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 (1990โ1995)
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 (1996โ2000)
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 (2001โ 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 1991โ1994.
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 2010โ2011, 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)
Dilaudid
Velvet Acid Christ Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
How was that you who left me here half asleep could drown me?
Falling in love with this feeling I follow you to hell
Now I bleed softly in this space out there far out there
Leaving me thin and wasted, dried up and eviscerated
Strung out, fully sedated, my will totally eradicated
Who would of thought that this would eat my grasp
This behavior who could condone, my mind, postponed
One black spot sucked in a hole totally losing control
Floating higher 'til I fall rabidly to hell, barely connected to this soul
Now I breathe softly in this crate out there, so far out there
Leaving me thin and wasted, dried up, evaporated
Strung out, fully sedated, my soul obliterated
Who would of thought that this would feed this lapse?
Control my past
This behavior who would condone, my mind, postponed
The lyrics to Velvet Acid Christ's song Dilaudid portray an individual who is falling deeper into a void while also being in love with the feeling of being consumed by it. The first verse begins by questioning how the person who caused this is able to sleep while leaving the individual to drown. The word "falling" is used to describe the physical sensation, but it also implies a lack of control, like they are resigned to the situation. The second verse explains how this behavior has left the person "thin and wasted, dried up and eviscerated," and how their will has been "totally eradicated." The word "strung out" references drug use, but it could also suggest being at the end of one's rope.
Line by Line Meaning
Falling down further in this void
The singer feels like they are sinking deeper and deeper into a state of emptiness.
How was that you who left me here half asleep could drown me?
The person who the singer had trusted left them in a weakened state, and the singer feels like they were harmed by this person's actions.
Falling in love with this feeling I follow you to hell
Despite the potential harm, the singer is addicted to this feeling and is willing to follow this other person even towards a negative outcome.
Now I bleed softly in this space out there far out there
The artist is experiencing pain or suffering, while feeling disconnected from reality and beyond reach of help or assistance.
Leaving me thin and wasted, dried up and eviscerated
The artist has been depleted and used up by this negative experience,
Strung out, fully sedated, my will totally eradicated
The singer feels like they are unable to resist their addiction or follow their own desires because their willpower has been destroyed.
Who would of thought that this would eat my grasp
The singer is perplexed as to how they could have lost control of their life so completely.
Destroy my past
This addiction and negative experience has damaged the artist's memories and perspective on their former life.
This behavior who could condone, my mind, postponed
The artist is reflecting on how their actions may be viewed by others, and why they didn't recognize the danger earlier.
One black spot sucked in a hole totally losing control
The negative experience is all-consuming, and the artist feels like they have no power or influence over its impact on their life.
Floating higher 'til I fall rabidly to hell, barely connected to this soul
The singer is trying to escape their pain, but this is leading them to an even worse situation and is causing them to feel disconnected from themselves.
Now I breathe softly in this crate out there, so far out there
The artist feels trapped and hopeless, far away from help or support.
Leaving me thin and wasted, dried up, evaporated
The singer feels drained and depleted by their experiences.
Strung out, fully sedated, my soul obliterated
The singer feels disconnected from themselves and their own needs, as they are fully immersed in a toxic cycle.
Who would of thought that this would feed this lapse?
The singer is reflecting on how this negative experience is self-perpetuating and continues to hurt them over time.
Control my past
The artist feels like they are unable to move beyond this negative experience and it continues to impact their life choices.
This behavior who would condone, my mind, postponed
The artist is questioning their own actions and how they ended up in this negative situation.
Lyrics ยฉ Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Bryan Erickson
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
K1LL3RB1TCH
"I know that finding the deepest pleasure in the most saddest of things isn't your average picture of healthy mental behaviour, but when the torment is so emotionally gratifying there's no way you could ever convince me to stop listening."ย
Agree.
Daniel Quimby
Agree 1000%
Vargsang
this quote digged so deep in my head, it always reminds me coming back listening to this
Gerardo Moncada
Agree. Right on โ Catharsis works. When we choose effectively to purge (in this case) the dark feelings. ๐๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฅ๐๐
Michael A. McGee
I would very much agree with that, such an idea is the very reason I listen to Velvet Acid Christ in the first place. It's funny really most people by most I mean the main stream listen to music to lift them up and inspire them but from me in the case of VAC the music is a needle and this needle pushes a corruption into my being and the corruption is despair and woe but oddly this despair is a women kissing my cheek, this despair is inspiration, but it is not about the inspiration but the despair and the motions it takes at least for me.thank you for sharing your ideas.
tyler perkinson
K1LL3RB1TCH is that original, or a quote? I bet you're Finnish. Suomi.
JOSE ANTAO ALVES FILHO Antao
Gosto desta mรบsica!
Julien Joubert
Complex, elegant, deranged, sad, aesthetically unmatched
Daniel Di Salvo
Falling down further in this void How was that you who left me here half asleep could drown me Falling in love with this feeling I follow you to hell Now I bleed softly in this space out there far out there
Dustin Busmann Pawn Assassin
Amazing track- hard to forget even if you want to!