Tell me a little about the first time you visited Australia. What led you to the decision to move here? The shortened version of a long and complicated story is that back in London in 1980 I fell in love with an Australian who completely altered my way of looking at and appreciating the World. And this came at a time when I was already re-evaluating absolutely everything in my Life as Punk had died, Crisis, my first group had split up in May 1980 after performing with Magazine and…

ASCENSION MAGAZINE No. 26 – INTERVIEW WITH DEATH IN JUNE by Vanessa Venerdì and Gianfranco Santoro December 2010 1) How did you meet pianist Miro Snejdr and decide to leave to him the musical interpretation of “Peaceful Snow”, the new record by Death In June? • In about April 2009 a few fans told me about some instrumental piano versions appearing in videos on the internet of some of the songs from the previous years’ Death In June album ‘The Rule Of Thirds’. I watched and listened to them on…

“Nascosto tra le Rune” is the third Death in June biography: do you think this the right book to understand once and for all the essence and art of Death in June? I think that’s asking a lot of one book! And, I’m not even sure if that is, or should be, the purpose of any book about Death In June. All 3 books have had their own distinct direction and ‘feel’ not simply because they have been written in French, English and now Italian but also because of the…

As the previous album was peculiarly and surprisingly raw and sparse, this new one goes on this path but with a new major instrument : the piano. Is it a way of recreating your own personal « year zero » once again ? In truth I couldn’t see that there would be another Death In June album with me playing the guitar. I didn’t hear it, I didn’t feel it. I didn’t need it. I needed something else. And, more to inspire me and act as a catalyst. I’ve spent the past 10 years…

Here’s an interview I did for an Australian fanzine a couple of months ago. Throughout Peaceful Snow, and indeed the entirety of your recorded output, there are continued allusions toward more ancient and mystical methods of decoding and understanding the world and the universe – runes, Norse mythology, extra-Biblical prophecy etc. Indeed it seems as though Death In June has constructed and woven a micro-mythology around itself by means of appropriation and redeployment of mythical images of the past. To what extent was this conscious? To what extent do you…

What does “SACRIFICE” mean for Death In June? Everything! Death In June has always come first in my Life and has demanded my utmost attention, Love and care over the 32 years it has now existed. That’s a major factor as to why Death In June has been successful and has had so much influence musically, culturally, sartorially etc Worldwide. And continues to! If people don’t have absolute Faith in what they’re doing, and aren’t Willing to Sacrifice everything in the name of that cause, they shouldn’t be doing it….

Online version : http://www.mishkanyc.com/death-in-june-interview Downloadable PDF : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=1G09DTX5 My roommate would occasionally find and buy DIJ’s pricy imported CDs, which all had beautiful packaging and design. Death In June’s records are usually expensive but it’s clear where the money’s going. I’m not aware of anyone who puts out more picture discs than Death In June does. When you hold a Death In June album, you get the immediate sense that it’s more real, more permanent than the other albums you own. The first album of DIJ’s that I was aware of was…

Interview for Polish magazine Gothica 1.Hello, Douglas. – it`s Your 30th anniversary with Death In June this year. I`m actually surprised that it`s so quiet around You now – no celebration so far. Is it a silence before the storm? As far as I know you had quite a few plans… Yes, you are correct that as I write this in the middle of 2011 it is the calm before the storm. There are many projects planned for the rest of 2011 which even range outside the usual scope of…

This is a question about that wave of late 70’s and 80’s – you, Mr. Wakeford, Mr. Rice, Mr. Tibet among the many others – what do you think, why there was such an explosion of talented musicians who were oriented to a not so well-known sides of art and culture? How do you see that époque now? It’s an interesting question and something I, too, have thought about. The closest to any explanation I’ve come to is Time itself. If you view the people who were instrumental in starting…

Questions for Douglas Pearce from OpenSpace.ru: 1. What was the thought process behind your decision: to start DIJ’s jubilee tour here, in Russia, after six years of silence? What are your feelings about our country? Offers to tour the World have constantly come in since my retirement from live performances in 2005 but 2011 marks the 30th Anniversary of the foundation of Death In June and it’s first release ‘Heaven Street’ and it’s first live performance. ‘6’ being the number of the month of June I thought these signs were…

1) For DIJ the masks, or better “The Mask” (you encountered in Italy), have always represented an icon, like uniforms. Can you explain us the symbolism of these masks? There is no “symbolism”. There just ‘IS’. It ‘is’ good looking. It ‘is’ different. It ‘is’ now an icon. It ‘is’ instantly recognizable as Death In June. It ‘is’ established and sort after – even to the point of it once being stolen after the Death In June performance in Israel (and since in Italy)! It ‘is’ Magickal and it ‘is’…

