DERITEND by Cult Figures

DERITEND owes its title to a historic industrial area just outside Birmingham town centre first mentioned in 1276, a few miles from where Gary and I grew up. The mysterious iconic name was a bus route terminus and has a strong emotional connection, evoking the nervous excitement of those long rides into town on our way to Barbarellas. But it conveys so much more: Deritend is an album that reflects on the past, speculates on the future, but for the most part is fairly and squarely a comment on the lives we are living now.

The ominous pile of rubble featured on the album cover could be a metaphor for a long gone, mythical Deritend, a long lost youth, but also renewal, acknowledging the past, but clearing the way for a brighter (or not so bright) future. On our last visit to Birmingham, Gary and I both saw this huge, monolithic rubble pile on the approach to Deritend and it spoke to us somehow. It's a powerful and intriguing image that does somehow encapsulate the past, present and future.

Cult Figures second album DERITEND is released on Gare Du Nord Records. Our 2018 debut, THE 166 PLOUGHS A LONELY FURROW, was comprised of tracks written in our earlier incarnation between 1977 and 1980, and recorded in the 21st century. DERITEND draws a line under the past – all eleven tracks composed and recorded since our 2016 comeback – simultaneously reflecting a maturity gained in 40 years of life experience, whilst still embracing the accessible three P’s of the early days – punk, pop and psychedelia.

The album was recorded at London’s Toerag Studios with Liam Watson, and Woodbine Street Studios in Leamington Spa with John Rivers, who subsequently mixed all the tracks from both sessions. The final mixes were completed in less than a fortnight before the first 2020 lockdown.

Cult Figures released two classic singles on Swell Map's Rather Records in 1979 and 1980. Now they are back and coming to stage near you!

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