Dais Records will be releasing a collection of Getting the Fear’s demos called Death Is Bigger: 1984-1985 on June 18, 2021. Getting the Fear was a short-lived band consisting of Into a Circle’s vocalist Paul “Bee” Hampshire and the instrumentalists from The Cult’s predecessor Southern Death Cult, which includes bassist Barry Jepson, guitarist David ‘Buzz’ Burrows and drummer Aki Haq Nawaz Qureshi.
In advance of the compilation, they’ve shared a previously unreleased single called “Against the Wind.” It’s a dark post-punk/new wave track with an Indian-style off-beat bass and guitar part. The song picks up momentum as it goes, building up to the chorus, “Feel that I can be somebody/Feel I’m growing old/Then I can I can live again/Then I can breathe against the wind.” After the chorus quickly repeats a couple of times, the band explodes into a dance floor-ready jam. An accompanying video collages archival footage of the band performing live, as well as some still photographs of Hampshire.
Getting the Fear formed after Southern Death Cult disbanded and Ian Astbury formed Death Cult with the bandmates who would rebrand as The Cult, the rock band behind hits such as “She Sells Sanctuary,” “Fire Woman” and “Love Removal Machine.” Once Getting the Fear picked up Hampshire, they began playing some energetic live shows as seen in the “Against the Wind” video, and recording the demos that would unfortunately go unreleased until now.
RCA signed them for just long enough to release their only official single, “Last Salute,” which concludes with the fitting lyrics, “If this must end let it pass me by/I’ll remain your friend, only flowers die.” A reorganization of RCA’s management left them without support, so they decided to break up and form their new groups, Jepsen and Hampshire’s new wave duo Into a Circle and Qureshi’s breakbeat/hip hop group Fun-da-mental.
Death Is Bigger: 1984-1985 will now share ten previously unreleased Getting the Fear recordings to the world, both digitally and physically. Several different colored vinyl options are available for pre-order on Dais Records’ site.
Death is Bigger: 1984-1985 Tracklist:
1. Rise (Demo Version)
2. Dune Buggy Attack
3. Last Salute (Demo Version)
4. Against the Wind
5. We Struggle
6. Sometimes
7. Yurune (Demo Version)
8. Fatal Date
9. Getting The Fear
10. Swell (Demo Version)
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