My Dad Is Dead was formed by Mark Edwards in 1985 after a stint drumming in Riot Architecture. While primarily an Edwards solo project, a small rotating cast of musicians also joined the band for live performances and on some recordings - most notably Prisonshake's Chris Burgess (who also recorded and/or produced most of MDID's output until around 1993), and a pre-Tortoise John McEntire. After the release of A New Clear Route in 2009 Edwards wound down the My Dad Is Dead project, with a farewell performance taking place in 2011 and the debut album from his new band, Secular Joy, being released the following year.