27-09-2009 Revolting Cocks

Supports: Left Spine Down, Blownload, Jim Rose Circus; Venue: House of Blues, Los Angeles (USA)
By: Nina Mende

My last gig out in Los Angeles lead me back to House of Blues. As I arrived it didn’t seem too crowded but that changed throughout the evening and ended in being totally crowded. Maybe even sold out, but I’m not sure about that.

The first band of the night was Left Spine Down. Based in Vancouver, BC, Canada, Left Spine Down (also known by the acronym LSD) is a band that plays what they call “cyberpunk,” a mixture of industrial, metal, punk, and drum & bass. The band features Jeremy Inkel of Industrial music legends Front Line Assembly and Denyss McKnight, former bass player of Vancouver punk music veterans The Black Halos. There were only very few people watching at this time. But the band didn’t mind at all. They played their show as if the venue was crowded. The music sounded like a mix between the Prodigy and NOFX with a little Love’s Labour’s Lost in it. The singer went down the pit quite many times to get close to the few people dancing to the music. It was an interesting set which didn’t last for too long.

The following band was called Blownload, a punk band from Sacramento. The light was crappy but the sound was even better. The singer was big, in size and in performance. He had a blast on stage playing with the audience and performing. The music reminded a lot of reggae. More people were dancing now. But the singer also shouted a lot. The band had a great time on stage and the audience enjoyed it big time. The audience room was filling up quick at this time of the evening. All ready to see the headliner.

Before the main band of the evening entered the stage, Jim Rose performed some tricks such as swallowing razorblades and pulling them out on a string again. Or having the other bands throwing dart pins at one of the other bands’ guy. Everybody’s eyes were watching him close. He interacted with the audience, reacted to things people shouted and talked a lot in a very high speed. He was very entertaining but always getting back to business. He had a book released which was sold on this tour.

After Jim Rose’s show it was finally time for the headliner to enter the stage: Revolting Cocks, short RevCo. The group was founded by Richard 23, Luc Van Acker and Al Jourgensen. The band got their name after a fight in a Chicago bar in 1983. Jourgensen, Richard 23 and Luc Van Acker celebrated the formation of the new band with a few drinks. The evening then ended up in a brawl, with bar stools being thrown through the establishment’s windows. As he was throwing the trio out, the owner, a man Jourgensen recalls was named Dess, shouted, “I’m calling the police! You guys are a bunch of revolting cocks! ” The trio subsequently decided to use the name for their band. Their music sounded like something between KMFDM and IAMX, so was their performance. They played a lot with the audience and everybody went wild. The audience sang and shouted along, Josh (the singer) couldn’t stand still for a second. He was always getting close to the audience. He stood on top of the barrier and stage quite many times, and he also fell. But he took it with humor, got back up and continued his performance. He shook the fans’ hands and simply couldn’t stay away from them. The name Revolting Cocks already lets you guessing that these guys are getting below the belt at times. You can also tell that by listening to the songs. But it never was raunchy. The audience and people from other bands sang along, sometimes they even got handed the mic. For a song the keyboarder played guitar so he could move around more. RevCo talked a lot with the audience and replied to many things said. Josh even took some fan’s phone and called a friend of her who couldn’t be here tonight. Josh made the audience shout “Fuck You” into the phone before he handed it back. As RevCo came closer to the end of the show, Al Jourgens of Ministry joined the stage. Everybody who hadn’t been freaking out yet did now. Al was a god for many of us and he performed like one. Later on he even picked up a guitar and played. Al also loved being close to the audience. It was an amazing show. One of the best I had seen in a while. As they came back for an encore, Josh all the sudden wore a dress. For the very last songs they had some girls coming up on stage to dance. RevCo is an amazing live band. What a wonderful evening!