The Lords of the New Church

The Lords of the New Church were a British-American rock band. A supergroup, the line-up originally consisted of four musicians from 1970s punk bands. This line-up comprised vocalist Stiv Bators (ex-the Dead Boys), guitarist Brian James (ex-the Damned), bassist Dave Tregunna (ex-Sham 69) and drummer Nick Turner (ex-the Barracudas). Launched in 1981, the band released three studio albums prior to their dissolution in 1989. During this time, they underwent several line-up changes.

More melodic and slickly produced than most punk, their music both reached a broader audience than that of many bands in the genre and alienated hardcore punk fans.

The band was re-established between 2001–2003, and again briefly in 2007, with original members James and Tregunna. The band reunited for a final time, prior to James’ death, with ex-Hanoi Rocks singer Michael Monroe, at the behest of Vive Le Rock magazine, at their annual awards show at London's Shepherds Bush Empire on 6 April 2023. Former Clash, Hanoi Rocks and original Lords drummer Terry Chimes took Turner's place, except for 'New Rose', played by Rat Scabies, who'd just presented James with the Pioneer Award.

History

Formation (1980–1981)

Stiv Bators and Brian James first met each other in 1977 when the Dead Boys opened for the Damned on a few CBGB dates in New York and an English tour. Bators had met the band in Los Angeles a few months before, and they had got on well together. James: "That was really the ticket to get Stiv over to London, so we could work. So they'd be rehearsing for this thing and getting it together, while me and Stiv in private would be working on stuff which was to become Lords stuff." With a change of name to the Wanderers, the short-lived band released only one album before disbanding in 1981. This finally allowed Bators and James to form their own band, having already aroused the interest of Miles Copeland, co-founder of I.R.S. Records. Since Scabies was already committed to the Damned, they soon recruited Nick "Nicky" Turner of the Barracudas as their full-time drummer.

While brainstorming band names, Copeland had suggested the Lords of Discipline. described by New Noise Magazine as a "seedy concoction of spidery guitars, sleazy bass lines, jungle drums and gothic keyboards." For the subsequent tour, the band enhanced their live sound with keyboardist Matt Irving, who had also played on the album. The Lords of the New Church was well-received and No. 27 on the US Rock chart. Two other singles, "New Church" and "Russian Roulette", reached No. 34 and No. 12 on the UK Indie Chart, respectively. The song was later covered by Nouvelle Vague in 2006.

Their third album, 1984's The Method to Our Madness, peaked at No. 158 on the US Billboard 200, The Method to Our Madness was remixed for a 1985 US release. Mark Taylor replaced Irving as the band's new touring member.

In early 1985, the Lords recorded Madonna's "Like a Virgin" and released it as a single a few months later. James: "That was Miles' idea. It got nothing to do with us at all. We saw him in the office one day and he said, "I got this great idea." Around the same time, two songs were recorded for a planned follow-up single that never materialized: "Lord's Prayer", written for the band by T.V. Smith, and a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Hey Tonight". Both songs were produced by Steven Van Zandt and included on the compilation album Killer Lords in late 1985.

Tregunna had for some time been dissatisfied with the band's management, convinced that they were being exploited by Copeland. They contributed two songs to I.R.S.'s soundtrack for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2: "Good to Be Bad" and "Mind Warp". The songs weren't written specifically with the film in mind, according to Bators: "They were actual Lords' songs. When we got approached about it, I read the script and adapted the lyrics to it." to be replaced by Danny Fury and a returning Tregunna in 1988. The Lords continued to gig around England and Europe for the next year and a half. In 1988, Illegal released the live album Live at the Spit, recorded in Boston during the Lords' first American tour in 1982. Perfect Beat released two further live albums in 1988 and 1989: Scene of the Crime, recorded in Zürich in January 1985; and Second Coming, recorded during an October 1988 tour of Germany. A studio recording of The Creation's "Making Time" was released as a single in 1988 by Perfect Beat.

The Lords of the New Church broke up when Bators ended the band onstage after a concert on 2 May 1989, at the London Astoria. In order to pay off a tax bill, the Lords had booked a tour in spring of 1989. When Bators was told about the forthcoming gigs, he declined to do them. "Stiv said he couldn't do those shows because apparently he's hurt his back very badly", Tregunna said in 2003. When Bators, who by this time was living in Paris, eventually agreed to do only one show, the rest of the band decided to put an advert in the music press looking for a stand-in singer for the remaining dates. "We thought "If it looks like anyone could possibly do it, and it is a chance in a million, we'll then introduce him to Stiv", James said in 2007. "All these people came down, but none of them were right, so we thought "Let's not even mention this to Bators." ... And so we did this show at the Astoria in London and sure enough he came on at the end with a T-shirt with our ad on it, and started to fire us all."

Bators died after being struck by a car in Paris in 1990. Miller and Ozzy departed the band after the UK leg of the tour and was replaced by Adam Becvare on vocals and guitar and Steve Murray on drums. which was sold at gigs without any official record company release.

James, Tregunna, Becvare and former Lords touring keyboard player Mark Taylor reunited in October 2007 for a one-off 25th anniversary gig at the 100 Club in London. 2007

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Other appearances

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 Soundtrack, 1986 (I.R.S.) – "Good to Be Bad", "Mind Warp"

References

External links

The Lords of The New Church - Live For Today