Nico B, who has previously worked with Williams, brings a unique perspective to the project, combining personal anecdotes with a vast array of interviews from those who stood by Williams throughout his career. This untitled documentary aims not just to chart the history of a musician but to capture the essence of a cultural icon whose influence transcends his music.

Set against the iconic backdrop of the Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, a place as storied and rich in history as Williams’ own legacy, a special fundraiser event on March 15th will support the final stages of the documentary’s editing and post-production. Hollywood Forever, the resting place of numerous legends, provides a fitting venue to honor Rozz Williams (whose ashes are interred there), offering a bridge between past and present artistic luminaries.

The event promises an intimate glimpse into Williams’ world, featuring performances from those who shared his journey, including Gitane Demone, Paul Roessler, and Eva O, each bringing their own connection to Williams’ life and work to the stage. The inclusion of special guest Vincent Price from Body Count adds an exciting layer, blending genres and generations in a tribute to Williams’ diverse artistic reach.

For fans and newcomers alike, the event offers a range of experiences. The VIP experience, limited to 20 attendees, provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to tour Rozz Williams’ memorial site, offering a tangible connection to his legacy. This, along with the chance to meet and greet band members and secure autographs, makes for an unforgettable experience. General admission opens the door to a wider audience, inviting all to partake in this unique celebration of Williams’ life and artistry.

The evening’s schedule is meticulously crafted, featuring a screening of “PIG,” a film by Williams and Nico B, followed by performances that promise to immerse attendees in the world Williams created. The event not only serves as a tribute but as a vital step in ensuring the documentary reaches completion, with proceeds going towards this goal.

The documentary, enriched by interviews with 23 collaborators and friends, including Eva O, Gitane Demone, and Rikk Agnew, aims to paint a comprehensive portrait of Williams. Coupled with a treasure trove of music, photographs, art, and video works, it’s set to be a definitive account of Williams’ life and influence.

As the event approaches, fans are encouraged to remember Rozz Williams, not just as a musician but also as an artist who pushed boundaries and left an indelible mark on the world. Through the documentary and tribute, his legacy continues to inspire, reminding us of the power of art to transcend time and space.

For more information and to support this important project, please visit the Hollywood Forever website. Join us in celebrating the life and legacy of Rozz Williams, ensuring his artistic spirit continues to resonate with generations to come.

The Rozz Williams tribute and fundraiser will be held on March 15th at the Masonic Lodge of Hollywood Forever.

Here is the schedule:

• 6:00 PM VIP EXPERIENCE
• 7:00 PM GA DOORS OPEN
• 7:30 PM SCREENING OF PIG
• 8:00 PM GITANE DEMONE & PAUL ROESSLER
• 9:00 PM SYMBOLISM
• 10:00 PM EVA O

Special guest guitarist: Vincent Price (Body Count) is joining Christian Death’s Rikk and James’ new deathrock supergroup Symbolism.

Get advance tickets here.

The post Celebrating the Legacy of Rozz Williams: A Tribute at Hollywood Forever Cemetery appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

During this time legendary LA punk rock photographer Edward Colver befriended the band and followed them around and photographed Christian Death at a dozen of the band’s concerts in the Los Angeles area during a 6 month period late 1981 and early 1982, as well a shoot at Rozz his family home with the band which was later used for the album US back cover of Only Theatre of Pain, plus a session of now-iconic images at a cemetery in Pomona.

Cult Epics founder and friend of Rozz Williams, Nico B wants to produce an oversized Hardcover book of Ed’s photos capturing those rare and never before seen moments, as well tell the story of early Christian Death thru exclusive interviews with Edward Colver and surviving band members for the 40th Anniversary release of Only Theatre of Pain.

To celebrate the upcoming 40th Anniversary of CHRISTIAN DEATH: ONLY THEATRE OF PAIN, Cult Epics want to produce a Hardcover book of the Photography of Edward Colver, and they need your support with the INDIEGOGO Campaign to get this book printed.

Indiegogo Campaign:

CHRISTIAN DEATH: ONLY THEATRE OF PAIN Photography by Edward Colver
New Hardcover book, approx. 208 pages, over 300 images and text, 12×12 inches, edited by Nico B. Sign up now and get the news when you can pre-order, limited editions available, and more. Early Bird Discount.

Note: The book has Euro drop friendly shipping for European Christian Death fans.

Invitation to sign up here

Photos copyright © Edward Colver

The post Campaign For “Christian Death: Only Theatre Of Pain” Photography Book By Edward Colver appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Last January, I got a rather large package in the mail from England. Inside was a proof copy of Mikey Bean’s long-awaited Bible of deathrock, Phantoms: The Rise of Deathrock from the LA Punk Scene. It’s out now. At 630 pages, the impressive tome is the size of a University textbook or the phone book of a mid-sized American city (anyone remember phone books?). Mikey Bean’s Phantoms is a staggeringly thorough exploration of the history of deathrock. It is an essential document of American underground music of the latter part of the 20th century, and it’s a brilliant sourcebook about the music that would later become better known under the general term “goth,” exploring much of that larger musical phenomenon’s West Coast roots. Below, I interview Mikey about the book’s contents and the research he put into it.

Deathrock was itself, of course, the dark punk and postpunk music phenomenon of the 80s (and beyond) that was primarily local to Southern California (with some important exceptions), and it has generated much recent interest. Caleb Braaten’s Sacred Bones label, for example, put out the two-volume Killed by Deathrock compilations a few years ago; these comps took an expansive view of the “deathrock” genre tag. But strange as it may seem, up until now deathrock has had no exclusive book-length treatment. And so along comes Mikey Bean’s much-needed, absolute beast of a document — a goth genre devotee’s wet dream come to life.

