Acid Bath

Acid Bath was a seminal American sludge metal band from Houma, Louisiana that was active from 1991 to 1997. Acid Bath combined sludge metal with influences from death metal,^[4] JS Online: Search Archive</ref> and blues-rock. In a Pit Magazine interview, vocalist Dax Riggs classified their sound as "death rock"^[5] (referring to death as a dominant lyrical theme, rather than deathrock), and also classified the band's music as a blending of stoner metal and doom metal.^{[citation needed]}

Acid Bath was an incarnation of two bands, Dark Karnival which featured Audie Pitre and Sammy Pierre Duet, and Golgotha which featured Dax Riggs, Tommy Viator, and Mike Sanchez. Tommy Viator was later replaced by Jimmy Kyle. Joseph J. Fontenot was the bassist for a short period of time and so was Hans van den Aardweg. Hans left Golgotha for spiritual reasons^{[citation needed]} - after hearing Dax sing the lyrics to Apartment 13 "...cut her from one stinking hole to the next."^{[citation needed]} Tommy Viator and Joseph Fontenot were also members of Audie's band Shrum.

Biography

Acid Bath was formed in 1991. The band was based south of New Orleans in several small towns including Houma, Thibodaux, Morgan City and Galliano. Influenced by thrash metal as well as bands and artists such as Black Sabbath, David Bowie, Alice Cooper, Celtic Frost, Carcass, Darkthrone^[5], they recorded their demo Hymns of the Needle Freak with their manager and producer Keith Falgout in 1993. The strength of the demo earned them a deal with an independent label. They released When the Kite String Pops in 1994, followed two years later by their second and final effort Paegan Terrorism Tactics (also produced by Keith Falgout). Neither gained them mainstream success by any means, but both albums earned a high degree of underground acclaim. Recently in 2005, they released another album composed of their demos, Demos: 1993 - 1996.

Break up and subsequent projects

After two studio albums, Acid Bath's career came to an abrupt close in 1997 when bass guitarist Audie Pitre and his parents were killed by a drunk driver.

While rumors of another album circulated after the band's end, nothing new surfaced.

Dax Riggs and Mike Sanchez went on to perform in the band Agents of Oblivion, releasing one self-titled album in 2000 and disbanding shortly thereafter. Starting in 2000, Riggs was also the frontman for the swamp rock band Deadboy & the Elephantmen, before he began releasing material under his own name in 2007. Sammy Pierre Duet was once a member of Crowbar, but has since left the band. He is now a member of the blackened death metal band Goatwhore and Ritual Killer and his doom metal band with Kelly Pitre (the brother of Audie) Vual. Audie formed a unique metal band in 1995, blending black metal vocals with the heavy sound of two bassists with no guitars, known as Shrum.

Possible Reunion

In the summer of 2009 rumours about a possible Acid Bath reunion in 2010 began to emerge.^[6] However, this has not been confirmed, neither denied, by any of the surviving members of the band.

Musical legacy

Despite only releasing two albums, as well as a number of radio edits and an official bootleg DVD, Acid Bath have gained a strong underground following (especially in Louisiana) owing to the unique, experimental nature of their music.

Acid Bath are best known for blending extreme, grindcore-influenced sludge metal with a mixture of death growls and melancholic goth/grunge-style vocals and acoustic guitar passages, as well as use of sampling and the spoken word. Dax Rigg's vocals were processed, which produced an industrial feel; some other instruments have been processed through industrial effects in their recordings (such as the snare drum on the second half of "New Death Sensation").

Dax Riggs' lyrics often display an obsession with death, and continuous references to animism as well as other related ideologies. He has claimed these inspirations are culled from comic books^[5]. Allmusic's William York has stated that the song "Venus Blue" could have been a radio hit "if not for the graphic lyrics"^[7]. Another facet of their presentation which may not have endeared them to popular sentiment was the use of art by John Wayne Gacy, Dr. Jack Kevorkian, Richard Ramirez, and Kenneth Bianchi for the covers of their releases^[8].

Members

Members

• Dax Riggs - lead vocals
• Sammy "Pierre" Duet - guitar, backing vocals
• Mike Sanchez - guitar, backing vocals
• Joseph Fontenot - bass guitar
• Jimmy Kyle - drums

Former members

• Audie Pitre - bass guitar, backing vocals
• Tommy Viator - keyboards

Discography

Albums & compilations

• When the Kite String Pops (1994)
• Paegan Terrorism Tactics (1996)
• Demos: 1993-1996 (2005)

Demos

• Wet Dreams of the Insane (Golgotha demo) (1991)
• Acid Bath Live (1992)
• Hymns of the Needle Freak (1993)
• Radio Edits 1 (1994)
• Radio Edits 2 (1996)

Videos

• "Toubabo Koomi" (1994)
• "Double Live Bootleg!" DVD (2002)

External links

• Acid Bath Official Website
• Acid Bath on MySpace

References