Current Members:
Bryan Erickson (a.k.a. Hexfix93, Disease Factory) - lead vocals, composition, guitar, lyrics, mixing, production, various
Early projects, early changes, and first albums (1990–1995)
In the early 1990s, Erickson and Grigory, both residents of Colorado, brought together their shared interest in creating music to record a series of demos. With the addition of Gary Slaughter and Chris Workman, the group attempted several bands, including Disease Disco Factory, a parody of then-popular Dance group C+C Music Factory. Following a turbulent period for Erickson and Slaughter, Workman left the group. Slaughter and Erickson experimented with two new side-projects, Cyber Christ and Vortex. Cyber Christ explored a harsh and melancholy sound that was a sharp contrast to the group's other projects. When Erickson discovered that the term "Cyber Christ" had been used in the 1992 film The Lawnmower Man, he renamed the band Velvet Acid Christ in honor of a bad acid trip. The Vortex project was merged into Velvet Acid Christ to form one body of work.
In 1994, Workman returned to assist with the band's self-produced gothic-styled demo tape, Fate. Given encouraging response from friends, the band followed up with other self-produced albums, 1994's Pestilence, a dance-oriented album, and 1995's Neuralblastoma, a harder-sounding album.
Erickson, along with friends and minor contributors Steve Bird and Dan Olson, started the brief-lived record label Electro Death Trip (EDT) Records to better promote these recordings. In 1995, the three began distributing hand-made CD copies of Fate, Pestilence, and Neuralblastoma for resale in local music shops.
Label interest, touring, and a troubled rise (1996–2000)
Slaughter and Workman temporarily left the band during the first half of 1996 as Erickson continued the project alone, handing out copies of Velvet Acid Christ's recordings to industry representatives, including musician Bill Leeb of industrial pioneer Front Line Assembly. Leeb passed the music to Thorsten Stroht, a media promoter with European label Off-Beat Records. Off-Beat A&R negotiated a deal with the band.
For their first Off-Beat release, the group submitted 1996's Church of Acid, a compilation of selected tracks from Velvet Acid Christ's first three albums with an additional two new tracks, Disflux and Futile. Church of Acid was well received in Europe, and Futile became a regularly played track in many nightclubs across the continent. In 1997, United States label Pendragon Records released Church of Acid in America, though the two new tracks were removed due to a lack of trademark clearance for television samples used in the songs.
The band's next album, Calling Ov the Dead, was rejected by Off-Beat for not sounding edgy enough, prompting Slaughter's permanent departure. With the assistance of Bird and Olson, the band addressed the label's concerns and released Calling Ov the Dead in late 1997, with American distribution following through Pendragon in 1998. In the process, Erickson had accumulated a substantial financial debt.
With a line-up consisting of Erickson, Stroht and German musician Ingo Beitz, the band toured Europe in 1998 with Off-Beat label-mate Suicide Commando, which attracted the attention of Metropolis Records, the largest industrial label in United States. The parent label of Pendragon, Metropolis distributed the album Neuralblastoma, as a partnership that would endure.
Velvet Acid Christ spent the majority of 1999 in the studio, first collaborating with Germany's Funker Vogt on a remix EP entitled Velvet Acid Christ Vs Funker Vogt: The Remix Assault, then shifting to Velvet Acid Christ's next full-length recording, Fun With Knives. With Workman an occasional contributor, Erickson sought production assistance on Fun With Knives from the bands Luxt and 4th New Army. Fun with Knives, released by Metropolis and new Off-Beat sub-label dependent, became the band's best-selling album. Sales were propelled by the singles Decypher and Fun with Drugs, and by the track Slut, which featured vocals from Luxt's Anna Christine.
In spite of the success of the band, stress had led Erickson into depression and increased drug abuse, which channeled into the creation of the band's next album, Twisted Thought Generator. Simultaneously, the band toured Europe with industrial acts Project X and Stromkern and toured the United States and Canada with bands Din_Fiv and Haujobb. The line-up of the band during this period was unstable. Workman, citing a conversion to Christianity, resigned from the band with a request that his name be retracted from all previous albums. The first leg of the European tour consisted of Erickson, Bird and Stroht; the second leg, Erickson and Olson. The North American tour was performed by Erickson, Stroht and drummer Paul Lipman. With various contributors, Erickson completed Twisted Thought Generator. Due to lingering disputes, he withdrew the band from Dependent Records and submitted the album to Metropolis.
