Dead Can Dance

Dead Can Dance
Dead Can Dance, 24 March 2005 Left to right: Brendan Perry, Lisa Gerrard
Background information
Origin	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Genres	World music, Dark Wave, ambient, new age, neoclassical, ethereal, gothic rock, post-punk, dream pop
Years active	1981–1998, 2005, 2011–
Labels	4AD Warner Bros. Records Rhino/Atlantic Records Rykodisc
Website	deadcandance.com
Past members
Paul Erikson Lisa Gerrard Simon Monroe Brendan Perry James Pinker Scott Rodger Peter Ulrich

Dead Can Dance (sometimes referred to as DCD) are an ethereal neoclassical duo formed in Melbourne, Australia, in August 1981, by Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry. The band relocated to London in May 1982 and disbanded in 1998. Their 1996 album Spiritchaser reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top World Music Albums Chart. Australian music historian Ian McFarlane described Dead Can Dance as having an ambient style of world music that "constructed soundscapes of mesmerising grandeur and solemn beauty...with African polyrhythms, Gaelic folk, Gregorian chants, Middle Eastern mantras, and art-rock."^[1]

Formation and early years

Dead Can Dance formed in Melbourne, Australia, in August 1981 with Paul Erikson on bass guitar, Lisa Gerrard (ex-Microfilm) on vocals, Simon Monroe (Marching Girls) on drums and Brendan Perry (Marching Girls) on vocals and guitar.^[1] Gerrard and Perry were also a domestic couple and they left Erikson and Monroe in Australia when they moved to London in May 1982, where they signed with alternative rock label 4AD Records.^[2] With the duo, the initial United Kingdom line-up were James Pinker, Scott Rodger and Peter Ulrich.^[1]

The group's debut album, Dead Can Dance, which appeared in February 1984, was produced by the band.^[3][4] The artwork (see pictured), which depicts a ritual mask from New Guinea, "provide[s] a visual reinterpretation of the meaning of the name Dead Can Dance".^[5][6] The album "featured drum-driven, ambient guitar music with chanting, singing and howling".^[1] They followed with a four-track extended play, Garden of the Arcane Delights in August.^[1] Allmusic's reviewer, Ned Raggett felt their early work had been "as goth as it gets", while this album saw them "plunging into a wider range of music and style".^[7][8] In 1994, both were packaged together on a CD version of Dead Can Dance.^[3]

Dead Can Dance cover, 1984

For their second album, Spleen and Ideal, the group comprised the core duo of Gerrard and Perry with cello, trombones and tympani added in by session musicians.^[1] It appeared in November 1985 and was co-produced by the duo with John A. Rivers.^[3] Raggett describes it as "a consciously medieval European sound ... like it was recorded in an immense cathedral".^[9] The group built a following in Europe, and this album reached No. 2 on the UK indie charts.^[10] By 1989, Gerrard and Perry had separated domestically – Gerrard returned to Australia and Perry moved to Ireland – but they still wrote, recorded and performed together as Dead Can Dance.

Wider acceptance

Dead Can Dance's albums were not widely available in the United States until the early 1990s, when 4AD made a distribution deal with Warner Bros. Records. 4AD allied itself with the Beggars Banquet Records Group, which included that eponymous label and XL Recordings in the US, but the band's recordings remained distributed through Warner Bros. Records. Subsequent releases, however, have been licensed to Rhino/Atlantic Records, a sister label within Warner Music. Their 1991 compilation, A Passage in Time, remains with 4AD independently of the Rhino and Warner Bros. deals; it was initially only released in the US.^[10]

Their sixth studio album, Into the Labyrinth, was issued in September 1993 and dispensed with guest musicians entirely; it sold 500,000 copies worldwide and appeared on the Billboard 200.^[11] The band had become 4AD's highest selling act.^[1] They followed with a world tour in 1994 and recorded a live performance in California which was released as Toward the Within, with video versions on Laserdisc and VHS (later on DVD). Many unofficial bootlegs of concerts spanning their career exist, containing several rare songs that were only performed live. Toward the Within is the duo's only official live album. It reached the Billboard 200.^[11] Gerrard released her debut solo recording, The Mirror Pool, and recombined with Perry for the Dead Can Dance studio album, Spiritchaser, in 1996.^[1] The album also charted on Billboard 200 and reached No. 1 on the Top World Music Albums Chart.^[11]

Disbandment and reunions

In 1998, Dead Can Dance planned a follow-up to Spiritchaser, but the band separated before it was realised. One song from the recording sessions, "The Lotus Eaters", was eventually released on the box set Dead Can Dance (1981-1998) and on the 2-disc compilation Wake (2003). Gerrard teamed with Pieter Bourke (Snog, Soma) to issue Duality in April 1998. Perry released Eye of the Hunter in October 1999.^[1]

Dead Can Dance, 2005
Gerrard at centre right,
Perry at extreme right.