A few years ago you announced that there will be no more Death in June live shows. But fortunately, in 2011 we’re going to have you perform in Moscow. What made you get back on the road? Realistically it’s a culmination of events. 2011 marks the 30th Anniversary of the foundation of Death In June, the release of the group’s first 12” e.p. ‘Heaven Street’ and the first performance in 1981 so coupled with the offers I was getting to perform live again I thought this was as good a…

ARE THERE ANY DEATH IN JUNE RELEASES YOU THINK HAVE BEEN OVERLOOKED? I feel all the releases by Death In June got appropriate exposure for their days. The one album that puzzles me though is ‘Burial’ and the amount of exposure and sales it achieved and still does. For me it’s the sound of the group falling to pieces, being pulled in several directions and sounding rough and confused. The runt of the litter. It was touch and go that Death In June would survive that release and the subsequent…

Oh, Far Away There Lies A Dream We’re All Seeking It’s Locked Away The Key Hangs Near Our Hands Are Tied And Far Away In Darkest Days We Are Living I Call Your Name Too Wrapped In Lies You Don’t Hear Me So Far Away Near Shores Of Deep Empty Oceans There Lies The Pearl There Lies The Dream And Our Conscience We’ll Rise Above We’ll Rise Above All The Killing We’ll Rise Above We’ll Rise Above While You’re Sleeping Still Far Away There Lies A Dream We’re All Seeking…

You Lay Covered In Those Moments, As You Do In The Morning When You Awake From An Agonizing Dream, And In The Course Of Detention You Sometimes Appeal To The Wilderness To The Events Which Were Getting Underway When You Lost Your Footing, Events Which Were Like Semi-Awakenings That At Times Explode On The Surface Of The Windscreen.You Flounder Under, And Then You Sink. The Man I Was Seeking Among Other Men Died In His Bed Like A Royal Prince, Before Covering His Body With The Standard, A Grace And…

Smashed To Bits In The Peace Of The Night He Craved Power And, To Keep In He’d Change His Spots Or, Shed His Skin (He Craved Power) Smashed To Bits In The Peace Of The Night The Power In The Hour The Art Of The Few Original And Best Perpetuate Nature Unending Largesse (She Craves Power) In Attempts To Stultify Me Your Weakness – Your Ideology Smashed To Bits In The Peace Of The Night He Craved Power And, To Keep In He’d Change His Spots Or, Shed His Skin…

Into That Darkness Into That Darkness Like Jackals Howling Like Flowers Unfolding Into That Darkness Into That Darkness The Banners In Tatters The Virgin Is Blessed Into That Darkness Into That Darkness As If Seeking There Hope’s Bloody Prey The Dead Dog Sinking Turning And Turning Into That Darkness Into That Darkness The Bodies Collapsed Swollen With Gas Into That Darkness Into That Darkness In The Hovels And Gutters Her Face To The Storm Into That Darkness Into That Darkness Still Broken, Still Bleeding The Crack Of The Neck The…

With Your Hair Of Flaming Roses Your Kiss, Medusa’s Touch Turn Me To A Pillar Of Salt To Die Now Would Be Perfection Then My Loneliness Closes In So , I Drink A German Wine And Drift In Dreams Of Other Lives And Greater Times White Sheets Wrap My Mind In Drunken Thoughts Of Runes And Men Why Does The Devil Leave For Us His Legacy Of Loneliness This Cry For The Moon And A Dagger’s Thrust With Your Hair Of Flaming Blooms And Your Eyes Of Saintly Dusk Then…

I Have Seen On That Far Hill Serpents Locked In War Love Is The Law Love Under Will The Heart Of The Master Scars Me The Mark Of Cain A New Sun Dawns The Eagle Spreads Its Wings The Light Brings Pain Thirst, Evil Dawn Fallen Angel Fall For Me I Have Seen On That Far Hill Churches Locked In War Love Is The Law Love Under Will The Heart Of The Master Chains Me Through A Lost Embrace – On An Eastern Plain Where Crippled Winds Give Birth To…

Hold Me As I Slip Away Into This Coldness Hold Me As I Slip Away Into These Colours Hold Me As I Pay Respect To Broken Spires Of Dreadful Night My Flesh Has Been Torn My Eyes Have Seen Clouds My Nails Have Gripped The Clay Of Crawling Black Flowers Recalling Dead Sorrow Recalling Black Love You And I In Pleasure Parted You And I In Sadness Racked You And I In Flowers Falling You And I Invoke Culling You And I In Soulless Searching You And I In Heartfelt…