Douglas P.

Pearce was born on 27 April 1956 and grew up in Sheerwater, a suburb of Woking in Surrey which he said was a "white, working-class ghetto"; his father worked as a courier for the military and had served in World War II in the Royal Air Force where he was wounded in action.^[1] Both of Pearce's parents were English, though his mother claimed Scots-Irish ancestry. Pearce described his family life as a "very unhappy, dysfunctional family".^[1]

Pearce developed an interest in music at a young age, according to the 2005 documentary Death in June: Behind the Mask, Pearce grew up listening to music on Six-Five Special, a British television programme.^[1] Pearce's father died of a heart attack at age 56 when Pearce was 14. Pearce grew up in what he describes as "a very militaristic environment, surrounded by war"; he says that he "had a natural attraction to war".^[1] At the age of 18 Pearce left home, went hitchhiking around Europe and "came home a changed man".^[1][2][3] For a time Pearce worked as a mail carrier in order to fund his music career and photography hobby.^[1]

As a child, Pearce was exorcised by his parents for alleged demonic possession, and after his father died, his mother and he would "muck around with a Ouija board".^[4] Pearce believes in the paranormal and occult, and claims to have had contact with various entities saying "I believe in gods, demons, angels whether they're from the inner psyche, another dimension or whatever. I've heard them and I've seen them. I've even felt them touch me".^[4] Pearce stated in a 2000 interview that he was first introduced to reading Aleister Crowley, specifically Crowley's 1904 book The Book of the Law by David Tibet in 1983.^[4]

Douglas P. is openly gay,^[12] and says that "being gay is fundamental to Death in June"; he expresses discontent with that side of Death in June not being explored in interviews. His literary influences include Yukio Mishima and Jean Genet, whose work he admires not only for its brilliance but also for their shared identity as gay men.^[13] According to the 1995 book Death in June: Misery and Purity by Robert Forbes, Pearce stated in several interviews that Funeral Rites by Genet and The Decay of the Angel by Mishima are two of his favorite books.^[14]

Although Pearce does not subscribe to a specific religion, Pearce has stated on several occasions that he believes in the paranormal, deities, the occult, and some aspects of spirituality. In a 1998 interview with the publication Scapegoat, Pearce stated that "I feel it is part of my duty to be part of the process of resurrection for want of a better word [sic] of my indigenous religion. The Christ-time is nearly over and it’s important to awaken the old Gods".^[15] In the same interview Pearce states that he was never baptized as a child, "so Jesus Christ has never meant anything to me".^[15]

In 2017, Oregon record label Soleilmoon Recordings was listed on the Southern Poverty Law Center's hate group registry for distributing albums by Death in June, and Boyd Rice's project NON.^[16] Charles Powne, the label's owner, denied that Soleilmoon was racist, and said that Pearce and Rice are not racist either.^[16] The SPLC pointed out a 1996 quote from Pearce where he proudly aligned with Eurocentric racialism: "I am totally Eurocentric. I'm not overly concerned with the past but I do care about the present and the future. European culture, morals, ethics, whatever are under attack from all sides these days."^[10] In a 2000 interview Pearce stated that he and Tony Wakeford were determined to keep Death in June out of politics.^[4] While Pearce and Wakeford were both vehemently anti-fascist and worked with the Anti-Nazi League while in Crisis, Pearce stated that "the preoccupations of the masses left a very bad taste in our mouths. Death in June has never done that".^[4]