About Revolting Cocks

Revolting Cocks, also known as RevCo, was an American-Belgian industrial rock band and sometime supergroup from Chicago, Illinois, United States that began as a musical side-project in 1985 for Richard 23 of Front 242, Luc Van Acker, and Al Jourgensen of Ministry. The group was founded by Richard 23 and Luc Van Acker with Al Jourgensen as their producer. According to Jourgensen, the band got their name after a fight in a Chicago bar in 1983. Jourgensen, Richard 23 and Luc Van Acker celebrated the formation of the new band with a few drinks. The evening then ended up in a brawl, with bar stools being thrown through the establishment's windows. As he was throwing the trio out, the owner, a man Jourgensen recalls was named Dess, shouted, "I'm calling the police! You guys are a bunch of revolting cocks!" The trio subsequently decided to use the name for their band. Their first release was No Devotion on Wax Trax! Records in 1985. The single was quickly followed by an album, Big Sexy Land (1986), featuring a mix of industrial, hard rock, and ebm with dominating sampling and strong synthesized beats. Losing Richard 23 due to creative differences, the group's remaining two members were augmented by a rapidly changing set of musicians centered on Chris Connelly (Cocksure, Bells Into Machines, Murder Inc., and Damage Manual), Paul Barker (Ministry, Lead Into Gold, Flowering Blight, and Bells Into Machines), and Bill Rieflin (Ministry, Pigface, R.E.M., and King Crimson), with around twenty others as irregular contributors or guest artists. The following live album, You Goddamned Son of a Bitch (1988), featured a return to Ministry-like industrial rock - the Big Sexy Land tracks embedded in shouting and noise. This trend continued on Beers, Steers, and Queers (1990), layering sample over sample and pushing ever further into distortion. Linger Ficken' Good (1993) was released by Sire Records and was a tamer affair, most tracks returning to the less layered material. Included was a cover of Rod Stewart's "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?," also released as a single. A tour was planned but cancelled, and the band quietly came to an end in 1994. In 2004, Jourgensen and Phildo Owens (Skatenigs, Snow Black) revived the group. They released an album entitled Cocked and Loaded (2006). Caliente (Dark Entries), a cover of sorts of Dark Entries by Bauhaus, with vocalist Gibby Haynes (Butthole Surfers), was featured on the soundtrack to Saw II in 2005. After assembling a touring line up to open for Ministry on the MasterBaTour of 2006, Jourgensen chose vocalist Josh Bradford (Stayte, Simple Shelter, V.H.S.), keyboardist Clayton Worbeck (Stayte, Simple Shelter), and guitarist Sin Quirin (Society 1, Ministry and ReVamp) as the new full-time members for the Revolting Cocks, now simply being called RevCo. The group recorded Sex-O Olympic-O and officially released the album on March 3, 2009. It was followed up by the last RevCo album Got Cock?, released on April 13, 2010. In celebration of Wax Trax! Records, the "Wax Trax! Records Retrospectacle: 33 1/3 Year Anniversary" was held from April 15-17, 2011 at the Metro in Chicago, Illinois, United States. As a part of the lineup, Chris Connelly, Paul Barker and Luc Van Acker performed Revolting Cocks songs with various guests. For their performance on the 17th, Richard 23 joined them on stage to sing lead vocals on No Devotion. In 2014, Chris Connelly and Jason Novak (Acumen Nation, DJ? Acucrack, Iron Lung Corp) formed Cocksure, a project that bridges the gap between Wax Trax! era industrial dance music and the future sounds of mass corruption. The project is very influenced by the early RevCo sound, and has been described as "where the Revolting Cocks left off in 1994." Previous Members: Al Jourgensen - production, programming, and various instruments (1985-1993, 2004-2010) Luc Van Acker - vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards (1985-1991, 2006) Richard 23 - vocals, programming (1985-1986) Bill Rieflin - drums, keyboards, programming (1986-1993) Paul Barker - bass, keyboards, programming (1987-1993) Chris Connelly - vocals, programming (1987-1993) Phildo Owen - vocals, programming (1989-1991, 2004-2006) Duane Buford - keyboards (1993) Josh Bradford - vocals (2006-2010) Sin Quirin - guitars, bass, keyboards (2006-2010) Clayton Worbeck - keyboards, bass (2006-2010) Live Lineups: --------- 1987 --------- Al Jourgensen - keyboards, vocals, guitar Paul Barker - bass, keyboards Luc Van Acker - guitar, bass, vocals, keyboards Chris Connelly - vocals, keyboards Bill Rieflin - drums --------- 1988 --------- Al Jourgensen - keyboards, vocals, guitar Paul Barker - bass, keyboards Luc Van Acker - guitar, bass, vocals, keyboards Chris Connelly - vocals, keyboards Bill Rieflin - drums Nivek Ogre - vocals --------- 1990 --------- Al Jourgensen - guitar, backing vocals Paul Barker - bass Chris Connelly - vocals Phildo Owen - vocals Jeff Ward - drums Mark Durante - guitar, backing vocals Michael Balch - keyboards Kevin "Doc" Sullivan - keyboards, backing vocals Trent Reznor - vocals --------- 1991 --------- Al Jourgensen - guitar, backing vocals Paul Barker - bass Chris Connelly - vocals Phildo Owen - vocals Bill Rieflin - drums Mark Durante - guitar, backing vocals Michael Balch - keyboards Luc Van Acker - vocals --------- 2006 (Ministry's MasterBaTour) --------- Al Jourgensen - guitar, backing vocals Phildo Owen - vocals Luc Van Acker - vocals Josh Bradford - vocals Sin Quirin - guitar Clayton Worbeck - keyboards Anna K - bass Seven Antonopoulos - drums --------- 2009 (Ministry's LubricaTour) --------- Josh Bradford - vocals Sin Quirin - guitar Clayton Worbeck - keyboards, guitar Murv Douglas - bass Aaron Rossi - drums Mike Scaccia - guitar (selected dates) Al Jourgensen - guitar, backing vocals --------- 2011 (Wax Trax! Retrospectacle - April 15-17) --------- Luc Van Acker - vocals Paul Barker - bass Chris Connelly - vocals, keyboards Duane Buford - keyboards Jamie Duffy - guitar Dan Brill - drums Richard 23 - vocals Discography: 1985 - No Devotion (single) 1986 - Big Sexy Land (LP) 1986 - You Often Forget (single) 1988 - You Goddamned Son of a Bitch (live) 1989 - Stainless Steel Providers (single) 1989 - (Let's Get) Physical (single) 1990 - Beers, Steers, and Queers (LP) 1991 - Beers, Steers, and Queers (The Remixes) (single) 1993 - Linger Ficken' Good (LP) 1993 - Do Ya Think I'm Sexy? (single) 1994 - Crackin' Up (single) 2006 - Cocked and Loaded (LP) 2007 - Cocktail Mixxx (remix) 2009 - Sex-O Olympic-O (LP) 2009 - Sex-O MiXXX-O (remix) 2010 - Got Cock? (LP) 2011 - Got Mixxx (remix)