Chris D. (born Chris Desjardins; January 15, 1953) is a punk poet, singer, writer, rock critic, producer, actor, and filmmaker. He is best known as the lead singer and founder of the early and long-running Los Angeles punk/ death rock band the Flesh Eaters.

Music (as performer)

Flesh Eaters

Desjardins was a feature writer at ''

Slash Slash may refer to: * Slash (punctuation), the "/" character Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Slash (Marvel Comics) * Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'') Music * Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band * Nash th ...

'' magazine in 1977, when he formed the Flesh Eaters with several friends from the Los Angeles punk scene, including Tito Larriva. Their second album, '' A Minute to Pray, a Second to Die'', recorded and released in 1981, featured John Doe and DJ Bonebrake from X, as well as Dave Alvin, Bill Bateman, and Steve Berlin from The Blasters. The band recorded two further albums; ''Forever Came Today'' (1982) and ''A Hard Road to Follow'' (1983) with Don Kirk on guitar, Robyn Jameson on bass and Chris Wahl on drums, Chris D. on vocals and occasionally Jill Jordan on backing vocals. The Flesh Eaters were a staple of the L.A. punk scene in the 1980s. The band played alongside seminal bands like The Misfits and The Meat Puppets. A number of original Flesh Eaters releases, like ''River of Fever'', were recorded through Shakeytown Music/BMI. Others were produced by Upsetter, Invasion/Bomp, Zippo/Demon or SST. From 1989 to 1993 and from 1997 to 2000, Desjardins performed live with varying line-ups of The Flesh Eaters. During the first of these periods, three more albums came out on SST Records: '' Dragstrip Riot'' (1991), ''Sex Diary of Mr. Vampire'' (1992), and ''Crucified Lovers in Woman Hell'' (EP - 1993).Two additional albums, ''Ashes of Time'' (1999) and ''Miss Muerte'' (2004), were released. In early 2006, to mark the 25th anniversary of ''A Minute to Pray, a Second to Die'', Desjardins performed three shows in California and one in London, with Doe, Bonebrake, Alvin, Bateman, and Berlin. This Flesh Eaters lineup had not performed together since 1981.They reunited briefly in 2015 for a five-show tour and again for an eight-show run in 2018. They issued a new album, ''

I Used to Be Pretty ''I Used to Be Pretty'' is a studio album by American band the Flesh Eaters. It was released on January 18, 2019, through Yep Roc Records. Track listing Personnel *Chris D. - lead vocals *Dave Alvin - guitar *John Doe - bass * Bill Bateman - dr ...

'', in 2019.

Divine Horsemen

Desjardins was the co-leader, with then-spouse Julie Christensen, of the

Divine Horsemen The Divine Horsemen were an American punk/roots band founded in 1983 by Chris D. (Desjardins), formerly of L.A. punk rock band the Flesh Eaters. More than three decades later, Divine Horsemen reformed. A new album called ''Hot Rise of an Ice Cream Phoenix'' was released in 2021.

Solo and other works

Desjardins issued a solo semi-acoustic LP on America's Enigma Records and the French New Rose label, titled ''Time Stands Still'' by Chris D./Divine Horseman in 1984. The album was later released in Australia by

Dog Meat Records Dog Meat Records was a record label releasing music from bands in the Australian independent rock music scene in the 1990s. It released music from such artists as Hoss, The Philisteins, Powder Monkeys, Splatterheads and Blues Hangover, including ...

of Melbourne. It features guest musicians John Doe, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Linda "Texacala" Jones, and Dave Alvin. Desjardins issued a second solo album titled ''I Pass for Human'' as "Stone By Stone" following the end of his marriage to Julie Christensen. He released a further solo album ''Love Cannot Die'' through the Sympathy for the Record Industry label in 1995.

Music (as producer and in other roles)

Chris D. worked as an A&R and in-house producer for

and Ruby Records from 1980 until early 1984. He produced all the Flesh Eaters' albums and co-produced The Gun Club's debut album, '' Fire of Love'', with Tito Larriva in 1982. Desjardins produced the debut albums of The Dream Syndicate ('' The Days of Wine and Roses''), Green On Red ('' Gravity Talks'') and The Lazy Cowgirls. He remixed The Misfits' LP '' Walk Among Us'' with

Glenn Danzig Glenn Allen Anzalone (born June 23, 1955), better known by his stage name Glenn Danzig, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, film director, and record producer. He is the founder of the rock bands Misfits, Samhain, and Danzig. He owns t ...

and the Germs' '' What We Do Is Secret (EP)'' with Pat Smear.

Upsetter Records

Upsetter Records was a Los Angeles, California-based record label founded in 1978 by Chris D. and his then-girlfriend, the animation and graphic artist Judith Bell.Morris, Chris (October 16, 1999)
"Declarations of Independents: Flag waving"
''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' 111 (42): 73.Neff, Joseph (July 24, 2014)
"Graded on a Curve: The Flesh Eaters, ''A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die''"
''The Vinyl District''. Retrieved October 23, 2015. Mullen, Brendan. (2002). ''Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and the Germs''.

