Christian Death/CD1334 Call It A Day - Final Show Later This Month

The original ("Only Theatre of Pain") Christian Death line-up (minus Rozz Williams) reunited just over a year and, after some initial shows in Los Angeles, have been touring Europe. I was hoping the band would come to the East Coast but, according to Rikk Agnew's MySpace page, the band's show in Mexico City on March 29th will be the band's last.

It sounded like a good idea when the band got back together and a new album was supposed to follow. Unfortunately, the band seemed to be plagued by problems from the get-go. First George Belanger (drums) dropped out of the band and then the lawsuit from Valor followed. It appears that bassist James McGearty has also left the band, replaced by someone named Corwin.

A live DVD from the band's first official show last April at the Henry Fonda Theatre was supposed to have been released in December on Horror Rock Records but it doesn't look like the site has been updated in a while. Hopefully this disc doesn't end up getting tied up in litigation...

There are a bunch of clips from the band's reunion tour on YouTube. Here is Spiritual Cramp from the band's show in Madrid.

Christian Death 1334 - Spiritual Cramp

Dinah Cancer / 45 Grave - Back From the Dead

45 Grave @ CBGB, NYC March 5, 2006 

Today I have going through pictures from shows I attended earlier this year and found my pictures from 45 Grave's show at CBGB this past March. I saw 45 Grave last year at one of the "Save CBGB" benefit shows when the band had recently reformed.


Dinah Cancer & 45 Grave @ CBGB, NYC March 5, 2006 


The only original member of the band is Dinah Cancer . At last year's show, the guitarist was Rikk Agnew (x-Christian Death, Adolsecent) but this year, Dinah's band appears to be unknowns. The shows were a lot of fun if you want to relive the 80's death rock era but these shows won't convert new fans. There were no new songs and, while the backing band was competent, they didn't have the musical chops of Don Bolles, Rob Graves/Ritter or Paul Cuttler.

As a side note, I had a chance to talk with Don Bolles a few months back and told him that I had seen the reunited 45 Grave at a "Save CBGB" show. His immediate comment was "I'm sure they sucked".


45 Grave @ CBGB, NYC March 5, 2006 

What was fairly interesting is that the band had some of their original CDs for sale which have been long out of print and have just been reissued. As titles like "Sleep In Safety" and "Only the Good Die Young" have been long out of print (and going for too much on eBay), I was glad to be able to pick up both of these CDs at an affordable price. Both CDs are great and highly recommended.



If you are a fan of early Christian Death, Sisters of Mercy, The Misfits and the like, 45 Grave are certainly worth catching live.

UPDATE:
I was surfing YouTube and ran across a video of the original 45 Grave.
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45 Grave - Live on New Wave Theater