All tracks except Excommunicamus were recorded live at Los Angeles Patriotic Hall on 12 June 1993

Musicians: Rozz Williams (vocals), Rikk Agnew (guitar), Casey Chaos (bass), George Belanger (drums), Frank Agnew (additional guitars)

Thank You: Erik Christides, Ryan Gaumer, William John Anderson, Peter Heur, Dean Naleway, Bruce Duff, Brian Perera, Eva O.,
             Paris, Mark Barone, Christian Omar Madrigal Izzo, Amy Jonas, Ezzat and Paula Soliman (Sinbad Productions), Ed Colver,
             Brad Jackman, Bill Fold, Dave Thompson and Alternative Press, Peri Belanger, Brett Multz (Motorpsycho),
             Dan van Patten & DVP Drum Company, Davy Bay, Tom Johnson, Scott Kohler

Art and design: N. Kellerhouse
Skeleton/human hand and band photos: Ed Colver

The girl with the Florida license plates had her priorities right. "I,ve been to a lot of gigs," she said, "but I've never traveled this far to see one." Two thousand miles as the bat flies, and her make-up's not even smudged.

The heat in the hall will change that. A thousand souls melt as one, and when George Belanger glances out from his drum kit, "It was like looking at the sea, an ocean of eyes staring up at the stage." That was the effect Christian Death always had: When Rozz Williams, Rikk Agnew, and George Belanger reconvened in 1993, a decade after they last played with one another, the first question on their lips was, could they do it again?

The crowd waiting outside L.A.'s Patriotic Hall answered that before the doors even opened. Over the past ten years, Christian Death's name has been through a lot, revived by poets, reviled by pretenders. But there's only one original Christian Death, and that's what the posters all promise.

For Belanger, it's the promises that matter the most. It's fashionable, these days, for bands to reform; while he's rehearsing with Christian Death in L.A., his idol Lou Reed is in Europe with a reborn Velvet Underground.

When Williams introduced Reed's "Kill Your Sons" to the set, it was as much as caution as a compliment, and the band knew the ax swung both ways. To an audiance too young to have grown up on "Heroin," Christian Death are the Velvet Underground, a band which burned at both ends of its career, and brought the flames together in the middle.

Only Theatre of Pain, the original Christian Death's sole album, remains a classic of its age. Up there with the Velvets' first, the Stooges' second, and the Pistols' only, an album you'd traverse the globe for. Put its creators back on stage for just one night, and you'd probably cross the universe.

There's a few space invadors in the audiance tonight; you can hear their strange calls when the band lets up. But it doesn't let up very often. And it will not do so again. For even now, the lights are dimming and somewhere, a siren is wailing. In the distance, a bell starts to chime. Moonlight streams through the hall's cathedral window. Christian Death, for a short time, alive.

Dave Thompson
Contributing Editor
Alternative Press
 
 
 

The gothic faithful made a pilgrimage from across America to witness the recording of this one-time event - a reunion of the original Christian Death with Rozz, Rikk Agnew, and George Belanger. Superb quality recording produced by Mark Linett (Jane's, TSOL). Contains the best from the classic Death debut, plus two brand new songs and a cover of Lou Reed's "Kill Your Sons." Accept no limitations!