Douglas John McCarthyborn on September 1, 1966 in Barking, Essex, England, was the vocalist and main lyricist of Nitzer EBBBritish British Pioneer of the Electronic Body Music (EBM), which merged aggressive synthesizers with an industrial aesthetic and provocative letters. This morning the official sources of the band have confirmed their death at age 58.
Know more about EBM in this documentary
McCarthy formed Nitzer EBB in 1982 with his childhood friends, Bon Harris and David Gooday. Influenced by the post-Punk, the funk and groups such as Throbbing Gristle and DAF, began to experiment with electronic sounds and industrial rhythms that would define a new era.
His first single, ‘Isn’t it funny how your body works’launched in 1985, marked the beginning of a race that would lead them to sign with Mute Records and with Geffen Records. Your debut album, ‘That Total Age’released in 1987, included issues such as ‘Join in the chant’ either ‘Let your Body Learn’that became hymns of the EBM and the techno scene of the late 80s until such a day as today.
With a solid trajectory and having been openings of Depeche Mode, Nitzer EBB continued to produce music until he launched his last album, ‘Industrial Complex’in 2010. In parallel, McCarthy explored solo projects as ‘Kill Your Friends’his only album as a soloist, where we can highlight the subject ‘Move on’. And in 2002, he formed a duo with the producer Terence Fixmer, with whom he threw the album ‘Into the night’exploring a darker and minimalist facet of the contemporary EBM.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouz-0exnbj8
At the beginning of 2024, McCarthy announced its withdrawal from the band’s European tour after being diagnosed with liver cirrhosis, the result of years of alcohol abuse. In a public statement he said: “After several years of alcohol abuse I was diagnosed with cirrhosis in the liver. During the last two years I have not drunk, but recovery is a long process that sometimes can be extremely complicated to predict.”.
The band plans to act in Madrid next December 13, 2025 in the Mono Monin what will now be a concert especially loaded with symbolism and tribute. Douglas J. McCarthy was not only one of the most recognizable voices of EBM, but a symbol of an era in which industrial electronic music broke barriers and turned on bodies in motion with shouts of anger, desire and revolution.
