Revolting Cocks, also known as RevCo, are an American-Belgian
industrial rock band, and sometimes
supergroup, that began as a musical side project for
Richard 23 of
Front 242,
Luc van Acker, and
Al Jourgensen of
Ministry.
History
1984: Origins
Revolting Cocks' origins date to late 1984, when Belgian
industrial dance group
Front 242, after being invited by
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
-based
indie record label
Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
*Independent media, media free of influence by government or corporate interests
*Indie art, fine arts made by artists independent of commer ...
Wax Trax! Records, commenced their first American tour as an opening act for their then-labelmates, American band
Ministry. Afterwards, Ministry lead singer
Al Jourgensen asked Front 242 member
Richard 23 to produce a
dub remix
A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...
project. After returning to
Brussels
Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
, Richard 23 discussed collaboration with
Luc van Acker; Van Acker, previously session guitarist for
Shriekback, joined the newly formed project after talking with Jourgensen over the phone. The band's name came from an incident that took place in a Chicago bar; according to van Acker and Jourgensen, the band was trying out "insulting French expressions" on a waiter, ordering something they said meant "revolting cock" which led the waiter to say, "You are revolting cocks!"
Their first release was "No Devotion" on Wax Trax! Records in 1985.
The single was quickly followed by an album, ''
Big Sexy Land'' (1986),
featuring a mix of industrial,
hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...
, and
EBM with dominating sampling and strong synthesized beats.
1985–1994: Initial run
Richard 23 quit in 1986, after falling out with Jourgensen over his and Adrian Sherwood's
remix
A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...
of the song "You Often Forget". The group's remaining two members were augmented by
Chris Connelly (formerly of
Finitribe, later of Ministry),
Paul Barker and
Bill Rieflin (both formerly of
The Blackouts and at the time in Ministry),
with various others appearing as contributors or guests.
[
The following live album, '' Live! You Goddamned Son of a Bitch'' (1988), recorded at a single September 1987 show in Chicago,] featured more aggressive versions of the '' Big Sexy Land'' tracks along with some new material. This trend continued on '' Beers, Steers, and Queers'' (1990), layering sample over sample and pushing ever further into distortion. The budget for ''Beers, Steers, and Queers'' and its accompanying single "(Let's Get) Physical" ballooned to $30,000 in early 1990 primarily due to copyright troubles surrounding the cover of Olivia Newton-John's hit song, and led to a strained relationship between Jourgensen and Wax Trax. As it happened, these would be the last Revolting Cocks releases on Wax Trax as Sire Records
Sire Records (formerly Sire Records Company) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Records.
History Beginnings
The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gotteh ...
bought out the rights to all of Jourgensen's side projects.
'' Linger Ficken' Good'' (1993) was released by Sire Records, with most tracks returning to the less layered material. Included was a cover of Rod Stewart
Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British singer and songwriter. Known for his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time, having sold ...
's " Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?", also released as a single. A tour was planned but cancelled, and the band went on hiatus.
2004–2010: First revival
In 2004, Jourgensen and former RevCo player Phildo Owens ( Skatenigs, Snow Black) revived the group and previewed a new song, "Prune Tang". An album titled ''Purple Head'' was due in 2004, but was delayed until 2006 with a change in title to '' Cocked and Loaded''. "Caliente (Dark Entries)", a cover of "Dark Entries" by Bauhaus
The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...
, with vocalist Gibby Haynes ( Butthole Surfers), was featured on the soundtrack to ''Saw II'' in 2005.
After assembling a touring line up to open for Ministry on the MasterBaTour of 2006, Jourgensen chose vocalist Josh Bradford (Stayte, Simple Shelter, V.H.S.), keyboardist Clayton Worbeck (Stayte, Simple Shelter), and guitarist Sin Quirin ( Society 1, later Ministry and ReVamp) as the new full-time members for the Revolting Cocks, now simply being called "RevCo". The group recorded '' Sex-O Olympic-O'', which was originally set to be released in October 2008, but was delayed multiple times until it saw release on March 3, 2009. Following a tour, a second album with this lineup, '' ¿Got Cock?'', was released on April 13, 2010. The project fell apart once again with Bradford and Worbeck parting ways. Quirin continued to work with Jourgensen following Ministry's revival in 2011.