A change of pace, new early material, and beyond (2001– present)
Erickson placed Velvet Acid Christ on a short hiatus in 2001, as he abandoned his dependence on drugs in favour of exercise and a vegan raw foodist diet. Newly clean, Erickson created the 2003 album Hex Angel: Utopia/Dystopia. Though critical response was mixed, Hex Angel: Utopia/Dystopia ranked #1 on Germany's Deutsche Alternative Charts (DAC) for four weeks after its release, and the album's single Pretty Toy reached #18 on the Billboard Alternative Chart during the same year. The album also marked the band's short-lived return to Dependent Records.
Erickson spent 2004 releasing and reissuing some of Velvet Acid Christ's earliest material. With the four-volume compilation series Between the Eyes, the band published a collection of its singles and B-sides, then followed with subsequent re-releases of Fate (Vol. 2), Pestilence (Vol. 3), and Neuralblastoma (Vol. 4). The band also offered free MP3 downloads of Dimension 8 and Oblivion Interface on its website until early 2005. Dimension 8, which had been available as a hidden bonus on Twisted Thought Generator, and Oblivion Interface (informally known as Between the Eyes, Vol. 5) provided fans with previously unheard work from the Cyber Christ-Vortex era of 1991–1994.
In 2005, Erickson collaborated with guitarist Todd Loomis on a new album, Lust for Blood, which was released on September 26, 2006. With Lust for Blood, the crew labored intensively to create a new overall sound while maintaining the band's original characteristics. Following its release, Lust for Blood ranked at the top of Germany's DAC for four weeks; the album's single release, Wound, ranked on the DAC's singles chart for eight weeks and held the #1 position for four weeks.
In 2009, Erickson began to create the next LP with minimal input from Loomis this time when he was working on his project The Twilight Garden. The result was The Art of Breaking Apart, released October 27, 2009. This LP was a tribute to bands like Current 93 and Death in June and brought VAC many new fans while making the others angry at the new direction of the music.
In 2010–2011, Bryan Erickson teamed up with William Anderson of Louisiana. William did a ton of sampling, and Bryan made a bunch of VAC B-sides that turned into Toxic Coma tracks. The project had a revolving door of members, again Bryan being the main constant. They released a LP entitled Satan Rising under Toxic Coma on Metropolis Records. It fused the techno sound of Fun With Knives and the brutal black humor of Toxic Coma. Erickson then began to write more music for future VAC LPs.
In October 2012, Velvet Acid Christ released their tenth LP entitled Maldire. The release marked a return to the dark electronic sound. Erickson formed a live band and toured extensively (2012-2014) to support the album. The latest album entitled Subconscious Landscapes was released October 28, 2014. A remastered Greatest Hits compilation was released by Metropolis Records on May 6, 2016.
Discography:
Studio Albums
1994 - Fate
1994 - Pestilence
1995 - Neuralblastoma
1997 - Calling Ov the Dead
1999 - Fun With Knives
2000 - Twisted Thought Generator
2003 - Hex Angel (Utopia/Dystopia)
2006 - Lust for Blood
2009 - The Art of Breaking Apart
2012 - Maldire
2014 - Subconscious Landscapes
Compilations / Demos / EPs / Singles
1992 - Oblivion Interface (demo re-released in 2004)
1993 - Dimension 8 (demo re-released in 2000)
1996 - Church of Acid (1994-1995 compilation)
1998 - Neuralblastoma (1994-1995 compilation)
1999 - Fun With Razors (remix EP)
1999 - Decipher (maxi-single)
1999 - Fun With Drugs (maxi-single)
1999 - The Remix Wars: Strike 4: Funker Vogt vs. Velvet Acid Christ (remix EP)
2001 - Dial 8 (maxi-single)
2003 - Pretty Toy (maxi-single)
2004 - Between the Eyes Vol. 1 (singles compilation)
2004 - Between the Eyes Vol. 2 (re-release of Fate)
2004 - Between the Eyes Vol. 3 (re-release of Pestilence)
2004 - Between the Eyes Vol. 4 (re-release of Neuroblastoma)
2006 - Wound (maxi-single)
2009 - Caustic Disco (maxi-single)
2016 - Greatest Hits (remastered compilation)
Broken Mind
Velvet Acid Christ Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The lyrics of "Broken Mind" by Velvet Acid Christ portray a sense of despair, hopelessness, and deep emotional pain. The singer of the song is depicted as being vexed by the rules of a game that he is forced to play, possibly alluding to the rules society imposes on individuals. The statement, "my broken mind, my broken soul, your fucking lies, I sold every bit so we go," suggests that the singer has given up on life and surrendered to the dark forces that surround him. He bleeds and suffers as a result of the game that never changes, and his heart is on the floor for the sake of a "silly smile." The lines "watch my head explode, going upward, then back on the floor, it's bleeding, the blood trickles on the wall" further highlight the level of anguish and agony the singer is experiencing.
