Revolting Cocks 10/6 at House of Blues

Tuesday night brought the return of what was once a Chicago institution; the Revolting Cocks. For those of you who aren’t familiar with them, Revolting Cocks is a band that was started over 20 years ago as a collaboration between members of Ministry, Front 242, and other bands. Over the years the band has had a revolving cast of characters and every few years a new album comes out as a result.

Left Spine Down

Left Spine Down

Left Spine Down

Left Spine Down

After an introduction from Jim Rose who would be the host for the evening’s festivities, Left Spine Down started the show.  They came out full of energy and were running all over the stage. The singer was constantly jumping down off the stage to get next to the crowd and their guitar player seemed like he may have downed a few too many before their show. Their sound was mostly industrial and aggressive with a bit of punk flavor thrown into the mix. They were pretty enjoyable and remained energetic from start to finish.

After Left Spine Down removed their equipment, Jim Rose came out again along with a guy who broke a wine glass and ate the glass. The stunt only lasted a couple of minutes total and then Jim introduced the next band to take the stage.

Blownload

Blownload

Blownload

Blownload

Blownload was the second band. They were fronted by someone who must now be the largest man in rock and roll since the untimely demise of Pig Champion from Poison Idea.  Their guitar player was wearing a skirt too and their drummer had crazy white eyes and weird eye makeup on. They seemed to mix punk and metal in a way not unlike System of a Down but not nearly as good, and their gimmick is they try to be humorous with lyrics and songs that are probably at least partly inspired by El Duce of the Mentors, but again not nearly as good. They plodded through about 40 minutes of their material and I was mostly staring at the clock wondering when it will end. I hate to say it but I think they were easily the worst band I’ve seen this year.

Jim Rose once again came out and entertained the crowd with some stories and jokes, and then proceeded to punish those who misbehaved on the tour. This included using the guitar player from Left Spine Down as a human dartboard, smashing a crew member’s fingers with a Spaghettios can, and smashing the drummer to Blownload’s nuts with a sledgehammer and cinder block. Oh and Jim’s wife also came out and licked a live scorpion. He then introduced the Revolting Cocks.

Revolting Cocks

Revolting Cocks

Now I was aware ahead of time that Al Jourgensen was only going to be playing a few dates with the band this tour and that Chicago was one of them. When the band came out, I recognized the singer and guitar player from the last time Revco were here but the rest of the faces on the stage were all new, and also I noticed there was no Al! I was hoping that maybe he was just going to come out after the first song or something.

Revolting Cocks

Revolting Cocks

They opened with “Stainless Steel Providers” which is one of the finest Revolting Cocks tunes of all time. While he is no Chris Connely, the current Revco singer Josh Bradford did a fine job on his vocal duties and is a pretty charismatic front man in his own right. They followed it up with a bunch of newer songs including, “HookerBot 3000”, and “Red Parrot”. When they got to somewhat older material again like, “Something Wonderful” and “Let’s Get Physical” I thought for sure Al would come out and so did many in the crowd but no such luck, this band of new guys just kept on playing and while they did an admirable job and put on a good performance, it still felt like a Revolting Cocks cover band and not really authentic seeing as how there was exactly zero original members up on that stage for nearly the entire evening.

Revolting Cocks

Revolting Cocks

Near the end of their main set, they played “Keys to the City” which is the song Al did for the Chicago Blackhawks, I thought “there’s no way he won’t come out and play on this one” but sure enough, he didn’t! The band finished their main set with “Purple Head” which is their take off on “Purple Haze”. After a few minutes they came out for their first encore and still no Al! They played, “I’m Not Gay” for which Josh came out wearing a cocktail dress, and a hybrid of “Beers, Steers and Queers” and “Crackin’ Up”.

Revolting Cocks

Revolting Cocks

Revolting Cocks

At this point Al Jourgensen finally came out for the last two songs which were both covers. The first was “Bang a Gong” and Al played guitar and sang backup on, the second was “Do You Think I’m Sexy” where he did the same. During the latter they invited a bunch of the more scantily clad and interesting looking ladies from the crowd to dance on stage while the band played. It was mildly entertaining and everyone on stage seemed to be having a fun time. As soon as they finished that song they left the stage and the club quickly ushered people out so they could close the venue.