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Recently Abbo spoke at the Forever Now Festival Press Q & A alongside John Robb and Kirk Brandon. He had something pretty interesting to say about Taylor Swift and about those other right wing so called ‘influencer’ Lutonians we don’t usually talk about.
Accessible version of this video with ai voice-over and subtitles is available here
Post-punk pioneers UK Decay are booking gigs for 2025 and are planning a vinyl re-release of their seminal album For Madmen Only, plus a release of their early John Peel Sessions and singles.
The band are booked to appear at next year’s Forever Now Festival on Sunday 22nd of June 2025 at the Milton Keynes Bowl. UK Decay will be appearing alongside Kraftwerk, Public Image Limited, The – The, Psychedelic Furs, Jesus and the Mary Chain, Johnny Marr and old friends such as Death Cult, Theatre of Hate and Peter Murphy. With further dates in the UK and Europe to be announced.
Formed in Luton in 1979, UK Decay built a large and dedicated international fan base on the back of politically charged, thunderous releases, and high intensity gigs. Described as ‘The Cult before The Cult’ by one journalist, their dark, angular music saw them inadvertently name and lead what was to be later called the ‘Goth’ scene. The ‘Goth’ tag was named after a passing tongue in cheek comment by singer Abbo in a Sounds interview with journalist Steve Keaton.
Released in 1981, For Madmen Only is the band’s debut album. While a CD version was released some 15 years ago, this new vinyl version will be released through Rough Trade Shops on heavy 180-gram vinyl and will be re-mastered from the original tapes. The band are also planning to license the rights for their two John Peel Sessions – and include those together with their early singles on a further vinyl release
Commenting on the upcoming gigs and releases, singer Abbo said, “I had no interest in being part of a band again, but when we reviewed the offer from Forever Now Festival it sparked a flame, and a voice said, “get out there again and try and be a voice for good in these unjust times”.
Guitarist Spon added: “It’s great to be rising from the dread in 2025 and mark mid-summer at Forever Now. This will not be the only Home Counties show we’re planning but this gig will be like no other. Stick it in your diaries!”
Drummer Ray said: “Playing Milton Keynes Bowl is mental. That’s the place Bowie owned back in 1983, right? That gold suit and everyone having to get hosed down by security because of the heat. We’re all looking forward to reanimating the mighty Decay – it’s what the world needs right now.”
Bassist Ed wrapped things up, Yes, it’s exciting.
Tickets for Forever Now can be found at www.forevernowfestival.co.uk, axs.com and ticketmaster.co.uk. Details on how to order and purchase the vinyl releases will be announced on the band’s social channels.
Please feel free to copy or share the below images
Sent in by Ivan Bainbridge with thanks!
UK-Decay-at-Taubchenthal-WGT
UK-Decay-WGT-2019
WGT-2019-ukdk: photo courtesy of Oliver Krapp 2019
UK-Decay-in-the-Dark-at-WGT-2019
Big thanks to Oliver Krapp for the video’s
UK Decay 40 Anniversary Line-up
UK Decay will headline Wave – Gotik Festival in Leipzig on Friday 7th June.
The band gave one of their best live performances at this very festival in 2014 and form for a concert packed with songs ranging right from their debut releases to the “New Hope From The Dead” album (on CD here, or on vinyl here , and on all streaming platforms )
Hope you can come along and catch what is one of the best festivals in the world , in a city packed full of historical buildings , culture and the delights of the night .
The WGT venue is Täubchenthal and we are headlining the Friday night, that’s Friday June 7th on stage at 2200hr.
Settings don’t come much better than this – one of the largest music festivals in Europe , held in Bolkow Castle . Decay will be rocking a set on the main castle stage early on Saturday evening with other acts like Atari Teenage Riot .
The Castle Party Festival is at Castle Bolkow in Poland on Saturday 13th July
UPDATE: For those seeking news of UK Decay shows……….It now seems we may have to plan our UK gigs for later in the year. The shows we have confirmed are Wave Gottic Trefen , Leipzig, Germany. Friday June 7th and Castle Festival , Wroclaw, Poland Saturday 13th July. Rebellion was sadly messed up and nothing else suitable yet has been found that works with various members calendars. I know those two gigs are a hell of a long way from home but I have heard that some from the UK will be going to WGT.. We are on a rehearsal schedule and are beginning to fire on all four cylinders once again for the summer gigs mentioned and we had hoped the right UK gigs would turn up but for one reason or another it has just not yet come together. we thank you for your patience and hopefully we will soon have some better news soon! Adios Comrades!!
