Greetings from a stormy east coast of England.
I have had in my possession a very rare 5 track demo by
SUFFOCATION MADNESS an old friend’s band from Edinburgh, Scotland. Recorded @
Pier House 4 track studio, Granton Square, Edinburgh sometime around early
1984, in the wee small hours when everyone had gone home to sleep, Donny and
Ewan plus a drum-machine and a whizzed out drummer set about putting to tape 4
tracks that they had been practicing for months. Heavily influenced by Killing
Joke, Cocteau Twins, Bauhaus and many more, Suffocation Madness carved out
their own personal hell and spewed it forth for the few to hear. Three nights
later they proudly returned home to sleep with their one and only demo. Close
friends and family were treated to an additional bonus track, a dub version if
you will, of one of their favourite songs Salem. Donny (Donald J MacDonald) and
Ewan (Ewan Campbell) both originally came from Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides
during 1982 deciding that the glitz, lights and glamour of Scotland's capital
city Edinburgh was the place to be. A bedsit in the student area of the city
was far darker than had been expected which reflected in their music. You can
almost feel the sweat dripping down the stone walls of the underground cellars
they used to frequent, the dark corners where Goths and Punks would gather
before erupting on to the dance floor as the opening drum-machine beats of The
Sisters Of Mercy pound from the speakers. Nights turn to day, day turns to
night again, still with no time to sleep, still with no time to cry.
Now, some 36 years later I feel that Suffocation Madness
should be heard by the many rather than the few.