Christian Death Biography

You are in : HOME : C : Christian Death : Biography

Biography Christian Death

Christian Death is an American Deathrock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1979. The band was fronted and founded by Rozz Williams, featuring guitarist Rikk Agnew. Christian Death are most notable for their album Only Theatre of Pain which was a major event in the birth of the Goth and Deathrock subculture within the United States and beyond.

After some major line up changes, resulting at one point during the mid 1990s, in two bands with the name Christian Death, the name was taken by Valor Kand, who had played as a replacement guitarist in one incarnation of Rozz Williams' band. This version does not feature any members of the original band, though it has been around since 1985 continuing on today.

History

Original group

After becoming interested in punk music and playing in a few local Los Angeles bands, vocalist Rozz Williams founded Christian Death in October 1979 at the young age of 16 with bassist James McGearty, drummer George Belanger and a guitarist named Jay, who brought in from a previous band Rozz had been in called Daucus Karota. The band name was originally a satirical play on words derived from the designer brand Christian Dior. The first Christian Death performance in front of a live audience was at a Castration Squad gig in 1980, when Castration Squad invited Christian Death on stage to play a couple songs. Throughout 1980 and the following year the band would play many shows with 45 Grave, another L.A. deathrock group, though they also played shows with standard punk bands like Social Distortion and The Adolescents around this time.

Despite being in the same area as the emerging West Coast hardcore movement, by the beginning of the 1980s, the group were not happy with the local scene, especially the crowd that liked Black Flag and the Circle Jerks, claiming that much of that audience hated punk rock a few years earlier and were all about beating up punks, but started cutting their hair short and beating up hippies instead after punk became more popular in the United States. Christian Death dismissed the followers of this movement as "hillbilly punks" in an interview.

During February 1981, the band went on a hiatus and Rozz concentrated on a side project with Ron Athey called Premature Ejaculation, but Christian Death got back together that summer, with a new guitarist: Rikk Agnew (formerly of The Adolescents), replacing Jay. A compilation album featuring several local punk and deathrock acts called Hell Comes to Your House, was released in 1981. The track that Christian Death contributed, "Dogs", came from studio sessions financed by McGearty. The songs from those sessions would be released in France as the Deathwish EP three years later.

]]

Only Theatre of Pain

Their appearance on the Hell Comes to Your House compilation helped to get Christian Death signed to Frontier Records, which released their debut album Only Theatre of Pain in March 1982. This album featured deathrock anthems such as "Spiritual Cramp" and "Romeo's Distress". The album received critical acclaim from the music press and got condemned on a religious television program regarding alleged "satanic influences". In England, despite the album's initially limited availability, Only Theatre of Pain would have a strong influence on many of those gothic rock groups who had come after Bauhaus appeared, including Sex Gang Children and Death Cult, the latter of which featured a young Ian Astbury.

Drug use and internal fighting started to lead to the band's decay. By late 1982, George Belanger and Rikk Agnew were gone from the band and were replaced by Eva Ortiz on guitar (she had previously taken part in Only Theatre of Pain as a backing vocalist) and a new drummer, Rod "China" Figueroa from Oxnard, CA. After their first gig with a local band called Pompeii 99, Michael Montano replaced Eva on guitar. Johnnie Sage (Ammentorp, The Joneses, The Mau-Maus) on second guitar, completed the new line-up. It was not to last. Rozz didn't like the "Punk Rock & Roll" influence China and Johnnie Sage brought to the band. Although demo recording continued with McGearty, the sessions known among band members as "The Last Gasp," Rozz distanced himself from the project. Christian Death and Pompeii 99 had planned on touring together in Europe, occasioned by the continental release of Only Theatre of Pain on French label L'Invitation au Suicide, and on to Japan; but by the end of 1982, Christian Death had broken up.

Rozz Williams and Pompeii 99

By mid 1983, the issue of the Christian Death and Pompeii 99 European tour still stood. Though Rozz Williams had been stuck at his mother's house for six months without a band, he had made the acquaintance of Pompeii 99 and found certain common artistic ground with them. Rozz was open to the idea of possibly collaborating with the band in the future.

Around this time, Cram Netod and Poli-Sci quit Pompeii 99, leaving the group without a bassist and a keyboard player. A friend ofValor and Gitane's named Mimi, introduced the couple to a young, talented female bassist named Shayn Taylor-Shubert. Shayn had just quit playing bass for the popular Los Angeles all-girl Rockabilly group, The Screamin' Sirens. Valor and Gitane were intrigued by the fact that Shayn was an initiated Priestess and Magician in the O.T.O., who also happened to be a talented Psychic. Shubert was also known to be a descendant of the notorious magician, Aleister Crowley. Shubert joined the group, and they continued on as Pompeii 99 for only a short time.