Feral House Feral House is an American book publisher founded in 1989 by Adam Parfrey and based in Port Townsend, Washington. Early history The company's first book was '' The Satanic Witch'' (1989; originally published in 1971 by Dodd, Mead & Company) by A ...

. . p. 269. Named in tribute to Lee "Scratch" Perry and the

dub reggae Dub is an electronic musical style that grew out of reggae in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is commonly considered a subgenre of reggae, though it has developed to extend beyond that style.Dub: soundscapes and shattered songs in Jamaican re ...

, popular with the early punks,Hinman, Jay (January, 2001)
"The Flesh Eaters: Heavy Punk Thunder from the Lake of Burning Fire"
. '' Perfect Sound Forever''. Retrieved July 6, 2015. Upsetter was specifically created to release the early discography of the Flesh Eaters, The only exception in the label's catalog is the seminal '' Tooth and Nail'' compilation released in 1979, an album full of outstanding early Californian punk rock from

the Controllers The Controllers are a fictional extraterrestrial race existing in the DC Universe. They first appear in '' Adventure Comics'' #357 (June 1967), and were created by Jim Shooter, Mort Weisinger, and Curt Swan. Fictional character biography Pre-C ...

, Middle Class, the Germs, U.X.A., Negative Trend, and the Flesh Eaters themselves. In parallel with their record label, Desjardins and Bell, in collaboration with Exene Cervenka, published the short-lived punk zine ''The Upsetter''.''The Upsetter'', front covers
. ''Fanzine Faves''. Retrieved May 20, 2018.

Writer

Magazines, etc.

Desjardins wrote for ''

'', ''

Forced Exposure ''Forced Exposure'' was an independent music magazine founded by Jimmy Johnson and Katie The Kleening Lady (Goldman) (zine). It was published sporadically out of Boston from 1982 to 1993, edited by Jimmy Johnson and Byron Coley. It was printed on ...

'', ''Asian Trash Cinema'' and ''Cult Movies''. He also wrote liner notes and audio commentary tracks for DVDs of a variety of classic Japanese genre films, Italian cult and arthouse films.

Non-fiction

In 2005, Desjardins' tribute to fringe directors of Japanese cult, action and exploitation cinema of the period 1950 to 1980, was published by I.B. Tauris, entitled ''Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film''. Desjardins spent almost 20 years researching and compiling an encyclopedia of Japanese yakuza films. Titled ''Gun and Sword: An Encyclopedia of Japanese Gangster Films 1955-1980'', research for the book was partly funded by the Japan Foundation Artist Fellowship. This work was published by Poison Fang Press in April 2013.

Fiction

* ''No Evil Star'' * ''Dragon Wheel Splendor & Other Love Stories of Violence and Dread'' * ''Shallow Water'' * ''Mother's Worry'' All were published in 2012.

Anthologies

Illiterati Press published ''Double Snake Bourbon'', a 139-page collection of Desjardins' poetry, lyrics, and prose. ''A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die'', a 500-page anthology of Chris D.'s written work, was published at the end of 2009. ''Writing for Slash: 1977-1981 - The Know-It-All Years'', a collection of reviews, was issued in 2022.

Film

Desjardins has acted in a number of films, both independent and big budget. In 1987, he had a small role in the Orion film '' No Way Out'' alongside Kevin Costner and

Gene Hackman Eugene Allen Hackman (born January 30, 1930) is an American retired actor and former novelist. In a career that has spanned more than six decades, Hackman has won two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes, one Screen Actors Guild Award, two BAFTAs ...

as an assassin. The same year, Desjardins played a role in '' Border Radio'', an independent film that was later released as part of the

Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...

. In Border Radio, Desjardins plays a musician who struggles with the consequences of a robbery. In 2002, Desjardins wrote and directed his first feature film, '' I Pass For Human'', which was produced and edited by Lynne Margulies. It was released in theaters in March 2004 and on DVD in October 2006. Desjardins had been attempting to produce the film since the 1980s under the original title "Hell's Belle". He worked in the programming department of the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles from 1999, and was a programmer there from January 2006 until August 1, 2009. He teaches film studies in California and also provided DVD commentary for several films.

Personal life

Desjardins was married to Julie Christensen. The pair divorced in 1988. Following the divorce, Desjardins sought help for drug and alcohol problems in a 12-step program.

References

External links

* * *Galli, Stefano (January 9, 2015)
"The Flesh Eaters: Spit in the Face of Evil"
(interview with Chris D.). '' larecord.com''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Chris D. 1952 births Living people Singers from California American male singers Punk blues musicians American punk rock singers Film directors from California Writers from Riverside, California American music historians American male screenwriters 21st-century American poets 21st-century American novelists Record producers from California American male novelists American male poets 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers Screenwriters from California 21st-century American screenwriters Historians from California