Don Bolles (of the Germs and 45 Grave, among others) provides the foreword for the book, and it was he who suggested Mikey pen Phantoms about 12 years ago. Mikey has assembled a large cast of characters here—well over 150 interviewees, as far as I can count, documented oral historian style. In Phantoms, the stories of deathrock’s constituent bands are relayed via interviews that have been cut up and arranged into easy-to-read, conversational chapters.

Starting on page one, Phantoms (which is named after the 45 Grave song) charts an ambitious course, beginning with the days of the Southern California punk scene in the late 1970s and the death of Darby Crash and the Germs, key figures in the development of everything that would happen in the LA music underground of the 1980s. The arrival of deathrock on the West Coast existed in parallel with the new, dark post-punk scene that was happening over in the UK (viz. Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, Bauhaus) and also with the nascent hardcore punk scene of Southern California (Adolescents, Black Flag); elements of both musical movements were reflected in the California deathrock phenomenon. I’ve written several article-length treatments of deathrock before, and one of my favorite quotes about deathrock is from Dinah Cancer, the singer of 45 Grave and one of the scene’s principal figures, who gave this statement several years ago to Alice Bag:

“The first prowlings of deathrock came in the early ’80s before we were labeled as our other counterparts—the gothic movement. There were no Goths. The deathrockers were splintered off from the punk/hardcore scene that was going on at the time. We played punk rock but we loved Halloween and we looked like vampires. So the phrase ‘deathrock’ was born. […] At the time when I was performing with 45 Grave, we were just playing music and we didn’t consider ourselves a pioneering movement. We were playing with bands like Christian Death, Black Flag, and TSOL, to name a few. And it wasn’t until later that we were named as part of the pioneers of the deathrock culture.” — Dinah Cancer, singer of 45 Grave

As Mikey’s book makes clear, deathrock was indeed different from the hardcore and punk scenes alongside which it grew (although there were significant areas of overlap). Whereas hardcore punk tried to boil down 1970s-style punk into its rawest and most aggressive forms, deathrock took a different tack and absorbed some of the experimentation of acts like Throbbing Gristle and PIL, the imagery of groups like The Damned and Alice Cooper—as well as old horror movies filmed in the Hollywood area. “You had the thrift stores selling old decaying Hollywood memorabilia [in the LA area]. Plus stuff like Vampira, Monster zines, the Munsters and Addams Family, even Disneyland,” Mikey notes below. “It all started getting not just ‘spookier’ but ‘artier’ at the same time.”

Some deathrock acts were also a conscious reaction to what was felt to be the overly-confining and formulaic constraints of the burgeoning thrash and hardcore scenes (not to mention the chest-pounding machismo often attendant therein). But there were as many different takes on “deathrock” as there were bands participating in the movement—and there were indeed a lot of bands, as Phantoms makes clear. Mikey admits, “Not all the bands that I feature, or projects they created, can be classed as purely ‘deathrock.’ Some were musical projects, some were performance-based, and some were film projects, but they all played their part.” The main bands are all in Phantoms: 45 Grave, Kommunity FK, Christian Death, Superheroines, Voodoo Church, and more. Additionally, there are chapters devoted to other bands that are (undeservedly) not as well known as the big guns: Nervous Gender, Red Wedding, Aphotic Culture, Die Schlaflosen, Radio Werewolf, Screams for Tina, Fade to Black, and many more. And there are the “fellow travelers,” too: Gun Club, Tex and the Horseheads, Flesheaters, and the like. Indeed, any one of the bands in Phantoms could command their own lengthy book. “I think one of my favorite quotes,” Mikey notes, “was from someone in the book who mentioned that it’s almost as if ‘every band was a scene.'”

Phantoms is supplemented with an incredible amount of flyer material, photographs, and zine imagery. Mikey has taken pains to ensure that his survey of deathrock includes not just the musicians, but club owners, promoters, ‘zine-makers, poets, filmmakers, and indeed the whole of the community that made the deathrock movement possible, including some of those responsible for the unique fashion the scene would have (Ron Athey and Shannon Wilhelm, among many others).

Author Mikey Bean was interviewed by Oliver Sheppard for Post-punk.com.

Mikey, I just got the proof of PHANTOMS: THE RISE OF DEATHROCK FROM THE LA PUNK SCENE in the mail and it’s a massive, wonderful tome! I’ve spent the past few days poring over it and trying to absorb as much as I can. How has the publishing process been so far?

Mikey Bean: I had the proof copies published myself, and when they came through it was so great seeing it in book format finally, instead of just reading it all on a screen. And I have to admit that even I was kind of shocked by the size of the book at first. But the amount of information in there could not have been put into a smaller book.

A couple of proofs went to publishers who have expressed interest, so we’ll have to wait and see what comes from that. That said, I was impressed enough with the quality of the proofs that print-to-order online is still a viable option. The book is now available via Lulu.com here.

Are there any misnomers about deathrock, about your book, or any questions you frequently get asked that you want to set the record straight on right away?

Mikey: Yes—an important thing to note is that the deathrock scene in the 80s didn’t revolve around any one particular person. Yes, some musicians and figures did leave a bigger impression than others did, but all participants were as relevant as the next. And as anyone who knows me will tell you, I’m a huge fan of the guy’s work—and I need to be careful how I phrase this so as not to offend, lol!—but the scene did NOT revolve around Rozz Williams. He was one of a few key people on the scene who made it what it was, but there are so many others of equal merit who are forgotten in his wake.

Also, the deathrock scene was incredibly incestuous and an ever-revolving bunch of relationships formed between different people. Whether it was simple friendship, romantic involvement, sexual or drug-related, each relationship played its own creative and sometimes destructive role within the scene, but it all drove the scene along. Not all the bands that I feature, or projects they created, can be classed as “deathrock.” Some were musical projects, some were performance-based, and some were film projects, but they all played their part.