The WGT venue is Täubchenthal and I am told we are headlining the Friday night, that’s Friday June 7th. The Castle Party Festival is at Castle Bolkow in Poland on Saturday 13th July
Matt Hudson and Steve Spon discuss life in punk Luton back in the day.
Steve Spon was featured recently in an Anglia TV special marking 40 years since the punk movement. This two part mini documentary series is about punk in the Eastern Counties and is hosted by Anglia TV’s Matt Hudson who was a big punk fan and UK Decay fan.
Also featured are Steve Ignorant from Crass, Charlie Harper from UK Subs and author and university lecturer Matt Worley whose new book No Future is an in-depth look at the effect punk had on politics and culture.
There are also some still shots of early 1980’s Luton Punks featured on the show taken from our very own UK Decay Communities web archive.
It comes in two parts…
Marking 40 years since the punk movement
Punk memories: Looking back at legendary venues in our region
Nights Of Celebration 2017 Limited Edition
Death So Fatal 2017 Limited Edition
For Madmen Only 2009 CD
New Hope for the Dead CD
New Hope for the Dead Vinyl
Rising From The Dread EP 2015
From 17.00 GBP to 19.99 GBP For Madmen Only T Shirt
From 17.00 GBP to 19.99 GBP Unexpected Guest T Shirt
From 17.00 GBP to 19.99 GBP For My Country T Shirt
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Our recent sale is now over but please take a look around our store. We still have many items available, some at reduced price. Our next Sale will be our Spring Sale in early April 2018LIMITED RE-ISSUE OF YAK FAVOURITE “DEATH SO FATAL” Only £8.99 inc.free shipping* SORRY SOLD OUT! LIMITED RE-ISSUE OF “NIGHT’S OF CELEBRATION” Only £8.99 inc.free shipping* “NEW HOPE FOR THE DEAD” VINYL Now Only £14.99 inc.free shipping* “RISING FROM THE DREAD” VINYL Now Only £13.50 inc.free shipping* “FOR MADMEN ONLY” CD with booklet and “NEW HOPE FOR THE DEAD” CD BOTH NOW ONLY 8.99 inc.free shipping* UK DECAY T – SHIRTS including the classic’s “FOR MADMEN ONLY” , “FOR MY COUNTRY” , “UNEXPECTED GUEST” which are only £19.00 inc free shipping* This price is for the standard T Shirt (all sizes) and all T Shirt’s are now also available in Ladies ‘T’S and Premium ‘T’S which are from £20.00 – £25.00 inc free shipping* Other T Shirts designs include “RISING FROM THE DREAD” , “SPLIT SINGLE” , “SEXUAL/TWIST” and “NEW HOPE FOR THE DEAD” all available in Standard, Ladies and Premium shirts at sale price. We also have a few 7″ Vinyl available at sale price. Our Autumn sale will be open until either we run out of items or until November 30th 2017. UK DECAY’s sticksman Raymundo has written his first book “FURIOSO” a Victorian Gothic Crime Novel it’s available for 0.99p for a short period. Steve Spon in the guise as “NOSTRAMUS” has several products available in a bundle of three one hour long CD Albums for just £16.49 including free shipping. Finally if you have kids between the ages of 5 to 11 years there are three Gwubbins The Witch Audio/Musical stories bundled together for only £15.00 inc. free shipping , beautifully narrated and with music and sounds to keep the kids happy on long car journeys or at bedtime! More UK Decay products are on sale here RAYMUNDO AND SPON’s PROJECTS
Furioso – a book by Raymundo
Steve Spon’s Nostramus 3 x CD BundleMore of Steve Spon’s Products including Nostramus, THC , Ella Jo and Gwubbins kids audio musicals can be found here Autumn sale will end November 30th 2017 Contact werewolf –at– ukdecay.co.uk All prices include free shipping to the UK and reduced shipping elsewhere. Werewolf note: “I am try to accept payment via crypto-currencies such as Bitcoin because I see this as the future of world transactions. The only problem is that I need a third party i can trust. Watch this space.. |
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Spon (left) Abbo (right) at DV8 2012
Abbo and I will be at Luton’s Hat Factory Art’s and Media Centre on Friday 25th November to talk about Punk in the Luton area back in the late seventies. This is part of the “40 years of Punk” celebrations going down over November at that venue and widely across the country. I am hoping to put together a few slides of various characters, bands, venues, fanzines from Luton and the surrounding are during the late seventies early eighties period. Hopefully this inspire discussion among ourselves and the audience.
