David J releases ‘Requiem for the Rose Garden’, first single from new album ‘Postcards from the Afterlife’
David J releases “Requiem for the Rose Garden” on 51 Recordings, 8 October 2026, ahead of his album “Postcards from the Afterlife,” out 27 November.
David J, "Requiem for the Rose Garden" single cover artwork
David J, a co-founder, bassist and co-songwriter of the post-punk bands Bauhaus and Love and Rockets, releases the single “Requiem for the Rose Garden” on 51 Recordings on 8 October 2026. The song is a protest aimed at the Trump administration, built around the White House Rose Garden as a target that is both symbolic and literal. It is the first track confirmed from J’s new album “Postcards from the Afterlife,” due 27 November on double LP, CD and digital formats.
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David J on ‘Requiem for the Rose Garden’
J points to physical changes made at the White House since Donald Trump’s first term in office when he explains the song. “It’s basically a protest about Trump’s administration and the atrocities it has visited upon the USA,” he said. “In the context of the song, the Rose Garden at the White House can be seen as a symbolic metaphor, although it is also quite literal. I actually wrote it during Trump’s first term in office when he had that beautiful garden hacked up. Now, even more horror has been inflicted on it of course, and the elegant East Wing of the building completely decimated which is also highly symbolic.”
The backing band on the track is Duende, a Detroit-based group J has worked with extensively in the past. “Requiem for the Rose Garden” streams on Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Deezer and Pandora via davidjhaskins.com.
‘Postcards from the Afterlife’ due in November on 51 Recordings
“Postcards from the Afterlife” is a 14-song album featuring a revolving cast of musicians and numerous autobiographical references. J sums up its themes as circling the same idea from several angles: “essentially about the poignant persistence of connection, be it in life or in death. Schisms and transitions. Love found and love lost. Requiems, reflection and revelation.”
Several tracks carry string arrangements, including a finale recorded with members of the Prague Symphony and Philharmonic Orchestras. The rest of the album moves between soulful material, hazy 1960s orchestral pop, European-style chanson and the alternative rock territory J is best known for. “Postcards from the Afterlife” is released on double LP, CD and digital on 27 November.
Tour dates for David J
David J tours the UK through December 2026, with additional shows in Portugal, Germany and Greece around the “Postcards from the Afterlife” release.
- 27 November – Porto, Portugal
- 28 November – Lisbon, Portugal
- 1 December – London, UK – Moth Club
- 2 December – Reading, UK – Face Bar
- 4 December – Hebden Bridge, UK – Trades Club
- 5 December – Liverpool, UK – Rough Trade
- 8 December – Edinburgh, UK – The Voodoo Rooms
- 9 December – Glasgow, UK – Stereo
- 10 December – Newcastle, UK – The Cluny
- 11 December – Birmingham, UK – Hare & Hounds
- 13 December – Brighton, UK – Daltons
- 15 December – Athens, Greece – Death Disco
- 17 December – Berlin, Germany – Frannz Club
About David J
David J, born David John Haskins on 24 April 1957 in Northampton, England, co-founded Bauhaus in 1978, playing bass and co-writing songs including the group’s debut single, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead.” He sang lead vocals on “Who Killed Mr Moonlight?” Bauhaus split in 1983 and has reformed periodically since.
Before Love and Rockets, J spent two years as bassist and co-producer for The Jazz Butcher, led by Pat Fish, working on the albums “A Scandal in Bohemia” (1984) and “Sex and Travel” (1985). He formed Love and Rockets in 1985 with fellow former Bauhaus members Daniel Ash and his younger brother Kevin Haskins, playing bass and sharing vocals and songwriting across seven albums released between 1985 and 1998. Both bands have reformed at intervals since their original breakups.
J maintained a solo career alongside both bands. He released “Etiquette of Violence” in 1983, “Crocodile Tears and the Velvet Cosh” in 1985 and the singles compilation “On Glass” in 1986. His 1990 album “Songs from Another Season” produced the single “I’ll Be Your Chauffeur,” which reached number one on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. “Urban Urbane” followed in 1992, then “Estranged” in 2003, “Not Long for This World” in 2011 and “An Eclipse of Ships” in 2014. His memoir, “Who Killed Mister Moonlight? (Bauhaus, Black Magick and Benediction),” was published by Jawbone Press in 2014.
In 2019 J released the double LP “Missive to an Angel From the Halls of Infamy and Allure.” Side-Line covered the album’s single “I Only Hear Silence Now,” featuring Emily Jane White, alongside a run of 2020 tour dates that included Bauhaus shows at Primavera Sound and Release Athens Festival. “What The Patrons Heard,” a ten-track set of originals and covers recorded over 34 years and first issued to Patreon subscribers, followed on CD and digital on 25 March 2022, with a limited numbered vinyl edition.
J’s triple album of archival demos, “Tracks from the Attic,” was announced in February 2024 and released that year. He self-released the spoken-word album “The Mother Tree,” recorded with the band RAQIA, on 6 June 2025. He returned to the “Tracks from the Attic” material in March 2026 with a companion album, “Tracks From the Attic Revisited,” which Side-Line discussed with him the following month in the interview “David J Opens the Attic.”
This month’s single and the album that follows continue that run of archival and new recordings.
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