Lindsay") sang alongside guitarist David Burrows. Astbury renamed the band Southern Death Cult, after an oscure Indian tribe around the Mississippi delta area in the 14th and 15th centuries. The Southern Death Cult's first ever performance was at the Queen's Hall in Bradford, England, on 29 October 1981. The setlist the band played was: Crow, The Girl Apache, Vivisection, (unknown song), Moya, The Crypt, and there is a bootleg recording of that show in circulation. The fifth song is sometimes referred to as 'War Song', but it's real title is unknown, seeing as the band never performed it again, nor was it ever recorded by them in the studio. The band toured heavily in the UK promoting its double A side single "Moya/ Fatman/ The Girl", which had gone to 1 on the independent charts. Their first gig was at the Mayflower Club (which was reggae club) and it was for Yorkshire television who were filming. The next official public gig was at the 1 in 12 Club which was an left wing anarchist organisation-at the Sun Pub. The band toured with Theatre of Hate, and then succeeding in getting a slot opening for Bauhaus, at the end of 1982, but Astbury disbanded the group after a show on 26 February 1983.



Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy (of The Nosebleeds and Theatre of Hate) came together later in April 1983 to form a different band, with a similar name, first called "Death Cult" and then, after releaseing a four song EP and a single, the band changed their name to simply The Cult. The other members of The Southern Death Cult formed Getting the Fear. Later they changed their name to Into a Circle. Qureshi went on to form the political, Islamic hip hop group Fun-Da-Mental and to create the label Nation Records.



Southern Death Cult's singles, demos, and some live recordings were later collected onto a ten song compilation album by Beggars Banquet, simply entitled Southern Death Cult. The vinyl version was released in a dozen countries after The Cult's popularity grew in the 1980's. An early ten song CD version was released in 1987 in Japan. It was issued on CD in 1988 with five bonus tracks, and then remastered and reissued on CD again in 1996. The songwriting credits to "A Flower in the Desert," off of The Cult's Dreamtime album, are from the Southern Death Cult line up- a credit which is sometimes omitted from the various different pressings of Dreamtime.



I put this up here for all the people who want to hear good music live on.The Southern Death Cult is featured in a new boxset from Rhino Records Check out the MySpace page HERE for more info!