With all the cut-rate rehashes of meaningless entertainment phenomena currently making the rounds (90210 and Melrose Place, we're looking at you), it's time a true landmark of '80s/'90s music became known to a new generation of listeners. That would be the Revolting Cocks. Singer Josh Bradford joined the industrial/metal band in 2006, helping them pick up where they left off after a hiatus from 1994-2004.
"I'm just trying to figure out how I woke up with these marks and other people's lingerie and have to ask, 'That's not mine, is it?'" he says. "There are bruises all over me, and it's kind of creepy, but I like it."
What began in 1985 as the first of many side projects for Al Jourgensen of industrial rock powerhouse Ministry has now spawned its fifth full-length album of hooligans and hedonism caught on tape: Sex-O Olympico, along with the companion remix collection Sex-O MiXXX-O. To use a cliché, it's not your daddy's RevCo (the truncated form of the band name used to get past censors), but the same idea remains: While Ministry was the soundtrack to a death march, RevCo's music suggests Animal House crossed with Deliverance.
With this incarnation of RevCo, Jourgensen took a step back and let Bradford, along with fellow new recruits Sin Quirin and Clayton Worbeck, loose in the studio and on the road. The result is downhome favorites like "I'm Not Gay" and "Hookerbot3000" — celebrations of debauchery that would make John Belushi and Chris Farley blush.
"With the songs on this record, we wanted to bring out that sexy, yet tongue-in-cheek vibe," says Bradford. "It kind of just went from that. There was also a lot of inspiration just from going out and drinking with Al [Jourgensen] from the last tour [in 2006], going out and meeting crazy people on the road. In few cases, Al and I would joke about something, and that would immediately get me to start writing on the spot."
Bradford acknowledges that RevCo have an extensive legacy to carry. Cocks who have since pulled out include former Ministry associates Chris Connelly and Paul Barker, Belgian musician Luc Van Acker and, for a short period, Trent Reznor. Bradford knows that some longtime fans might not think this lineup is the real deal.
"The crowd is all over the place, from half-naked 18-year-old girls to fortysomethings that picked up the early records back in the day," says Bradford. "With some of the old-school fans, you can tell they're a real hard sell. But so far, after each show, we get a couple of old-school fans saying they can see why Al picked us up to carry the torch. We know we have big shoes to fill."
They also have a considerable reputation to live up to on the road. RevCo are famous for engaging in every possible form of excess both onstage and off. However, Bradford takes the live show seriously.
"I'm not going to give away the surprises for the show, but I will say that with Al, the main focus was to be really tight as a band," he says. "In the end, it's less about things going crazy and more about getting a tight rock band together."
