This past week, Nine Inch Nails launched their highly anticipatedPeel It Back Tour 2025 with the first three shows of the 41-date global run taking place in Dublin, Manchester, and London. The tour introduces one of the band’s most ambitious productions to date: a four-act experience rooted in classic NIN style but reimagined through cutting-edge design.
Since the beginning of their career, Nine Inch Nails have been known for their incredible live show and inspired visuals. For this tour, Reznor worked alongside creative director Todd Tourso and MTLA.studio. Joining them is long time NIN lighting designer, Paul “Arlo” Guthrie.. The show features raw, handheld cinematography and immersive visuals projected onto translucent fabric—foregoing traditional LED panels and video screens in favor of a 3D, multi-layered environment unlike anything fans have seen before.
Industrial rockers to top South Stage on Saturday 21 June
The new year brings a new headliner for #GMM25! On Saturday 21 June 2025, legendary American industrial rockers Nine Inch Nails will make their first GMM appearance. Helmed by mastermind Trent Reznor, the band has been pushing the boundaries of rock, electronica and industrial ever since its inception in 1988.
Today, Nottingham-based industrial rock outfit PITCHSHIFTER have re-released their long-lost original version of their monster single ‘[NOS] Genius’. The unheard and recovered version of the track comes as a celebration of 27 years since the release of the band’s magnum opus album, www.pitchshifter.com, and comes with more than a few surprises, including killer mixes from Wargasm, Enter Shikari, This Is Menace and more.
THE AMERICAN DREAM TOUR with Special Guests EVA X, MECHANICAL VEIN, and NYXX Announced!
New York based, dark electro-pop artist DANNY BLU and Boston, MA based, violent industrial bass pioneer MORIS BLAK have teamed up to release their high energy cover of the 1989 JANET JACKSON hit single, “Rhythm Nation.” Featuring a blood pumping soundscape with glitchy synths and distorted vocals, the duo’s intense cover is an enticing taste of their upcoming co-headline tour with special guests EVA X, as well as Mechanical Vein and NYXX on select dates!
In celebration of 36 years, MY LIFE WITH THE THRILL KILL KULT will hit the road this Spring after a four year hiatus. The “Evil Eye Tour” kicks off May 14th, 2023 at the Nile Theater in Mesa, AZ. The set list for the 14-date western US tour will focus heavily on the band’s early career on both the Wax Trax and Interscope record labels (1987 – 1997). Joining TKK as direct support will be Detroit’s avant-garde electronic duo ADULT. and underground pop purveyor KANGA completes the bill.
Hailing from Chicago’s renowned Wax Trax! Records stable of artists, MY LIFE WITH THE THRILL KILL KULT have been conjuring up sonic tales of sex, blasphemy and kitschy horror since 1987. The band helped develop the industrial music genre, yet have continued to expand their style, creating one of the most diverse repertoires in modern music. Electronic rock, heavily influenced by both disco and funk can best describe their sound, while spoken-word samples lifted from B-movies gives the band their signature mark. They have released 14 studio albums, a slew of remix compilations, and have contributed to a variety of soundtracks and film scores, including a cameo performance in the 1994 cult movie classic The Crow.
Artist Franke Nardiello and musician Marston Daley, two Chicago neighbors who enjoyed late night binges watching trashy exploitation films and horror flicks, wanted to make their own movie to be called “My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult”. While the project never came to fruition, they wrote some music to be the accompanying soundtrack. Both worked at the Wax Trax record store, and when label founders Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher heard the songs, they were intrigued. Using the film title as the name of the band, they released a 3-song EP in early 1988. The response was overwhelming, and it was clear fans wanted to hear more.
Taking the stage names Groovie Mann (Nardiello) and Buzz McCoy (Daley), the duo began to focus on music full time. They created an occult meets leather biker image to compliment the band’s name which included enlisting a bevy of voluptuous back-up singers / dancers known as the BOMB GANG GIRLZ. In June of ’88, they flew to label mate Luc Van Acker’s studio in Belgium to record their first album, I See Good Spirits and I See Bad Spirits. It was recorded in just ten days, and mixed in another ten days at Southern Studios in London. The fans ate it up! They followed up with two hard-hitting dance floor 12” tracks – Kooler Than Jesus (1989) and Cuz It’s Hot (1990), which features no-wave chanteuse Lydia Lunch on vocals. The New York Times wrote, “Sex, blasphemy, big beats and go-go dancing; they’re all in a day’s work for My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult”. This attracted the attention of indie fans, as well as the ire of the PMRC and conservative religious groups in practically equal measure. By the time of their sophomore release, Confessions Of A Knife (1990), they were far and away one of the biggest selling acts on the label.
1991 saw the release of their third album, Sexplosion!, a calculated sonic and visual departure from their previous work. 1950’s pin-up models replaced the demonic imagery, while sleazy stripper horns, disco beats and house diva vocals (provided by artist Shawn Christopher) took prominence over the more abrasive musical elaments.They put together a provocative stage show, complete with spinning police lights, mirror balls and a stocked bar with bartender to serve the scantily clad musicians and dancers while they performed. Alternative Press reviewed the show as “Sin-sational!”, while Melody Maker described it as “A Cabaret from Hell”. It was a huge success, and the album sold so well (fueled by the phenomenal radio hit “Sex On Wheelz”) that the group signed a deal with Interscope Records shortly afterwards and released two more albums – 13 Above the Night (1993), and Hit & Run Holiday (1995).
Hollywood also embraced the KULT, recognizing the unique cinematic aspect in their sound. Most notably, the band scored five songs for animator Ralph Bakshi’s Cool World (1992) and wrote the lap dance song for director Paul Verhoven’s saucy Showgirls (1993). Comedies BASEketball and The Flintstones Movie prominently feature songs from the Hit & Run Holiday album. They have been roasted by MTV’s Beavis & Butthead, and were written into the story line of the film Sexy Evil Genius which also features the song “A Daisy Chain 4 Satan”. Most recently the club hit “Kooler Than Jesus” can be heard blasting in Season 3 of the Netflix series Narcos.
The band moved to Rykodisc in 1997 and re-released their entire remastered / repackaged catalog, along with five more studio albums, including an homage to 70’s disco era called Gay Black & Married, and the sultry and decadent Filthiest Show In Town (2007). They also formed their own label, SleazeBox Records, in 2001, enabling the release of a growing number of side-projects in addition to new TKK material.
Today SLEAZEBOX.com boasts the complete THRILL KILL KULT catalog, in addition to related works such as Mann’s DARLING KANDIE, and McCoy’s self titled projects. They continue to work with Wax Trax! Records for the purpose of re-issuing special limited edition vinyl. Buzz and Groovie still record and perform live along with veteran band mates Mimi Star (bass) and Justin Thyme (drums), all the while making a reputation for themselves as one of the most notorious and controversial cult bands of their generation.
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