Play Dead were a Post-Punk/Gothic Rock band from Oxford. It was formed in November 1980 with members Rob Hickson on vocals, Pete Waddleton on bass guitar, Mark Wiff Smith on drums and Re-Vox on guitar (who in 1981 was replaced by Steve Green). Over the course of 5 years the group released 3 albums, a six-track mini-album and a swathe of singles, as well as forming their own label [l35974] in 1985.

In 1984 Hickson & Waddleton created the Darkwave project Mankinds Audio Development with keyboardist Nick Van der Grinten, Play Dead’s guitarist Steve Green and backing vocalist Mich Ebeling of Look Back In Anger. More had been produced for the outfit, but after the dissolvement of Play Dead in 1986 future plans were scrapped.

In 1992 a remixed edition of their 2nd album was released under the title ’[m=1176412]’, featuring bonus tracks. This was the third edition of the original record (it would be reissued again under its former title on CD in 2007).

In 2023 [l14333] would release ’[m3001529]’, a compilation documenting the back catalogue of the group. That same year would see the label also releasing the bands’ John Peel Sessions on vinyl.