There are so many threads of relationships between musicians, overlapping bands… I think one of my favorite quotes was from someone in the book who mentioned that it’s almost as if “every band was a scene.”

Based on all the interviews you’ve done, how would you define “deathrock”? How does it fit in with what’s now called “postpunk” and “goth”?

Mikey: There is a clear (…ish) lineage linking those three; many punk bands inspired by the likes of Joy Division became postpunk. Darker, “horror” influences caused the terms “gloom” or “horror punk” to be used early in the deathrock scene’s beginnings; that soon morphed into “death rock.” UK Batcave influences morphed it into “gothic,” then “goth.” So really, although they are all a very different styles, there was a progression from one through to the next.

I like the format you chose; it’s like a Studs Terkel book of oral history. What inspired this particular interview/oral historian format?

Mikey: I’d read Legs McNeil’s Please Kill Me, John Gruen’s Keith Haring biography, and Brendan Mullen’s We Got The Neutron Bomb, all of which are in this oral historian style. It makes more sense for the people who were there to tell the story themselves. My own personal spin on it was that most oral histories use paragraphs by each person, whereas I chose to break it down further. It made for much more work but reads like everyone is in the room together chatting.

As it was, there was nothing already out there about deathrock that was book-length when I started. The punk market has been flooded with books, which is not a bad thing. When I began Phantoms I had a rough idea of what I wanted from it—it was from a fan’s point of view. But in the time I’ve spent on it, I’ve actually learned tons more myself that I was never aware of, bands I never knew existed. I’d like to think that there are others out there who are in a similar situation to me.

Who are some of the bands and performers you think are all too often overlooked in articles or histories of deathrock?

Mikey: I would say that the first true LA deathrock band would be Castration Squad, who don’t get the influential credit they deserve. Shannon Wilhelm’s style and image certainly helped pave the way. Fortunately some live performances still exist. Eva O and Ron Athey don’t get the credit they deserve on the scene. Bands like Aphotic Culture and Die Schlaflosen are totally overlooked due to lack of recordings. Few people I interviewed recalled Aphotic Culture until I mentioned Lucy Amaro on electric violin; suddenly high praise was given by most. I learnt a lot about bands and performers that I was unaware of when I started the project. There definitely are some lost gems out there.

So what were some of the surprising areas of overlap you found while researching the book? (For me, it was finding out that Patrik Mata of Kommunity FK and Z’ev had been in an experimental project together; and many of the connections with the ’77 punk scene a la The Bags, the Go-Gos (!), and UXA, among other things, were interesting.)

Mikey: The overlapping was an eye-opener at times. For me, it was discovering connections between the likes of Alice Bag and Christian Death, or Eva O and DJ Bonebrake from X. But like I said the scene was very incestuous, and camaraderies were bound to happen within such a small scene. People with similar interests connecting at the same venues, or doing the same drugs…and a lot of it WAS drug-related.

I do think you did a good job getting folks like Alice Bag and De De Detroit (UXA), folks from the ’77 LA punk scene who perhaps bridged that scene with the 80s deathrock phenomenon, to participate. So, when do you think the ’77 punk scene in L.A. ends and deathrock begins? 

Mikey: That’s kind of covered in the earlier question in some ways. It just morphed over time. It was while reading We Got The Neutron Bomb that I started noticing the connections between the two scenes, and I wanted to hear the next phase, what happened after the ’77 punk scene in LA. It wasn’t available anywhere, so I ended up doing it myself in Phantoms. The bigger the range of people I could include, the more the connections between ’77 punk and deathrock could be told.

As I mentioned elsewhere, when it comes to how deathrock started, the end of the original LA punk scene is tied in with the death of Darby Crash. The jocks who used to beat up the punks were now becoming punks themselves. Hardcore brought in a lot of tough guys. The original punks grew tired of this and veered off in other directions: some went into the then-upcoming hip-hop scene (a logical shift when you take Malcolm McLaren into consideration). Some settled down with families, and some moved into a darker area.

Both PIL and Siouxsie and the Banshees had a couple of very influential albums released around the same time. Combine with this Throbbing Gristle’s influence, even the Screamers, the Cramps and Misfits. You had the thrift stores selling old decaying Hollywood memorabilia. Plus stuff like Vampira, Monster zines, the Munsters and Addams Family, even Disneyland…. It all started getting not just ‘spookier’ but ‘artier’ at the same time. Then the drugs started getting harder and played more of a role in the scene. Acid and heroin had a big influence on what was happening.

What do you hope that readers will learn, first and foremost, from the book?

Mikey: Each chapter of Phantoms is a self-contained story in its own right and as much of a complete timeline as possible, but because of all the overlapping I would suggest starting at Chapter 1 and learning about the whole scene and its history. Also just how intertwined it all was. The book is designed to be read from cover to cover and, although they can, I would prefer that the reader doesn’t skip straight to any particular chapter. As I’ve said, the cast is incredibly interwoven and because timelines run concurrently there is a lot of crossover between chapters that could be missed by reading just one of them.

The book truly does cover a lot of ground. You’ve been working on this since… 2007? It originally had its own MySpace page back in “the MySpace days,” right? How does it feel to FINALLY have it finished?

Mikey: The book is 12 years’ worth of work and I had to draw the line. In the end I could have included so much more, taking yet another 10 years! I reached a point where I was happy enough with what I had covered. It was time to get it out there finally.

There are some fascinating personal anecdotes in the book. Rikk Agnew says “Romeo’s Distress” was originally supposed to be an Adolescents song! And then there is the juicy insinuation in the book that Rozz Williams slept with Darby Crash? Is that true?

Mikey: I guess we’ll never know that for certain! But, yeah, there’s some interesting stuff in there…

I notice you never refer to yourself as an author in the work; you are always referred to as “the editor.” Tell me about your philosophy or vision for your own role in putting together PHANTOMS?

