My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult reveal New Single, “The Chains of Fame” off Upcoming LP
New LP, In The House Of Strange Affairs, out February 14th, 2019
TKK to Hit The Road with Curse Mackey for 2019’s Strange Affairs Tour starting May 5th
“A dynamic song, “The Chains of the Fame” feels like a much shorter song than its four minute run-time. Cinematic strings and unexpected audio samples during the bridge of the song lead to a futuristic bridge that make the long-running and mega-influential band sound as relevant as ever.” Matt Matasci
My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult Strange Affairs Tour with Curse Mackey!
05/05 @ Beauty Bar – Las Vegas, NV
05/07 @ Metro Music Hall – Salt Lake City, UT
05/10 @ Dante’s – Portland, OR
05/11 @The Crocodile – Seattle, WA
05/14 @ Harlow’s – Sacramento, CA
05/15 @DNA Lounge – San Francisco, CA
05/16 @ The Ritz – San Jose, CA
05/28 @ 191 Toole – Tucson, AZ
05/30 @ Industry – San Antonio, TX
05/31 @ Elysium – Austin, TX
06/01 @ Numbers – Houston, TX
06/02 @Trees – Dallas, TX
06/07 @The Venue – Denver, CO
06/09 @ Launchpad – Albuquerque, NM
06/11 @ Club Red – Phoenix, AZ
06/13 @ TBA – Southern California
06/14 @ TBA – Southern California
06/15 @ TBA – Southern California
Hailing from Chicago’s renowned Wax Trax! Records stable of recording artists, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult have been conjuring up sonic tales of sex, blasphemy, and kitschy horror since 1987. Along with label mates such as Front 242, KMFDM, and Ministry, TKK (as often abbreviated), helped develop the industrial music genre, but they themselves continued to evolve, creating one of the most diverse repertoires in modern day music. Their sound can be described as electronic rock, heavily influenced by both disco and funk. One of their most distinctive characteristics is the use of spoken-word samples lifted from B-movies laced throughout their songs. Since debuting, they have released 13 studio albums, and their music has been featured in a variety of films, television/cable shows and soundtracks, all the while making a reputation for themselves as one of the most notorious and controversial cult bands of their generation.
Artist Franke Nardiello and musician Marston Daley, two Chicago neighbors who enjoyed late night burritos while watching foreign horror movies on VHS rented from the corner store, began conspiring to make a trashy B movie (in the style of Russ Meyer and John Waters) to be called “My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult.” While the film itself never came to fruition, they also wrote some music to be the accompanying soundtrack. Both worked at Wax Trax! Records in Chicago, and when the label heard the tracks, they were intrigued and eager to release it.
The duo took the title of the film as the name for their band, and decided to focus on the musical group full time. Taking the stage names Groovie Mann (Nardiello) and Buzz McCoy (Daley), they worked on creating an occult-biker meets disco-rock influence look for the project, which included a bevy of voluptuous back-up singers and dancers known as the Bomb Gang Girlz. The New York Times wrote, “Sex, blasphemy, big beats and go-go dancing; they’re all in a day’s work for My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult.” This attracted the attention of indie fans and the ire of religious groups in practically equal measure. They released their first album I See Good Spirits And I See Bad Spirits in 1988, followed up by the hard-hitting dance floor classics “Kooler Than Jesus” and “A Girl Doesn’t Get Killed By A Make-Believe Lover Cuz It’s Hot,” which featured no-wave chanteuse Lydia Lunch on vocals. By the time they released their second album, Confessions Of A Knife (1990), they were far and away one of the biggest selling acts on the label.
In 1991, the band embarked on the decadent “Sexplosion! Tour,” titled after their third album. The tour was a success and the record sold so well that they signed a deal with Interscope Records shortly afterwards, and the single “Sex On Wheelz” became a sizeable radio hit.
Hollywood also embraced the group, recognizing the unique cinematic aspect of their sound. The band’s music has appeared in a slew of films and TV/cable shows including, director Ralph Bakshi’s Cool World, Paul Verhoven’s saucy Showgirls, MTV’s Beavis And Butthead, and the cult film classic, The Crow, in which the ensemble make a cameo appearance performing their song “After The Flesh.” More recently, the Kult was written into the story line of the 2014 film Sexy Evil Genius starring Seth Green.
Thrill Kill Kult continue to release new material via their own SleazeBox Records label and tour extensively with a rotating cast of musicians and dubious characters, however the core of the project has always been Nardiello and Daley, both on record and in the live act. Their performances sizzle with sleaze and infectious grooves, as Melody Maker once described, “A red hot cabaret from Hell.”
They begin their fourth decade this year with the release of a new album, In The House Of Strange Affairs on February 14th, and a North American tour commencing May 5th in Las Vegas. The current line-up is Groovie Mann (vocals), Buzz McCoy (keys), Mimi Star (bass), Justin Thyme (drums), Arena Rock (Bomb Gang Girl).
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