March 1, 2016 sees the release of Chris’s first full-length collaboration with the amazing Michael Begg.
Chris writes, “New Town Nocturnes is neither song nor poem, rather six studies of the Edinburgh I grew up in, the people I knew and encountered there and the places I frequented, my words given amazing vistas by the sounds and music Michael created for them.”
Available on Jnana Records.
Cocksure‘s second album, Corporate_Sting, is set for an August 21st release on Metropolis Records!
You can get a taste of what’s to come right now by checking out their first video from the album, for the track “Razor Invader”:
Corporate_Sting is available for pre-order on CD and limited edition vinyl. It’s already getting great reviews, so you won’t want to miss it.
Also, don’t miss Chris and Jason as they hit a few festivals this year, including Cold Waves in September (with Severed Heads!). You can find their tour dates on Facebook.
After COCKSURE offered 3 separate releases on 3 different labels in 2014, this year the boys bring out another full-length LP on Metropolis one year to the date of their debut full-length. “Corporate_Sting” delivers 10 punches to the face, innovative industrial cum punk cum mega-mixx old school Doc Marten stompers, including a cover of a classic 30-year old Severed Heads tune.
Written and produced by Connelly and Novak at Cracknation Studios, “Corporate_Sting” lives low on the log of the seedy underbelly of society, taking aim at the exploiters, the thieves, the dealers and the corruptors, cranking up the heavy drums and the dirty bass while raising the ghost of classic Wax Trax!-era sounds, bathed in future horrors and catastrophe.
Album includes a guest “memo” written by Duane Swierczynski, published author of “Severance Package”, “The Blonde” and a writer for the monthly Marvel Comics series Cable, plus photography by Black Pearl Photo.
Cocksure is Christopher J. Connelly (MINISTRY, REVOLTING COCKS, SONS OF THE SILENT AGE) and Jason C. Novak (ACUMEN NATION, DJ? ACUCRACK, CZAR).
There’s a lovely interview with Chris over at Chaos Control Digizine, in which Chris talks about Decibels From Heart, the new Cocksure album, and more… check it out!
ReGen Magazine reviewed Decibels From Heart and gave it four stars — thank you very much!
Speaking of reviews, please add yours over at Amazon or iTunes!
Hope you’re enjoying Decibels From Heart!
Decibels From Heart features a stellar line-up of guest vocalists including Meshell Ndegeocello, actress/singer Rebecca Pidgeon, former Pigface alum Ruby, and more! Chris has put together a magnificent band including Scott Bennett who has played with Beach Boy Brian Wilson, Mike Farrell of Morrissey, and Matt Walker ex-Filter, Smashing Pumpkins and Garbage!
Tuesday, May 12 is the release date for Chris’s 15th solo album, Decibels from Heart.
Two years in the making, the album was produced by Matt Walker and features contributions from Ruby, Rebecca Pidgeon, Meshell Ndegeocello, Claire Massey, My Brightest Diamond, and Roxy Swain.
A track listing, samples, and order information will be coming soon, so stay tuned!
From Chris…
It has been another prolific year for me, but I still honestly feel like I could have achieved more! One of the biggest events was the tragic death of my friend and collaborator, Jamie Duffy, and so this late summer saw the current version of the Revolting Cocks play under the name “Cocks Members” to help raise funds for his funeral expenses. It was actually as close to a Cocks show as I have felt in over 20 years. We went on late (after 1am) because all of the onstage technology had beer spilled on it, or was just broken. But, once we were up there, I felt we delivered the goods, which is not to say we were bastions of professionalism-quite the reverse–but that’s what the Cocks are about!
I wrote and finished a new double album, “Day of Knowledge”, which just came out on the label Klangalerie based in Vienna. My friend, Gordon Sharpe (from Cindytalk), introduced me to them. The album features collaborators old and new, including STEPHEN MALLINDER from Cabaret Voltaire and JIM O’ROURKE, amongst others. “Artificial Madness” came out on red vinyl! I also released a cassette only album, “The Collapse of Ether”, and a collaborative flexidisc with ghost researcher Michael Esposito.
