Velvet Acid Christ

Mitglieder:
Bryan Erickson

Gründugsjahr:
1990

Genre
Industrial

Velvet Acid Christ had their origins in an 80's high school electronics class, where Bryan and Chris would debate the merits of Amiga versus Atari. Bryan and Grigory Bilham (an early member of VAC) were at the time working in a punk/funk band, which, by 1990, was altered to the trio of Bryan, Chris, and Grig. The band's name was originally Cyberchrist, although this was changed within a few months to Velvet Acid Christ, named (so they say) in honor of a bad acid trip. Grig left the band in 1992, leaving the core of Bryan and Chris (although various other people have had revolving door membership in the band.)
Bryan and Chris cite a number of influences to their hard driving industrial sound, including Legendary Pink Dots, the Cure, Skinny Puppy, Orbital, and a surprising number of metal bands, including Napalm Death, Godflesh, and Metallica. They also expose a number of social issues, including animal rights and their concern regarding the basic survival of mankind against the onslaught of technology.
Prior to signing with Metropolis Records, Velvet Acid Christ had released two previous CDs: Church of Acid and Calling ov the Dead on Pendragon Records. Neuroblastoma, a limited edition CD of earlier unreleased material, was their first release on Metropolis.
Chris soon left the band, leaving Bryan as the sole member of Velvet Acid Christ. 1999 saw the re-invented Velvet Acid Christ in the limelight with a remix war between them and Funker Vogt, the Decypher single, and the third full length release, Fun with Knives. A fourth album, Twisted Thought Generator, followed a year later, along with the Dial8 single.
After a three year hiatus, Velvet Acid Christ returned with the single, Pretty Toy, for 2003, and proved that he had not lost his touch. Aggressive electronics, throbbing beats, and obscure samples made Pretty Toy a resurrection of the past combined newer sonic development. Following up the single, VAC released his fifth album, Hex Angel (Utopia-Dystopia). That album exhibited what made Velvet Acid Christ one of the best and most famed American electro-industrial acts. Aggressive electronics, throbbing beats, obscure samples, and distorted vocals fused to create an extremely dark and versatile album. Reminiscent of his second album, Calling ov the Dead, blended with the third, Fun with Knives, Hex Angel (Utopia/Dystopia) explored the fine line between trance, EBM, industrial, and noise.
VAC followed up on the success of Hex Angel (which made it onto the Billboard Electronic Chart) with the much discussed Between the Eyes early retrospective ‘vault’ series in 2004. Between the Eyes Vol 1, Between the Eyes Volume 2, Between the Eyes Volume 3, and Between the Eyes Vol 4 contained many of the early hits, several tracks from early demo tapes unreleased tracks of rarities, outtakes, and original versions of songs from Church of Acid and Calling ov the Dead.
For 2006, the out of print Calling ov the Dead was re-issued along with the release of a brand new single, Wound. As a taste of things to come, the Wound single features three blistering mixes of the title track, as well as an alternate version of “Ghost Regen” and an amazing cover of The Cure’s “The Figurehead.” Wound presents a passionately angry and opinionated view of the band - animal rights. With the newest single, Velvet Acid Christ exhibits more musical maturity and artistry than ever before.