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 Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

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 ...

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

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

. The final Crash Worship performance was held in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

, California on October 24, 1999, with

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which ...

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

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, Portland,

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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 ''Triple Mania II'' is the final full-length album from Crash Worship Crash Worship or ADRV (''Adoración de rotura violenta'', Spanish for "crash worship") was a San Diego, California based experimental music and performance art ensemble fo ...

'' - 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 beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

, tapes, effects * John Goff – bagpipes, drums * Steve Griffin – drums * Nadia Hagen –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

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

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer developed by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's company R. A. Moog Co. (later known as Moog Music) produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 20 ...

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