Electric Hellfire Club
Encyclopedia
The Electric Hellfire Club is an industrial metal
band mixing elements of glam metal
, techno, gothic rock
, psychedelia, black metal
lyrical themes and experimental noise. The band also makes use of sampling
, mainly from grindhouse
horror films and criminal documentaries.
, the Electric Hellfire Club was formed in 1991 when Thomas Thorn
(aka Buck Ryder), departed the industrial/techno band My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult
.
The Electric Hellfire Club initially comprised Thorn (vocals, keyboard programming), co-founder and keyboardist Shane Lassen (aka Rev. Dr. Luv), and guitarist Ronny Valeo. After the initial string of live shows, drummer Eric Peterson (aka Janna Flail) would be added to enhance the band's live shows, thus completing the band's original lineup. Prior to recording the first album, Burn, Baby, Burn!, dancer and back-up singer Sabrina Satana would join the group, and Peterson would be replaced on drums by percussionist Richard Frost.
The EHC toured extensively throughout the early to mid-1990s, both as an opening act, and as headliners in their own right. They toured with Type O Negative
, Christian Death
, Spahn Ranch
, Penal Colony, and Genitorturers
, amongst others.
On January 22, 1996, Shane Lassen was killed in an automobile accident. After the death of The Rev. Dr. Luv, the band regrouped and recorded the album Calling Dr. Luv, dedicating the title track, a cover of the KISS
song from which Lassen drew his stage name, in his honor.
After recording Calling Dr. Luv, the band began extensive touring again, setting out on the road with legendary noise
musician Boyd Rice
. During this period of near-constant touring, the band toured with such acts as Type O Negative, Danzig
, Coal Chamber
, GWAR
, Powerman 5000
, Fear Factory
, Godflesh
, and played one-off shows with Spahn Ranch, and Goth legends Alien Sex Fiend
. Before setting off on tour with GWAR in the summer of 1997, the band entered the studio and recorded the single "D.W.S.O.B", which appeared on the soundtrack to the 1997 film Gummo
. They also performed a cover tune for the television theme song ""Charles in Charge"" changing it and the inferred meaning with a Goth
and Industrial
style. The song was released on the two cd set of 36 TV show opening tunes of TV cover songs done by Gothic and Industrial bands. The CD was titled "TV Terror: Felching a Dead Horse" . Which was released in September 1997
Following the completion of an extensive tour in 2002, the band entered a period of extended hiatus. Numerous rumors of new tour dates and studio material, including a DVD
, have surfaced since then, but other than a cover song of Metallica
's "Devil's Dance", released through the band's website in early 2004, no such activity has come forth.
2005 saw the band scatter, and enter a period of hiatus. Frontman Thomas Thorn relocated from the band's native Wisconsin
to the Florida Keys
, and Sabrina Satana relocated to Los Angeles
. The official website went offline, and the official message board was taken down as well. 2005 and 2006 saw no official activity from the band.
In 2007 a new official website appeared at electrichell.net, and the band's page on the website myspace.com began receiving updates.
Information on the website and myspace page indicated that the band was regrouping and possibly working together again, and that Wilhelm Curse had resumed keyboarding duties for the band.
Throughout mid to late 2008, the band began releasing demo versions of previous songs, and other rare recordings via their page on myspace.com. These tracks were/are available for streaming, and are changed on a semi-regular basis. This is to date, the only instance that the band has officially made available material from the 1991 demo album; entitled "12 Songs From Hell."
Early 2009 brought about the reactivation of the band in earnest. In January it was reported at electrichell.net and on the band's MySpace page that preliminary work had started on a new full-length album
, which would mark the band's first studio album in seven years. It also saw Charles Edward from the Denver area gothic metal
band Seraphim Shock join the band as guitarist, replacing long time band member Ricktor Ravensbruck, who is serving time in federal prison on drug charges. Original drummer Eric Peterson rejoined the band in February, reuniting half of the band's original lineup.
In February 2011, a news update to the band's official site, indicated that work on a new album was "indefinitely postponed." This news seemed to indicate that the band had entered another period of dormancy, or was now defunct.
Industrial metal
Industrial metal is a musical genre that draws from industrial music and many different types of heavy metal, using repeating metal guitar riffs, sampling, synthesizer or sequencer lines, and distorted vocals. Founding industrial metal acts include Ministry, Godflesh, and KMFDM.Industrial metal's...
band mixing elements of glam metal
Glam metal
Glam metal is a subgenre of hard rock and heavy metal that arose in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the United States, particularly on the Los Angeles Sunset Strip music scene...
, techno, gothic rock
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
, psychedelia, black metal
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
lyrical themes and experimental noise. The band also makes use of sampling
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
, mainly from grindhouse
Grindhouse
A grindhouse is an American term for a theater that mainly shows exploitation films. It is named after the defunct burlesque theaters located on 42nd Street in New York City, where 'bump n' grind' dancing and striptease were featured.- History :...
horror films and criminal documentaries.