The lyrics also touch on the theme of isolation. The singer feels alone and abandoned by everyone around him. He has lost his mind and his soul, and nobody seems to care about his plight. He is a "loser with no mind, no home," and his life seems to hold no value for him or anyone else. The individual is trapped in his own despair and is forced to bear the weight of his misery alone.
Line by Line Meaning
Clutching my hands, nails at my skin, the rules of the game, come crashing in.
My anxiety and stress levels are really high right now, and everything feels like it's going wrong. I can't keep up with the demands of life, and it's all collapsing in on me.
my broken mind, my broken soul, your fucking lies, I sold every bit so we go.
You've broken me down so much that I no longer recognize myself. My trust in you was misplaced, and I gave everything I had to the relationship. Now, I'm damaged beyond repair.
watch me bleed, watch me suffer, the game never changes, my hearts on the floor bleeding, for your silly smile.
I'm hurting so much, and you're just standing there watching me suffer. It feels like we're stuck in a toxic cycle, where you hurt me and I just keep coming back for more. My love for you is causing me actual physical pain.
watch my head explode, going upward, then back on the floor, it's bleeding, the blood trickles on the wall, open your heart, and watch me fall apart.
I feel like my head is going to explode from all the pressure and stress, and no matter how high I try to rise, I always end up falling back down. The pain is so intense that I'm physically bleeding, and I just wish you could understand what I'm going through.
I never wanted it this way, don't you know I try so hard to make you, listen, you never listen, nobody listens, no body cares.
I never wanted to be in this situation, and I've been trying so hard to get you to understand how I'm feeling. But no matter how much I try to communicate, it feels like no one is listening or cares about what I have to say.
they all just stare, at the sad sight I am, a loser with no mind, no home, no don't remind me, I know better, its all my fault, I should of tried harder from the very start, but they watch me, they kill me, push me down, I can't help my situation,, no life no, no life, nothing at all, just me, in discontent, watch as they stare at me, they stare at me, they stare at me, what a loser I am, I am, oh I am, death, dead, dead.
Everyone around me is judging me and staring at my suffering, and it feels like they think I deserve to be where I am. I feel like I have nothing - no home, no mind, no life. I know I should have done better, but it's too late now. I feel completely alone and dead inside.
hold my soul above my head, shoot it ten times instead, they walk in front of me and laugh, and kick me in the face, spit on me, shoot me, kill me, you don't care anyway.
I'm so desperate to escape my pain that I'm almost asking someone to put me out of my misery. It feels like everyone around me is actively trying to hurt me and make me suffer. I feel like no one cares whether I live or die.
so what's the difference, I'm in pain, it never goes away, you just laugh at me, you laugh at me oh.... sorry I never predicted that this was the end of our relationship, I tried to make it better, to make it better.
It feels like there's no point in anything anymore, because the pain never goes away. I feel like you're laughing at my suffering and don't care about my feelings at all. I'm sorry that our relationship has ended, and I wish things could have been different. I tried so hard to fix things, but it just wasn't enough.
no one listens, no one cares, they all just stare, and laugh, then walk away, what's the big deal, I'm just a loser.......
It feels like no one is willing to listen to me or support me, and instead they just make fun of me and leave me behind. I feel like I'm worthless and that no one cares whether I live or die. To everyone else, I'm just a joke and a failure.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Julian Cennamo
on Pain
This is a song about coping with failed relationships and a broken home. The lyricist has been triggered by a life event- most likely a breakup. The event is particularly tragic because it brings back haunting memories of fear and abandonment experienced in childhood.