{"id":124,"date":"2013-12-03T19:30:25","date_gmt":"2013-12-03T19:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/uk-decay.co.uk\/heritage\/?page_id=124"},"modified":"2014-01-19T22:57:25","modified_gmt":"2014-01-19T22:57:25","slug":"press13","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/uk-decay.co.uk\/heritage\/history\/press\/press13\/","title":{"rendered":"Luton And Burning – NME"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following is a transcription of the 18th December, 1982 ‘New Musical Express’ ~(NME) by Richard North
\n\"Luton<\/a><\/p>\n

New Musical Express 18th December, 1982<\/p>\n

Luton & Burning<\/h2>\n

“UK Decay \u2013The cult that came before the cult”<\/h2>\n
My friend, come with me into the forest tonight deep down into its heart where there is a clearing. Yes here, where the heat howls and the electric tension crackles all around until you are lost, alone, in the sizzling atmosphere. Suddenly thunder and lightning shatter the gloom illuminating some sort of path; an escape. It begins to rain, a cool refreshing rain. Yes, as the saying goes, sometimes you\u2019ve got to lose yourself in order to find yourself. Now, come and meet UK Decay my friend\u2026..<\/address>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The band have been working for three years now as the purveyors of a heavy, harsh and sometimes discordant musical style that has suddenly been picked up by the likes of The Sex Gang Children, Danse Society and Ritual and made into a cult.<\/p>\n

Further more, the black, almost mystical imagery has also been echoed \u2013 but whereas some of the siblings seem to use the darkness purely for stylistic effect, portraying only the superficial, negative values, the men from UK Decay \u2013 Abbo, Spon, Steve and Eddie \u2013 amplify the shadowy trappings in an altogether more optimistic way.<\/p>\n

\u2018Out of the darkness. It\u2019s a battle that\u2019s been going on in the human race since man first started scribbling on walls. Man is infatuated with extremes \u2013 good and evil, light and dark \u2013 a lot of people will see us as evil and menacing whereas its quite the opposite. What we are in fact saying is that you\u2019ve got to choose for yourself. Every individual has got to choose his own right or wrong and face the consequences.\u2019<\/p>\n

Spon talks about the concept of individuality with pride; the band, in his eyes, are the manifestation of this ideal. They\u2019ve fought their way out of the wastelands of Luton with no manager or record company, basically doing it all by themselves until now, with their records selling well and their gigs selling out, they\u2019re a force to be reckoned with.<\/p>\n

Spon gushes excitedly, \u2018It\u2019s within everybody to do something. They can either go ahead and perform these instincts or they can sit back, get depressed and do nothing or maybe take drugs to subvert the natural need to go out and progress. It would be good if everybody stood up and thought, well, I am\u2026me! I don\u2019t believe in all the shit; authority, government, communism, capitalism \u2013 its basically down to the old human ideal of coping for yourself.\u2019<\/p>\n

The UK Decay line of thought appears to go through and beyond the heartless politics that are woven around people\u2019s lives, keeping them in the dark, as it were. Theirs is a basic, day to day view of reality but one charged with an optimism and flair that in its simplicity seems mysterious. Which is, after all, what mysticism is all about; the return to a basic, underlying, but hidden motor-current.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a current that UK Decay seem to have tapped. Their later records reflecting that power \u2013 especially the last one, the \u2018Rising From The Dread\u2019 EP, an exciting and invigorating spark of creative noise. \u2018Testament\u2019 is the standout track and the one that sums up their positive tone.<\/p>\n

\"the<\/a><\/p>\n

“Walking through the garden, the garden of temptation, tempestuous youth seeks the testament of truth”<\/address>\n

quotes Abbo, the cheerful, extrovert singer. \u2018Youth has always been a time for rebellion.<\/p>\n

Everyone rebels in their teens but settles down later \u2013 its bullshit. Their power is diluted by various apples in this garden of temptation \u2013 join the SWP, join the NF, join the ANL\u2026religion, whatever. Its like a garden where people find their reason to exist by joining organisations; living to become part of a group to justify their self-existence. All you need is your own conviction, its got to be an inner feeling \u2013 ‘But when rebellion\u2019s the cause, like a Spartacus its yours,\u2019 he finishes the quote.<\/p>\n

Rebellions may come and rebellions may go but human aspiration for individuality and light remains. UK Decay have rejected both faith and reason as the ultimate answers to the problems of existence. Faith because it may be a faith in the wrong god or wrong teacher. Reason because it cannot get beyond the permutations and combinations of its own axioms. There only remains the method of experiment and mystery.<\/p>\n

The path out of the forest passes through this way…<\/p>\n

by Richard North<\/p>\n

Comment with your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL or Hotmail<\/h4>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following is a transcription of the 18th December, 1982 ‘New Musical Express’ ~(NME) by Richard North New Musical Express 18th December, 1982 Luton & Burning “UK Decay \u2013The cult that came before the cult” My friend, come with me into the forest tonight deep down into its heart where \u2026 Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":76,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-124","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uk-decay.co.uk\/heritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uk-decay.co.uk\/heritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uk-decay.co.uk\/heritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uk-decay.co.uk\/heritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uk-decay.co.uk\/heritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/uk-decay.co.uk\/heritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":966,"href":"https:\/\/uk-decay.co.uk\/heritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/124\/revisions\/966"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uk-decay.co.uk\/heritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/76"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uk-decay.co.uk\/heritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}