Thomas Torquemada Thorn | |
---|---|
Birth name | Thomas A. Lockyear, II |
Also known as | Buck Ryder, Rev. Thomas Thorn |
Born | 2 August 1964 |
Origin | Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S. |
Genres | Rock Metal Industrial |
Occupation(s) | Musician |
Instruments | Vocals, Keyboards, Sampling |
Years active | 1986-present |
Labels | Cleopatra Records, Wax Trax! Records |
Website | Electric Hellfire Club on Myspace |
Thomas Torquemada Thorn (born Thomas A. Lockyear, II on 2 August 1964) is an American musician. Born in Madison, Wisconsin, he is best known as co-founder of, and lead vocalist for, the industrial metal band The Electric Hellfire Club. [1]
During his youth, Thorn participated in several punk and post-punk bands (including the short-lived WestWorld), before founding the power electronics duo Slave State with Boris Dragos in 1987. Slave State played a handful of shows throughout the midwest along with staging a performance entitled "The Theory and Practice of Hell" in Antwerp, Belgium. While Slave State only released their music in cassette format, their influence was nonetheless far-reaching as they are cited by Godflesh founder Justin Broadrick as the inspiration for the title of his album bearing the group's name.
Re-locating to Chicago later that year, Thorn was approached and offered a position as live keyboardist for industrial dance pioneers My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, which he accepted, under the pseudonym "Buck Ryder". [2] Following Dragos' suicide in early 1989, Thorn signed on as a permanent member of the group. During his tenure with the band, Thorn (under his Buck Ryder guise) toured extensively with the band, and appeared in the music video for the song "Kooler Than Jesus". Thorn also claims to have contributed to both the "Confessions of a Knife" and "Sexplosion!" albums. Thorn chose to leave the group for undisclosed reasons prior to that album's release in 1991, instead relocating to Kenosha, WI where he founded The Electric Hellfire Club with Shane Lassen (Rev. Dr. Luv) and guitarist Ronny Valeo of Screamer. During a 1996 tour with Boyd Rice, Rice introduced Thorn to Church of Satan founder, Anton LaVey. During their meeting, he was ordained a priest in the church by LaVey. Thorn later wrote a eulogy of LaVey following the latter's death in 1997, which appeared in the Church of Satan's house organ The Black Flame.
Satanism is a group of ideological and philosophical beliefs based on Satan. Contemporary religious practice of Satanism began with the founding of the atheistic Church of Satan by Anton LaVey in the United States in 1966, although a few historical precedents exist. Prior to the public practice, Satanism existed primarily as an accusation by various Christian groups toward perceived ideological opponents, rather than a self-identity. Satanism, and the concept of Satan, has also been used by artists and entertainers for symbolic expression.
The Church of Satan is an international organization dedicated to the religion of LaVeyan Satanism as codified in The Satanic Bible. The Church of Satan was established at the Black House in San Francisco, California, on Walpurgisnacht, April 30, 1966, by Anton Szandor LaVey, who was the church's High Priest until his death in 1997. In 2001, Peter H. Gilmore was appointed to the position of high priest, and the church's headquarters were moved to Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, New York City.
My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult is an American electronic industrial rock band originally based in Chicago and founded by Groovie Mann and Buzz McCoy. They became known in the 1980s as pioneers of the industrial music genre – although by the early 1990s they had changed to a more disco-oriented sound – and as a frequent target of censorship groups, including the PMRC, which objected to the band's humorous and satirical references to Satan, Jesus and sex in their song lyrics and stage shows.
Anton Szandor LaVey was an American author, musician, and Satanist. He was the founder of the Church of Satan and the religion of Satanism. He authored several books, including The Satanic Bible, The Satanic Rituals, The Satanic Witch, The Devil's Notebook, and Satan Speaks! In addition, he released three albums, including The Satanic Mass, Satan Takes a Holiday, and Strange Music. He played a minor on-screen role and served as technical advisor for the 1975 film The Devil's Rain and served as host and narrator for Nick Bougas' 1989 mondo film Death Scenes.
Boyd Blake Rice is an American experimental sound/noise musician using the name of NON since the mid-1970s, archivist, actor, photographer, author, member of the Partridge Family Temple religious group, co-founder of the UNPOP art movement and former staff writer for the formerly defunct but now active Modern Drunkard magazine.
Michael Jenkins Moynihan is an American writer, editor, translator, journalist, artist, and musician. He is best known for co-writing Lords of Chaos, a book about black metal. Moynihan is founder of the music group Blood Axis, the music label Storm Records and publishing company Dominion Press. Moynihan has interviewed numerous musical figures and has published several books, translations, and essays.
LaVeyan Satanism is a nontheistic religion founded in 1966 by the American occultist and author Anton Szandor LaVey. Scholars of religion have classified it as a new religious movement and a form of Western esotericism. It is one of several different movements that describe themselves as forms of Satanism and unlike some other forms is based on materialism and amorality rather than worship of Satan.
