Death in Public

Death In Public were a 3 piece alternative rock band from Lancaster, United Kingdom.
They formed in early 2006 while founding member Julian Dicken (Vocals, Guitar) was attending secondary school. In their short career, they released 2 singles and 2 EP's all receiving considerable amounts of positive press, leading to comparisons to bands such as Mogwai, My Bloody Valentine and Bloc Party. Their music has been featured on local and national radio including BBC Radio 1 coverage. They announced their split in January 2009.
Members
*Julian Dicken - Guitar, Vocals, Synths, Drums
*Josh Longton - Bass guitar
*Rowan Davies - Drums and Percussion
Former members
*David Walker - Drums and Percussion
*Michael Waller - Drums and Percussion
*Aiden Burgess - Bass guitar
Career
Formation & Line-up changes (2005-2007)
The original line-up of the band was formed in 2005 by Julian Dicken, recruiting two of his friends from his secondary school on drums and bass. After settling on a final name at the start of 2006, the band continued to develop their sound from a vague indie-rock to a more experimental post-punk ideal. However due to internal disagreements around mid 2006, the original line-up of the band dissolved. At this point Josh Longton and David Walker were brought in on bass guitar and drums respectively, and the 2nd line-up of the band was formed. Towards the latter end of 2006 The band self released their self-titled debut EP which received many positive reviews and was given airplay on local radio station BBC Lancashire. After extensive gigging into 2007, the band greatly improved on their sound, adding a much bigger, atmospheric element to their songs, taking large influence from bands such as Mogwai and My Bloody Valentine. As a result of this, an almost completely new live setlist of songs was put together. One of these new 'large' sounding songs, was jokingly titled I Really Hate Coldplay and the band discussed taking the joke further by releasing it as a single. When it finally was released it was greeted with very mixed reviews from the press, with some appreciating its tongue in cheek nature, whilst others criticised it for the lack of lyrical content to back up its title, as well as the general weakness of the song as a single. The band have subsequently taken side with the negative reviews and have agreed in retrospect that the song was a very weak choice for single release. The single caused some controversy among Coldplay fans however, with the subject being angrily discussed on a Coldplay fansite much to the amusement of the band.
Drummer-less (2007-2008)
After more internal disagreements, the band decided to part ways with drummer David Walker in mid 2007. The remaining members decided to carry on drummer-less with a view to release another single before the year was up, despite the situation.
After experimenting with electronic drum loops on a loop station, the band started writing instrumental post-rock influenced songs, with electronic backing, very much influenced by IDM music and bands such as 65daysofstatic. After realising they could try this format live, they decided to write enough songs for a small set, and book some out of town gigs to try it out. Just before the gigs were approaching, a decision was made to record an EP of these songs that could be sold at the gigs, and it was titled the Instrumental In Silence EP. The gigs played under this format were both successful and unsuccessful and as the end of 2007 approached, the band decided to instead concentrate on recording their next single Biometrics. Taking longer than intended to record, it was eventually released in December to many positive reviews, and received airplay from BBC Lancashire and from Steve Lamacq on BBC Radio 1, likening the band's sound to that of My Bloody Valentine's.
Final Line-up (2008)
As the band continued into 2008, they managed to find a temporary drummer, Rowan Davies, who would play with them until they relocated to Glasgow in September 2008. From here, the remaining members of the band planned to look for new musicians and expand to a four piece.
However, after unsuccessfully finding new members for the band, and growing bored of sitting in hiatus for so long, the remaining members decided to break the band up at the start of 2009, with the aim of starting a brand new band instead.
Discography
Singles
*I Really Hate Coldplay w/b Losing All The Time - (2007)
*Biometrics w/b Motion Sickness - (2007)
EPs
*Death In Public EP - (2006)
*Instrumental In Silence - (2007)
Reviews
*[http://www.new-noise.net/gig-reviews/dartz/yorkshire-house/dartz_928.html New Noise Live Review (02.03.07)]
*Rock Midgets review of 'Biometrics'
*Guestlist Manchester review of 'Biometircs'
*Floatation Suite review of 'Biometircs'

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