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Chris Connelly (musician)

Chris Connelly (born 11 November 1964) is a Scottish musician and author. He is notable for his industrial music work of the late 1980s and early 1990s, particularly his involvement with the Revolting Cocks and Ministry.

Early years

Connelly was born in Bruntsfield, Scotland to Michael and Sadie (née King) Connelly near the city centre of Edinburgh. Connelly's father died in a swimming accident early in his life, causing Chris to focus on artistic interests outside the home to help fill the void. Connelly's Scottish ancestry includes Irish descent through the Connellys and Murphys, who originally came from Ireland to Scotland. His mother's side, the Kings and the McCullochs, were from the Highlands and migrated to Glasgow in search of work.

Music career

Connelly began his music career in 1980 with the formation of Fini Tribe. Through subsequent years he fronted or was heavily involved with numerous notable industrial, dance, and new wave acts. In 2008, Connelly published a memoir of his early years in the music industry, Concrete, Bulletproof, Invisible, and Fried: My Life As A Revolting Cock (). It describes his professional debut in Finitribe, meeting Al Jourgensen in London, his involvement with the Revolting Cocks, Ministry, PTP, Acid Horse, Front Line Assembly, Murder, Inc., and Pigface, and the development of his solo career.

In 2008 the first of Chris's "politically active" trilogy of albums was released, entitled 'Forgiveness & Exile' (with contributions from Shirley Manson), soon followed by 2010's 'How this Ends' (last Connelly contribution by Bill Rieflin), and concluding with 2012's 'Day of Knowledge' (with electronic music by Jim O'Rourke, who also played bass on 1997's 'The Ultimate Seaside Companion'). 2010 also saw the product of collaborative efforts with Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley and notable local Chicago "experimental metal" bass player and producer Sanford Parker dubbed The High Confessions with the resultant album 'Turning Lead into Gold'.

In 2013, he started two more industrial projects: Cocksure, with Jason C. Novak (Czar, Acumen Nation, and DJ? Acucrack), and Bells into Machines, with Paul Barker (Ministry, Revolting Cocks, and Lard), as well as the resurrection of the Cocks sans Al Jourgensen and with Richard 23 of Front 242 in 2016.

2017 saw the release of Malekko's eponymous effort 'Malekko', the brainchild of Paul Barker and sharing the same moniker as the electronic gear used during the recording of the 5 song mini-album. Some of the songs date as far back as 2012 when Chris Connelly was initially asked to participate but was unable to due to a hectic schedule, and the project was indefinitely shelved as more focus was put into Cocks shows and Connelly's own offshoot Cocksure, until finally finding the proper time to focus and write the lyrics and lay down vocal tracks to the already existing music.

In 2018 Chris was contacted to join The Joy Thieves, lending vocals to their debut release and title track 'This Will Kill That' in 2019. 2021 saw the fruition of a proper full-length album entitled 'American Parasite'.

The year 2025 saw the efforts of yet another "supergroup" of sorts Connelly finds himself in the middle of again called Sevendials, with former Killing Joke drummer Paul Ferguson and Mark Gemeni Thwaite (known as MGT) manning both six and four string guitars. The album 'A Crash Course in Catastrophe' was released to critical acclaim.

Personal life

Connelly is now based in Chicago and works at a record store in Wicker Park.

Band affiliations

Vocal appearances

1983

  • Cure for Madness - Fini Tribe
  • Bye Bye to the October Sky - Fini Tribe

1984

  • Cathedral - Fini Tribe
  • Curling Theme - Fini Tribe
  • Backwards and Forwards we Lean - Fini Tribe

1985

  • Goose Duplicates - Fini Tribe
  • An Evening with Clavichords - Fini Tribe
  • We're Interested - Fini Tribe
  • Splash Care - Fini Tribe

1986

  • De Testimony - Fini Tribe
  • Make It Internal - Fini Tribe

1987

  • I want More - Fini Tribe
  • Idiot Strength - Fini Tribe
  • Stick - Revolting Cocks

