THE LORDS OF THE NEW CHURCH
The Lords of the New Church was an English/American gothic rock supergroup with a line-up consisting of four musicians from 1970’s punk bands. Launched in 1982, the band had moderate chart success prior to their dissolution in 1989. (More from Wikipedia)
The Wanderers were dropped by Polydor Records and broke up almost immediately. Shortly thereafter, Stiv Bators and Dave Tregunna formed the Lords of the New Church, which had their own version of doom and gloom. This post-punk band had a more polished sound than the Dead Boys and were quite successful during the 1980’s, but Bators’ stage histrionics were as wild as ever. In one celebrated incident, Stiv Bators hanged himself on stage and was pronounced dead for several minutes. Though he recovered from that incident, he was hit by a taxi in Paris and died from those injuries all too young in June 1990.
(February 2011)
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Due to our recent escape from the projected end of the world on December 21, 2012, the apocalyptic album by the Wanderers is an appropriate Flashback for this month. Stiv Bators, the frontman of one of the best American punk rock bands, the Dead Boys teamed up with the remains of one of Britain’s best punk bands, Sham 69. Stiv Bators would found his next punk rock band, the Lords of the New Church, with one of the members of the Wanderers, Dave Tregunna.
(February 2013)
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Another band that comes to mind that is not mentioned in the Best Theological Band Names list is the Stiv Bators/Dave Tregunna punk rock band Lords of the New Church; they had first performed together as part of past UARB the Wanderers. The British alternative/dance band Jesus Jones had a 1990 hit called “Right Here, Right Now”.
I have several others in my collection that include the truly strange 700 Club (with the name taken from the long-lived TV religious program 700 Club) and the classically trained musician who calls himself MC 900 Ft. Jesus (named for the vision by Oral Roberts that led to the construction of a controversial hospital tower on the campus of Oral Roberts University).
(October 2014)
