DOUGLAS P. Unlike any other artists of the British esoteric underground, Death In June has never seemed to be obvious. Since the very beginning of their career it was always quite hard to imagine the next work of Douglas P. What it would be like? Among all the people in the world, only one can answer this question. He’s currently residing in Australia and continues his musical path. He’s started his career as a member of punk-band – Crisis. We all know him as a person under well-known ethnic-like mask. Within Death In June, Douglas expanded the boarders of folk music creating what we all know as “neofolk” – the mixture of symbolism and surrealism, experiments and abstraction enhanced by the almost-hypnotic voice of the only one constant in Death In June. This January, Death In June released the new 7’inch compilation – ‘The Wall Of Sacrifice’, through French label - Steelwork Machine. In this interview we spoke with Douglas P, about recent album of Death in June – “ESSENCE!” and the ideas of Douglas on the new record, about sources of inspiration and creativity over the years, about punk-rock and evolution through the years. It looks like that for each record you choose another, opposite direction. Once you said that in the discography of Death In June, there are no similar records. I can’t but agree with it! So speaking in terms of your recent LP - “ESSENCE!”, what helped you to define the methods of work on this record? My initial approach to what became ‘ESSENCE!’ was to somehow reflect upon both my Life in my 60s, which have been particularly unhappy years for me and very reminiscent of my early 30s, and a summarization of where I thought Death In June had travelled to musically and culturally. I decided to look back at how far the journey of Death In June and myself had been. Or, so I thought that was what I was doing. In a way I thought I was looking in the rear view mirror but very soon after its release on 30th November, 2018 it morphed into what was to come and where I was driving to. It became for me a very predictive album. Depressingly so unfortunately. Do you always have an idea about how your next album should sound like, or when you start working on songs, these are just images that are coming slowly together Yes, I do usually have a rough idea or concept of how the album should sound but I’ve learnt to watch out and listen to its natural dynamics and musical declarations, accidental or otherwise. ‘ESSENCE!” doesn’t sound much www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be - 16 -
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