Description
The self-titled and sole album by the American alternative rock/industrial project Passafist was released on R.E.X. Music in March 1994, distributed by Diamante. Also distributed by RED in the mainstream music market. The album was recorded by Dave Perkins at Dave’s Garden Of Eden in Nashville, Tennessee, with Sky South Mobile, and was produced by Perkins and Lynn Nichols, both formerly of Chagall Guevara.
PASSAFIST is an intriguing new band, formed by former Chagall Guevara members Lynn Nichols and Dave Perkins, who manage to retain industrial’s intensity, while communicating a salient message with a wry sense of humor absent from most industrial albums. «Love 900», a blast at high-priced telephone services, comments on how they’ve increased man’s emotional detachment, with lines like “Talking dirty isn’t all I do/ I can tell your fortune too/ And give investment overviews… just as sick as the law allows,” while «Glock» (“If you want to be the man of the hour/ You better get yourself some firepower”) examines the escalation of violence in our society. But the boys don’t merely take cheap shots at easy targets. «Emmanuel Chant» is a hypnotic prayer for God’s grace and life, while «Christ of the Nuclear Age» imagines where Jesus might minister if He were making His first appearance on Earth today. PASSAFIST may have done the best job to date to merging the menace of industrial with the accessibility of modern rock. [Bruce A. Brown, CCM, March 1994]
“Christian industrial” music had been around since the ’80s thanks to Blackhouse and The November Commandment, but it wasn’t until the early ’90s that it really “broke out” into the wider Christian culture. R.E.X. Music played a large role in this, releasing “traditional” industrial albums by Circle Of Dust, Brainchild, and Argyle Park. However, they also released arguably one of the strangest entries in the Christian industrial canon: Passafist’s self-titled album. I almost hesitate to describe Dave Perkins and Lynn Nichols’ (formerly of Chagall Guevara) music as “industrial,” though. True, some genre trappings are present, but Passafist was really a pop band that bore as much similarity to Prince and The Talking Heads as Nine Inch Nails and Ministry. And while industrial music is often associated with angst and other dark emotions, Passafist’s songs were often characterized by a skewed sense of humor as they tackled topics like gun violence and phone sex. The album’s highlight, though, is the ten-minute «The Dr. Is In», which combines Dr. Strangelove samples with funky guitar licks to create a trippy meditation on Cold War-era fear and paranoia. [Jason Morehead, Opus, October 3, 2022]
The break-up of the popular Nashville band Chagall Guevara sent the group’s very talented players scrambling for new projects. Vocalist Steve Taylor went back to the world of Christian rock and, later, as founder of Squint Records (where he discovered Sixpence None the Richer), to the executive suites. Guitarists Lynn Nichols and Dave Perkins forged careers as extraordinary sidemen and producers, working, most notably, with Taylor, Phil Keaggy, the Newsboys and Jerry Jeff Walker. Somewhere along the line, however, Perkins and Nichols (christening themselves Waco and Reno Caruso) found time to record this one-time collaboration with John Elliott of Dessau, and Michael Saleem and Mustafa Abdul-Aleem of Afrikan Dreamland. Although the band name itself is a play on words (pacifist, pass-a-fist — get it?), the music on this self-titled album is a muscular blending of the various members’ musical leanings. The “Caruso” twins (Perkins and Nichols) contribute guitar-driven, Rolling Stones-styled rock, Elliott brings Dessau’s industrial edge to the party, and Saleem and Abdul-Aleem add strong, almost tribal rhythms to the tracks. The music gels quite nicely despite the disparate influences of the collaborators, an aggressive mix of riffs and rhythm. The songs on Passafist are brimming with Perkins’ acerbic sense of humor and satirical wit. «Emmanuel Chant» is a hypnotic dirge with chaotic instrumentation, muted vocals, and sensual lyrics that reach a crescendo of religious frenzy. The revenge tale «Glock» is a powerful industrial-rocker with growling vocals, monster percussion, and fret work that sizzles with electricity. «Christ of the Nuclear Age» also offers an industrial vibe, although with more of an alternative rock edge, Nichols’ and Perkins’ guitars battling throughout the mix and alongside the vocals. The screaming guitars and funky undercurrent of «Appliance Alliance» evoke the spirit of Jimi Hendrix, while a cover of the Rolling Stones classic «Street Fighting Man» is beefed up with six-string steroids and an anarchic spirit. The epic, satirical «The Dr. Is In», subtitled «How I Learned to Worry and Start Missing the Cold War», takes its cue from the movie Dr. Strangelove. Starting with sampled vocals from the film, the song begins as a jazzy hybrid of instrumental virtuosity and Tom Waits-styled vocals before launching into a crucifixion of noise. A steady, rapid-fire heartbeat provides a soundtrack beneath scorched-earth guitars, industrial-strength vox, and samples from various news broadcasts. «The Dr. Is In» closes the album smoothly, reverting to its opening calm before a final nuclear blast drives the song’s not-so-subtle point home. Although created as an interesting side project for those involved, Passafist might have been a good 15 years or so ahead of its time. The band’s lyrical humor, loudly buzzing guitars, and strong rhythmic punctuation could easily have found a warm reception from the early-2000s nu-metal crowd. Instead, Passafist, the album, is a much sought-after collector’s item, a timeless relic of another era. [Keith A. Gordon, AMG]
CD tracklist:
01. Emmanuel Chant – 5:14
02. Glock – 5:11
03. Christ Of The Nuclear Age – 5:19
04. LOV-E900 – 4:57
05. Appliance Alliance 3:58
06. Street Fighting Man – 5:41
07. The Dr. Is In (Or How I Learned To Worry And Start Missing The Cold War) – 10:43
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