2010s: Second revival
In celebration of the record label, a "Wax Trax! Records Retrospectacle: Year Anniversary" concert series was held from April 15 to 17, 2011 at Metro Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. As a part of the lineup, Chris Connelly, Paul Barker, and Luc van Acker performed Revolting Cocks songs with Duane Buford, Dan Brill, Jamie Duffy and others. For their performance on the 17th, Richard 23 joined them on stage to sing "No Devotion".
In 2016, Richard 23, van Acker, Barker, and Connelly performed under the shorter name The Cocks for a six-date tour to mark the 30th anniversary of ''Big Sexy Land'', accompanied by Dan Brill and Jason Novak. A larger tour followed in 2017, with the band using the original Revolting Cocks name. The band played a series of gigs in Europe, including the WGT and Infest festivals, before returning to the US for a tour with Front Line Assembly
Front Line Assembly (FLA) is a Canadian electro-industrial band formed by Bill Leeb in 1986 in music, 1986 after leaving Skinny Puppy. FLA has developed its own sound incorporating elements of electronic body music and electro-industrial. The ba ...
.
On April 8, 2018, Jourgensen announced that another album was in the process of being recorded.
Members
;Current members
* Richard 23 – vocals (1985–1986, 2011 uest appearance 2016–present), percussion (1985–1986)
* Luc van Acker – vocals (1985–1991, 2006, 2011, 2013, 2016–present), guitars (1985–1988)
* Paul Barker – bass (1987–1993, 2011, 2013, 2016–present), production (1987–1993)
* Chris Connelly – vocals (1987–1993, 2011, 2013, 2016–present)
;Former members
* Al Jourgensen – production, guitar (1985–1993, 2004–2010)
* Bill Rieflin – drums (1986–1993; died 2020)
* Phildo Owen – vocals (1989–1991, 2004–2006)
* Duane Buford – keyboards (1993, 2011, 2013)
* Mike Scaccia – guitar (1993, 2004–2006; died 2012)
* Josh Bradford – vocals (2006–2010)
* Sin Quirin – guitars, bass, keyboards (2006–2010)
* Clayton Worbeck – keyboards, bass (2006–2010)
;Touring members
* Nivek Ogre – vocals (1988)
* Michael Balch – keyboards (1990–1991)
* Mark Durante – guitar, backing vocals (1990–1991)
* Trent Reznor – vocals (1990)
* Jeff Ward – drums (1990; died 1993)
* Anna K – bass (2006)
* Seven Antonopoulos – drums (2006)
* Murv Douglas – bass (2009)
* Aaron Rossi – drums (2009)
* Jamie Duffy – guitar (2011; died 2012)
* Dan Brill – drums (2011, 2013, 2016–present)
* Jason Novak – samples, percussion, guitar (2016–present)
;Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
*'' Big Sexy Land'' (1986)
*'' Beers, Steers, and Queers'' (1990)
*'' Linger Ficken' Good'' (1993)
*'' Cocked and Loaded'' (2006)
*'' Sex-O Olympic-O'' (2009)
*'' ¿Got Cock?'' (2010)
Live albums
*'' Live! You Goddamned Son of a Bitch'' (1988)
Remix albums
*'' Cocktail Mixxx'' (2007)
*'' Sex-O MiXXX-O'' (2009)
*''¿Got Mixxx?'' (2011)
Singles
*"No Devotion" (1985)
*"You Often Forget" (1986) ( UK Indie #13)
*"Stainless Steel Providers" (1989)
*"(Let's Get) Physical" (1989)
*"Beers, Steers, and Queers" (The Remixes) (1991)
*"Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" (1993)
*"Crackin' Up" (1994)
Notes
References
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
Musical groups established in 1985
Sire Records artists
Wax Trax! Records artists
American industrial metal musical groups
American industrial rock musical groups
Musical groups disestablished in 1993
Musical groups reestablished in 2004
Musical groups disestablished in 2010
Heavy metal supergroups
Warner Records artists