Douglas Pearce (born 27 April 1956), known professionally as Douglas P., is a British musician, best known for his

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 instrume ...

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. However, after the other members left, in 1984 and 1985, to work on other projects, ...

. He was born in Sheerwater in

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

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

and lives in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, which has been his home since the mid-1990s.

Early life

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

which he said was a "white, working-class ghetto"; his father worked as a courier for the military and had served in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. 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. He grew up in what he describes as "a very militaristic environment, surrounded by war"; he says that he "had a natural attraction to war". At the age of 18 Pearce left home, went hitchhiking 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 altered state of consciousness and associated behaviors which are purportedly caused by the control of a human body and its functions by Supernatural#Spirit, spirits, ghosts, demons, angels, or Deity, gods. The concept ...

, and after his father died, his mother and he would "muck around with a

Ouija board The Ouija ( , ), also known as a Ouija board, spirit board, talking board, or witch board, is a flat board marked with the letters of the Latin alphabet, the numbers 0–9, the words "yes", "no", and occasionally "hello" and "goodbye", along ...

". 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 () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...

, and claims to have had contact with various entities saying "I believe in gods, demons, angels whether they're from the inner psyche, another dimension or whatever. I've heard them and I've seen them. I've even felt them touch me".

Career

Crisis

In 1977 Pearce began his musical career in a British

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

band called Crisis. After Crisis disbanded in 1980, Pearce formed Death in June with Crisis bandmate Tony Wakeford (currently of the English folk noir band,

Sol Invictus Sol Invictus (, "Invincible Sun" or "Unconquered Sun") was the official Solar deity, sun god of the late Roman Empire and a later version of the god Sol (Roman mythology), Sol. The emperor Aurelian revived his cult in 274 AD and promoted Sol Inv ...

) and Patrick O'Kill né Leagas (now a member of the English band Mother Destruction).

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 to work under the Death in June moniker.

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

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

Current 93 Current 93 are an English experimental music group, founded in 1982 by David Tibet. Much of Current 93's early work was similar to late 1970s and early 1980s industrial music: abrasive tape loops, droning synthesizer noises and Tibet's distorte ...

Personal life

Douglas P. is openly gay, and says that "being gay is fundamental to Death in June"; he expresses discontent with that side of Death in June not being explored in interviews. His literary influences include

Yukio Mishima Kimitake Hiraoka ( , ''Hiraoka Kimitake''; 14 January 192525 November 1970), known by his pen name Yukio Mishima ( , ''Mishima Yukio''), was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, Shintoist, Ultranationalism (Japan), ultranationalis ...

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 Th ...

, whose work he admires not only for its brilliance but also for their shared identity as gay men.

Political views

In 2017, Oregon record label Soleilmoon Recordings was listed on the

Southern Poverty Law Center The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white ...

's hate group registry for distributing albums by Death in June, and

Boyd Rice Boyd Blake Rice (born December 16, 1956) is an American experimental sound/noise musician using the name of NON since the mid-1970s. A pioneer of industrial music, Rice was one of the first artists to use a sampler and turntable as an instrum ...

's project NON. Charles Powne, the label's owner, denied that Soleilmoon was racist, and said that Pearce and Rice are not racist either. The SPLC pointed out a 1996 quote from Pearce where he proudly aligned with Eurocentric racialism: "I am totally

Eurocentric Eurocentrism (also Eurocentricity or Western-centrism) refers to viewing the West as the center of world events or superior to other cultures. The exact scope of Eurocentrism varies from the entire Western world to just the continent of Euro ...

. I'm not overly concerned with the past but I do care about the present and the future. European culture, morals, ethics, whatever are under attack from all sides these days."

Discography

References

{{Authority control 1956 births Living people English male singer-songwriters English LGBTQ songwriters English LGBTQ singers English gay musicians Gay songwriters Gay singers English people of Ulster-Scottish descent English occultists Exorcised people Current 93 members Death in June members 20th-century English LGBTQ people 21st-century English LGBTQ people English emigrants to Australia