Crash Worship or ADRV (''Adoración de rotura violenta'', Spanish for "crash worship") was a

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

based

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

and

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

ensemble formed in 1986. They were most renowned for live performances partly inspired by the confrontational

Viennese Actionism Viennese Actionism was a short-lived art movement in the late 20th-century that spanned the 1960s into the 1970s. It is regarded as part of the independent efforts made during the 1960s to develop the issues of performance art, Fluxus, happening, a ...

movement of the 1960s. The musical element featured three stand-up percussionists who hammered out industrial and tribal poly-rhythms accompanied by highly unorthodox electric guitar, synthesizers, sound effects and dueling vocalists. Audience members were showered in various substances such as blood, wine and honey while, band members ignited combustibles and set fires within the performance area. Crash Worship also released several albums and singles of both live and studio-recorded music. Mostly self-produced (unusually packaged and laboriously handcrafted) works in visually stunning screen printed metal splattered with paint, urine, blood and other esoterica. Although they toured playing music from their recorded material, the celebratory nature of these events left each show open to spontaneity and improvisation.

Biography

Crash Worship began circa 1986, although the band has stated that it is difficult to pinpoint an exact moment when it began given the constantly evolving roster of members. Their early releases became known for their unusual and creative packaging. The first cassette releases, ''This'' and ''The Science of Ecstasy'' came with hand-made covers and extensive sleeves with a variety of drawings. Their first 12", ''Flow'', was a detourned college recording class project where every other track on the vinyl compilation aside from the one contributed by Crash Worship was rendered unplayable by hand carvings and silkscreen and the records were relabeled and repackaged. This aesthetic continued through their last album, which featured a trifold package with screen printed copper foil. Initially starting as a studio project, Crash Worship soon learned the power of a live audience. During performances, the band's members (or often provocateurs) would manipulate the crowd, involving them more deeply into the show, ultimately eliminating any boundaries between spectator and performer. The musicians would also mobilize their instruments on and off the stage into the middle of the audience (or outside), lighting explosives and hosing down the crowd with various liquids creating an atmosphere of celebratory abandon and mirth. Strobe lights, nudity, mysterious liquids, sex and smoke filled rooms (at next to zero visibility) were all a part of the average show. The chaos of these events often invited unwanted attention from police who would later forcibly shut down a large percentage of the band's performances.

BLOOD & FIRE

After much successful touring of the

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, Crash Worship followed suit with two full European tours in the mid-1990s. It was also around this time the band was deemed "unmanageable" by many labels, booking agencies and clubs which proved difficult to tour much afterward. At the height of their notoriety, Crash Worship had been banned from countless other cities across the

making it almost impossible to tour there or abroad. In late 1999, the last Crash Worship performances were held in California, four being with the

Master Musicians of Jajouka The Master Musicians of Jajouka led by Bachir Attar (sometimes written as ...featuring Bachir Attar) are a collective of Jbala Sufi trance musicians, serving as a modern representation of a centuries-old music tradition. The collective includes ...

(in the Bay Area), the Aztlan Theatre (abandoned Los Angeles County Jail), and to a female only audience in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. The final Crash Worship performance was held in

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, California on October 24, 1999, with

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and Tarantula Hawk as openers. Members are now scattered around the U.S. in

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Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

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and the

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, active with their own solo and side projects.

Discography

Studio albums

*''This'' - CS (1987), ¡Alarma! *''The Science of Ecstasy'' - CS (1989), Rocco Fresco *''¡Espontáneo!'' - CS & CD (1991), Charnel *'' Triple Mania II'' - CS & CD (1994), Charnel

EPs

*''What So Ever Thy Hand Findeth - Do It with All Thine Might'' - LP (1989), Alarma *''Pillar of Fire'' - LP (1990), Alamut

Singles

*''Flow'' - 12" (1989), Rocco Fresco *''¡Pyru!'' - 7" (1994), Charnel *''In the Labyrinth of the Master'' - 7" (1996), Vinyl Communications

Compilations

*''Asesinos'' - CD (1992), Cold Spring (re-released on

ROIR ROIR (pronounced "roar"), or Reachout International Records, is a New York City-based independent record label founded in 1979 by Neil Cooper. Background ROIR was founded the same year that the Sony Walkman launched, and initially, the label ex ...

1995) *''Pyru Remixes'' - CD (1999), ¡Alarma!

Videos

*''Inflammatorio'' - VHS (1991), ¡Alarma! *''Euro Promo'' - VHS (1994), ¡Alarma! *''Japan Promo'' - VHS (1997), ¡Alarma!

Members (in alphabetical order by last name)

* Simon Cheffins –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

, tapes, effects *

Rick Froberg Eric Gerald Farr (né Froberg; January 19, 1968 – June 30, 2023) was an American musician and visual artist. In his musical career he was the singer and guitarist for the San Diego-area bands Pitchfork, Drive Like Jehu, and Hot Snakes, perform ...

- drums * Josh Juan Fifarek -tape loops, synthesizer, noise generator * John Goff – bagpipes, drums * Steve Griffin – drums * Nadia Hagen –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

, vocals * Ryan Jencks – Guitar, electronics, blood and fire * JXL –

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer ( ) is a modular synthesizer invented by the American engineer Robert Moog in 1964. Moog's company, R. A. Moog Co., produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 2014. It was the first commercial synthesizer ...

, tape manipulation, explosives * Dreiky Caprice – percussion, vocals * Jeff Mattson – guitar, Megalyra, horns, effects * Adam Nodelman – Bass, Moog Synthesizer * J Poggi aka MC Trachiotomy –

horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (anatomy) * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * Horns (novel), ''Horns'' (novel), a dar ...

, vocals * Seth Rosko - vocals, sampler, Trombone, pyrotechnics, lighting * Pieter "Wierd" Schoolwerth aka Bonaparte – pyrotechnics * "Fat" Jack Torino aka Domingo De Santa Clara – vocals, Moog synthesizer, tape manipulation, explosives * Markus Wolff aka Nebulon / Wolf Carcass – percussion * Zoli Zombory –

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

References

{{Authority control Musical groups from San Diego American industrial music groups American experimental musical groups Musical groups established in 1987 Enemy Records artists