Crash Worship

by John Bush
San Diego's Crash Worship has one of the most exciting -- and dangerous -- live shows in independent music. While the band's three drummers pound trance and industrial rhythms, other members play music, start fires, ignite fireworks and drench the audience in pig blood, water, flour and fruit. An inspired cult of fans have closely followed the group since its beginnings in 1987.
After forming the Alarma label in 1987, Crash Worship began releasing material with This. Two years later, the band recorded the album The Science of Ecstasy, an EP titled What So Ever Thy Hand Findeth - Do It with All Thine Might, and the 12-inch single "Flow." After the 1990 single "Pillar of Fire" and the LP ?Espontaneo!, the British label Cold Spring released Crash Worship's first CD, Asesinos (1992), a collection of remixed and remastered tracks from the group's initial recordings. (The American label ROIR reissued the album with extra tracks in 1995.)
Crash Worship's present lineup finally coalesced in 1992 around drummers Markus Wolff, Simon Cheffins and Dreiky; J.A. Mattson on guitar; and "Fat" Jack Torino and JXL on vocals, Moogs and tapes. The group's first "studio" album, Triplemania II, appeared in 1994 on the Charnel Music label. Crash Worship have also released a video, Inflammatorio (1991).