Eva O
Encyclopedia
Eva Ortiz better known as Eva O is a music
artist most notable for her previous works in Christian Death
and a band she formed with her then husband Rozz Williams
called Shadow Project
. Regarded as a veteran and "one of the most striking figures of the American Gothic scene," Eva O has had a significant influence on the emerging deathrock
movement, which garnered her the "Queen of Darkness" title from the press and audience. She is known for her heavy guitar playing style and dramatic, authoritative vocals.
She now releases solo albums with her band Mz O and Her Guns, as well as having recently joined a variation of Christian Death
(known as Christian Death 1334) with original members and while she takes on vocal duties in place of the late Rozz Williams.
in 1979 in hopes to start a rock band and be a rock star. She started a local, all-girl punk band in Long Beach
known as the Speed Queens, and played with them from 1980-1982. Speed Queens broke up before they could release any songs, and she and bassist Sandra Ross started the Super Heroines
. This group earned a following on L.A.'s deathrock scene of the early 1980s. About the same time, she met Rozz Williams
, who was starting the band Christian Death
. Eventually Eva O contributed to the band's 1982 album Only Theatre of Pain
, which was a highly influential album on the emerging American deathrock movement.
The Super Heroines released several albums, and when Rikk Agnew
left Christian Death, Rozz asked Eva to fill in on guitar. She was in Christian Death for a short time before they added two more members, one of whom later played some shows with the Super Heroines. The Super Heroines made their last album, Love and Pain, in 1983; but it was not released for another 8 years.
In the mid-1980s, Eva became involved with personal demons and a strong distaste for the world. She spent a lot of time with Richard Ramirez
, with whom she was in a relationship. Ramirez committed several murders in San Francisco
and stood trial there. Eventually, Eva got back together with Rozz and moved to San Francisco with him. While there, she became interested in the writings of Anton LaVey
and Boyd Rice
and started to suffer from depression
. Out of boredom, she and Rozz started another band known as the Shadow Project
; they released two albums in the 1990s with that band. They described their music as "a strange mixture of metallic death rock and punk." It was after their second album, Dreams for the Dying, that Eva and Rozz started to write even more darker, depressed and rage filled subject matters which was a reflection of the internal struggle they were having in their personal lives. Although Eva never considered herself to be an official member of Christian Death, her participation in that band and Shadow Project earned her the "queen of darkness" title.
Christian Death reunited and released two more albums, but the lineup that the band used on those albums was essentially just everyone from Shadow Project. Shadow Project went on one final tour after recording a live album, In Tuned Out.
Tired of Rozz getting most of the credit for the Shadow Project work (much of which she wrote), Eva O went solo and released Past Time in 1993 on Cleopatra Records. The album featured material from her days with the Speed Queens, Super Heroines, and Christian Death, as well as three new solo songs. In 1994, she began working on her second solo album, which she was originally going to call Angels Fall for a Demon's Kiss, but after studying more about the classic hierarchy of angels on both sides of the good-vs-evil spectrum, she ended up becoming a Christian and rewriting the entire record and renaming it Demons Fall for an Angel's Kiss
. Produced by Johnny Indovina
, the album was tamer and calmer in comparison to her previous rugged and wild material.
Rozz Williams committed suicide on April 1, 1998; the last Shadow Project recording titled From the Heart was released on May 12 of the same year. An acoustic album, From the Heart's lyrics represented influences of Eva's positive views.
After numerous reworkings and remixings, Eva finally completed her Damnation (Ride the Madness)
album in 1999 and in 2005 its follow-up Damnation/Salvation
album and released it on the German death-metal label Massacre Records
in 2005. Among the performers on it are Josh Pyle (keyboards/programming), River Tunnell (bass), and Kristian Rosentrater (drums), all members of the industrial
band Audio Paradox. Damnation/Salvation is a detailed chronicle of her involvement with the occult and Satanism climaxing with her encounter with Jesus. It has been repeatedly turned down for distribution in the United States due to its subject matter. She emphasizes that people need to listen to the entire album in order to understand its full meaning, rather than judging it by its cover, track listing, and the lyrics of the first several songs.
14 years after Eva's conversion to Christianity in 1993, rumors had it that Eva began drifting away from her faith. In a Summer 2007 issue of Deathrock magazine, author Philip Henken wrote in the article "The Story of O" about Eva that "when I ask her about the Christian conversions, she tells me she's left being born-again behind." Eva states in the interview:
On August 8, 2008 (08.08.08), Eva O. married Edwin Borsheim, of the band Kettle Cadaver.
