Biography

Long-running New Zealand trio the Dead C were early pioneers of noise rock, stretching traditional guitar and drum instrumentation into contained explosions of bleary improvisation and lo-fi recording. Active since 1986, the group quickly developed a signature sound based around meandering, blown-out approaches to more conventional rock sounds, crafting a catalog of records that obscured melodies deep beneath walls of murk, feedback, and otherworldly noise. Records from the Dead C's '90s catalog like Trapdoor Fucking Exit and The White House helped define a movement of home-recorded experimental artists and would prove influential on the next several generations of sound deconstructionists. The group remained productive without pause throughout the '90s, 2000s, and 2010s, releasing new material every few years with adventurous indie labels like Siltbreeze and Ba Da Bing. Later albums tended more toward instrumental pieces, but the band's sound stayed remarkably consistent, with latter-day albums like 2013's Armed Courage and 2020's Unknowns continuing the otherworldly tones they started with. The Dead C was formed in 1986 in Dunedin, New Zealand, by guitarist/vocalist Michael Morley, ex-Verlaines drummer Robbie Yeats, and guitarist/vocalist Bruce Russell, who also ran the Xpressway label. Early on, the trio developed a drony, protracted approach to the trappings of rock music, releasing their feedback-heavy lo-fi recordings first on limited-run cassettes. Their first widely available albums were put out by Kiwi pop flagship label Flying Nun. The label, mostly known for downtuned indie pop acts like the Clean and the Bats released the Dead C's DR503 in 1988 as well as 1989's follow-up Eusa Kills. This was a highly active period for the band, and before 1989 was over, they would begin a long-running relationship with Philadelphia-based fringe label Siltbreeze by releasing Helen Said This, a mini-album with two side-long jams. They were still releasing cassette-only albums at a steady clip, recording live shows, practices, and other less traditional takes on what could constitute an album, and releasing that material to a growing international fan base. Key releases from the group's early-'90s output included 1992's dense double-LP Harsh 70's Reality, an edited collection of live recordings released the same year called Clyma Est Mort, the shiftless and meandering 1993 release The Operation of the Sonne, and 1995's somewhat more structured collection of wintery meditations The White House, all released through Siltbreeze. By this point, the Dead C were playing their first gigs outside of New Zealand, with short tours of the United States. Members of the group were also busy with side projects, including Morley's solo moniker Gate (which had been up and running almost as long as the Dead C) and A Handful of Dust, Russell's abstract duo with Alastair Galbraith. Other side projects also formed around the nucleus of the trio, including 2 Foot Flame (a trio that joined Morley with Mecca Normal vocalist Jean Smith and New Zealand songwriter Peter Jefferies), Cobweb Iris, Brown Velvet Couch, and collaborations with members of Sonic Youth. The live album Repent surfaced in 1996 and the following year the band issued sixth album Tusk. This would be the last release the group issued with Siltbreeze, and it also marked a relative slowdown to their high-volume productivity, as their next album wouldn't arrive until 2000 in the form of a self-titled double-CD collection of sessions conducted from 1995-1999. This eponymous album was released on the Dead C's newly minted Language Recordings label. Their second album on the label was 2002's New Electric Music. Issued in 2003, The Damned found a more widespread American release on the Starlight Furniture label. Around this time, the band embarked on their first-ever tours of Europe, playing a festival in Scotland in 2004 and dropping by the U.K. in 2006 for an appearance at All Tomorrow's Parties. A 2005 12" with African percussion ensemble Konono No. 1 was released as the 18th volume of FatCat Records' Split Series. The Dead C then began a long-running relationship with American label Ba Da Bing, which released "Relax Fallujah - Hell Has Come" (a 7" of early recordings) and the double-CD compilation Vain, Erudite and Stupid, which spanned their entire career up to that point. A split LP with Hi God People on the Nervous Jerk label also appeared in 2006. The group's first albums for Ba Da Bing were Future Artists in 2007 and Secret Earth in 2008. These were followed in 2010 by the Patience LP and reissues of Clyma Est Mort/Tentative Power and Dead Sea Perform M Harris. Thirteenth proper album Armed Courage, consisting of two side-long tracks, appeared in 2013, as did a split LP with Rangda. The four-LP live box set The Twelfth Spectacle was issued by Grapefruit Records in 2014. A limited 7" single titled "Palisades" was released by I Dischi Del Barone in 2015. The five-song double album Trouble appeared on Ba Da Bing in 2016, and in 2019, over 30 years into their career, the Dead C's 15th long-player arrived in the form of Rare Ravers. The next year, the trio returned with the murky and ragged sounds of the album Unknowns. ~ Fred Thomas, Rovi