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)
Pain
Velvet Acid Christ Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Swaying back and forth
Needles in my arms
Broken inside
My chest rips open
And blood runs on the floor
Sealing my heart
Gazing at a wall
Somewhere in time
Try to make sense
Relation unknown
Alone, alone, alone
In pain, and pain, in pain
Fear is here
Bleeding inside
Oh, you will remind
The anger all lost in fear
I never lied to you
You always lied to me
What the fuck is the difference?
I'm sitting here bleeding inside, inside, inside
It's no big deal
It's no big deal
Wrapped in lies
Close your eyes
See the pain
Locked inside
Ripped open for a fucking dollar
A green piece of paper shatters my life
Twisted up until I scream
Let me go, release me
Release me, release me, release me
Crying out, hearing sounds
But the feeling got lost away
In some forgotten song
They said, they said
To close my eyes and dream away
Dream away, but the pain
The pain didn't go away
It never goes away, it didn't go away
It never goes away
I'm lying in sound
Oh, and you, and dream
I'm breaking down
A thousand years, and all the tears
And feelings locked inside, locked inside
Tide of emotion
Blood, rain, and tears
Ruined all the years, ruined all the years
They told me that I was never here
Never here, never here, never here
The lyrics of Velvet Acid Christ's song Pain tell a story of someone who is trapped in a state of emotional and physical pain. The singer is unable to move, and they are swaying back and forth as they are trapped in their agony. They have needles in their arms and are broken inside. The pain consumes them, and their chest rips open, causing blood to run on the floor. They are alone and in fear, bleeding inside. The singer feels betrayed, having never lied to the other person, while the other person has always lied to them. The singer is trapped and unable to escape their torment, which is causing them to break down. Despite being told to close their eyes and dream away, the pain never fades away.
The song explores the theme of internal pain caused by external sources. The singer seems to be going through a difficult time due to the actions of another person who caused them to be broken inside. The person is trapped in a cycle of emotional and physical pain, unable to break out of it. The song is very emotional, and the lyrics are quite vivid, with the use of metaphors and imagery.
Line by Line Meaning
Locked in a still position
Stuck in the same place, unable to move
Swaying back and forth
Rocking back and forth
Needles in my arms
Drugs running through my veins
Broken inside
Emotionally and mentally shattered
My chest rips open
My emotional pain feels physical
And blood runs on the floor
Blood symbolizes the depth of my pain
Sealing my heart
Closing off my emotions
Gazing at a wall
Staring off into space
In some dark corner
Feeling alone and hidden
Somewhere in time
Lost in thought
Try to make sense
Attempting to understand my pain
Relation unknown
Unable to connect with others
Alone, alone, alone
Repeatedly emphasizing my solitude
In pain, and pain, in pain
Emphasizing the depth of my emotional turmoil
Fear is here
Experiencing intense fear
Bleeding inside
Hurt and vulnerable internally
Oh, you will remind
Others will remind me of my pain
The anger all lost in fear
My anger masked by fear
I never lied to you
I've been honest
You always lied to me
Others have hurt me
What the fuck is the difference?
Questioning what it means to be truthful vs deceitful
I'm sitting here bleeding inside, inside, inside
Repeating my internal struggle for emphasis
It's no big deal
Trying to downplay the severity of my pain
Wrapped in lies
Tangled in deceit
Close your eyes
Avoiding the truth
See the pain
Forcing myself to confront my inner turmoil
Locked inside
Trapped within myself
Ripped open for a fucking dollar
My pain is being exploited
A green piece of paper shatters my life
Money has stolen my happiness
Twisted up until I scream
Feeling emotionally tormented
Let me go, release me
Desperately seeking relief from my pain
Release me, release me, release me
Repeatedly begging for release from my pain
Crying out, hearing sounds
Experiencing auditory and emotional hallucinations
But the feeling got lost away
Unable to fully express or understand my emotions
In some forgotten song
Lost in my memories and past experiences
They said, they said
Referring to the words of others
To close my eyes and dream away
Advised to escape my pain through fantasy
Dream away, but the pain
But reality keeps bringing me back to my pain
The pain didn't go away
My attempts to escape my pain failed
It never goes away, it didn't go away
My pain is persistent and constant
I'm lying in sound
Feeling lost in my own noise and confusion
Oh, and you, and dream
Dreaming of others and a different reality
I'm breaking down
Falling apart emotionally
A thousand years, and all the tears
A metaphorical abundance of time and tears
And feelings locked inside, locked inside
Bottled up emotions
Tide of emotion
A greatly intensified wave of emotion
Blood, rain, and tears
Symbolic of the depth of my pain
Ruined all the years, ruined all the years
My pain has harmed my past and present
They told me that I was never here
Feeling invisible and unheard
Never here, never here, never here
Repeating feelings of being unseen and forgotten
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: DANNY ELFMAN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Julian Cennamo
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.