Advertisement
Screaming Dead are a punk rock band from Cheltenham formed in 1980, who have often been characterized as "horror punk". They released several singles and EPs with indie chart success, before splitting up in 1985. They reformed in 1997; disbanded again in 1999; and reformed in 2014.The band - named after the English title of Dracula contra Frankenstein, the 1972 horror film - was formed by guitarist Tony McCormack (later McKormack), who recruited former singer with The Waste, Sam Missile (Simon Bignall), bass guitarist Mal Page, and drummer Mark Ogilvie.The band built up a strong local following which spread farther afield with coverage in fanzines such as Gez Lowery's Rising Free and through sales of their demo tape. They followed their first tape with a more formal release, the Children of the Boneyard Stones cassette, which came with a badge and a copy of the band's own fanzine, Warcry.They then self-financed their debut vinyl release, the "Valley of the Dead" single, initially released on their own Skull Records label, but when it sold out of its first pressing within a week it was picked up by No Future records. The band's next release, the "Night Creatures" 12-inch single, saw them break into the UK Indie Chart, reaching number 22 in September 1983. While the band were at times tagged as Goths, the label was rejected by Bignall, who in a posthumous interview stated "Screaming Dead were a punk rock band, there's no doubt about that! We had a bit of an interest in the horror theme, and that was how we decided to present ourselves." In 1984, taking inspiration from X Ray Spex, the band recruited saxophonist Nick Upton, the band also signing to Nine Mile Records, who issued their last two releases on the Angel label. The change in sound lost a lot of fans, and with an interest in punk rock declining, the band split up in 1985.
The band reformed in 2014 with a line up of Sam Bignall, Mal Page, Mazzy, and Hugh Fairlie.
Support
DxSxA
World class raging punk core for the masses
Skunkworm
Your favourite new teen punk-goth-post band
Advertisement
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Face Bar, 121 Chatham Street, Reading, RG1 7JE, United Kingdom,Reading, England
Tickets
