Effective period / Period of releases: 1981

Members: Roddy Carlson, Nigel Russell, Ralph Crump, Wes Prince

Danse Macabre were a New Zealand post-punk band in the early 80’s whose members were drawn from a variety of groups in the Auckland music scene. Wes Prince (guitar) and Roddy Carlson (drums) had been key members of early Auckland punks The Sloth Creatures; Nigel Russell (vocals/synth) had been in the pop-punk band The Spelling Mistakes; while bass player Ralph Crump came from West Auckland band Buster Keys.

With a sound similar to Joy Division and The Cure, they were signed to Reaction Records, and released the 12-inch EP Between The Lines in December 1981, enjoying six weeks in the charts and peaking at #15. The EP was also released in Britain and Australia. Recording sessions for their 1982 mini-album Last Request were fraught with rising tensions within the group and they split two months before its release. The band did reunite for a one-off Auckland show in July 22nd 2005 to support the release of Between The Lines (the CD reissue of the band’s two vinyl releases).