Mikey: As I said, the story is not mine to tell.  So, although it’s my book, it’s my “interpretation” of the story, and therefore I only edited the interviews together to form a logical timeline for each chapter. When I started I had an idea of what I wanted, but as I learned more about the scene and different inter-band connections it sort of took on a life of its own, and I’ve had to move whole chunks from one chapter to another so it flowed better. A new piece of information from somewhere has occasionally meant going back to the drawing board!

Do you think in the role of editor you had to make any painful, referee-like choices in how you presented some interviews? Reading PHANTOMS, I am struck by the fact that for many of the players in the SoCal deathrock scene, “deathrock” is not a concluded part of history. That is, many of the key players of the classic LA deathrock scene are still in bands and are making music, and many of the stories and conflicts presented in PHANTOMS are unresolved. Their lives and careers are still unfolding. There are some band stories, like that with VOODOO CHURCH, where it seems like there may be some acrimony or multiple versions of the same band, something that has happened with several bands over time in the deathrock and punk scenes of the 70s and 80s (Christian Death, Black Flag, etc). Did you ever feel you were having to tread softly to get everyone on board to tell their story?

Mikey: I realized partway through that I’m only touching the tip of the iceberg so I had to make a few executive decisions about leaving some bands out. T.S.O.L., for example, didn’t really fit in with any particular chapter and although they did touch on the deathrock side of things it was too much of a tangent and not what I was trying to tell so they only get a mention in passing. Also, I heard Jack Grisham was writing his own book and knew he could tell their story much better than I ever could. But it’s great that so many of these people are still around and some of the stuff they are doing now is superb.

As for acrimony…unfortunately people fall out with each other and time can also alter the perception of the original story. My role is trying to relay an as-accurate-as-possible, true timeline, hoping to not step on anyone’s toes while attempting to put the puzzle together. Some of it is knowing what is “off the record,” so to speak. Although I did manage to clear up a few unresolved urban myths, there are some that will never get resolved.

Another thing that struck me was how some of the folks you’ve interviewed have passed away since you started work on PHANTOMS. Again, I think of Z’EV, or Sindie Ardia of PARTY DOLL. Did you feel there was pressure to get this work out in a certain timeframe because the principal actors are, well, aging and dying off?

Mikey Bean: A lot can change in 10 years, and unfortunately some interviewees are no longer with us. I’m fortunate and grateful that I was able to communicate with them, a couple of them became friends too which always makes it harder.

Was there a standard process you used to get hold of folks? There’s an incredibly ambitious assortment of voices in this book, and it couldn’t have been easy to get them all to agree. How did you do it?

Mikey: At the beginning, MySpace (and later, Facebook) were invaluable! I initially started chatting to a few people on those, then when I actually made the first trip across to LA from the UK they could see that I was serious about the project. Interviewees would suggest others, and where possible put me in touch with them. A couple of people flatly refused, which is a shame;  but most were exceptionally helpful and welcomed me into their lives. I’ve struck up some continuing friendships, too.

If you could list a “Ten Essential LPs” for beginners to check out to get a feel for what deathrock was, as covered in your book, what would those ten LPs be, and why?

Mikey: A lot of them are pretty obvious to be honest, although unfortunately too many bands either hadn’t recorded or didn’t release anything.

In no particular order, essential listening would have to be:

1. Various – Hell Comes To Your House Volume 1 (1981)
2. Nervous Gender – Music From Hell (1982)
3. Christian Death – both Only Theatre Of Pain (1982) & Catastrophe Ballet (1984)
4. Super Heroines – Cry For Help (1982)
5. Kommunity FK – The Vision And The Voice (recorded 1981, released 1983)
6. Red Wedding – 1981-1985
7. Fade To Black – Corridors Of Gender (1984)
8. UXA – Illusions Of Grandeur (1980)
9. Sleepless – Thurst EP (1985) see also Die Schlaflosen on YouTube
10. Consumers – All My Friends Are Dead (1977)

Then to hear what people are up to these days:

• Gitane DeMone Quartet – both Past The Sun (2017) and Substrata Strip (2018)
• The Crystelles – Attach And Detach (2009)
• Eva O MDX1 – Mental Mayhem (2014) and The Rise Of Eva O (2018)
• 45 Grave – Pick Your Poison (2012)
• Penis Flytrap – both Tales Of Terror (1998) and Dismemberment (2002)
• Elvorian & The Veins – Elvorian & The Veins (2017)
• The Elegant Rabies – The Elegant Rabies (2018)
• Frankenstein – An Ugly Display Of Self Preservation (2003) and Random Cuts (2017)

Also worth tracking down are Kali’s Thugs and Ravens Moreland, and new Nervous Gender recordings as yet unreleased. There’s some great stuff out there!

Mikey Bean’s Phantoms: The Rise of Deathrock From the L.A. Punk Scene can be ordered from Lulu.com here.

There is a Facebook group for the discussion of Phantoms here.

Thanks to Kuren Velez for use of flyer imagery and to Peggy Morrison for the photograph featured on the cover of Phantoms.

The post Deathrock 101: Mikey Bean’s exhaustive “Phantoms: The Rise of Deathrock from the LA Punk Scene” book is finally out! appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

“Here it is… HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

We have been honored to work posthumously with Christian Death’s Rozz Williams! Thank you to all involved and those who brought this idea to us to tackle for the people. It was a blast working this iconic vocal into a Creux Lies universe. Please have a listen. Available for purchase next week!”

Listen below:

Creux Lies are playing Absolution Fest in Tampa Florida tonight.