Soon after Shubert joined the band, Valor approached the group in a meeting to inform them that the group was being considered as Rozz Williams backup band, however, Valor had not even broached the subject to Williams just yet. Demone, Glass and Shubert were excited at the prospect and quickly agreed to do whatever it took get Williams to agree to the idea. Pompeii 99 rehearsed at Lillian Way Studios for 8 to 10 hours per day, learning the repertoire of Christian Death, in hopes of persuading Rozz to let them become the new incarnation of Christian Death. Finally, Rozz visited the rehearsal studio and was impressed by the band's rendition of "Cavity (First Communion)", and "Romeo's Distress". By the end of the evening, Rozz Williams had agreed to christen Pompeii 99 the newest version of Christian Death.

Shortly thereafter, Shubert had a psychic vision of Demone being pregnant, which was confirmed. Shubert began to have doubts about the group's ability to honor its commitments and voiced these concerns to the group. Shubert then quit the group on the eve of their first European tour, forcing the reformed Christian Death to hire a quick replacement. After placing an ad in the Recycler newspaper, Valor wound up hiring another female bassist named Constance Smith.

Williams wanted to revive the name Daucus Karota for the new group but Yann Farcy, head of label L'Invitation au Suicide, was insistent that a band called "Christian Death" play the scheduled shows in Europe to support Only Theatre of Pain's release there. There was some protest within the group about keeping the Christian Death name for the new band, especially from Rozz, but the old moniker ultimately remained in place. The name "means different things to all of us," Valor Kand would assert a year later. For him, the name promoted martyrdom as a positive example. The French album cover for Only Theatre of Pain featured the painting "Andromaque" by Georges Rochegrosse, depicting the ancient Romans method of "Christian death."

Before their departure for Europe, the band performed around Los Angeles and appeared on TV show "Media Blitz" where they mimed to a couple tracks from Only Theatre of Pain. They finally performed in Paris on 12 February 1984 and continued their European tour until June. They experienced significant financial difficulty and were effectively stranded in Europe until the promoters offered to send them to Rockfield Studios in Monmouth, Wales to record a new album.

]]

Catastrophe Ballet

This album, Catastrophe Ballet, featured a change in Rozz's vocal delivery. While Only Theatre of Pain and the Deathwish EP had Rozz presenting a rhythmic spoken word style with an almost androgynous pitch to his voice, Catastrophe Ballet showed a richer, less harsh side to his stylings, with more influence from David Bowie and Lou Reed. Rather than the occult-oriented lyrics from the first album, the singer showed a new-found interest in Surrealism and the Dada movement. Gitane Demone shared these interests, and the synergy between them helped cultivate the musical change from the old band's murky, dark punk to a more elegant, romantic strain of guitar-driven rock, though a tribalistic drumming was also added into the mix. Album notes (to later reissues if not the original release) give all compositional credit to Valor Kand, although the song "Sleepwalk" originated from the first era of Christian Death. ("That's fine; he didn't play it right," ex-guitarist Rikk Agnew would quip years later about Kand's appropriation of his material.) Constance Smith left the band following the recording of the album and was replaced in live shows by Dave Roberts from Sex Gang Children.

While in England, the band was received by British audiences better than they thought they would be. Sex Gang Children and Specimen had warned them that British audiences, especially at the Batcave, were not very exciting and never asked for encores. However, Christian Death did receive a good response and the audience did want encores from them. At this time, many people were quick to label them with the goth tag. Ironically, Christian Death (particularlly Rozz) are cited as the founders of American goth rock and culture.

Shortly after the recording of Catastrophe Ballet, Williams had his mother send him a plane ticket to return home to California, leaving the former-Pompeii 99 faction stranded in Europe working odd jobs to survive.

Ashes

The rest of the group returned to L.A. in the autumn of 1984, reunited with Rozz and recorded a new album called Ashes with partial funding from Yann Farcy for another L'Invitation au Suicide release. Released in 1985, the album featured many guest musicians, including bassist Randy Wilde, violin player and accordion synth operator Eric Westfall, tuba player Bill Swain, trumpeteer Richard Hurwitz and Michael Andraes on the clarinet. The album closed with "Of the Wound", featuring Sevan Kand (the infant son of Valor and Gitane) crying to a haunting score and harsh, surrealistic poetry spoken by Williams.

They played gigs in 1985 to promote Ashes with bassist Jeff Williams and guitarist Barry Galvin joining the lineup. The tour ended with the "Path of Sorrows" extravaganza at Los Angeles' Roxy Theatre on 6 April, which featured films, a banquet, a program, and Rozz changing costumes four times during the show.

