Douglas Pearce, known professionally as Douglas P (born 27 April 1956), is an English

folk musician Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has be ...

, record label owner, photographer and actor who is best known for his neofolk project

Death in June Death in June are a neofolk group led by English musician Douglas P. (Douglas Pearce). The band was originally formed in the United Kingdom in 1981 as a trio, but after the other members left in 1984 and 1985 to work on other projects, the grou ...

. Pearce was born in Sheerwater in

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

, and currently resides in Australia, where he has lived since the mid 90s.

Early life

Pearce was born on 27 April 1956, and grew up in Sheerwater, suburb of

which he described as a "white, working-class ghetto", to a father who worked as a courier for the military, and had served in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Both of his parents were English, though his mother claimed Scots-Irish ancestry. His father died of a heart attack at age 56, when Pearce was 14. Pearce grew up in what he describes as "a very militaristic environment, surrounded by war", and says that he "had a natural attraction to war". At the age of 18 Pearce left home and hitchhiked around Europe and "came home a changed man". As a child, Pearce was exorcised by his parents for alleged

demonic possession Spirit possession is an unusual or altered state of consciousness and associated behaviors purportedly caused by the control of a human body by spirits, ghosts, demons, or gods. The concept of spirit possession exists in many cultures and r ...

, and after his father died, his mother and he would "muck around with a Ouija board". Pearce believes in the

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

and

occult The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...

, and claims to have had contact with various entities.

Sexual orientation

Douglas P. is openly gay, and says that 'being gay is fundamental to Death in June', and expresses discontent with this side of Death in June not being explored in interviews. He describes the lack of coverage of this as 'incredulous' 'sic'' His literary influences include

Yukio Mishima , born , was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, Shintoist, nationalist, and founder of the , an unarmed civilian militia. Mishima is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century. He was considered fo ...

and

Jean Genet Jean Genet (; – ) was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. In his early life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but he later became a writer and playwright. His major works include the novels '' The Thief ...

, whom he admires 'not only because their work was brilliant but that they were also gay. It adds so much.'

Musical work

Crisis

Pearce began his musical career in a British punk band called Crisis in 1977. After Crisis disbanded in 1980, Pearce formed Death in June with Crisis bandmate

Tony Wakeford Anthony Charles "Tony" Wakeford (born 2 May 1959) is an English neofolk and neoclassical musician, who primarily records under the name Sol Invictus. Wakeford lives in London and is married to Sol Invictus violinist Renée Rosen. Musical wor ...

(currently of the English folk noir band,

Sol Invictus Sol Invictus (, "Unconquered Sun"), sometimes simply known as Helios, was long considered to be the official sun god of the later Roman Empire. In recent years, however, the scholarly community has become divided on Sol between traditionalists ...

) and Patrick O'Kill né Leagas (currently a member of the English band

Mother Destruction ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gestati ...

Death in June

In 1985 Douglas P. became the sole constant member of Death in June, with rotating guest musicians serving as collaborators and live band members. Pearce continues working under the Death in June moniker to this day.

New European Recordings

Pearce has released numerous recordings of musical work of his own and others under his ''New European Recordings'' label since 1981.

Neofolk

Pearce was highly influential in the creation of a musical movement often referred to as

neofolk Neofolk, also known as apocalyptic folk, is a form of experimental music blending elements of folk and industrial music, which emerged in punk rock circles in the 1980s. Neofolk may either be solely acoustic or combine acoustic folk instrumen ...

, often collaborating and playing live with various artists within the genre. He served as a guitarist, drummer and occasional vocalist for experimental music group Current 93.

Discography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Douglas P. 1956 births Living people English male singer-songwriters LGBT singers from the United Kingdom English gay musicians English people of Ulster-Scottish descent English occultists Exorcised people Current 93 members Death in June members 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people