Here is the full lineup:

Saturday, October 5th @ The Orpheum

• Assemblage 23 – (Seattle, WA)
  
• Astari Nite – (Miami, FL)
  
• Creux Lies – (Sacramento, CA)
  
• Twin Tribes – (Brownsville, TX)
  
• Korine – (Philadelphia, PA)
  
• Wingtips – (Chicago, IL)
• Fjshwjfe – (Tampa, FL)

with support from DJs Maus & Jet

The post Listen to Creux Lies’ Christian Death “Spiritual Cramp” All Hallows Eve Crossover appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

In order to finance the release of this documentary, Lethal Amounts have partnered with Pledge Music, offering unique items and merchandise that include special edition t-shirts, art pieces and collectors items.

 To see the full list click HERE.

More info from the documentary’s press release:

“Spiritual Cramp is more than just a music bio about a death-rock band. It examines the life of Rozz Williams – a young artist coming of age during the California punk explosion of the late 70s. At the young age of 16, Rozz Williams and his friends started Christian Death in their garage as a reaction to the growing hyper-masculine, straight male dominated SoCal punk scene. Christian Death ignited a new musical genre and opened the doors to what later became known as the Goth subculture.

The name Christian Death was an act of defiance in itself, especially for Williams. He grew up in an extremely religious household, and was brought up being told that to be gay sent you straight to hell. Christian Death’s music and their existence as a band acted as a rejection of traditional modes of thought and damaging religious beliefs. Their live shows blurred the lines between art and shock. The band gained a cult-like following around the world, influencing generations of outsiders and countless boundary pushing icons such as Marilyn Manson and Trent Reznor.

Historically, Christian Death is important to the narrative of California music but what’s more, Williams is an archetype for the tortured artist. People looked up to his bravery as he fearlessly dressed in women’s clothing on and off stage in a time and a scene where that kind of self-expression could lead to arrest or even being killed.  His image was not meant to be glamorous but to be feared and avoided. Much like Ian Curtis, Amy Winehouse or Kurt Cobain, Williams shared the same dilemma – trying to strike a balance between art and overcoming personal trauma.

Williams’ lifelong battle with depression eventually defeated him in 1998. He took his own life in a way that some may interpret as a staged, elaborate April Fool’s Day “prank” art tableau.”

Support the Rozz Williams Documentary HERE

The post “Spiritual Cramp”: A Documentary on Christian Death and Rozz Williams appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Rozz was never one to rest on his laurels, and had a prolific output with various other musical endeavors such as Shadow Project, Premature Ejaculation,  Daucus Karota. and more.

On April the 1st, 1998, Rozz hanged himself in his West Hollywood apartment. He was 34 years old.

Many people initially thought his suicide was an April Fool’s Joke, and it took a while for it to sink in that Rozz was really gone.

20 years later, April 1st fell on Easter Sunday—a fitting holiday that marked the anniversary of Christian Death’s legendary front man. And if you think that is morbid, yes it is, but certainly something Rozz would laugh at.

Suicide is no joke however, nor is depression.

If you are having suicidal thoughts from depression, please understand, you are not alone.

In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. Hotlines in other countries can be found here.

Here is an excerpt from Ryan Wildstar featured in Rozz Williams: Le théâtre des douleurs and What About the Bells concerning the final years of Rozz’s life, including his suicide:

“In order to paint a more intimate portrait of this inimitable artist and his work, I feel obliged to introduce myself and my relationship to Rozz Williams. In doing so, I feel equally obligated to emphasize my exacerbation regarding much of the unverified suppositions and rumors surrounding-the last years of Rozz’s life, which has undoubtedly served as a catalyst for what I hope to be an honest, respectful and insightful introduction to this venerable artist and beloved friend. Although this is not a biography of the life of Rozz Williams, I hope at the very least to be able to shed some light on both his personal and artistic state of mind in the final years before his passing.

That said, I first met both Rozz and Eva 0 in 1990 via an interview rather subversively arranged and conducted by my partner Erik Christides and the venerable Ms. Fly — a.k.a Jennifer Bamber. At the time, I was immensely absorbed in the theatre, producing and directing my first performance/installation piece, “Unnatural Habitat” in Los Angeles. Having quit Christian Death, the legendary L.A. band he had formed in the early 198o’s, Rozz had recently joined forces with his wife and collaborator, Eva O. (ex-Super Heroines and Speed Queens) to front the band Shadow Project. Due to my theatrical background, the duo gradually persuaded me to perform live with Shadow Project on several occasions (the most notably as a Priest dragging Rozz on stage in a leather straightjacket and posture collar for his-birthday performance at the Troubadour in Los Angeles). It was during this time that I also began to work with Paris, the keyboardist of Shadow Project, to score music for my first performance piece. At that juncture, circa 1991, we first began to explore the possibilities of a live theatrical troupe combining ,spoken word, vocals, visuals, and soundtrack. That concept subsequently became the musical experiment that is the band EXP.

It was also sometime at the beginning of 1991 that Rozz and occasionally Eva took up what was to be a temporary residence with my partner Erik Christides and myself, only he never moved out.

With luminous intensity we forged an intense bond, the immense impact of which formed a circle of friends we commonly referred to as “The Family,” a rather obvious allusion to the illustrious outlaws associated with Charles Manson.

For the next 4 years Rozz, Erik and I were virtually inseparable, rather like the three Musketeers, well, at least like three surrealist, hyper-literate, drug addicted Musketeers. Rozz and Erik took musical research and experimentation to new heights while Rozz and I collaborated on works of poetry, mixed-tapes and mask-making. We engaged in fierce discussions/dissections of the works of Blake, Genet„ Burroughs, Artaud, Lautreamont, De Sade, Dali, Van Gogh, ana Bosch (to name only a few). We blasted, in divine oblivion to the rest of the neighborhood, the music of Bowie, Sparks, T-Rex, The Germs, SPK, Roxy Music, Martin Denny, Nico, Nila Sumac and, naturally, Rozz Williams (to name only a few). In the spirit of the 1920’s, we hosted outlandish surrealist parties in our Witkin-esque apartment and set about painting the town red.