The live album The Decomposition of Violets, documenting a Hollywood performance from this period, which was one of Williams' last with this lineup of the band, would soon appear.

After the American tour, Rozz decided to leave the band. Valor and the other remaining Pompeii 99 members had already planned a tour spanning across various European countries, and made an agreement with Rozz to rename the band "Sin And Sacrifice" once finished. However, during the European tour, since Valor had taken over on vocals, many fans thought Valor was Rozz due to their somewhat similar image. Later in 1985, when the remaining members were low on cash and stranded in Italy, they released an EP The Wind Kissed Pictures under the name "For Sin And Sacrifice Must We Die A Christian Death". Aside from Valor Kand, Gitane Demone, and David Glass, other contributors to this EP were guitarist Barry Galvin and bassist Johann Schumann. Once again, the child voice of Sevan Kand was featured.

After the release of The Wind Kissed Pictures EP, Valor, Gitane, and David Glass went back to the name Christian Death, despite Rozz's wishes and the declarations Valor had made of the name change at performances during their previous tour. Valor allegedly had been performing songs from Only Theatre of Pain during their new tour as well, despite the fact that none of the members of the line-up had been involved in the making of the first album, though it is known that Valor had only ever performed songs from the Only Theatre of Pain album when Rozz had left the group during a tour with the songs already placed in the setlisting. The new band was also turned into a corporation with the Christian Death Society in 1985. All shareholders had to be screened and display a "sympathetic affection" for this "society" before being sold shares.

Atrocities

The new Christian Death, under Valor's leadership, managed to make enough money off The Wind Kissed Pictures EP to get them out of Italy and move into a small one bedroom place in England, where Valor had citizenship, since he was born in Australia. After arranging for a couple of concerts, they managed to get some more studio time back at Rockfield Studios in Wales, where Catastrophe Ballet had been recorded. Here they recorded Atrocities.

Released in 1986, this was the first full length album under the name Christian Death without Rozz Williams. Without the surrealist and dadaist lyrics of Rozz, Atrocities, a concept album, was meant to reflect the time and place of World War II.

Containing the same line-up as The Wind Kissed Pictures, the musical quality of Atrocities owed a lot to guitarist/songwriter Barry Galvin (also known as Bari Bari). Much of the sound of Christian Death on Atrocities and The Wind Kissed Pictures was due to Galvin's guitar style and composing skills. Unfortunately for the band, Galvin, along with Johann Schumann, left the group upon the completion of Atrocities and both went on to form Mephisto Walz. After Christian Death recorded The Scriptures (released in 1987), David Glass also left and ended up joining Mephisto Walz during the 1990s.

During 1988, Valor Kand's Christian Death toured with Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, a gothic rock group from Leeds, England. There was a great deal of tension between these two groups and Valor would end up getting arrested for punching the other group's manager. Gitane Demone left Christian Death and her former lover Valor, in order to pursue a solo jazz career in 1989. She would later link back up with Rozz Williams to record an album together: Dream Home Heartache proved to be a pioneer of the dark cabaret style. Demone's departure left Valor Kand as the last Pompeii 99 member with the Christian Death name.

In 1990, Valor formed the Christian Death Militia, whose aim was to protect everyone involved in the Christian Death Society. The vocals and lyrics for the song "I Hate You", off the All The Hate LP in 1989, were provided by Sevan Kand (who was about five years old at this time), inspired by a fight with a boy twice his age called Jamie who had pushed him into a bed of stinging nettles. Also at this time the band toured with Dutch born drummer Jean-Victor DeBoer and bass player PJ Phillips (from the Nina Hagen Band). Their Dutch tour manager Jack Noordhoek also played guitar on the tour. The extensive European tour was called "All The Love...All The Hate" and finished at London's Astoria Theatre.

Aftermath

Around 1992, Valor Kand contuing on with the Christian Death name recruited bassist/vocalist Maitri who would eventually become his wife. He re-established his Christian Death as a gothic metal outfit with the album Sexy Death God, moving away from his previous gothic rock releases with the band.

Williams reclaims name

During the late 1980s to mid 1990s, Rozz Williams and Rikk Agnew played some reunion shows with the name Christian Death. One of the shows featuring Only Theatre of Pain-era members Williams, Agnew and Belanger, along with bassist Casey Chaos who would go on to front the band Amen, performed live from Los Angeles' Patriot Hall, was recorded and later released in 2001 as a DVD by Cleopatra Records.

