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)
Machine
Velvet Acid Christ Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The lyrics of Velvet Acid Christ's song "Machine" speak about a dependency on technology and the loss of human connection. The lines "Plug in, Plug in to the machine" embody a desire to escape the real world and immerse oneself in a virtual one. The phrase "Save us a line" could imply the use of drugs as a form of escapism. The lyrics urge listeners to break free from the hold that technology has on them and to not let it replace real human interactions.
The lines "You really loved your loved ones, concerned for that well-being" evoke a sense of nostalgia and a yearning for the past when relationships meant more than just a virtual connection. The phrase "it's a sexual pressures twist" could refer to the twisted, and sometimes unhealthy, ways in which people use technology to satisfy sexual desires. The lyrics speak of a struggle to resist the temptation of technology and to hold onto true human connection.
In summary, the lyrics of "Machine" by Velvet Acid Christ highlight the dangers of over-reliance on technology and the importance of preserving genuine human relationships.
Line by Line Meaning
Plug in, Plug in to the machine
Begin the process of connecting to the machine
Save us a line
Produce an output that will provide a solution or help us in some way
Don't even blast us, don't reprise the mind, blast the sin
Don't overwhelm us with information or allow us to revisit past experiences, focus on freeing us from our sins
Free from the self, time even laughs tonight
Become detached from ourselves, and experience the freedom of being in the present moment
Am I on your mind, or don't you even care?
Are you thinking about me or have you completely forgotten about me?
You really loved your loved ones, concerned for that well being
You cared deeply for your family and friends, and wanted them to be safe and happy
But I took a try, to those who could save me
I reached out to those who I thought could help me
And no, I can't deny, it's a sexual pressures twist
I cannot deny that I am feeling a sexual urge that is causing me distress
To precious to ignore, so less in a paycheck
This is important to me and I'm willing to sacrifice other things to pursue it
And I can be sure I'll stand awry
I know that my actions may be seen as strange or wrong by others
Save me 4x
Repeated plea for help
What if this dementia won't stop, and resistance all is done?
What if my mental deterioration never ends and I am completely helpless?
I'll wind up the turnkey and set it on stage, and wait until there's love
I'll create something and wait for someone to appreciate it or love it
So if desire has changed, plug in, don't stand by yourself
If your desires or needs have changed, connect to the machine and don't isolate yourself
Because I can't just say, I am meant to be your last dance
I cannot simply state that I am destined to be your final romantic partner
I made it through your last touch, I'm living through your last touch, I've got time
I have survived and continue to live with the memory of your last physical contact, and I still have time to experience more
Contributed by Asher E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Karl The heretiK
Plug in. Plug in to the machine
Save us a line. Don't even blast us
Don't reprise the mind. Blast the sin
Free from the self, time even laughs tonight
Am I on your mind, or don't you even care ?
Plug in to the machine, plug in to the machine
You really loved your loved once
Concerned for that well being
But I took a try, to those who could save me
And no, I can't deny, it's a sexual pressures twist
To precious to ignore, so less in a paycheck
And I can be sure I'll stand away
Save me
Save me
Save me
Save me
What if the dementia won't stop
And resistance all is done ?
I'll wind up the turnkey and set it on stage
And wait until there's love, so if desire has changed
Plug in. Don't stand by yourself, because I can't just say
I am meant to be your last dance
I made it through your last touch
I made it through your last touch
I made it through your last touch
I'm living through your last touch
I'm living through your last touch
I've got time
burn account
The entire album is a masterpiece imo
Karl The heretiK
Plug in. Plug in to the machine
Save us a line. Don't even blast us
Don't reprise the mind. Blast the sin
Free from the self, time even laughs tonight
Am I on your mind, or don't you even care ?
Plug in to the machine, plug in to the machine
You really loved your loved once
Concerned for that well being
But I took a try, to those who could save me
And no, I can't deny, it's a sexual pressures twist
To precious to ignore, so less in a paycheck
And I can be sure I'll stand away
Save me
Save me
Save me
Save me
What if the dementia won't stop
And resistance all is done ?
I'll wind up the turnkey and set it on stage
And wait until there's love, so if desire has changed
Plug in. Don't stand by yourself, because I can't just say
I am meant to be your last dance
I made it through your last touch
I made it through your last touch
I made it through your last touch
I'm living through your last touch
I'm living through your last touch
I've got time
BaTz-und-B0n3z
To me these lyrics are saying name the price, and I’ll pay it to keep her alive. But it’s a chore to do so because she doesn’t care about her life like I do. But my view on the English language is a bit different than everyone else’s.
Arnout Degen
This deserves more views. One of my favorite songs by VAC and it fits the video perfectly :)
VincentL7
Although the lyrics of the song are not too sentimental, this video is extremely emotional, it touches the soul, it lets you know what the real actions of love are. My favorite by V.A.C.
three fold
I'll be quick. Lyrics are EXTREMELY sentimental, you are dank.
Plug into your machine to survive your distress. Don't ask for help, don't think about it.
You tell yourself you care for her but you don't. You are fucked and act as such.
You remain hopeful but recognize there truly is none.
You become the machine to remain alive and wait for her.
You wait forever for her.
That kind of thing... i'm sort of living it right now and i dunno, it rings true. I want to die. but Til Death.. ...
Giovanni Flores
esta chingona esa rola, tengo ese disco en original, vale mucho la pena comprarlo!!, el video esta chido!! =D
Alexandel Galoguin
Que loquera. El que mezclo este cortometraje y la canción es un crack!! Super!! thanks
Alexandel Galoguin
Sos tan crack que el tipo de VAC permite usar la escencia de ese video para su canción. En hora buena loco. Vos sos loco. Y un crack!!
Alexandel Galoguin
Unless you are the VAC composer! Greets!!