History
Based in Kenosha, WisconsinKenosha, Wisconsin
Kenosha is a city and the county seat of Kenosha County in the State of Wisconsin in United States. With a population of 99,218 as of May 2011, Kenosha is the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin. Kenosha is also the fourth-largest city on the western shore of Lake Michigan, following Chicago,...
, the Electric Hellfire Club was formed in 1991 when Thomas Thorn
Thomas Thorn
Thomas Torquemada Thorn was born August 2, 1964 in Madison, WI.He is best-known as co-founder of, and lead vocalist for, the industrial metal band The Electric Hellfire Club....
(aka Buck Ryder), departed the industrial/techno band My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult
My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult
My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult is an American electronic industrial rock band originally based out of Chicago, Illinois.-History:...
.
The Electric Hellfire Club initially comprised Thorn (vocals, keyboard programming), co-founder and keyboardist Shane Lassen (aka Rev. Dr. Luv), and guitarist Ronny Valeo. After the initial string of live shows, drummer Eric Peterson (aka Janna Flail) would be added to enhance the band's live shows, thus completing the band's original lineup. Prior to recording the first album, Burn, Baby, Burn!, dancer and back-up singer Sabrina Satana would join the group, and Peterson would be replaced on drums by percussionist Richard Frost.
The EHC toured extensively throughout the early to mid-1990s, both as an opening act, and as headliners in their own right. They toured with Type O Negative
Type O Negative
Type O Negative was a gothic metal band from Brooklyn, New York City. The band also incorporated elements of doom metal and thrash metal. Their dramatic lyrical emphasis on themes of romance, depression, and death resulted in the nickname "The Drab Four"...
, Christian Death
Christian Death
Christian Death is an American deathrock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1979. The band was founded and fronted by Rozz Williams. Christian Death is most notable for their first album Only Theatre of Pain....
, Spahn Ranch
Spahn Ranch (band)
Spahn Ranch was an electro-industrial group from Los Angeles. Active from 1992 to 2000, the band was well known in a sub-genre of industrial music for its fusion of electronic dance, industrial and gothic music.-History:...
, Penal Colony, and Genitorturers
Genitorturers
The Genitorturers are an industrial metal/industrial rock band from the United States, with influences extending into the 1990s hardcore punk and electronic music. They proclaim themselves to be "The World's Sexiest Rock Band".-History:...
, amongst others.
On January 22, 1996, Shane Lassen was killed in an automobile accident. After the death of The Rev. Dr. Luv, the band regrouped and recorded the album Calling Dr. Luv, dedicating the title track, a cover of the KISS
KISS (band)
Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Well-known for its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting,...
song from which Lassen drew his stage name, in his honor.
After recording Calling Dr. Luv, the band began extensive touring again, setting out on the road with legendary noise
Noise music
Noise music is a term used to describe varieties of avant-garde music and sound art that may use elements such as cacophony, dissonance, atonality, noise, indeterminacy, and repetition in their realization. Noise music can feature distortion, various types of acoustically or electronically...
musician Boyd Rice
Boyd Rice
Boyd Blake Rice is an American experimental sound/noise musician using the name of NON since the mid-1970s, archivist, actor, photographer, author, member of the Partridge Family Temple religious group, co-founder of the UNPOP art movement and current staff writer for Modern Drunkard...
. During this period of near-constant touring, the band toured with such acts as Type O Negative, Danzig
Danzig (band)
Danzig is an American heavy metal band, formed in 1987 in Lodi, New Jersey. The band serves as a musical outlet for the singer/songwriter Glenn Danzig. Danzig can be seen as the third stage in Glenn Danzig's musical career, preceded by the horror punk bands The Misfits and Samhain...
, Coal Chamber
Coal Chamber
Coal Chamber is an American alternative metal band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1993. Prior to Coal Chamber, Dez Fafara and Meegs Rascón formed the band She's In Pain in 1992. The two decided to create Coal Chamber. They disbanded in 2003 after ten years together, but announced a reunion in...
, GWAR
GWAR
Gwar is a satirical heavy metal band formed in Richmond, Virginia, United States, in 1984. The band is best known for its elaborate science fiction/horror film inspired costumes, obscene lyrics and graphic stage performances, which feature humorous enactments of politically and morally taboo...
, Powerman 5000
Powerman 5000
Powerman 5000 is an American Metal band formed in 1991. Through the span of over two decades, the group has released several albums and gained their highest commercial success with 1999's science fiction themed Tonight the Stars Revolt!...
, Fear Factory
Fear Factory
Fear Factory is an American industrial metal band. Formed in 1989, they have released seven full-length albums and a number of singles and remixes. Over the course of their career they have evolved from a succession of styles, as well as steadily pioneered a combination of the styles death metal,...
, Godflesh
Godflesh
Godflesh are an English industrial metal band from Birmingham, England. Originally known as Fall of Because, they formed in 1988 by Justin K. Broadrick and G.C. Green and disbanded in 2002. Godflesh's innovative music is widely regarded as a foundational influence on industrial metal and post-metal...
