Electric Hellfire Club
Their name is derived from the English 18th Century group of Satanic society swingers known as the Hellfire Club. The band was formed in an attempt to emulate the playful, pleasure-loving devilment of their 18th Century inspiration in a musical (thus 'Electric') form. At the band's heart is the vocalist, synthesiser programmer and Satanist Thomas Thorn. Thorn had previously been in the seminal industrial dance act the Thrill Kill Kult under the name Buck Ryder. In 1991 he had become alienated by their increasingly commercial direction and contemptuous attitude to darker topics. He left and formed the Electric Hellfire Club with a diverse group of musicians, including the Reverend Doctor Luv (keyboards), Ronny Valeo (guitars) and Janna Flail (drums) who was later replaced on percussion by Richard Frost. All of them brought different influences into the band's sound, from heavy metal and ethnic music, to punk and techno. Thorn's own fascination with '60s psychedelia adds to this cocktail to create a style which is distinctive and colourful. Frivolous and sinister in equal parts, the Electric Hellfire Club roam far from the clichéd stamping grounds of Satanic rock.