Douglas formed Nitzer Ebb alongside Bon Harris and David Gooday in 1982.
Nitzer Ebb released five albums on Mute records and toured the world relentlessly, they were well known for a hard hitting, aggressive sound, mixing industrial and electronic elements with punk sensibilities.

Douglas was one of the funniest men we ever knew, he possessed a truly foul, but brilliant sense of humour.

Luke Turner said the following at a recent memorial for Douglas held in London.

“When I first saw Nitzer Ebb live two decades ago, I was transfixed by Douglas McCarthy. Silver light, white light, grey light, hair properly slicked back, aviators on, pacing, preening and pointing in utter command of the stage, delivering that Thames estuary meets LA snarl and croon over banger after throbbing banger. Next to where we danced, a hot couple in their thirties loudly spoke to one another in Swedish, thinking nobody could understand. Our friend Linn, who was Swedish, translated – Doug’s words in every Nitzer Ebb track seemed to have inspired a new absolutely filthy act they were planning to do together in their hotel room afterwards. Nitzer Ebb were eroticism, nihilism, disgust, rage, libidinal masculinity, funk, true body music – the absolute fucking horn: I had never experienced anything like it”.

As the author Tim Burrows wrote in his tribute to Douglas on The Quietus, “Douglas McCarthy is up there with Wilko Johnson and Lee Brilleaux as a musician from Canvey island who visually articulated so much of his situation and his biography with his body on stage… he was the grit in the Essex synthpop pearl”.

Douglas married the powerhouse of a woman Hazel Hill McCarthy III a Los Angeles-based artist, designer and film maker in 2010.
She was always by his side throughout; we love her dearly, our hearts go out to her.
D.P. & R.D.C.