, and played one-off shows with Spahn Ranch, and Goth legends Alien Sex Fiend
Alien Sex Fiend
Alien Sex Fiend is a deathrock band from the UK, composed of the married couple Nik Fiend and Mrs. Fiend . Currently, the band is based in Cardiff, Wales.-History:...
. Before setting off on tour with GWAR in the summer of 1997, the band entered the studio and recorded the single "D.W.S.O.B", which appeared on the soundtrack to the 1997 film Gummo
Gummo
Gummo is a 1997 American independent drama film written and directed by Harmony Korine. It was his directorial debut and has since become a cult film. The film stars Jacob Reynolds, Nick Sutton, Jacob Sewell, Chloë Sevigny, Linda Manz and Max Perlich...
. They also performed a cover tune for the television theme song ""Charles in Charge"" changing it and the inferred meaning with a Goth
Gothic metal
Gothic metal or goth metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that combines the aggression of doom metal with the dark melancholy of gothic rock. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different styles of heavy metal music...
and Industrial
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
style. The song was released on the two cd set of 36 TV show opening tunes of TV cover songs done by Gothic and Industrial bands. The CD was titled "TV Terror: Felching a Dead Horse" . Which was released in September 1997
Following the completion of an extensive tour in 2002, the band entered a period of extended hiatus. Numerous rumors of new tour dates and studio material, including a DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
, have surfaced since then, but other than a cover song of Metallica
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
's "Devil's Dance", released through the band's website in early 2004, no such activity has come forth.
2005 saw the band scatter, and enter a period of hiatus. Frontman Thomas Thorn relocated from the band's native Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
to the Florida Keys
Florida Keys
The Florida Keys are a coral archipelago in southeast United States. They begin at the southeastern tip of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and extend in a gentle arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, the westernmost of the inhabited islands, and on to the uninhabited Dry...
, and Sabrina Satana relocated to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. The official website went offline, and the official message board was taken down as well. 2005 and 2006 saw no official activity from the band.
In 2007 a new official website appeared at electrichell.net, and the band's page on the website myspace.com began receiving updates.
Information on the website and myspace page indicated that the band was regrouping and possibly working together again, and that Wilhelm Curse had resumed keyboarding duties for the band.
Throughout mid to late 2008, the band began releasing demo versions of previous songs, and other rare recordings via their page on myspace.com. These tracks were/are available for streaming, and are changed on a semi-regular basis. This is to date, the only instance that the band has officially made available material from the 1991 demo album; entitled "12 Songs From Hell."
Early 2009 brought about the reactivation of the band in earnest. In January it was reported at electrichell.net and on the band's MySpace page that preliminary work had started on a new full-length album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, which would mark the band's first studio album in seven years. It also saw Charles Edward from the Denver area gothic metal
Gothic metal
Gothic metal or goth metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that combines the aggression of doom metal with the dark melancholy of gothic rock. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different styles of heavy metal music...
band Seraphim Shock join the band as guitarist, replacing long time band member Ricktor Ravensbruck, who is serving time in federal prison on drug charges. Original drummer Eric Peterson rejoined the band in February, reuniting half of the band's original lineup.
In February 2011, a news update to the band's official site, indicated that work on a new album was "indefinitely postponed." This news seemed to indicate that the band had entered another period of dormancy, or was now defunct.
Line up
The band has undergone many changes in membership, with only frontman Thomas Thorn remaining throughout its history.- Thomas Thorn - vocals, keyboards, samples, programs
- Wilhelm Curse - live keyboards, sampling
- Eric Peterson - drums and percussion
- Charles Edward - guitars and effects
- Sabrina Satana - bass, vocals
Discography
- Burn, Baby, Burn! 1993, Cleopatra Records
- Satan's Little HelpersSatan's Little HelpersSatan's Little Helpers is a 1994 EP by The Electric Hellfire Club. This release features remixes of previously released material from their debut CD Burn, Baby, Burn!; Psychedelic Sacrifice , The Electric Hellfire Acid Test, Mr. 44 twice and a remix of a previously unreleased track Night of the...
1994, Cleopatra Records - Kiss the GoatKiss The Goat (EHC)Kiss the Goat is the second full-length album from The Electric Hellfire Club. The musical styling is a departure from the first album , utilizing much less prominent guitars, and significantly different effects on the lead vocals...
1995, Cleopatra Records (reissued 2005) - Trick or Treat? Halloween '95 1995, Cleopatra Records (Limited pressing of 1,000 LPs on Orange Vinyl, and 500 CD copies)
- Calling Dr. Luv 1996, Cleopatra Records
- Unholy Roller 1998, Cleopatra Records
- Empathy for the Devil 2000, Cleopatra Records
- Witness The Millennium 2000, Cleopatra Records
- Electronomicon 2002, Cleopatra Records (reissued 2005)