1988

  • Cattle Grind - Revolting Cocks
  • In the Neck - Revolting Cocks
  • TV Mind (remix) - Revolting Cocks
  • You often Forget - Revolting Cocks

1989

  • So What - Ministry
  • Never Believe - Ministry
  • Cannibal Song - Ministry
  • Stainless Steel Providers - Revolting Cocks
  • (Let's get) Physical - Revolting Cocks
  • No Name, No Slogan - Acid Horse
  • Rubber Glove Seduction - PTP

1990

  • Smacktime - Die Warzau
  • Can't sit Still - Revolting Cocks
  • Something Wonderful - Revolting Cocks
  • At the Top - Revolting Cocks
  • The Image of Red - Pigface
  • Little Sisters (remix) - Pigface
  • I told You not to Stop (In Tight Connelly Mix) - Final Cut

1991

  • Point Blank - Pigface
  • Public Image - Revolting Cocks
  • Careering - Pigface
  • Flowers of Romance - Pigface
  • Blood and Sand - Pigface
  • Weightless - Pigface
  • Murder Inc. - Murder, Inc.
  • Mania - Murder, Inc.

1992

  • I can Do no Wrong - Pigface
  • Ten Ground and Down - Pigface
  • 2000 Light Years from Home - F/i
  • Mrs. Whiskey Name - Murder, Inc.
  • Red Black - Murder, Inc.
  • Supergrass - Murder, Inc.
  • Primal Understanding - Final Cut
  • Tranquilized - Final Cut
  • Trash - CC
  • TV II - Ministry

1993

  • Bedazzled - The Love Interest
  • Desperado - Chris Connelly Band
  • Hole in the Wall - Murder, Inc.
  • Uninvited Guest - Murder, Inc.
  • Gambit - Murder, Inc.
  • Sergio - Revolting Cocks
  • Dirt - Revolting Cocks
  • Creep - Revolting Cocks
  • Butcher Flower's Woman - Revolting Cocks

1994

  • Mr. Lucky - Revolting Cocks
  • The Rockabye - Revolting Cocks
  • Crackin' Up - Revolting Cocks
  • Da Ya think I'm Sexy? - Revolting Cocks
  • Last of the Urgents - Murder, Inc.
  • Motion Sickness - Murder, Inc.
  • ' Songs for Swingin' Junkies ' - CC with William Tucker

1995

  • Don't bring Harry - Swingin' Junkies
  • Eleanor Rigby - Swingin' Junkies
  • Walk on By - Swingin' Junkies
  • Search and Destroy - Swingin' Junkies
  • Lucky Jim - Swingin' Junkies
  • Cracked Actor - CC & the Shipwreck Band

1996

  • Ikons - KMFDM
  • Rules - KMFDM
  • Craze - KMFDM
  • Blame - KMFDM
  • Nothing at All - Final Cut
  • Sign of the Cross - Catherine
  • A Mutual Friend - CC

1999

  • Open Mouth - Bill Rieflin
  • Box - Chainsuck
  • Scissor Quickstep - The Damage Manual
  • Sunset Gun - The Damage Manual
  • Damage Addict - The Damage Manual
  • Blame and Demand - The Damage Manual
  • Leave the Ground - The Damage Manual

2000

  • King Mob - The Damage Manual
  • Ignore the Noise - The Damage Manual
  • Age of Urges - The Damage Manual
  • Top Ten Severed - The Damage Manual
  • The Peepshow Ghosts - The Damage Manual
  • Largo - CC with Bill Rieflin
  • Sea Song - CC with Bill Rieflin
  • Close Watch - CC with Bill Rieflin

2001

  • Stateless - The Damage Manual
  • Expand - The Damage Manual
  • Broadcasting - The Damage Manual
  • Moonlight feels Right - The Bells
  • Tears for Reep Daggle - Plastic Crimewave