Rozz Williams also put out some other new albums on Cleopatra Records under the Christian Death name with his wife Eva O, supplying guitar and backing vocals during the 1990s. This was after the release of the two Shadow Project studio albums featuring the couple. The first of the new Christian Death albums, The Iron Mask, is a reference to the Alexandre Dumas, père novel about an usurper who imprisons the rightful heir to the throne. This was a clear jab at Valor Kand, who Williams now viewed as a thief for taking his band's name. Kand became enraged at the use of his now trademarked name 'Christian Death'.

After recording two more studio albums under the Christian Death name with Eva O, titled, The Path of Sorrows and The Rage of Angels, Rozz Williams committed suicide by hanging on 1 April, 1998. He did not leave a suicide note and it is not known why Rozz would have wanted to take his own life. It is assumed that his suicide was related to his struggle with a long time heroin addiction, although Rozz had been clean since 1994. He was suffering from alcoholism at the time of his death.

Kand continues use of Christian Death name

Following Williams' death, Kand immediately seized control over all Christian Death material made by Rozz Williams on Cleopatra Records. In 1998 and 1999 two European and one American tour was done for the album Pornographic Messiah. During both European tours the line-up was: Valor on vocals and guitar, Maitri on bass and backing vocals, Fernando Medina playing the drums and Wim Leydes as a lead guitarist. Both Fernando Medina and Wim Leydes left the band after these tours.

Also members of the crew on these tours had enough tension for a while and decided to move on. Wim Leydes (also known as Cryscendo) started together with Sonja Kraushofer what became Persephone and co-wrote material, recording three albums which were released via Trisol Records. Fernando Medina is currently a freelance drummer in Chicago. Although both members were also in the song "Cavity" on the first track of the live album The Bible, both members were not mentioned in the credits.

Valor continues to put out new material under the name Christian Death, though his current incarnation of the group is a lot heavier and has lost a lot, if not all of the gothic rock/deathrock style for a more metal sound; this is shown on the album Born Again Anti-Christian (2000), which features members of black metallers Cradle of Filth, including vocalist Dani Filth.

The new millennium saw Valor's bassist Maitri establish a side project called Lover of Sin. Though Valor does not perform in this project, he did produce and co-write their self titled debut album released in late 2002. Since the album was released as "Christian Death presents Lover of Sin", the promoters for Lover of Sin's 2003 world tour wrongly billed them as Christian Death. This put fans under the impression that this was yet a new incarnation of the group that not only lacked Rozz and the other original members, but even lacked Valor.

After years of virtual silence with promises of a new album called Ten Excuses For Suicide, Christian Death re-emerged in 2007 with plans of a new tour and the release of the band's latest album, named American Inquisition.

Christian Death 1334

During the latter part of 2006 it was announced that the original members of Christian Death (minus the deceased Williams) were to reunite as a new band. The line-up currently consist of Rikk Agnew (Guitar), James McGearty (Bass), Christian Omar Madrigal Izzo (Drums), Eva O (Vocals), Jaime Pina (Guitar) and Le Rue Delashay (Keyboards) Christian Death 1334 Myspace page. The number "1334" was frequently used by Williams in reference to the year of the first outbreak of the black death.

The band is currently preparing new material for a future album release and playing local Los Angeles shows in support of a 25th anniversary remaster of Only Theatre of Pain. A portion of the material the band is working on consist of unused and unfinished pieces of music from the band's early history; some of which were contributed by Rozz to the Catastrophe Ballet and Ashes releases and later claimed by Valor to be his own compositions. The band's first original track, named "Rites", has been mentioned by name in the band's official MySpace blog and uses bass riffs from an unreleased track named "Awake at the Wall" (unrelated to the track of the same name from the Catastrophe Ballet album). The current setlist for the band includes the entire Only Theatre of Pain album and the track "Sleepwalk" from Catastrophe Ballet.

Despite the fact that the line-up features musicians who recorded on the band's first album and Williams' ex-wife and musical partner, Valor who owns the copyright for the Christian Death name has publicly denounced the project on his homepage, calling the reunion of the original members an "unofficial tribute band", stating:

There is a bogus concert being organised by an unofficial "TRIBUTE band", featuring the christiandeath name which is not Christian death. (April 13.) It is billed as taking place at the Henry Fonda Theatre on Hollywood BLVD. in LA. the music box,be warned that this is not Christian death and steps are being taken to ensure that fans will not be ripped off as this is not the start of the long awaited tour. The Way Back Machine archived Christian Death homepage with quote intact

The only action taken so far by Valor is the removal of a video trailer for the band's first reunion gig from YouTube under the guise of the Christian Death Society.