Then Justin Saban will join us and we shall perform a couple our punk platters ‘unplugged’ style. So after I have written this I had better dust off the cobwebs of my guitar and get practicing!
When are UK Decay returning for more gigs and recordings? – As part of the talk we shall be hosting a questions and answers session hopefully this question and many others will be answered!
Tickets are just £5.00 bookable in advance from here
Who wants to stay today
and see the UK Decay….
After the recent hiatus in the bands live appearances both Steve ‘Abbo’ Abbott and guitarist Steve Spon will be taking part in the 40 years of punk celebrations later in the year. Further details to be announced soon.
What we can announce is that following the recent ‘Lutonia’ poetry and spoken word festival, Abbo is curating a festival of punk poetry at the Kings Place , an independently funded arts and music venue in Kings Cross, London.
Hosted by BBC 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq, 8pm on Saturday 11th June 2016, Hall One at Kings Place 90 York Way, London N1 9AG
Amongst the frenzied rage of the punk era are some of the most romantic lyrics in the English language. How has punk weaved love, social commentary and uprising so successfully?
Hosted by Steve Lamacq, our festival finale celebrates the poetry of punk with musicians who birthed the movement and transformed the landscape of lyrics with their blistering new approach.
Join The Adverts’ TV Smith, Pauline Murray of Penetration and Crass’ Penny Rimbaud as they discuss Punk’s lyrical heart, and for a unique opportunity to hear them perform some of their hard-hitting classics.
Curated by Steve Abbott, whose early punk playlist and interview with us about the event you can listen to below:
Further information: Kings Place, .Tickets and Booking
Sat 7 May, Russ CrimeWave performs UK Decay lyrics in front of Luton Town Hall.
There wasn’t exactly a crowd but a series of puzzled onlookers who thought they were watching a priest or some sort of crazed politician. The mayor with his gold chain was sat there looking quite unsure for a while before moving on. When he read out the lyrics for “Killer for the USA” , a bemused asian youth shouted out “what do you mean?” “Killer for the USA” . After a moment of explanation and on receiving a free “God So Loves Decay” lyric book, the youth and his pals walked away puzzled.
All in all , it was a really surreal experience, the poet enjoyed his performance and so did a group of us, the public registered a strange happening under the statue of liberty by the town hall for two hours.the point had been made! Heavy Metal Jews in mind of all the anti-semetism stuff that had gone down, was a bit nerve racking but, I think in the name of punk and poetry , it prevailed!
It was actually really interesting hearing the songs, read out in this way, could this be the start of something new in a similar vane perhaps (sic) ‘punk poetique?’
Finally a confused and indignant looking raconteur priest type chap arrived , apparently he was the regular bible basher for that spot, he had to wait his turn, he turned out to be good humoured thankfully!
Rising From The Dread EP: 2015
UK Decay’s 1982 mini-album on clear vinyl and reformatted insert written by Dave Jennings available here for just £13.50 including shipping to the UK
The classic twelve inch recording includes the hugely influential eleven minute track Werewolf which occupies the whole of Side 1 and was described in The Guardian in 2010 as the scariest song ever. Side 2 contains Jerusalem (over the White Cliffs of Dover), Rising From the Dead and Testament. The record was the first release of the Corpus Christi label, an offshoot of Crass Records, and made the Top 10 of the Independent Chart in 1982.
1. Werewolf
2.Jerusalem
3.Rising From The Dead
4. Testament
Spon at the The Face of Punk Gothique
“Terror and Wonder: The Gothic Imagination”
British Library until 20th January
A giant size poster of the seminal Sounds article “The Face Of Punk Gothique” and The Black 45 appears at the British Library, both shown as exhibit’s in the Terror and Wonder: The Gothic Imagination exhibition.
Visit the Luton Community heritage site to find out more ..Spon investigates….
