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)
Sex Disease
Velvet Acid Christ Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We'll crawl inside, my head was broken off
Blistering on this separate faith
Now crawl outside, we look away
To find a pretext, lead away
Oh, I see you, so low
I'm fine here, doing nothing for the sense
Sex is the disease
Sex is the disease
Sex is a disease
Longing, you tell me life for you is bliss
So strange, oh, a bottle of piss
No one to satisfy, no one will realize
Sex is the disease
Birds flew over me, over me
Gave me visions, of the end of the world, the end of our world
No, no life, just disease
Sex disease
Sexual pain on your weak mind
A cut inside, you blow out your mind
It's nothing, into nothing, into your brain, into nothing, into your brain, into nothing, into your brain, into nothing, all crushed into space
I've said enough, to you, right now
The lyrics of "Sex Disease" by Velvet Acid Christ depict the overwhelming effects of sexual obsession and addiction, leading to ravaging physical and psychological consequences. The opening lines suggest the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases, where sex becomes a pretext to disease. The poet then admits being consumed by this desire that has left him broken-hearted and isolated. The lines "blistering on this separate faith, now crawl outside, we look away," signify the guilt and shame associated with sexual addiction. The lines "to find a pretext, lead away, oh, I see you, so low, I'm fine here, doing nothing for the sense" express the desperation of finding any excuse to justify the addiction and the self-destructive behavior that accompanies it.
The chorus of "Sex is the disease" is repeated throughout the song, emphasizing how destructive and pervasive sexual addiction can be. In the following verse, the poet highlights the emptiness and futility of sexual obsession. The lines "Longing, you tell me life for you is bliss, so strange, oh, a bottle of piss, no one to satisfy, no one will realize, sex is the disease" convey how one's life can be consumed by the object of their obsession, leading to a loss of self-worth and loneliness. The repetitive nature of the song's lyrics suggests the cycle of addiction and how challenging it is to break free.
Line by Line Meaning
When sex is a pretext to a disease
Sex can often lead to dangerous diseases.
We'll crawl inside, my head was broken off
We, as humans, tend to ignore or overlook the risks of sex and get caught up in the moment.
Blistering on this separate faith
The negative consequences of sex can cause one's beliefs to change dramatically.
Now crawl outside, we look away
When faced with the reality of the negative consequences of sex, we tend to turn away and ignore them.
To find a pretext, lead away
We tend to make excuses for our sexual behaviors and downplay the dangerous consequences.
Oh, I see you, so low
The singer observes the devastating effects of sex on individuals, causing them to feel distressed and hopeless.
I'm fine here, doing nothing for the sense
The singer is choosing to ignore the negative consequences of sex, dismissing the reality of the situation.
Sex is the disease
The repeated emphasis on this line drives home the idea that sex can often lead to dangerous diseases.
Longing, you tell me life for you is bliss
In the heat of the moment, individuals often overlook the negative consequences of sex and instead focus on the pleasure and feeling of euphoria it can bring.
So strange, oh, a bottle of piss
The reality of the situation is that the dangers of sex are often overlooked or ignored, like a bottle of urine that is disposed of and forgotten about.
No one to satisfy, no one will realize
Even though individuals engage in sexual behaviors to receive pleasure, they are left unsatisfied and are often unaware of the great risks involved.
Birds flew over me, over me
The artist is surrounded by the beauty of nature and the world, a stark contrast to the destructive forces of sex and disease.
Gave me visions, of the end of the world, the end of our world
The singer contemplates the devastating effects that unchecked sexual behavior can have on humanity and the world as a whole.
No, no life, just disease
Unchecked sexual behavior leads to the destruction of life and promotes the spread of dangerous diseases.
Sex disease
The repeated emphasis of this phrase reinforces the idea that the negative consequences of sex cannot be ignored and instead require awareness and caution.
Sexual pain on your weak mind
The negative consequences of sex can leave individuals with mental and emotional pain and trauma.
A cut inside, you blow out your mind
The negative consequences of sex can cause great damage to one's mind and body.
It's nothing, into nothing, into your brain, into nothing, into your brain, into nothing, into your brain, into nothing, all crushed into space
The destructive forces of sex and disease can cause individuals to feel empty and unfulfilled, leading to detrimental impacts on their mental and emotional well-being.
I've said enough, to you, right now
The singer has delivered a powerful message about the dangers of sex and disease, hoping to raise awareness and promote caution and safety.
Lyrics © OBO 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.