Dead Can Dance reunited in 2005 and released limited-edition recordings of 13 shows from its European tour, and 8 recordings from the subsequent North American tour, as well as a compilation titled Selections from Europe 2005. These concerts were recorded and released on The Show record label.

On 28 March 2010, in an interview for Bulgaria’s Katehizis.com online music magazine, Perry revealed the possibility of a future Dead Can Dance reunion: "Yes, I’ve been talking about it with Lisa [Gerrard]. Maybe in the end of next year we’ll start work again. We’ve been talking about doing something like taking a small chamber orchestra – 10 or 15 people – and tour with them. And we have to write songs. We have to write new material – totally new – so the whole, entire set will be a new album. Then we’ll go into the studio after the tour, record, produce and release a record as well."^[12] This was confirmed in the official Brendan Perry forum on 12 May 2011: "I have been talking with Lisa Gerrard this past week with regard to recording a new DCD album this coming winter. We hope to complete the album by the summer of 2012 and then embark on an extensive two month world tour in late 2012."^[13]

On September 30, 2011, Dead Can Dance announced the release of a four track EP entitled Live Happenings – Part 1 available for free download from their website.^[14]

Discography

Main article: Dead Can Dance discography

• Dead Can Dance (1984)
• Spleen and Ideal (1986)
• Within the Realm of a Dying Sun (1987)
• The Serpent's Egg (1988)
• Aion (1990)
• Into the Labyrinth (1993)
• Spiritchaser (1996)

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} McFarlane, Ian (1999). "Encyclopedia entry for 'Dead Can Dance (DCD)'". Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1865080721. http://web.archive.org/web/20040628015739/www.whammo.com.au/encyclopedia.asp?articleid=261. Retrieved 21 December 2010. 
2. ^ Strong, Martin C. (2000). The Great Rock Discography (5th ed.). Edinburgh: Mojo Books. pp. 248. ISBN 1841950173. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} Holmgren, Magnus. "Dead Can Dance". Australian Rock Database. Magnus Holmgren. http://hem.passagen.se/honga/database/d/deadcandance.html. Retrieved 21 December 2010. 
4. ^ "Dead Can Dance". MusicBrainz. 8 October 2008. http://musicbrainz.org/release/ced70589-aab2-4754-bd8a-14f776d3ac38.html. Retrieved 24 December 2010. 
5. ^ Dead-Can-Dance.Com
6. ^ "Into the Labyrinth Press-Kit – Dead Can Dance Within – Lisa Gerrard, Brendan Perry, 4AD Records". Dead Can Dance Within. September 1993. http://www.dcdwithin.com/dcd.pl?caduceus=labyrinthpresskit. Retrieved 21 December 2010. 
7. ^ Raggett, Ned. "Dead Can Dance – Dead Can Dance". Allmusic (Rovi Corporation). http://www.allmusic.com/album/r5239. Retrieved 21 December 2010. 
8. ^ Raggett, Ned. "Garden of the Arcane Delights – Dead Can Dance". Allmusic (Rovi Corporation). http://www.allmusic.com/album/r213620. Retrieved 21 December 2010. 
9. ^ Raggett, Ned. "Spleen and Ideal – Dead Can Dance". Allmusic (Rovi Corporation). http://www.allmusic.com/album/r5241. Retrieved 21 December 2010. 
10. ^ ^{a b} Bogdanov, Vladimir. "Dead Can Dance". Allmusic (Rovi Corporation). http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p4044. Retrieved 21 December 2010. 
11. ^ ^{a b c} "Dead Can Dance > Charts & awards > Billboard albums". Allmusic (Rovi Corporation). http://www.allmusic.com/artist/dead-can-dance-p4044/charts-awards. Retrieved 21 December 2010. 
12. ^ "Интервю на Envy с Brendan Perry (екс-Dead Can Dance)" (in Bulgarian). Metal Katehizis. 28 March 2010. http://www.katehizis.com/publications/interview.php?i=brendan_perry2010. Retrieved 22 December 2010.  Note: Google translation of quoted section is "Yes, of course, even now talked with Lisa about it. Now considering to get together again at the end of next year and begin to work with Dead Can Dance. Our idea is to hire a small chamber orchestra - no more than 10-15 musicians with whom to export concerts. Meanwhile, the breaks from the tour, we intend to be devoted to writing new material and after the tour - to get into the studio to record and to release an album". The full "Envy interview with Brendan Perry (ex-Dead Can Dance)", as translated by Google, is available here.
13. ^ "Dead Can Dance new album and tour for 2012". The Brendan Perry Forum. 2011-05-11. http://forum.brendan-perry.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=765. Retrieved 2011-06-05. 
14. ^ ":Download: Dead Can Dance offer Live Happenings – Part 1 Free!". COMA Music Magazine. 2011-09-30. http://coma-online.com/?p=7426. Retrieved 2011-10-28. 

External links

• Official Dead Can Dance Web site
• Dead Can Dance interviews from the Echoes public radio show
• Dead Can Dance discography at MusicBrainz