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
artist most notable for her previous works in Christian Death
Christian Death
Christian Death is an American deathrock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1979. The band was founded and fronted by Rozz Williams. Christian Death is most notable for their first album Only Theatre of Pain....
and a band she formed with her then husband Rozz Williams
Rozz Williams
Rozz Williams was an American vocalist and musician of several varieties, most famous for fronting the band Christian Death, then later Shadow Project with musician Eva O, though his main project throughout his career was the industrial, Premature Ejaculation...
called Shadow Project
Shadow Project
Shadow Project were a deathrock band formed in the early 1990s with Rozz Williams, Eva O and Paris Sadonis. The band's first album included bassist Jill Emery and drummer Thomas Morgan....
. Regarded as a veteran and "one of the most striking figures of the American Gothic scene," Eva O has had a significant influence on the emerging deathrock
Deathrock
Deathrock is a term used to identify a sub-genre of punk rock incorporating horror elements and spooky atmospherics, that emerged on the West Coast of the United States in 1979.-Characteristics:...
movement, which garnered her the "Queen of Darkness" title from the press and audience. She is known for her heavy guitar playing style and dramatic, authoritative vocals.
She now releases solo albums with her band Mz O and Her Guns, as well as having recently joined a variation of Christian Death
Christian Death
Christian Death is an American deathrock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1979. The band was founded and fronted by Rozz Williams. Christian Death is most notable for their first album Only Theatre of Pain....
(known as Christian Death 1334) with original members and while she takes on vocal duties in place of the late Rozz Williams.
Biography
Eva was born in 1961 and moved to Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
in 1979 in hopes to start a rock band and be a rock star. She started a local, all-girl punk band in Long Beach
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
known as the Speed Queens, and played with them from 1980-1982. Speed Queens broke up before they could release any songs, and she and bassist Sandra Ross started the Super Heroines
Super Heroines
The Super Heroines was a Deathrock trio formed in Los Angeles, California during the early 1980s. However, unlike other early deathrock bands such as Christian Death and 45 Grave, Sueper Heroines did not carry on a traditional Goth sound, instead a more punk style metal inspired by The Runaways.Its...
. This group earned a following on L.A.'s deathrock scene of the early 1980s. About the same time, she met Rozz Williams
Rozz Williams
Rozz Williams was an American vocalist and musician of several varieties, most famous for fronting the band Christian Death, then later Shadow Project with musician Eva O, though his main project throughout his career was the industrial, Premature Ejaculation...
, who was starting the band Christian Death
Christian Death
Christian Death is an American deathrock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1979. The band was founded and fronted by Rozz Williams. Christian Death is most notable for their first album Only Theatre of Pain....
. Eventually Eva O contributed to the band's 1982 album Only Theatre of Pain
Only Theatre of Pain
Only Theatre of Pain was the debut studio album of American deathrock band Christian Death, originally released by Frontier Records in 1982. The album is considered the harbinger of deathrock....
, which was a highly influential album on the emerging American deathrock movement.
The Super Heroines released several albums, and when Rikk Agnew
Rikk Agnew
Richard Francis Agnew, Jr. , more commonly known as Rikk Agnew, is an American guitarist who has played in some of the most influential bands of the Orange County hardcore punk scene, as well as the influential deathrock band Christian Death.- Biography:With Casey Royer, Agnew played in Social...
left Christian Death, Rozz asked Eva to fill in on guitar. She was in Christian Death for a short time before they added two more members, one of whom later played some shows with the Super Heroines. The Super Heroines made their last album, Love and Pain, in 1983; but it was not released for another 8 years.
In the mid-1980s, Eva became involved with personal demons and a strong distaste for the world. She spent a lot of time with Richard Ramirez
Richard Ramirez
Ricardo "Richard" Muñoz Ramírez is a convicted serial killer awaiting execution on California's death row at San Quentin State Prison...
, with whom she was in a relationship. Ramirez committed several murders in San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
and stood trial there. Eventually, Eva got back together with Rozz and moved to San Francisco with him. While there, she became interested in the writings of Anton LaVey
Anton LaVey
Anton Szandor LaVey , born Howard Stanton Levey, was the founder of the Church of Satan as well as a writer, occultist, and musician...
and Boyd Rice
Boyd Rice
Boyd Blake Rice is an American experimental sound/noise musician using the name of NON since the mid-1970s, archivist, actor, photographer, author, member of the Partridge Family Temple religious group, co-founder of the UNPOP art movement and current staff writer for Modern Drunkard...
and started to suffer from depression
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
. Out of boredom, she and Rozz started another band known as the Shadow Project
Shadow Project
Shadow Project were a deathrock band formed in the early 1990s with Rozz Williams, Eva O and Paris Sadonis. The band's first album included bassist Jill Emery and drummer Thomas Morgan....
; they released two albums in the 1990s with that band. They described their music as "a strange mixture of metallic death rock and punk." It was after their second album, Dreams for the Dying, that Eva and Rozz started to write even more darker, depressed and rage filled subject matters which was a reflection of the internal struggle they were having in their personal lives. Although Eva never considered herself to be an official member of Christian Death, her participation in that band and Shadow Project earned her the "queen of darkness" title.