The three of us also plunged headlong into the depths of mainline drug addiction. With a historical literary precedence in our support, shooting heroin was our primary choice, but we weren’t exclusive. Feeling that the best approach to life was the cornucopia approach, we shot up just about everything we could get our hands on. it was this period that Rozz and I began the literary dance with one another that has this many years hence lead to the publication of this book. Beginning with our mutual admiration of Antonin Artaud and William S. Burroughs, Rozz and I agreed that the tendrils of artistic ‘expression were necessarily derived from taking an idea in its rawest form, cooking out its impurities and shooting it into the Cosmos. And it was poetry we shared as our principal method for imparting the knowledge we had acquired from-our respective visits into the subconscious realm. In our dream drug stupor, we positioned my typewriter on a table in the dining room and one of us started typing a few lines, leaving the typewriter out as a portal…Thus, during a two year period of extreme heroin addiction, Rozz and I managed to remain intensively creative and craft over 50 poems together.

Simultaneously, EXP began performing regularly around Southern California, often opening for Rozz’s side-project, Premature Ejaculation. The shows proved to be provocative and gained EXP a rather loyal local following. It was my first opportunity to present my poetry to the public and I found Rozz to be extremely supportive of my lyrics and style of presentation, upon which he was then having a profound influence. Concurrently, Rozz was finishing his Christian Death albums in years, The Path of Sorrows and The Rage of Angels, his second Shadow Project Album, Dreams for the Dying, and his solo EP, Daucus Karota (the solo cover of which has a photograph of our living room). Meanwhile, I was working on my first book of poetry, A Jovian Dream, and my second full-length play, a production of Harold Pinter’s Landscape, in which I was co-staring, co-directing and co-producing.

By the fall of 1994, however, we were like a VH-1 Rockumentary: out of drugs, out of money, out of ideas and thoroughly sick of one another. Rozz went to tour Europe with Daucus Karota and kick his addiction. Down-trodden, I returned to Seattle (then swarming with more Grunge bands and pseudo-junkies) to kick my own habit, thereby inescapably separating myself from my lover and soul-mate, Erik, who remained in Los Angeles, unable to pry himself from his own habit. During our three year tenure, we had experienced something most mortals cannot, and perhaps should not, attempt to comprehend a netherworld, a nexus of the slippery curvature of understanding, a life of exhumation. And from this resurrection had come an extensive catalogue of creative work. But it was over The party had skidded wildly off the road to its demise and we were its post-crash victims.

In 1995, following his European tour, Rozz returned to Los Angeles from Paris, where he had been residing for several months and fallen in love with a young Frenchman named Didier. When I next spoke with him he had taken an apartment in the Fairfax district of L.A., and was preparing to record the texts we had written together. After barely 6 months of being off drugs, I was prematurely compelled to return to L.A. to act as creative consultant and backing vocalist on a project Rozz had entitled The Whorse’s Mouth. I moved in with Rozz, but this time without the third Musketeer. I was lost, and despondent that Erik was still riding the whorse when Rozz and I had managed to finally shut its mouth. Off drugs we became extremely creative again and went into the studio to record The Whorse’s Mouth with Paris followed by EXP’s self titled debut album with Rozz on bass.

This era marked a distinct shift in my relationship with Rozz. Having forged an incontestable brotherly bond with one another it seemed only natural that we continue to live together which we did from January, 1995 until his death in 1998. It was an extremely inspiring, though certainly tumultuous time during which we continued to work on writing as well as music. And though our social life resumed, we began to be more and more selective of the company we kept at my rather stern behest. Greedily receptive to any show of affection or adoration, Rozz was easily drawn into the company of those who would wine, dine, and cigarette him so he could this entertain them to a soundtrack of praise.

This inclination unfortunately led to some rather vulturine acquaintances who often found it both profitable and entertaining to exploit Rozz’s nature by getting him drunk and watching him play the fool of pledge his undying love in a moment of susceptibility, It also led to a series of unfulfilled affairs with men, most of them “conspicuously straight.” Whether by design or just charm, Rozz was the darling of the straight world, although he was certainly one of the most flagrantly gay men I have ever known. It was the first time I realized the extent to which Rozz gave to others in return for intoxication and adoration. Unfortunately, it was acceptance and love that were severely lacking in his life, and it was his perforated heart that led to his demise. He continually set his sights  on men who were reverent of his work as an artist and seemed to pursue him. Perhaps there was a penchant for the non committal exchange involved on both Rozz and the participants’ parts, but the fact remains that Rozz often fell in love with his admirers. As Jean Genet once put it “I wanted him to love me, and of course he did, with the candor that required only perversity for him to be able to love me.” Like Genet, one of Rozz’s literary heroes, there was some part of him that longed for male affection so badly the lines between fantasy and reality were often blurred. In this manner I witnessed many so-called inclination heterosexual men, most of them fans, exploiting his affection as  they might one of their feminine conquests.

In the summer of 1996, Rozz was  eager to return to France to be  with Didier for whom he was pining away. Unlike many of his previous affairs, this one seemed hold some promise. Although the young man was  still clinging to his “heterosexuality,” he and Rozz had spent over a month living together, professing their love and engaging in mutual sexual relations. Once back in the states they spoke regularly on the phone and it seemed as if there was at first a reciprocal romance developing.

Upon his return to Paris, however, he was devastated to learn that the young man was no longer interested in an intimate relationship with him and had in fact taken a female companion. All of the pent-up hopes he had fastened onto the affair were unexpectedly lacerated. Over the next few weeks he suffered a severe emotional breakdown and attempted suicide several times. The only thing that saved him was the care of our dear friend, the nebulous Maria Iossifova. After a long period of inconsolabitly, during which he refused to leave her Parisian flat on the Ile St. Louis, she appropriately sent him back to Los Angeles to recover.

