Christian Death Announce 2026 US West Coast Tour Dates
After almost 50 years, Christian Death are still frightening the very fabric of society. The founding fathers of American goth rock are bringing this year’s Baby Bats Parade tour west of the Rocky Mountains this November. The tour starts with a very special appearance at Darker Waves Festival, followed by dates underneath the blood moon in Nevada, Oregon, Washington and California.
“From the shores of Huntington to the fog of San Francisco, we traverse the dark undercurrents of the West,” Christian Death says. “A ritual sound for those who walk through the Shadow Realm. The path unfolds.”
Get your tickets here.
Christian Death The Baby Bats Parade 2026 US West Coast Tour Dates w/ Black Season Witch:
11/14/26: Huntington Beach, California @ Darker Waves Festival
11/15/26: Las Vegas, NV @ Dive Bar
11/16/26: Reno, NV @ The Cellar Stage
11/17/26: Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Lounge
11/18/26: Seattle, WA @ Funhouse
11/20/26: Santa Rosa, CA @ Arlene Francis Center
11/21/26: San Francisco, CA @ DNA
*Christian Death only
Since signing with Season of Mist, Christian Death have reissued several of their albums, including Only Theatre of Pain and Ashes. Order your copy here. Christian Death’s latest album, Evil Becomes Rules, which features the viral hit “Blood Moon”, is also available now on Season of Mist. Order yours here, and stream here.
Evil Becomes Rule Tracklist:
1. The Alpha and The Omega
2. New Messiah
3. Elegant Sleeping
4. Blood Moon
5. Abraxas We Are
6. The Warning
7. Beautiful
8. Rise and Shine
9. Evil Becomes Rule
10. Who Am I (Part 1)
11. Who Am I (Part 2)
About Christian Death:
There has been a ridiculously huge revolving door of membership in the Los Angeles band known as Christian Death. In the beginning, not long after the local California release of the first album, Only Theatre of Pain, the band irrevocably and formally broke up. This left Rozz Williams at home with his overtly religious parents in Pomona, CA to contemplate his insufferable boredom, his only relief being found on the pages of his lyrics. After being invited to the record release party for Pompeii 99, a band already enjoying success in L.A., Rozz met band leader, singer, and guitarist Valor Kand. Before long, they were inseparable friends and Rozz was invited to join Pompeii 99. While rehearsing for a planned European tour, the head of a French record label that Valor had been negotiating with, proposed the notion of renaming his band Christian Death. Neither Valor nor Rozz wanted to entertain this, however, the incentives proposed by the label eventually prevailed and thus Pompeii 99 was reborn as Christian Death. The second Christian Death album, Catastrophe Ballet, which resulted from this deal, was recorded in Wales (UK) (a place where several future Christian Death albums were also to be born). A month before the release of Catastrophe Ballet, the French label head released a compilation which he called Deathwish, comprised of previously recorded, unreleased outtakes and single tracks he had licensed.
Recording the second album was followed by the very first Christian Death tour, which began in Paris and on to most European countries. The emotional stress of this first tour was hard on Rozz, causing him to return to Los Angeles months before the other members, who remained in Europe. Upon Valor’s return to Los Angeles, work began immediately on the third album, Ashes. Meanwhile, the release of a live album called The Decomposition of Violets recorded in Hollywood was also released.
After the release of Ashes, plans were underway for the second European tour when Rozz, just weeks before the first scheduled date in Italy, announced his plans to quit the band. With no intention of cancelling the tour, Valor returned to lead vocals, the bass player became the guitarist, and the guitar tech became the bass player; the tour proceeded as planned, but without Rozz.
Now fronted by Valor, the band relocated from California and settled in London, which they used as a base to tour Europe relentlessly in the midst of controversy, riots, bomb threats. and protests by extremist Christian groups. Many concerts were canceled as a result of direct pressure by influential religious organizations.
From England, the band release nine more studio albums and four live albums in the territories of England, Germany, Italy, France, Japan, and the US, with each release in each territory having different artwork, configurations, and bonus tracks. Among these releases was the critically acclaimed album Sex and Drugs and Jesus Christ, which depicted a controversial image of Jesus shooting heroin. The single, “Church Of No Return,” which went to No.12 in the UK charts and ultimately landed the band numerous spots on MTV, VH1, Super Channel, BBC, and countless other Euro television and radio shows. Meanwhile in the USA, Christian organizations began burning their albums in public and on Christian Television networks.
In 1994, Valor relocated Christian Death back to the US, with the lineup centering around himself and Maitri on bass and vocals. He returned with 1994’s Sexy Death God, which many longtime fans greeted as his best and tightest effort in quite some time.
Based in the US, it was possible to do full North American tours, of which there were many, which also included Mexico, where the live album Amen was recorded for Century Media at the first ever show in Mexico City. Later followed the studio album, Pornographic Messiah, which was also recorded in Mexico, then mixed in Holland.
In 2000, they added drummer Will “Was” Sarginson (ex-Cradle of Filth and Blood Divine) and toured Europe alongside Britain’s Cradle of Filth, one of the more popular black metal bands of their time. The two groups got along well enough for several Cradle members to guest on Christian Death’s 2001 album, Born Again Anti Christian, helping it become one of the most metallic records in their catalog.
The following year, vocalist and bassist Maitri, by then the second most continuous member of Christian Death, issued her black metal-influenced solo album, Lover of Sin (confusingly labeled on the cover as ‘Christian Death Presents…’). In 2003, Cradle of Filth guitarist Gian Pyres officially joined Christian Death for their European tour.
In response to the post 9/11 period, the album American Inquisition was recorded and released with Season of Mist. The tours for this album included new territories for the band: Brazil, Chile, Peru, Ecuador. Australia, and New Zealand. Around this time, Christian Death released multitrack versions of several songs for the Rock Band video game series, and figurines of both Rozz and Valor began to appear.
In 2012, Maitri released the second Lover of Sin album, Horny Beast, which featured members of Nile, Morbid Angel, and other popular death metal bands. The following year, the band kicked off a full tour of The Americas that extended into 2014, with a full back catalogue digital global release. The year culminated with the band’s performance at Hellfest Open Air Festival, in which they supported Kiss, Rob Zombie, and Limp Bizkit.
With the 2015 release of The Root of All Evilution, the band hit the road again that autumn in Europe, which continued into North America in 2016. The band returned to Europe and drew the final curtain in Israel. The song “Between Youth” was re-released in 2017 and featured in the Vice TV series on HBO, Balls Deep. Later, in Autumn 2017, Christian Death completed theie longest North America Tour to date. The tour package included Lords of Acid, Combichrist, En Esch, and Night Club.
From 2018 onward, the band continued to dominate the world and perform throughout Europe and the United States, which included an appearance at the Cloak and Dagger festival in Los Angeles, CA as well as pulling off a mini-tour in 2021, despite a global pandemic. That same year, the band formed their union with Season of Mist and started to roll out the vinyl and CD reissues of all 16 studio albums, which included all new special editions and certain bonus features.
With the release of their 17th studio album, Evil Becomes Rule, Christian Death shows no signs of faltering or slowing down. The godfathers of death rock have simultaneously perfected and redefined their signature sound, which has served as a core inspiration for many bands of both the past and present, such as Danzig, Celtic Frost, and Type O Negative, to name just a few. Evil Becomes Rule isn’t merely a musical endeavor, but an artistic expression that blends elements of gothic rock, post-punk, and dark pop, cultivating a poetic aesthetic that is certain to continue to influence the next wave of gothic rock.
