The Lords of the New Church were formed in 1981. Singer Stiv Bators of Cleveland's Dead Boys and and guitarist Brian James of London's the Damned, were both respectable and influential punk pioneers.
Bassist Dave Tregunna and drummer Nick Turner were veterans of Sham 69 and the Barracudas, which were less seminal but still well-known. But while the Lords' music had elements of punk, it was more melodic, better-produced, and played with a higher degree of professionalism. This alienated some of the hardcore punk audience, but brought the Lords a much wider and more diverse fan base. The genesis of the Lords was in 1980 when Bators and James, having split from their previous bands, renewed an aqcuaintance that began when the Dead Boys opened for the Damned on CBGB dates and an English tour. The two experimented for a time with different rhythm sections, rehearsing briefly with ex-Generation X bassist Tony James and ex-Clash drummer Terry Chimes (how's that for a punk rock supergroup?).
A lineup of Bators, James, Tregunna, and Damned drummer Rat Scabies played a single 1980 gig as the "Dead Damned Sham Band." But by the time the Lords' self-titled debut album appeared in 1982, Turner had replaced Scabies to form the lineup that would remain fixed throughout the band's most productive years. Though the album was well-received, the Lords became more notorious for their live shows, or more specifically for Bators's crazed abandon as a performer. A devotee of Iggy Pop, Bators had in his Dead Boys days developed a reputation for being unafraid to risk his life in pursuit of rock & roll glory. He suffered innumerable on-stage injuries during his career, the most famous being the time he nearly hung himself during a Lords show. As the story goes, a favorite stunt of Bators' where he looped the mic cord around his neck went awry, resulting in his being clinically dead for several minutes. Nonetheless, Bators survived to record two more successful albums with the Lords, 1983's Is Nothing Sacred? and 1984's The Method to Our Madness.
They continued to record on and off including their cover to Madonna's "Like a Virgin" and two excellent new tracks for the best of Killer Lords, but by 1985, the Lords had slowly begun to fall apart. Tregunna left, was replaced for a time by Grant Fleming, and then returned. A second guitarist, Alistair Simmons, was added and then sacked. Turner quit and was replaced by Danny Fury. After 1988, One of the major downfalls of the band was a point when Brian James tried out different singers (and advertised his search via newspaper) for the Lords when Stiv was injured for a little while. The three band members claimed it was to be "temporary" but regaudless It never worked out, anyway. And the band never talked about it and had sort of assumed Stiv was still oblivious. They realized Stiv knew by the time they played their last show, at the latest. Stiv wore a tee shirt with the ad "looking for new lead singer" blown up and printed on the front of it. And there was the end. Obviously no one knew Bators would die two years later when he was hit by a laundry truck in Paris.
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This destroyed any Possibilities of any future Lords reunions.
Thank you to all Lords of the New Church fans and support Systems.
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