“If you have never heard the Doctors of Madness, you should.
Musically they are the Velvet Underground, New York Dolls
with shades of glam, hippie, prog and punk all rolled into one, yet are still totally original. Vastly underrated, they should have been huge. Pure genius”
Vic Reeves (Comedian and Artist)
Doctors of Madness announce UK dates for April 2024
Doctors of Madness are
“the missing link between David Bowie and The Sex Pistols” –
(The Guardian May 2017).
Exploding onto the music scene in 1975 with their theatrical, William Burroughs-inspired Sci-fi nightmare, they were misunderstood by many, but those who knew understood the importance of the band’s dangerous, uncompromising approach to lyrics, to music and to performance.
Among the many fans of the band were acts as diverse as The Damned, Vic Reeves, Joe Elliott of Def Leppard, Spiritualized, Julian Cope, Phil Jupitus, The Adverts, The Skids, Howard Marks, Harlan Ellison and Simple Minds. The Sex Pistols supported them, so did The Jam. Oh, and Joy Division. They were the first British band to combine the avant-garde approach of The Velvet Underground with a distinctly European aesthetic. The blue hair, exotic stage-names, the lyrical themes of urban decay, political propaganda, mind control and madness were all taken up by the punk bands who followed in their wake.
Doctors of Madness were trailblazers, pioneers, adventurers…pushing the boundaries of rock music and theatre to see how far it would go before it bust. What happened after them was due, in no small part, to what they achieved in three short years.
“Why The Band of Holy Joy’s Johny Brown isn’t lauded as one of England’s greatest lyricists is an unfathomable mystery. The North Shields-raised polymath has fronted Band Of Holy Joy since the early 80’s, but the group has had an astonishing run of form over the last seven years, with every release surpassing its predecessor. Fated Beautiful Mistakes continues this extraordinary upward trajectory. Brown’s lyrics challenge and inspire the listener to be fully alive and conscious of the beauty and fragility of life, while never shying away from the gravity of the state of the world in these disorienting times. Musically, Band Of Holy Joy have reached a new peak, evoking Scott Walker, The Velvet Underground even Nelson Riddle-era Sinatra on this gorgeous, warm-hearted and passionate album” Narc Magazine.