Satan Takes a Holiday is an album by Anton Szandor LaVey, released through Amarillo Records in 1995. The collection is an eclectic body of songs LaVey constructed using his synthesizer. A few of these songs are standards, and their composers well known. Nevertheless, LaVey chose all these songs to create deliberate modes of feeling and mood. His original treatments of many of these songs, and others similar to them in context and style, were performed on a variety of organs that he mastered over the course of his life. He performed many such songs in burlesque houses, various circuses, carnivals, and roadhouses.
Matthew Thomas "Matt" Skiba is an American musician, singer and songwriter, known for his role as the founding lead vocalist and guitarist for Alkaline Trio and the guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the band Blink-182 since 2015. Skiba's lyrical content commonly involves dark romantic themes.
Jon Andreas Nödtveidt was a Swedish musician best known as the lead guitarist and vocalist of the Swedish black metal band Dissection. He co-founded the band in 1989 with bassist Peter Palmdahl.
The Electric Hellfire Club was an American industrial metal band mixing elements of glam metal, techno, gothic rock, and psychedelia. The band's lyrics contain tongue-in-cheek references to sin, violence, sex, devil worship and similar themes. The band also made use of sampling, mainly from low-budget horror films.
Karla Maritza LaVey is the daughter and eldest child of Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey. She is an American radio host, former high priestess of her father's organization and founder and administrator of the First Satanic Church in San Francisco, California. Karla has been featured on television, radio, in news and magazine articles, including Fox News. She has lectured on the subject of Satanism around the world. She can be seen in the films Satanis: The Devil's Mass, Witchcraft 70, and Speak of the Devil.
Amarillo Records was an independent record label owned by Gregg Turkington that operated out of San Francisco, California, from 1992 to 2001. The label specialized in releasing experimental rock music and comedy records. It released several solo recordings by Church Of Satan founder Anton LaVey the 1996 sampler compilation You Gan't Boar Like an Eabla When You Work with Turkrys.
"Hell Yes" is a song by the Chicago-based punk rock band Alkaline Trio, released as a single in 2001 through Lookout! Records. Both tracks of the single, "Hell Yes" and "My Standard Break from Life", were recorded in 2000 at Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, Minnesota during sessions for the band's 2001 album From Here to Infirmary. The single was the band's final release to include drummer Mike Felumlee, who left the group shortly after From Here to Infirmary's release. Both tracks were reissued in 2007 on the compilation album Remains.
Burn, Baby, Burn! is the debut album by Satanic industrial metal band The Electric Hellfire Club. Released on October 25, 1993 by Cleopatra Records, following Thomas Thorn's departure from My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, the album's lyrical theme ranges from satanism, drugs, sex, psychedelia to Ricky Kasso, the Son of Sam, and Charles Manson.
Kiss the Goat is the second full-length album from The Electric Hellfire Club. The musical styling is a departure from the first album, utilizing much less prominent guitars, and significantly different effects on the lead vocals. Musical themes and references include: Lust, the Kama Sutra, ultraviolence, Charles Manson, Richard Ramirez.
Zeena Galatea Schreck, known professionally by her mononymous artist name ZEENA, is a Berlin-based American visual and musical artist, author and the spiritual leader of the Sethian Liberation Movement (SLM), which she founded in 2002.
Speak of the Devil: The Canon of Anton LaVey is a documentary film about Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey, released in 1993 through Wavelength Video and directed by Nick Bougas.
Tony Marsico is an American bassist/composer best known as co-founder of the rock and roll band the Cruzados formed in 1983. . Marsico has also recorded and toured with Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Marianne Faithfull, Roger Daltrey, Joe Ely, Willie Nelson, Linda Ronstadt, Dr. John, Susanna Hoffs, The Thorns, The DiVinyls, John Doe, Peter Case, Juliana Hatfield, Paul Jones, Rick Vito, Barry Goldberg among others. Marsico has co-written songs that appear in the motion picture Desperados. In addition, Marsico was the bassist for indie pop singer Matthew Sweet for over 10 years. Marsico recorded the soundtrack to the Oscar winning film Session Man.
Satan's Satyrs was an American band originally formed in 2009 in Virginia by lead vocalist and bassist Clayton Burgess. The band's lineup as of 2016 included Burgess, Jarrett Nettnin, Stephen Fairfield and Nate Towle. Originally influenced by groups such as Electric Wizard and Black Flag, Burgess mailed a demo tape to Electric Wizard and recorded their first album Wild Beyond Belief, which began with Burgess performing all the instruments while still being attending high school. The group began their follow-up album Die Screaming and were invited by Jus Oborn of Electric Wizard to perform at the Roadburn Festival in 2013. Burgess was then offered to join Electric Wizard in 2014 which he accepted. The group has recorded two follow-up albums since along with a split EP with Windhand which charted in Billboard's Top Heatseekers charts.