Play Dead - The First Flower

In response to a request on my previous Play Dead post, I suggested that I would post The First Flower…this was back in 2019. Lady and Gentleman, I apologise for the four year wait and finally, posted here in all its glory, I give you both, The First Flower.

The band's longest original release in its earliest days, The First Flower on the whole is a step below the dark, surging power of bands like the early TSOM and Siouxsie and the Banshees. Still, it has enough aggressive post-punk edge for hardcore fans of the era and sounds to warrant further investigation, and certainly sounds far sharper all around than the earliest, scattershot singles. Part of the band's appeal (and consequently its lack of true stature) is the semi-cloning of other popular groups. Thus, there's more than a little Cure in both Green's guitars and Waddleston's bass, while Smith's pounding, rolling drums call to mind many other groups working in a similar "tribal" vein like UK Decay. Generally, though, The First Flower captures both a mysterious, epic edge and brusquer slams with equal appeal, with Green in particular having a nervous, screeching style that establishes its own extreme identity far more than original guitarist Re Vox did. Hickson's singing at points almost sounds like what would happen if Jello Biafra had a slightly calmer English cousin who liked Peter Murphy, a comparison not as off as it might sound. The six songs skip from style to style, more than once stumbling across a neat new fusion -- the snarling funk of "Propaganda" sounds like it was a clear role model for the Cult's later hit "Resurrection Joe."

Play Dead – Early 7” Singles

In the early 80’s Play Dead were constantly referred to as second division Killing Joke wannabees. But is that the reality when you sit down to listen to their early beginnings? Debut single “Poison Take A Hold” might not have the greatest production values, but they get their point across, this is a band destined for the club dance floor. Play Dead make a decent enough racket for a band trying to find their place in the world for this is not straight forward proto Goth. The labels really don’t help when you have pounding drums, some blinding bass runs, guitars fully signed up to the ‘Geordie School Of Guitar’ and vocals that defy logic or categorisation. Of course by the time they had recorded their debut mini album they were a fully-fledged Goth band. But that’s not why we’re here. Play Dead were part of the first generation that could be called Post Punk, along with other bands such as Southern Death Cult, Theatre Of Hate, Bauhaus and The Danse Society who were all ploughing the fertile soil that punk had left behind. Play Dead were finding their own way, dipping their toes in the turbulent waters. There are no keyboards, no fancy guitar solos either, this is a new kind of Punk, Punk that you can dance to.