He returned completely heartsick and despondent and took to replacing his melancholia with copious amounts of alcohol. This behavior often incurred violent outbursts and an atrabilious abandon for his health and well-being. During this time, Rozz and I became closer than we had ever been, He was utterly dispirited over the loss of what he deemed the first real possibility for a homosexual’ relationship he had so far experienced, and I was non compos mentis over my 6 year relationship with Erik, which by then was inextricably wed to his heroin addiction.  Like two sorrow-laden romantics, we began to indulge in a world of intoxicated fantasy. We drank, wrote, read, drank, and played music non-stop in an attempt to drown out the reality of our respective feelings of loss. Though Erik continued to make appearances at the apartment, it became increasingly evident that neither Rozz nor I could support the presence of drugs in the house for fear we would all end up reboarding the same boat that had theretofore sunk.

It suddenly became quite clear that we had no one but each other. Despite Rozz’s occasions confessions of love and/or lust for me, our relationship remained Platonic and indeed resemble more of an offering to Bacchus than it did to Eros. Still, we found ourselves many a late night in discussion of our respective childhoods, the psychological recesses of our emotions and mental caverns, and our untold secrets. From these nights, I was graced to see a side of Rozz that he almost never allowed the rest of the world. It was that of a fearful young boy, who was absolutely terrified of society and its protocol. It was that of a wild wolf taken in by humans but longing to be released. It was that of a playful spirit who haunts the manor in the dark searching for his lost love. It was that of a man who hid behind many masks in order not to be discover . What Rozz tried unsuccessfully to control was desperate yearning for total emancipation from the confines of civilization. He felt as restricted in his outlook of life as the Marquis de Sade might have felt and as contemptuous of society as Charles Manson. Indeed, in those society considered “menacing,” or “threatening, Rozz found inspiration from their unraveling of society’s civility. One could no longer ignore the breakdown of the familial and social infrastructure with people like Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy on the loose.

For myself, I have never known someone perspective on the with such a unique world. Rozz managed to create for himself a world in which life sprang forth from death and not vice versa. He was possessed of the primitive quality that Levy-Bruhl referred to as the participation mystique, “Where no differentiation between subject and object is established” and of which Jung later noted “the unconscious is then projected into the object and the object is interjected into the subject, becoming part of his psychology.”

Possessed with a fascination of inanimate objects, animals, humans, antiques, tinkers, indeed any object he fancied, Rozz virtually breathed life back into them through his own imagination and belief in their spirit. This was often an amazing experience to behold, as one found oneself entranced by any object Rozz coveted as not simply an extension of himself, but as a living, sentient creature emanating its own energy and spirit. In this manner, he surrounded himself with numerous objects infused-with spiritual power as Shaman or medicine man might t equip his quart rs with apotropaic talismans.

One example is my dear friend Sharon, an abandoned girl mannequin who was eaten by rats behind Macy’s department store, with the words “Let Me Live” painted on her chest. Rozz had adopted her many years before we met and introjected life into her, and she lives with me now to this day commanding reverence by all who enter my home.

Then there was Ralph, a coyote that Rozz’s father had trapped and eviscerated leaving a hole though his middle with the head, tail, and body in tact. Every night Rozz slept with Ralph over his head, and often used him in performances as a sort of arm puppet. It always seemed to me as if Ralph was Rozz’s daemon, embodying all the secrets of Rozz’s dream world, and of his subconscious thoughts and desires. I had a natural affinity for Ralph because my pet of 16 years had been a coyote named Fred.

These are but a few examples of Rozz’s understanding of a dimension he often referred as the “Other Side”. It is my feeling that Rozz always considered himself a “communicant” of death, transmitting to this world from beyond. Indeed I believe he was anxious to return to a non-corporeal state and thereby escape the horror of the world he commonly referred to as the “living dead.”

Thus it was that I was lured into the artistic realm of Rozz Williams. A true visionary, he remained relentless in his mission to express his soul without compromise through music, artwork, performance, film work, and poetry. As many of his fans, ‘friends and collaborators would undoubtedly attest, his work remains and shall long remain quintessential due to its poignant sincerity. Anyone who knew him couldn’t help observe that he not only created. art, he made art out of his life. His entire life force went into the creation of art until his final exit, of which even the surrounding details were a form of art.

Although incapable at the time of recounting the circumstances surrounding Rozz’s death, I shall finally attempt here to expound his final days and the details as I perceived them regarding his suicide. After the accidental overdose of my companion Erik Christides in November of 1997, Rozz became a constant source of comfort to me, in many instances forcing me to eat and physically holding me through the seeming incessant maelstrom of my tears. And while Rozz himself never showed me any of his own grief concerning the loss of Erik, he plunged deeper and deeper into severe alcoholism and often aberrant behavior, further exacerbated by the death of one of his ex-lovers from AIDS.

He spoke often of his approaching death and of his fear that he might be HIV positive, although he refused to be tested. Had I not been in such a state of depression over the loss of Erik, I might have seen the warning signs more clearly. He spoke frequently of his desire for murder and his hatred for society and he read nothing but books about serial killers, not altogether bizarre behavior for Rozz but excessive nonetheless. He became increasingly aggressive, completely agoraphobic, and began to exhibit severely antisocial behavior, the height of which was growing a Hitler mustache and tattooing an X on his forehead, which he indicated made it clear he was no longer part of society.

