Demented Are Go

Few bands mixed punk and rockabilly as early as Demented Are Go, the Welsh outfit whose roots lie in Penarth, near Cardiff, around 1982. Their name is a playful twist on the Thunderbirds catchphrase, and it suits a group whose psychobilly sound has long been bound up with horror imagery. Among the first wave of bands in that style, they are widely considered highly influential on the scene they helped shape.

Their first gig, third on the bill at the Sea Lion in Penarth, led to years of club dates, and the 1986 debut album In Sickness & In Health, released on ID Records, was recorded in under 24 hours. Kicked Out of Hell followed in 1988 and placed high in indie chart listings at home and abroad. The 1989 EP The Day the Earth Spat Blood fused rockabilly, hard rock, bluegrass and experimentation, and its cover art later adorned a range of Dr. Martens boots in 2016. Orgasmic Nightmare followed on Fury Records in 1991, and after a 1995 split the band re-formed in 1996 to issue a new EP for Hell Razor Records.