2002

  • Saliva Bead - CC
  • All Fours - Fini Tribe
  • Me and my Shadow - Fini Tribe
  • Paperself - Fini Tribe
  • Doomsday - VooDou
  • No Man's Land - with Bill Rieflin
  • Hard Hearted Alice - CC
  • Niddrie Street Tape Loop Experiment - CC with Andy McGregor

2003

  • Miss Sway Action - Pigface
  • Insect/Suspect - Pigface
  • King of Negativity - Pigface
  • Friends of Mine - Everyoned
  • First to Know - Everyoned
  • Low End Flight - Everyoned
  • You wear It like Smoke - Everyoned

2004

  • Where are They Now? - CC
  • Knife Audition - Everyoned
  • Curtains - Everyoned
  • Glass shall Wake - Everyoned
  • Dancer's Legs - Everyoned
  • Quiet Life - The Damage Manual
  • South Pole Fighters - The Damage Manual

2005

  • Limited Edition - The Damage Manual
  • Revenge Fiction - The Damage Manual
  • I am War Again - The Damage Manual
  • Memories - The Damage Manual
  • Driven Menace - The Damage Manual
  • No Act of Grace - The Damage Manual
  • Subtraction - Jarboe
  • Don't make Me Go - CC

2006

  • Exile on Sunset Street - The Damage Manual
  • Laugh Track - The Damage Manual
  • Mad Dialect - The Damage Manual
  • Fire and Wine - CC
  • Bordell Geist - CC
  • Jubbergait Nurse - CC
  • Ordinary Things - Ahab Rex
  • While the Saints Cry - Ahab Rex
  • Wife - Ahab Rex

2007

  • Looking for a River - CC

2009

  • ' Lost Episodes ' - CC
  • Wide-Eyed and Legless - CC
  • Electric Knives Club - Pigface
  • Bodysnatchers - History of Violence

2010

  • Destroy the Light - Circle of Animals
  • Burning Inside - Plague Bringer
  • Mistaken for Cops - The High Confessions
  • Along came the Dogs - The High Confessions
  • The Listener - The High Confessions
  • Dead Tenements - The High Confessions
  • Chlorine and Crystal - The High Confessions

2011

  • I thought it was Snow, Instead it was Flies - The High Confessions
  • British Drug Lords - CC

2012

  • Heavy Water - Paul Barker
  • Evangelical Sound Barrier - Paul Barker
  • The Eternal - Nachtmystium
  • The Phantoms of Purgatory Souls - Phantom Plastics
  • ' The Collapse of Ether ' - CC

2013

  • Changes - Sons of the Silent Age
  • Queen Bitch - Sons of the Silent Age
  • Win - Sons of the Silent Age
  • Diamond Dogs - Sons of the Silent Age
  • Look Back in Anger - Sons of the Silent Age
  • D.J. - Sons of the Silent Age
  • Loving the Alien - Sons of the Silent Age
  • Ashes to Ashes - Sons of the Silent Age
  • Life on Mars? - Sons of the Silent Age

2014

  • ' TVMALSV ' - Cocksure
  • Black is the Colour - Human Greed
  • Patricia - Mushroom's Patience
  • Klusterfuck Kulture - Cocksure
  • The Craighouse Dogs - Blockader
  • Disfigure the Giving - Blockader
  • Leave All your Troubles Behind - Blockader
  • Ghosts of an unattended Hanging - Blockader
  • Image of Red cut in Half - Blockader
  • Space Oddity - Sons of the Silent Age

2015

  • ' Corporate Sting ' - Cocksure
  • Ghosts in Gaslight - Phantom Plastics (with Michael Esposito)
  • The Visit - with Michael Esposito
  • Hurry - with Michael Esposito
  • Behaviour - with Michael Esposito
  • Purgatory - with Michael Esposito
  • "Heroes" - Sons of the Silent Age
  • ' New Town Nocturnes ' - CC with Michael Begg

