October 20, 2022

Play Dead T.V. Eye

Play Dead, the Oxfordshire band's second release from 1981 with the single T.V. Eye. Yes, another 'goth' band but, not from the 'powerhouse' of Goth Rock aka The North of England, not that this band by all accounts particularly liked being labelled 'goth'.

Track Listing:

A SIde - T.V. Eye
B Side - Final Epitaph

The track T.V. Eye is not to be confused with a song recorded by The Stooges of the same name, catch the track at the youtube link.

The Record Label & Band Formation

Play Dead's track was released on the Independent 'Fresh Records' label in 1981. The label was formed by Alex Howe in 1978 who ran 'Wretched Records', which was basically a record stall in Soho Market. The label was to release sounds by bands such as The Wall, UK Decay and Wilko Johnson to name a few. The label ran until 1982 when it was swallowed up by another Indie Label called 'Jungle Records', the label is still active and you can catch more about them, their history and releases by them at their site jungle-records.net.

Secondary, 2 of 2 — Picture Logo Source: Discogs.com

Play Dead were formed in 1980 in Oxford and were part of the post punk goth rock scene, although according to Wikipedia were not fond of the 'goth' tag.
They released 6 albums and a total of 11 singles/E.P.'s during their time, check out their complete discography at Discogs.com.

They were:

Rob Hickson - Vocals
Pete Waddleton - Bass
Barry Turnbull (aka Re-Vox) - Guitar
Mark Smith (aka Wiff) - Drums
Steve Green - Guitar

Green was to replace Barry Turnbull in 1981.

Peel Sessions & Early Releases

They managed to get Radio 1 D.J. John Peel's interest and recorded several 'Peel Sessions' the first being broadcast in January 1982 and featured tracks:

Effigy
Metallic Smile
Pray To Mecca
Propaganda

Goth Tag, You Decide?

You can catch the full 'Peel Session' at the link 'Play Dead - Peel Session 1982'. Also whilst you are there check out their brilliant first release from 1981 with 'The Poison Takes A Hold'. A really awesome debut single to be honest and a band that seem to have been a little overlooked. In my humble opinion they come across as more than just 'goth', so I kind of get their bitterness to being 'pigeon-holed'. I would even argue that T.V. Eye (almost a little funky) to me at least doesn't even catch the whole 'goth' thing. I feel we are looking at a band that came into the world maybe at the wrong time musically and ended up 'dumped' with a genre 'tag' they perhaps didn't deserve and masked their actual talents and own uniqueness.

I guess make your own minds up about the whole 'Goth Tag', personally whatever genre/style they fitted to it really doesn't matter to me they sound really good. From the 'Peel Session' there are some good solid bass lines reminding me of early Killing Joke, stuttering guitar, an almost John Lydon style vocal approach (certainly on the 2nd track) and some good drum work keeping that beat and energy going.

Oxfordshire has also spawned some other well known acts over the years including Radiohead, Supergrass, Foals and Ride. Perhaps not a power house of music if comparing to some other places in the U.K. for example Coventry or Birmingham, but none the less a fine collection of big names.