Academy Morticians’ last album, What Happened?, released on Iron Man Records and Who Killed Culture? Records in 2002, was meant to be the final chapter for a band who had already broken up shortly after the recording session but who, all these years later, seem unable to stay dead.
Starting life in the mid-90s in a bedroom near Coventry, Academy Morticians was what happened when two teenagers with a passion for Dead Kennedy’s, Queen, Blue Oyster Cult, and Bad Religion picked up a guitar and a bass and decided to start a punk rock band. Too political for the pop-punk scene and too poppy for the hardcore scene, Academy Morticians finally found their home at the Old Railway in Digbeth amongst the diverse Birmingham punk rock smorgasboard curated by Badger Promotions, and with their first full-length, Shallow Permanence, released on Smokin’ Troll, and their 7” ep, Consumerism Is A Socially Transmitted Disease, released on Crackle, the teenage band finally began to find their audience and tour the country as far as their parents would drive them.
By the time they were old enough to drive themselves, however, creative and personal differences caused this cornerstone of the Birmingham punk scene to fall apart. Luckily, time heals all wounds. With the personal issues long resolved, in December of 2010 Academy Morticians held a one-off reunion show at the Adam and Eve with fellow ‘90s Badger Promotions/Iron Man Records stalwarts, Gorgeous and Intention (https://youtu.be/uv6hPgHfonQ) and in 2014 they recorded and released Pick A Side, their first new music in fourteen years.
Now, in 2019, their entire back catalogue, from the self-released Forbidden Curriculum ep they made when they were still in school to 2014’s Pick A Side, is available digitally for the first time, including the Iron Man Records release, What Happened?
Also available now on Who Killed Culture? Records is the entire Bullet of Diplomacy back catalogue (the band featuring 3/4 of Academy Morticians which formed after the break up) as well as Academy Morticians bassist/ singer/ songwriter (and Iron Man Patreon supporter)
Dan McKee’s more recent work as Anarchophy (punk poetry and hip hop) and as Strangely Shaped By Fathers (his one-man punk “band”).
You can also catch up with all Dan’s thoughts, writings and music (including the latest Academy Morticians updates and Who Killed Culture? news) at his blog or by following him on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @SSBFathers.
Dan Mckee is a Patron to Iron Man Records. You can become a Patron too here.
Academy Morticians’ entire back catalogue is now available to stream or buy on Spotify, Apple Music / iTunes, Amazon and wherever you listen to digital music!