2016

  • Sound of Silence - Classical Blast
  • Heretic Hypocrite - Cocksure
  • Assault on Cocksure 13 - Cocksure
  • The Nurses of Cocksure Island - Cocksure
  • The Last Renoir (A Fiction) - CC
  • Wretched little Deity - Bells into Machines
  • Your Crime Scene-My Career - Bells into Machines
  • The Jean Genie - Sons of the Silent Age
  • Lazarus - Sons of the Silent Age
  • Sorrow - Sons of the Silent Age
  • Station to Station - Sons of the Silent Age

2017

  • The Whisper in Me - Malekko
  • Fate won't Conduct - Malekko
  • I'm slowly Breathing, Listen - Malekko
  • Cadence and Landscape - Malekko
  • Last to Fall, Repeat, Fall - Malekko
  • Ordinary Fascist - Bells into Machines
  • Stay - Sons of the Silent Age
  • Fame - Sons of the Silent Age
  • Star - Sons of the Silent Age
  • Sound and Vision - Sons of the Silent Age

2018

  • ' Be Rich ' - Cocksure
  • Missions - Bells into Machines
  • Sweet Life in Soaring Light - Bells into Machines
  • FILMS - Bells into Machines
  • ATF Shadow - Bells into Machines
  • Video of Slaughter - Bells into Machines
  • Machine Gun Odessa - Bells into Machines
  • Joe the Lion - Sons of the Silent Age
  • Sons of the Silent Age - Sons of the Silent Age

2019

  • Saliva Beach (Death It to Love) - CC
  • Spitting Wind - Front Line Assembly
  • Your Heart in real Time - Primitive Race
  • This will kill That - The Joy Thieves
  • I'll give You Shape - Black Needle Noise
  • Here comes the Rain - Death Valley High
  • Waiting for Clouds - Morley & Friends
  • Moonage Daydream - Sons of the Silent Age
  • Panic in Detroit - Sons of the Silent Age
  • Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) - Sons of the Silent Age

2020

  • ' Operation C.O.C.K.S.U.R.E. ' - Cocksure
  • Scarlet Slip - Gasoline Invertebrate
  • The Badlander - The Joy Thieves
  • One of my Turns - The Joy Thieves
  • Mission Accomplished - Marc Heal
  • How Long - MGT
  • Covert - MGT
  • Death Sky - Nukes
  • Kites - CC
  • Stun to the One - CC
  • TVC 15 - Sons of the Silent Age
  • Ziggy Stardust - Sons of the Silent Age
  • Suffragette City - Sons of the Silent Age

2021

  • ' American Parasite ' - The Joy Thieves
  • My Favorite Things - Luxapan
  • Show Me your Spine - Luxapan
  • Desolate District - Sine
  • Genocide Love Song - The Joy Thieves
  • Nemesis - The Joy Thieves
  • Seed and Star - Jennifer Gallo
  • Chicken Shit - Chris Connelly Band
  • Fucking Up - Chris Connelly Band
  • Alladin Sane - Sons of the Silent Age
  • Young Americans - Sons of the Silent Age

2022

  • Property - The Joy Thieves
  • The Unknowing Muse - Sapphira Vee
  • Doctor Seraphim - Kooper Kain
  • Deaf Blood - The Derision Cult
  • Largo's Prayer - CC
  • Come Together - Lifeline International
  • The Opium Glove Puppet - CC
  • Abandoned Premonition - CC
  • Harbour Days II - CC
  • Femme Fatale - CC
  • Sixty Forty - CC

2023

  • Shelta's Lament - CC
  • Cat Black (The Wizard's Hat) - The Liquid Gang
  • Miss X - Joecephus and the George Jonestown Massacre
  • Elizabeth's Rock - CC
  • The Skye Boat Song - CC
  • Purity is Dead - CC
  • Come back early or Never Come - CC

2024

  • Courtesy of the USA - Cringe Fantasy
  • Obsession - Sevendials
  • Zodiac Morals - Sevendials
  • Whispering Wand - Sevendials
  • Wolves - Sevendials
  • Number One Song in Heaven - Sevendials
  • Golden Years - Sons of the Silent Age
  • Starman - Sons of the Silent Age
  • The Man who Sold the World - Sons of the Silent Age
  • This is not America - Sons of the Silent Age

