UK Decay - History

History

UK Decay was born out of the ashes of another Luton band called The Resistors, who had formed in 1978. The Resistors' lineup consisted of guitarist Steven "Abbo" Abbot, drummer Steve Harle, bassist Martin "Segovia" Smith, and vocalist Paul Wilson. After Wilson's departure in the spring of 1979, the remaining band members changed their name to UK Decay and released the Split Single 7” EP in partnership with fellow local band Pneumania, on their own Plastic Records label. The EP featured two tracks from each band, with UK Decay contributing "UK Decay" and "Car Crash." Split Single sold extremely well, mainly thanks to a damning review in the NME, whose Danny Baker and Charles Shaar Murray described them as "one of the worst punk bands of all time." At the same time, some UK Decay members produced their own monthly fanzine The Suss and ran their own punk record and clothes shop called Matrix. Guitarist Steve Spon was soon poached from Pneumania, allowing Abbo to concentrate on frontman duties.

The next release for Plastic Records was UK Decay's The Black 45 four-song EP, issued in early 1980. It remained on the UK Indie Chart for three weeks, reaching No. 42. Alex Howe from Fresh Records offered to license the first two singles, and signed UK Decay to the label. The first official release for Fresh was the single "For My Country," issued in September 1980. "For My Country" received airplay from John Peel (for whom they would record two sessions) and spent eight months in the indie chart, reaching No. 13. The single was promoted by a major UK tour with raging political punk band Dead Kennedys. By 1981, two further singles had also been released, "Unexpected Guest" and "Sexual." The former achieved the band’s highest indie chart placing of No. 4, and paved the way for UK Decay’s debut album, For Madmen Only, released by Fresh in December 1981. The album had taken a year to gestate, due to delays caused by a time-consuming US tour and a frustrating search for a new permanent bass player. When original bassist Segovia left, Lorraine "Lol" Turvey from The Statics stood in for some UK dates and an early 1981 European tour. For the US jaunt and subsequent UK tours in spring 1981, Creetin K-OS (of US punks Social Unrest) stood in. Following that stint, K-OS returned home and Eddie "Dutch" Branch (aka "Twiggy") from Northampton joined on bass, just in time to finish the album.

In early 1982, Fresh Records collapsed, and UK Decay were caught up in the ensuing management buy-out by what would become Jungle Records. With the help of John Loder and Southern Studios, they managed to buy up the rights to their back catalogue and set up their own label, UK Decay Records. Loder also introduced them to Penny Rimbaud from Crass, which resulted in the Rising from the Dread 12" EP being issued on Crass' Corpus Christi label in August 1982. However, despite a strong showing in the independent charts and an ever-expanding fanbase, UK Decay split up in December 1982. Posthumous cassette-only live album A Night for Celebration was released during the summer of 1983.

Abbo, Steve Harle and Eddie Branch would regroup with new guitarist Albie de Luca (formerly of Gene Loves Jezebel) as Furyo in mid-1983, releasing two mini-albums through the following year and recording an unreleased album before splitting again in early 1985. Spon went on to form In Excelsis with former members of Ritual; the group released several singles and an album on Jungle Records.

UK Decay were arguably a major influence on an emerging wave of newer post-punk bands in 1981-1982, such as The Sisters of Mercy, Sex Gang Children and Southern Death Cult. These bands together spawned the Goth movement that still resonates today. UK Decay had a major role in developing this scene, but had ceased to exist by the time these younger bands started receiving serious press coverage and sales.

Following a brief 1993 reunion (in which three of their older tracks were rerecorded), UK Decay resumed activity in the early 2000s (decade), launching a website and reissuing A Night for Celebration in 2005 in an expanded deluxe edition titled Nights for Celebration. 2007 saw the release of compilation Death, So Fatal, containing a mix of demos, single tracks, Peel Sessions, and the 1993 remakes. In 2008, UK Decay reformed for a UK reunion gig and to headline the legendary Drop Dead Festival in Lisbon, Portugal. This led to further bookings, including a short tour of Italy in April 2009 and an August 2009 appearance at the Rebellion Festival in Blackpool, UK. For Madmen Only was reissued on both CD and digital media in 2009, with the Rising from the Dread EP and several single-only tracks appended.