My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult
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My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult (also just Thrill Kill Kult or TKK) is an American industrial dance band, formed in Chicago in 1987 by Buzz McCoy and Groovie Mann.
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Wax Trax!
The name was taken from an early 1980's "art and noise" group called ""Hammerhead Housewife and the Thrill Kill Kult". That group was disbanded and the original concept for My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult was applied to the next project. It was meant to be the title of an autobiographical movie about the members' lives. They shopped it around and ultimately convinced Dannie Flesher and Jim Nash, co-owners of independent Chicago music label, Wax Trax! Records of the validity of the concept. The movie was never made, but the pair signed with Wax Trax!, releasing an eponymous EP (Wax 039) [1] (http://www.infaction.8m.com/waxtrax.html) in 1988. Along with Revolting Cocks, Ministry, The Young Gods, Front 242, KMFDM, and Frontline Assembly, TKK helped turn Wax Trax! into a seminal force as a distributor of industrial dance releases.
I See Good Spirits and I See Bad Spirits
TKK's debut album, I See Good Spirits and I See Bad Spirits, was released in 1988 (Wax 056), virtually simultaneous with another EP Some Have to Dance, Some Have to Kill(Wax 055). Their sound was initially an amalgam of heavy dance rhythms, horror film sampling, and quasi-Satanic imagery. Their early recordings were extremely popular in Goth and industrial dance clubs.
Confessions Of A Knife
This album, released in 1990, brought the band some additional publicity due to the objection of Tipper Gore and the PMRC over the title of the second track "A Daisy Chain For Satan". This album became the #3 top seller on WaxTrax! upon it's release.
Sexplosion!
The band released the EP, Kooler Than Jesus (Wax 9088) in 1989, along with the album Confessions of a Knife (Wax 7089) and the 12" single, A Girl Doesn't Get Killed By a Make-Believe Lover (Cuz it's hot) (Wax 9140) in 1990 for Wax Trax!. They released the title track off their next LP, "Sexplosion!" originally on Wax Trax!, followed by the LP. They signed with Interscope Records and gained a hit single, taken from the album, on the alternative music charts with Sex on Wheelz, featured in the movie, Cool World.
More Disco, Less Satan
The sound of TKK has evolved (some purists would say, "de-evolved") from its early sinister, Gothic and serial killer aesthetic. Their early recordings and performances were designed as shock pieces reveling in the mire of lustmord and gratuitous hedonism. Their later recordings are more straightforward disco-oriented conceptions. The implied danger has been replaced by well-orchestrated grooves not entirely devoid of cthuluian currents.
Membership
The members of TKK have changed over the years to reflect the concerns of its principle members. [2] (http://www.sleazeboxrecords.com/tkk/history/index.html#) In 1988, Thomas Thorn, billing himself as Buck Rider joined and played keyboards and administered samples on the band's first tour. Thorn left in 1991 because he felt that the band's new direction "wasn't Satanic enough". As a High Priest in the Church of Satan, Thorn currently fronts the openly Satanic electronic industrial band, The Electric Hellfire Club. Other contributors have included Goth chanteuse Lydia Lunch, and a great number of artists, sound technicians, musicians, and filmmakers.
TKK's backup singers (who are not all female) are called "The Bomb Gang Girlz."
The band has also contributed to various movie soundtracks such as Showgirls, Nowhere, and The Crow, in which the band also makes a cameo appearance.
Album Discography
- I See Good Spirits I See Bad Spirits (1988)
- Confessions Of a Knife (1990)
- 13 Above the Night (1993)
- I See Good Spirits & I See Bad Spirits (1993) (remastered)
- Hit & Run Holiday (1995)
- Crime For All Seasons (1997)
- Dirty Little Secrets: Music To Strip By (1999)
- Sexplosion! (1991)
- The Reincarnation of Luna (2001)
- Golden Pillz: Luna Remixes (2002)
- Elektrik Inferno Live (2002)
- The Be(a)st of TKK (2004)
- Diamonds & Daggerz (2004)
External Links
- Official Site (http://www.mylifewiththethrillkillkult.com/)
- FAQ, somewhat dated but still useful (http://members.tripod.com/~homeygfunk/tkkfaq.txt)
- Interview with two original Bomb Gang Girlz (http://post.queensu.ca/~fletchra/TKK/Interviews/discord95.html)
- TKK Special Releases (http://post.queensu.ca/~fletchra/TKK/Discog/special.html)
- Annotated Discography (http://post.queensu.ca/~fletchra/TKK/Discog/)
- Interview with Groovie Man (http://www.musicdish.com/mag/index.php3?id=3850)
- Trouser Press Overview (http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=my_life_with_the_thrill_kill_kult)