Christian Death reunited and released two more albums, but the lineup that the band used on those albums was essentially just everyone from Shadow Project. Shadow Project went on one final tour after recording a live album, In Tuned Out.
Tired of Rozz getting most of the credit for the Shadow Project work (much of which she wrote), Eva O went solo and released Past Time in 1993 on Cleopatra Records. The album featured material from her days with the Speed Queens, Super Heroines, and Christian Death, as well as three new solo songs. In 1994, she began working on her second solo album, which she was originally going to call Angels Fall for a Demon's Kiss, but after studying more about the classic hierarchy of angels on both sides of the good-vs-evil spectrum, she ended up becoming a Christian and rewriting the entire record and renaming it Demons Fall for an Angel's Kiss
Demons Fall for an Angel's Kiss
Demons Fall for an Angel's Kiss is the 1994 studio solo album of the American deathrock veteran musician Eva O.-Recording history:For this solo project, Eva O wanted to write a dark concept album about angels and began searching for literature about the subject, and the album was initially entitled...
. Produced by Johnny Indovina
Johnny Indovina
Johnny Indovina is a singer, songwriter and producer. Indovina fronted the Underground/Goth band Human Drama from 1985 to 2005. As the primary songwriter, he produced eight albums, two EPs and a "Best of" collection...
, the album was tamer and calmer in comparison to her previous rugged and wild material.
Rozz Williams committed suicide on April 1, 1998; the last Shadow Project recording titled From the Heart was released on May 12 of the same year. An acoustic album, From the Heart's lyrics represented influences of Eva's positive views.
After numerous reworkings and remixings, Eva finally completed her Damnation (Ride the Madness)
Damnation (Ride the Madness)
Damnation is the 1999 studio solo album of the American deathrock veteran musician Eva O, released on the German label Massacre Records.-Overview:The album deals with Eva's past in the occult world and spiritual struggles...
album in 1999 and in 2005 its follow-up Damnation/Salvation
Damnation/Salvation
Damnation/Salvation is the 2005 studio solo album of the American deathrock veteran musician Eva O, released on the Dark Dimensions and Alice In... labels.-Overview:...
album and released it on the German death-metal label Massacre Records
Massacre Records
Massacre Records is an independent record label based in Abstatt, Germany.The label was founded in 1991 by Torsten Hartmann. The label is specialized on bands of the harder varieties of metal...
in 2005. Among the performers on it are Josh Pyle (keyboards/programming), River Tunnell (bass), and Kristian Rosentrater (drums), all members of the industrial
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
band Audio Paradox. Damnation/Salvation is a detailed chronicle of her involvement with the occult and Satanism climaxing with her encounter with Jesus. It has been repeatedly turned down for distribution in the United States due to its subject matter. She emphasizes that people need to listen to the entire album in order to understand its full meaning, rather than judging it by its cover, track listing, and the lyrics of the first several songs.
14 years after Eva's conversion to Christianity in 1993, rumors had it that Eva began drifting away from her faith. In a Summer 2007 issue of Deathrock magazine, author Philip Henken wrote in the article "The Story of O" about Eva that "when I ask her about the Christian conversions, she tells me she's left being born-again behind." Eva states in the interview:
On August 8, 2008 (08.08.08), Eva O. married Edwin Borsheim, of the band Kettle Cadaver.
Solo work as Eva O
- Past Time (1993)
- Demons Fall for an Angel's KissDemons Fall for an Angel's KissDemons Fall for an Angel's Kiss is the 1994 studio solo album of the American deathrock veteran musician Eva O.-Recording history:For this solo project, Eva O wanted to write a dark concept album about angels and began searching for literature about the subject, and the album was initially entitled...
(1994, originally called Angels Fall for a Demon's Kiss but rewritten/renamed before its release) - Eva O Halo Experience (video)
- Damnation (Ride the Madness)Damnation (Ride the Madness)Damnation is the 1999 studio solo album of the American deathrock veteran musician Eva O, released on the German label Massacre Records.-Overview:The album deals with Eva's past in the occult world and spiritual struggles...
(1999, Massacre Records, Review: HM Magazine) - Damnation/SalvationDamnation/SalvationDamnation/Salvation is the 2005 studio solo album of the American deathrock veteran musician Eva O, released on the Dark Dimensions and Alice In... labels.-Overview:...
(2005, Massacre Records)
As a member of Christian Death
- Iron Mask (1991, Cleopatra)
- Path of Sorrows (1993, Cleopatra)
- Rage of Angels (1994, Cleopatra)
As a member of Super Heroines
- Cry for Help (1982, Bemis Brain/Enigma)
- Souls that Save (1983, Bemis Brain/Enigma)
- Love and Pain (1993, Cleopatra)
As a member of Shadow Project
- Shadow Project (1990, Triple X)
- Dreams for the Dying (1993, Triple X)
- In Tuned Out (1994, Triple X, live album)
- From the Heart (1998, Triple X)