At the beginning of 1998 I decided I was going to try to return to University to get out of the house and perhaps take my mind off of Erik. I had also decided that perhaps Rozz and I should no longer live together. It was at this time we spoke most seriously about what I feel led to his decision to take his own life. At the same time that he was finalizing his divorce with Eva O, a process he found profoundly painful even though they had been separated romantically for many years, he also confessed his deep love for me and his desire that we attempt a romantic relationship. After all, he pleaded, Erik was dead and we had been living together for nearly 9 years. Although – I loved Rozz immeasurably, there was simply no reality to his request, largely to my overwhelming grief over Erik and my purely fraternal feelings for him.

It was ‘ then, one night in the month’ before his death that he broke down in tears and told me that he felt that no one would ever truly love him, that he would always be alone. He confessed that he knew that his extremity of character married with his alcoholism was simply too much for someone else to put up with and that unfortunately he had no intention of making the compromises necessary to maintain a relationship. Still, without someone to share his, life, he felt that there was no reason to continue living.

On March 31st, 1998, we sat in our respective arm chairs together in the living room of our West Hollywood apartment, nightly cocktails in hand, and prepared to watch the film Isadora about the life of the dancer Isadora Duncan. At one point during the film, while she was doing a tarot reading, Rozz brought his Tarot deck out and paid out a spread on the coffee table, Before the end of the film, insisted I had to retire to bed as the following day was to be my first day of classes at University after a 7 year absence. Rozz insisted vehemently that I stay and watch the end of the film, but I kept refusing, at which point he exclaimed, “but you don’t know how it ends!” To which I replied, “Of course I do, she hangs to death,” and went to bed. Throughout the night, Rozz made his last phone calls to many friends, including his friend Sindie, to whom he confessed his intention to kill himself.

After talking for many hours, he convinced her that had calmed down and promised to see her the next afternoon i for a trip to the doctor regarding his ill health.

The next morning, I left the apartment, noticing only that Rozz had left a new tarot reading and a red rose on the coffee table. I returned to the seemingly empty apartment around 4pm to find a series of very concerned messages on our answering machine from Rozz’s closest friends, including one from Sindie insisting she was coming over to break down the door if she didn’t hear back from him immediately.

It was then that I realized that I wasn’t at home alone. I knocked frantically ton Rozz’s bedroom door, but there was no answer, at which point I tried to open it but it was locked from the inside. It was in that panic-stricken moment that I knew…

I broke down the door and found his naked and lifeless body hanging by a belt from his closet door, a small antique foot stool tipped over in front of him.

Thus it was on April 1st, 1998, All Fool’s Day, that Rozz Williams left his body forever. And although the coroner statement said that he died instantaneously of a broken neck, I feel I can attest in no uncertain terms that Rozz Williams died not of a broken neck, but of a broken heart.”

–Ryan Wildstar

For the 20th Anniversary of Rozz Williams’ death Cult Epics are releasing the long-awaited DREAM HOME HEARTACHE Tour recordings, featuring songs of Christian Death (On the Altar) and songs of the last recorded album of Rozz & Gitane; Dream Home Heartache (In the Heart). Both come on two limited clear Vinyls (a pressing of only 300 copies) and a 2-disc CD set (with exclusive booklet including liner notes by Gitane Demone & Nico B and rare tour photos), all with specially designed artwork by Herbert Starek. To round it off they have also included a limited edition Enamel Pin set when you purchase all three releases—exclusively available online here.

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Last year one of our editors Andi Harriman did a piece with Lethal Amounts about the ultra-rare book The Art of Rozz Williams: From Christian Death to Death. Now, the much sought after collector’s item has finally been re-released in a brand new edition.

The book was compiled and edited by Rozz’s friend Nico B. and published back in 1999, showcasing, as Harriman noted Rozz’s art collages in the style of “Dalí, Man Ray and the surrealistic artists of the 1920s with his dream-like (or nightmarish?) compositions”.

The new edition of the book also includes 8 extra pages with new art images and a new forward by Christian Death’s original guitarist Rik Agnew, plus portraits by Los Angeles rock photographer Edward Colver, as well sketches, lyrics, and intimate and promotional photos—covering not only Christian Death, but Rozz’s full discography including his other bands and projects, such as Shadow Project, Premature Ejaculation, Daucus Karota, and PIG—his collaborative film with Nico B.

The book is not for the faint of heart, and delves into very macabre and graphic subject matter featuring: grotesque nudity, medical abnormalities, and Nazi imagery—the latter of which is used as a parody and critique of fascism in American society; a fascism that even invaded Punk Rock, for which Death Rock was the response.

Some may balk at the inclusion of a copy of Rozz’s death certificate in the book, as well as Rozz’s application to the Hollywood Punk store Retail Slut, but perhaps that would be the ultimate irony, given the way Rozz actually lived.

There are only 1000 copies in this print run.

Order Here 

And if you are looking for some rare Christian Death vinyl featuring Rozz, head over to Cleopatra Records, who have been supportive of Rozz’s work since the label’s inception.

The post ‘The Art of Rozz Williams: From Christian Death to Death’ is back in print appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

His vocal performances on classic Christian Death albums such as Only Theatre of Pain, Catastrophe Ballet, Ashes have inspired a generation. And his collaborations on projects such as the Roxy Music inspired Dream Home Heartache, a dark cabaret project featuring Gitane Demone, are without the shadow of a doubt, milestones and undeniably classic albums every fan of dark, gloomy guitar music should own.

1984 was a prolific year in Rozz’s career worth celebrating.

Here performing in 1984 Hollywood California— are Christian Death at the beginning of their Mark II lineup which integrated members of Pompei 99 (Valor Kand, David Glass, and Gitane Demone). This amazing show was filmed by Louis Elovitz, and the quality is fantastic.

Here is also some 1984 footage of Christian Death, filmed by Media Blitz, a LA cable access show. Enjoy.

We miss you Rozz!

The post Celebrate Rozz Williams with rare Christian Death footage from 1984 appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

h/t to Cvlt Nation

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