I spent much of my formative years lying under a mass of bodies or being bounced around what was, possibly, one of the most violent-friendly mosh pits in existence at that time. I had all their vinyl (singles and albums), a t-shirt or two and used to see Andy (the lead vocalist) out clubbing or in Forbidden Planet or Orcs Nest a fair amount.
Their thrash-goth sound was pretty unique at the time and combined with some great original songs, as well as some irreverant covers of goth classics such as the brilliant Temple of Shite (a great rendition of The Sisters of Mercy's Temple of Love) and their crowd pleasing cover of The Cures 'A Forest', they put on some of the best shows I'd ever been to and still rank way there in my books today.
The community that surrounded them was very friendly - which surprised a lot of people who may have been on the fringes looking at the force and verocity of the pits at their shows. They also looked after their own which a 16-year-old me was very thankful for as I got adopted fairly early on after joining one of the pits at a show (possibly at the then Camden Palace) and being picked on by a much older and bigger bloke who was not pulling punches and seemed to be aiming them largely at me. After the third time I was propelled across the floor a bunch of the core Creaming Jesus fans picked me up and as soon as the guy started coming for me again they, and several of their friends, pretty much formed a barrier between us and then sent him flying in return - which was the last we saw of him and I'd become part of the family by apparent default of not scapering after the first punch and staying on the dancefloor. Possibly a slightly bruising initiation but I honestly didn't care as I was there for the music and everything was part and parcel of that.
Anyway, on my journeys through the land of Itunes I've discovered most of their back catalogue (having only one CD of theirs as the rest is on aforementioned vinyl) and took a trip down memory lane.
I also found a video of them perfoming 'A Forest' on Youtube but unfortunately it has embedding disabled. So if you want to listen to a great thrashy-goth cover please head over and check it out through this link.
I also posted their 'Lillies' video over on my
radio_infinity blog.They'd be in my Top Ten bands I'd love to reform so I could see them again...
Actually that could make a good post sometime...:p
