Danse Society

***Dark Entries digs deep into the UK Goth underground to unearth THE DANSE SOCIETY Demos Vol. 1. 1983 was The Danse Society’s year. Playing sold out tours and the success of Seduction won them a recording contract with Arista Records. Spending their advance on new equipment the band recorded an album’s worth of demos in one day at Greenhouse Studios, London in May 1983. Doom laden guitar riffs, swirling synthesizers, crushing drums, driving and disembodied vocals, characterize the distinctive Society sound. Demos Vol. 1 is the closest you’ll get to The Danse Society live experience. You can almost taste the dry ice, feel the power coming through the monitors, and become entranced by the strobe-induced madness this album embodies. The Danse Society operate in a raw, atmospheric realm less campy than many of their Goth Rock peers, unconcerned with pop charts or commercial appeal. These aren’t songs, they are commands. This eleven-track collection includes an early version of the single “Wake Up,” five demos that would make the cut for Heaven Is Waiting, songs that would later become B-sides and two unreleased instrumentals. All songs have been remastered from the original tapes for vinyl by GEORGE HORN at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, CA. Each LP includes a fold-out, double-sided newsprint poster with photos, lyrics and liner notes by original drummer PAUL GILMARTIN and music journalist MICK MERCER. 28 years later these demos capture a band at the height of their confident, powerful and haunting glory.