If the story of underground/industrial music had a patron saint, it might as well be Chris Connelly. Born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland, Connelly began his journey in the early 1980s with his band Fini Tribe. In the early 1980s, be became deeply entrenched in the universe of Chicago's legendary Wax Trax! Records — the incubator of industrial music's most celebrated and defining sounds. After meeting Al Jourgensen in London, he was quickly recruited into the Revolting Cocks and moved to the Windy City where went on to make major contributions to Ministry, Pigface, Murder Inc., and the Cabaret Voltaire/Jourgensen collaboration Acid Horse.
Connelly's 1991 solo debut Whiplash Boychild was a thunderbolt — an ambitious effort unlike anything Connelly or Wax Trax! had issued before, recalling Bowie and Bolan at times while experimenting with avant-garde song structures — and was followed by the glam-drenched, Bowie-esque Shipwreck in 1994. He has since released over 25 solo albums and 10+ additional band albums, lending his voice to dozens of collaborations across several genres, resulting in literally over 600 total songs — a body of work that places him firmly in the artistic elite of post-punk and industrial music.
When Wax Trax! closed its doors, Connelly didn't slow down. His new output revealed an artist as something of a shape-shifter. His output ranged from the spare acoustic folk of The Ultimate Seaside Companion to the muscular Blonde Exodus with the Bells, while collaborations continued with industrial giants KMFDM and supergroup the Damage Manual which brought together Geordie Walker of Killing Joke and former Public Image Ltd. bassist Jah Wobble.
In 2013, Connelly launched Cocksure with Jason C. Novak and Bells into Machines with Paul Barker, and by 2016 had resurrected the Revolting Cocks with Richard 23 of Front 242 — proving his allegiance to the spirit of Wax Trax! His prolific recent output includes Decibels From Heart featuring guest vocalists like Meshell Ndegeocello, Eulogy to Christa — a 24-track tribute to the music and mystique of Nico — and White Phosphorus in 2025, his bold interpretation of Throbbing Gristle's material, capping off a career that refuses to calcify. Add to all this, a 466-page collected volume of lyrics and poems spanning forty years, with a foreword by Shirley Manson, and you have one of the most restless, fearless, and flat-out essential figures in the history of alternative music. Let's get this party started.
","author_name":"Daniel House"}