Christian Death - History

History

Rozz Williams founded Christian Death in Los Angeles in 1978, having grown up in the eastern suburb of Pomona in a Christian family. Originally, the 16-year-old Williams called his group the Upsetters, which also included guitarist Jay (aka John Albert), bassist James McGearty, and drummer George Belanger. The band took off after they changed its name to Christian Death and added past Adolescents guitarist Rikk Agnew. They had put out a number of cassette singles and demo records. In 1981, they made their LP debut with several tracks on the L.A. scene compilation Hell Comes to Your House.

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. Only Theatre of Pain was released in Europe by the French label L'Invitation au Suicide, which was followed by the record's release in Japan.

After having booked a European tour, the original lineup of Christian Death left the band due to fighting and drug abuse. Williams quickly assembled a new version of the band in 1983 by merging with their scheduled opening act, another L.A. deathrock band called Pompeii 99. This lineup included guitarist Valor Kand, keyboardist/vocalist Gitane Demone, and drummer David Glass. The band went on to record their next two albums, Catastrophe Ballet and Ashes, under this lineup.

In mid-1985, Rozz Williams left the band, partly due to his increasing interest in experimental music and surrealist performance art. Valor Kand took over leadership of Christian Death, now serving as lead vocalist and songwriter. The band then recorded an EP for the Italian label Supporti Fonografici called The Wind Kissed Pictures, which was credited to The Sin and Sacrifice of Christian Death. The EP was subsequently issued in the English-speaking world credited to Christian Death.

Their first post-Williams effort was 1986's Atrocities, a concept album about the aftereffects of World War II on the European psyche, which was followed by 1987's The Scriptures under the revamped lineup of Demone, Glass, guitarist James Beam, and bassist Kota. Longtime drummer David Glass left the group following the release of The Scriptures and returned to California, where he eventually worked with several of Rozz Williams' side projects.

Following the departure of Glass, the band had their biggest successes on the UK Independent Chart with the singles Sick Of Love, Church Of No Return and Zero Sex and the album Sex and Drugs and Jesus Christ. Following the Zero Sex single, Demone opted to leave the band and Valor recorded the two-part All The Love, All The Hate concept album in collaboration with Nick the Bastard, which spawned the double A-side single We Fall Like Love/ I Hate You.

During the late '80s, Rozz Williams resurrected his own version of Christian Death with his wife Eva O contributing guitar as well as vocals. Billing themselves as the original Christian Death, they were rejoined by first-album guitarist Rikk Agnew for a 1989 tour of Canada. The band was signed to Cleopatra Records, which released The Iron Mask, Skeleton Kiss EP, The Path of Sorrows, and The Rage of Angels under the Christian Death name. A 1993 show featuring Only Theatre of Pain-era members Williams, Agnew and Belanger, along with bassist Casey Chaos, performing live from Los Angeles' Patriot Hall was recorded and later released in 2001 as a DVD by Cleopatra Records.

Williams' reclamation of the Christian Death name sparked a fierce court battle with Valor Kand, who eventually won trademark rights and forced Williams to bill his version of the band as "Christian Death Featuring Rozz Williams". After this, Williams' version would not release another full album of original material and went on to pursue other projects. Williams committed suicide on April 1, 1998.

Valor's Christian Death began recording again, offering the double live set Amen in 1995, and 1996's Nostradamus-themed Prophecies. In 2000, they added drummer Will Sarginson and toured Europe with Britain's Cradle of Filth in support of the Born Again Anti-Christian album. Valor's silence was broken again in 2007 with the American Inquisition album.