2025

  • Welcome Home - Trade Secrets
  • The Constant - Fini Tribe
  • Restless - Fini Tribe
  • Throttlehearts - Fini Tribe
  • Weathervayne Days - Sevendials
  • Too High to Live - Sevendials
  • Knife without Asking - Sevendials
  • Corrupted Verse - Sevendials
  • Before you make your Distance - Sevendials
  • Heathen Earth - CC plays TG
  • Mother Spunk - CC plays TG
  • Fashion - Sons of the Silent Age
  • Under Pressure - Sons of the Silent Age

2026

  • Needles on the Tundra (remix) - Moiii
  • Blue Jean - Sons of the Silent Age
  • Let's Dance - Sons of the Silent Age
  • All the Young Dudes - Sons of the Silent Age
  • I'm afraid of Americans - Sons of the Silent Age

Solo discography

  • Whiplash Boychild (1991)
  • Phenobarb Bambalam (1992)
  • Shipwreck (1994)
  • Songs for Swinging Junkies (with William Tucker) (1994)
  • The Ultimate Seaside Companion (with The Bells) (1997)
  • Blonde Exodus (with The Bells) (2001)
  • Largo (with Bill Rieflin) (2000)
  • Private Education (2002)
  • Initials C.C.- Out-Takes, Rarities and Personal Favourites 1982-2002 Vol. 1 (2002)
  • Night of Your Life (2004)
  • Lounge Ax, Bottle, Elsewhere - '94/'01 (Initials C.C. Vol. 2) (2005)
  • Box Set (2006)
  • The Episodes (2007)
  • Forgiveness & Exile (2008)
  • Pentland Firth Howl (2009)
  • How This Ends (2010)
  • Artificial Madness (2011)
  • Day of Knowledge (2012)
  • The Collapse of Ether (2012)
  • Blockader: Recordings 83-88 (2014)
  • Decibels From Heart (2015)
  • New Town Nocturnes (with Michael Begg) (2016)
  • Art + Gender (2017)
  • Further Days (2017)
  • The Tide stripped Bare (2018)
  • Bloodhounds (2018)
  • Death It to Love (2019)
  • Sleeping Partner (2019)
  • Graveyard Sex (2020)
  • The Birthday Poems (2021)
  • Firth Rebirth (2021)
  • Abandoned Premonitions (2022)
  • LARGO 22 (2022)
  • Eulogy to Christa: A Tribute to the Music and Mystique of Nico (2022)
  • SHELTA (2023)
  • The Lives and Loves of the Serial Homesick, Vol. 1 (2024)
  • White Phosphorus (Chris Connelly plays Throbbing Gristle) (2025)

Guest appearances

Music compilation appearances

  • "Desperado" on Welcome to Our Nightmare: a Tribute to Alice Cooper (1993)
  • "A Mutual Friend" on Whore: Various Artists Play Wire (1996)
  • "Hard Hearted Alice" on Mutations – A Tribute To Alice Cooper (2002)
  • "What's Left But Solid Gold?" on ...It Just Is (2005)
  • "Don't Make Me Go" on Cash From Chaos – A Tribute to the Man in Black, Johnny Cash (2005)
  • "Looking for a River" on Whispers From the Offing (A Tribute to Kevin Coyne) (2007)

Bibliography

  • Confessions of the Highest Bidder: Poems and Songwords, 1982-1996 (1999) KB Publishing
  • Concrete, Bulletproof, Invisible and Fried (2007) SAF Publishing
  • Ed Royal (2010) Shipwrecked Industries
  • The Heart has to Ache before it Learns to Beat (2020) Shipwrecked Industries ISBN: 978-0-9664065-7-3

Spoken word

  • New Town Nocturnes (2016) a collaboration with Michael Begg

References

External links