The last part of this year has been dedicated to SONS OF THE SILENT AGE, a band honouring the music of David Bowie. I’m doing it along with my old friend, Matt Walker — Matt is the brother of Sol Snyder, he of the SHIPWRECK band. Matt and I have worked on and off for years. The band also features Shirley Manson, whom I have been close friends with since we were runway models in 1984! This band will then be the second time we have shared a stage (the first being back then in ’84!). The show is for pediatric cancer relief.
93XRT Welcomes…
A Benefit for Pablove Foundation/Rock For Kids…
SONS OF THE SILENT AGE: playing the music of David Bowie, featuring SHIRLEY MANSON, MATT WALKER, CHRIS CONNELLY and more
WACO BROTHERS: playing T.REX
DEATH ON THE AUTOBAHN: playing KRAFTWERK
Tickets go on sale Saturday, November 17 at 12 PM
$20 in advance or $25 day of
Show date: Friday, January 11, 2013
Doors: 6:30PM | Show: 7:30PM
This is an all ages show
Tickets and venue: Metro, 3730 N. Clark St., Chicago
Learn more about Sons of the Silent Age (PDF)
“Why have we never put a band together to play Bowie songs?” a mystified Chris Connelly asked his friend and collaborator Matt Walker. “I don’t know… I’ve thought about it so many times”, came the equally mystified reply.
…And that is exactly what they did: a unique opportunity arose to organize a benefit show for the Pablove Foundation, an organization dedicated to funding pediatric cancer research and to the empowerment of the families of young cancer patients.
Messrs. Connelly & Walker are both 30+ year veterans of the music business. Amongst their many other projects, Chris was a member of both the Revolting Cocks and Ministry, while Matt was a member of Filter, Smashing Pumpkins and Morrissey’s band. After assembling an impressive band of musicians to join their cause, songs were selected with care and integrity from the amazingly eclectic and extensive canon of David Bowie. The band has worked them, making them their own, perhaps in the same way Bowie would have-embracing the icon’s lifelong thirst for experimentation, collaboration, and above all, change.
This performance is set to take place at Metro in Chicago on the 12th of January 2013, the week of Bowie’s 66th year on Earth. The band will be augmented by their close friend and peer, Garbage’s Shirley Manson, bringing her own breathtaking skills and aesthetic to some of the greatest songs ever written.
CHRIS CONNELLY – vocals
MATT WALKER – drums
SHIRLEY MANSON – vocals
ROBERT BYRNE – guitar
RICH PARENTI – vocals, percussion, sax
CLAIRE MASSEY – vocals, percussion
CAROLYN ENGELMANN – keyboards, vocals
ALAN BERLIANT – bass
STEVE GERLACH – guitar
Sound Opinions hosts Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot–two of the finest and best-recognized pop music writers in the nation—sit down with living legends from Chicago’s musical movements of the 1980s including Chris Connelly (Revolting Cocks, Ministry), Santiago Durango (Naked Raygun, Big Black) and “Godfather of House” DJ Frankie Knuckles to explore the music and politics of the decade.
This event was co-produced by Chicago Public Media (WBEZ-Chicago) and is presented in conjunction with the MCA exhibition This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s. Based in Chicago, Sound Opinions is hosted by Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot, who for over a decade were dedicated competitors at Chicago’s two daily newspapers–Jim at the Chicago Sun-Times and Greg at the Chicago Tribune. Today, Jim writes about music for WBEZ.org and teaches criticism at Columbia College. Every week, Sound Opinions fires up smart and spirited discussions about a wide range of popular music, from indie rock to classic rock, hip hop to R&B, and every genre under the sun.
Recorded Tuesday, March 6, 2012 at the MCA Theatre.
Pictures from the MCA event (by Jerry Schulman)
Audio from MCA
Chris was interviewed by Steve Edwards on WBEZ’s “Afternoon Shift” in Chicago.
Listen to the interview online