UK Decay

[werewolf]

Listen while you read
The Naked and the Dead "The Gate/Duel" (live at Great Lakes, 15 December 2002)

Hells Bells!! The Naked And The Dead We were fascinated by this New York post-punk/ band. They began and ended in the Hey day of 1985 made one demo tape and played only a small handfull of gigs at places like New Yorks 'Subway' and 'CBGB's'. They very quickly gained a cult status in the emerging Goth and Deathrock scene, but sadly had split up by the end of that year. That may have been the end of the story but 15 years later Greg Fasolino(guitar) decided to make the bands songs available to download on his website. Within a few months these downloads had percolated across some of the major Goth and Deathrock forums and once again the band were receiving a New Cult status. So much so that in 2001 they reformed! and again played a handfull of gigs. They also self-released their ealier music and added their new live shows to the download streams. This band music easily stands up on its own merit: another one of the great Lost uknowns that has now finally become established mostly due to the Internet. What really caught our eye though was that The Naked and the Dead did a cover version of UK Decays 'Duel' . We had discovered this last year but lost the link to it Spon decided to email Greg Fasolino from TNATD to try and find out more.. this was the response:-(from email corrospondence 12 and 13th Feb 05) Spon<Hey I came upon your (Starvox?) website last year and was totally fascinated to hear that you did a cover of one of our songs>> Greg We were interviewed for StarVox online magazine, but we don't have anything to do with creating the site. The editor, Blu, is a friend, though, and was excited to hear that you'd seen the site. Spon<<Well I was pleasantly suprised when i came across 'Duel' and to hear a female singing really it opened my eyes ....I should say I am delighted!>> Greg What can I say? That is really nice and flattering of you. All of us in the band really loved UK Decay and this song, and put our heart into playing it live (we used it as the set opener for all three of our 1985 gigs), so I am absolutely thrilled that you approve. If you had told me back in 1985 that one day I'd be talking about this with you, I wouldn;t have believed it! Spon<<Absolutely no worries about including it on your CD mate, I am honoured>> Greg Again, thank you. Since you don't object, I have added the two live 1985 versions of "Duel" to SoundClick. They usually frown on covers but will allow it if you get permission from the original band. I should make a few comments on those two versions: Unfortunately, the soundman at CBGB was napping or something at our first CBGB show (12 Aug '85), and he didn't turn on the soundboard tape recorder until part of the way through our opening song, which was "Duel." So that version comes in halfway through. The overall sound quality that night was really quite good though (save for the bass being taped "dry"), so for sound, I prefer this version to the second one. At our second gig there (31 Aug '85), we made sure the soundman started the tape during the introductory "Clockwork orange" theme, which led into "Duel." So this version is complete, but the sound guy bypassed the vocal reverb and thus the vocals are a little raw sounding. Spon<<we will be coming from the angle of you doing Duel as a cover of course but would like to go into your background a little as well>> Greg Cool. I wish I could remember more about how we came to cover your song, but it has been almost 20 years. I do remember how I had been turned on to "Madmen" early in '85, and I lent the LP to my friend Chris, the bassist, and he flipped for it, and somehow when we got to talking about perhaps adding a cover or two to the set, I think it was Chris who suggested "Duel," an idea I liked since it was my favorite Decay song and the guitar parts were really exciting. I can add that both of our singers (Lorianne in 1985, and Julia in 2002), really enjoyed singing this song, both in terms of the vocal lines, and particularly the lyrics. Spon<<have you got any 'Latest news'?>> Greg Pretty much everything is noted in the bio on the SoundClick site. The 2002 reunion was fun but as you know it can be hard to keep a band together, with people having different priorities and such, so after David (drums) had to leave at the end of 2002, and then our new singer moved upstate to go to university, we decided to disband again. However, Chris and I were having so much fun playing together again and writing songs, that we decided to form a new band, Bell Hollow, which is ongoing. We've spent the last two years writing lots of music and auditioning singers but haven't found the right one yet, though we have an audition Tuesday evening and he seems promising. Compared to TNATD, the music we're doing now is a bit less goth and more atmospheric post-punk (ie, Joy Division, Comsat Angels, early Cure, Chameleons, etc.). A final word from Greg By the way, after TNATD broke up I worked as a music journalist for many years. You might be amused to know that I'm actually the guy who wrote the UK Decay entry in the Trouser Press Guide books: UK Decay at Trouser Press A final word from Spon Isn't life strange? I had been doing a 'trawl' on the Net, looking for a lost link to an mp3 that was no longer working, I out of frustration emailed what I thought would be a webmaster of a maybe now defunct site and hit the jackpot!! I have heard the odd rumour of cover version's, but never imagined that I would be able to not only 'Click and hear' such an event but to go on and correspond with the band itself. Fantastic! I really like this bands music, check them out for yourselves! Don't just listen to 'Duel' check the whole list! If only we would have had the Internet back in the 1980's, bands like The Naked and the Dead and ourselves would have been given a much greater chance of getting the music across to a world stage much earlier. The time a band gets to prove itself in the time it exist's is often nowhere near the time it needs! The Naked and the Dead Links to the 'Duel' The links for the 'Duel' streams are: The Naked and the Dead - "Duel" (live at CBGB, 12 August 1985): The Naked and the Dead - "Duel" (live at CBGB, 31 August 1985): The Naked and the Dead - "The Gate/Duel" (live at Great Lakes, 15 Dec. 2002): The Naked and the Dead Link to 'TNATD' home As for the main link, we would prefer to use THE NAKED AND THE DEAD, as this includes a full and complete bio/discography/etc., but also has links to the StarVox interview page, and to the Deathrock.com page. The Naked and the Dead Thanks very much to Greg Fasolino and Spon