Cuz It’s Hot…

This Sunday, Belgian techno/house favorites Lords of Acid reunites with Chicago-oriented My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult.

Joined by Sacramento’s punk/metal/industrial outfit Blownload, Vampirefreaks.com’s DJ Deathwish and  local ‘hellrockers’ Lockjaw, this reunion party of sorts (LoA and MLwtTKK performed together in 1995 on the Sextacy Ball Tour) goes by the name “Sextreme Ball”.
 LoA’s keyboardist/backup vocalist Praga Khan, aka Maurice Engelen, (the early techno musician who founded the band) is on this tour, joined by former Ministry guitarist Sin Quirin, bass player M3 from Powerman 5000; Kirk Salvador (formerly of industrial metal band Society One) on drums; Texas-based industrial rock band Nocturne’s singer; and Rock of Love (yep, Bret Michaels’ show) contestant Lacey Conner (note: she also appeared on Charm School with Sharon Osbourne) on vocals.

Belgium’s LoA made a name for itself in the electronic music and dance music circles starting back in 1988 due to their hyper-sexual lyrics and plentiful sound samples. The band reinforced their reputation in 1991 with their debut album “Lust” and subsequent releases. Songs “James Brown is Dead” and “Pussy” still receive play in appropriate clubs.

My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult is an outfit whose electronic dance/industrial sound you may remember from tracks “Kooler Than Jesus,” “Cuz It’s Hot,” “The Days of Swine & Roses,” “A Daisy Chain 4 Satan,” which are still in rotation at goth/industrial/darksider clubs, or from their appearance in 1994’s movie The Crow (they were the band onstage in one scene, and their song “After the Flesh”, which is a re-working of the song “Nervous Xians” off of their 1989 Wax Trax album “Kooler Than Jesus”, is on the film’s soundtrack). This is one of the bands from Wax Trax’s heyday (a list which also includes Front 242, KMFDM, Sister Machine Gun, 1000 Homo DJs, Laibach, the Revolting Cocks, Pailhead, Frontline Assembly, and others).

Starting out in Chicago circa 1987, singer/performer/artist Frankie Nardiello (stage name, Groovie Mann), who had recently toured as a lighting technician with Ministry (after having been in a punk/glam/new wave band called Special Affect, one of whose songs was titled “Thrill Kill Kult,”with Ministry’s singer Al Jourgensen, drummer Harry Rushakoff of Concrete Blonde, and bassist Marty Sorenson), met with musician friend Marston Daley (stage name: Buzz McCoy).

The two dreamed up an art film titled Hammerhead Housewife and the Thrill Kill Kult. Collaborating with other musicians and recording the soundtrack before making the movie, they were discovered by Wax Trax! Records, and the rest, as the saying goes, is history.

This tour of “America’s Most Dangerous Kult” brings together singer Groovie Mann, keyboardist Buzz McCoy, bassist Charles “Levi” Levi, drummer Otto Matix, and, at some stops on the tour circuit, Bomb Gang Girlz (the TKK’s female backup singers) Jacky Blacque and Sinderella Pussy.

The set list on this tour has included a lot of older Thrill Kill Kult favorites including “Do You Fear For your Child?,” “Sex On Wheelz” (a remix of which appeared on 1992’s “Cool World” movie soundtrack along with another Thrill Kill Kult song, “Her Sassy Kiss”), “Nervous Xians,” “The Days of Swine & Roses” and many more.

This performance introduces the Thrill Kill Kult’s album Sinister Whisperz, a 13-track album (12 of which are favorites from the band’s time on the Wax Trax! label, the last is from the same era but hadn’t been previously released), and two limited edition box sets. It also marks the first time the Lords of Acid have toured since 2002, according to an interview of Praga Khan published in The Gauntlet.

The bands have been invited, as are you, to an after-party at Club Anything (807 S. 5th Street). The Sextreme Ball goes down this Sunday, July 25 at The Rave (2401 W. Wisconsin Avenue).