Crash Worship

Crash Worship was a San Diego, California-based percussive/experimental/actionist group, formed in 1986.^[1] The band is most renowned for its live shows, in which audience members are often showered in various substances such as blood, water, and honey, while band members ignited fires within the performance area.^[2] Crash Worship has also released several albums and singles of both live and studio-recorded music. Although live they played "songs", for the most part it was left open to spontaneity & improvisation.^[3]

Biography

The band formed in 1986 as Crash Worship - ADRV (Adoración de Rotura Violenta), initially as a studio project, but soon learned after performing the power of a live audience.^[4] During live performances, the band's members (or often, audience "provocateurs" as well) would "manipulate" the audience, involving them more deeply into the show, though often the crowd would make its own way to the performance area.^[3] The musicians would also "mobilize" their instruments off the stage into the middle of the audience (or outside) igniting explosives or hosing down the crowd with liquids creating an atmosphere of celebration and sexual transcendence. The disorder of the band's live shows and often- Occult-like or heathen imagery^[4] invited attention from police, who would forcibly shut down a large percentage of the band's shows.

After much successful touring in the United States for many years, Crash Worship followed suit with two full European tours in the mid-90s. It was also at this time the band was deemed "unmanageable" by many labels, booking agencies, or clubs which proved difficult to tour much afterward.

The group disbanded sometime in the early 2000s, with the members moving to various other cities in the United States and forming their own solo and side projects.

Discography

Studio albums

• This (1987), Alarma
• The Science of Ecstasy (1989), Rocco Fresco
• ¡Espontáneo! (1991), Charnel
• Asesinos (1992), Cold Spring (re-released on ROIR)
• Triple Mania II (1994), Charnel

Singles

• What So Ever Thy Hand Findeth - Do It with All Thine Might (1989), Alarma
• Flow (1989), Rocco Fresco
• Pillar of Fire (1990), Alamut
• Pyru (1994), Charnel
• In the Labyrinth of the Master (1996), Vinyl Communications

Videos

• Inflammatorio (1991), Alarma
• Euro Promo (1994), Alarma
• Japan Promo (1997), Alarma

Members

• Markus Wolff – percussion
• JXL – vocals, Moog synthesizer, tape manipulation
• Simon Cheffins – percussion
• Jeff Mattson – guitar, Megalyra, horns, effects
• "Fat" Jack Torino – vocals, Moog synthesizer, tape manipulation
• Dreiky Caprice – percussion
• Ryan Jencks - guitar, synthesizers, electronics, tapes, effects

References