Bill Rieflin, the thunderous drummer who made his name in Chicago’s late-’80s/early-’90s industrial scene pounding out beats for Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Pigface and more before manning the kit for R.E.M. over the last eight years of that band’s career, died on Tuesday of cancer, according to former bandmates. He was 59.
Hot on the heels of the well-received Wax Trax! Records documentary comes a broader look at Chicago’s role in the development of industrial music in the 1980s and ’90s, a film that backers are hoping fans of the genre can help get completed via a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. Watch the trailer right here.
Ministry performed the first of six special Record Store Day-related sets in Chicago on Saturday night, with frontman Al Jourgensen enlisting old bandmate Chris Connelly to help perform what was billed as a “Wax Trax!-era” set that largely focused on the band’s late-’80s, early-’90s albums. Video and setlist here.
As we reported last fall, the documentary “Industrial Accident: The Story of Wax Trax! Records” — which, to date, has only screened at film festivals and special events — will be released on DVD and Blu-ray in April, along with a soundtrack album. Check out an unreleased Revolting Cocks track right here.
Chris Connelly re-joined Ministry on stage in Chicago tonight for the first time in 15 years, reprising his memorable vocal to “So What” alongside Al Jourgensen in a performance that the band streamed live on Facebook — and which you can watch in its entirety right here.
Ministry has released a new live album on Bandcamp — with a vinyl edition following in September — that, while not advertised as such, is taken from the same 1990 concert that spawned the six-song In Case You Didn’t Feel Like Showing Up live album and companion home video release.
Revolting Cocks will follow up its appearance at the Los Angeles edition of the Cold Waves festival this November with a run of North American dates with Front Line Assembly on which RevCo will perform its 1986 Wax Trax! Records debut Big Sexy Land in its entirety each night. See full dates here.
As it approaches its sixth year in Chicago, industrial-music festival Cold Waves has announced its inaugural Los Angeles edition, a two-day event featuring Stabbing Westward, Revolting Cocks (performing 1986’s Big Sexy Land), Front Line Assembly, Meat Beat Manifesto and more.
A trove of early Wax Trax! Records material from Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Pailhead, 1,000 Homo DJs, PTP and Acid Horse — including previously unreleased tracks and demos — will be compiled on a limited-edition 7CD/1LP box set to be released for Record Store Day next month in both the U.S. and the U.K.
Singer Chris Connelly and bassist/programmer Paul Barker — who played together in Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Pigface and various other Wax Trax! Records industrial-rock supergroups in the late ’80s and early ’90s — are writing and recording new music together as Bells Into Machines.
Mike Scaccia — who joined Ministry during the Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste tour and went on to play with various Al Jourgensen-led projects including Revolting Cocks, 1000 Homo DJs and Lard — died early this morning after collapsing on-stage in Fort Worth, Texas, during a performance with metal band Rigor Mortis.
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