Jessica's Crime
Encyclopedia
Jessica's Crime is a sporadically active American independent rock band. Founding member and lead vocalist Aaron Bishop has cited the band's "day-jobs in professional academia" as the primary reason for their occasional, long periods of apparent quiescence.. The band formed originally in 1989 as Mistress Christia, morphing into the SpeedKings by the early 90's, before establishing themselves as Jessica's Crime in 1995, following a number of changes in personnel. Originally from Dallas, Texas, the band moved to Philadelphia, PA in 1999. As of the release of their 2006 record Gone to Texas
, Jessica's Crime comprises two members: founder J. Aaron Bishop (guitars, vocals, bass, programming, etc) and Michael P (guitars, vocals, bass, banjo, programming). Their musical style contains elements of punk rock
, post-punk industrial music
, dance, and older country music
, à la Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell
. According to their website, they had not performed live since late 1999, though in the spring of 2010 they began to play the occasional show in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.
in 1989, under the moniker Mistress Christia—a name taken from an obscure series of surrealist science fiction novels by British author Michael Moorcock
, later abandoned in light of the disquieting consonance
with the Night Ranger
power ballad Sister Christian
.
hell." Critics have drawn comparisons with groups as varied as The Sisters of Mercy
, Nick Cave
, White Zombie
, The Jesus and Mary Chain
, Fields of the Nephilim
, and even New Order
and Johnny Cash
. In a 2008 review of Gone to Texas
, seminal Death-Rock music critic Mick Mercer
picked up on the Sisters
and Nephilim
undercurrents, describing the record's eponymous track as "Preacher Man
waltzing with Vision Thing
," while the disc's third track––the jazz-tinged Gateway Shuffle––was likened, somewhat surprisingly, to Goth-folksters The Dancing Did
.
ode to Blackbeard
the pirate, 'The Devil's Son', as well as the Bo Diddley
standard, 'Who Do You Love', both from their 1998 LP, Psychosemantic; their second record, 2001's 'Scarecrow + Hizbollah' yielded a techno-metal take on 'Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight)' by Swedish pop icons ABBA
, in addition to a surprisingly emotional rendition of Gary Numan
's paean to robot-love, 'Are Friends Electric?'; their most recent offering, 2006's epic Gone to Texas
included a bar-room singalong of traditional folk ballad, 'The House of the Rising Sun
'. They have recently announced that their next project will be an album of cover songs titled PROJECT : GHOLA. While that has yet to materialize, a live album recorded during their 2010 Texas performances has been released, titled ERSATZ
.
Gone to Texas
Gone to Texas , was a phrase used by Americans immigrating to Texas in the 19th century often to escape debt incurred during the Panic of 1819...
, Jessica's Crime comprises two members: founder J. Aaron Bishop (guitars, vocals, bass, programming, etc) and Michael P (guitars, vocals, bass, banjo, programming). Their musical style contains elements of punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
, post-punk industrial music
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...
, dance, and older country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, à la Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell
Lefty Frizzell
Lefty Frizzell , born William Orville Frizzell, was an American country music singer and songwriter of the 1950s, and a proponent of honky tonk music. His relaxed style of singing was an influence on later stars Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, George Jones and John Fogerty...
. According to their website, they had not performed live since late 1999, though in the spring of 2010 they began to play the occasional show in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.
Early years
The original lineup that would become Jessica's Crime coalesced around Aaron Bishop and BooneBoone
- Places :In the United States:* Boone, Colorado* Boone, Iowa* Boone, North Carolina* Boone Grove, Indiana* Boone Township, Minnesota* Boones Mill, Virginia* Boonesboro, Missouri* Boonesborough, Kentucky* Booneville...
in 1989, under the moniker Mistress Christia—a name taken from an obscure series of surrealist science fiction novels by British author Michael Moorcock
Michael Moorcock
Michael John Moorcock is an English writer, primarily of science fiction and fantasy, who has also published a number of literary novels....
, later abandoned in light of the disquieting consonance
Consonance
Consonance is a stylistic device, most commonly used in poetry and songs, characterized by the repetition of the same consonant two or more times in short succession, as in "pitter patter" or in "all mammals named Sam are clammy".Consonance should not be confused with assonance, which is the...
with the Night Ranger
Night Ranger
Night Ranger is an American rock band from San Francisco that gained popularity during the 1980s with a series of albums and singles. The band's first five albums sold more than 10 million copies worldwide...
power ballad Sister Christian
Sister Christian
"Sister Christian" is a power ballad by the hard rock band Night Ranger, which was the second single released on their album Midnight Madness. It was ranked number 32 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 1980s. To this day, it is one of the most popular first dance songs at weddings.-Origin and...
.
Musical style
The band have described their style as "Ophidian rock music for the cold-blooded intelligentsia and the chemical elite. Plenty of guitars and thundering, cyclopean drummachines. Pure gonzoGonzo journalism
Gonzo journalism is a style of journalism that is written without claims of objectivity, often including the reporter as part of the story via a first-person narrative. The word "gonzo" is believed to be first used in 1970 to describe an article by Hunter S. Thompson, who later popularized the style...
hell." Critics have drawn comparisons with groups as varied as The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy are an English rock band that formed in 1980. After achieving early underground fame in UK, the band had their commercial breakthrough in mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasing new recorded output in protest against their record company...
, Nick Cave
Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...
, White Zombie
White Zombie
White Zombie was a Grammy Award-nominated American heavy metal band. Based in New York City, White Zombie was originally a noise rock band. White Zombie are better-known for their later heavy metal-oriented sound...
, The Jesus and Mary Chain
The Jesus and Mary Chain
The Jesus and Mary Chain are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in East Kilbride, Glasgow in 1983. The band revolves around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reid...
, Fields of the Nephilim
Fields of the Nephilim
Fields of the Nephilim are an English gothic rock band formed in Stevenage, Hertfordshire in 1984. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Carl McCoy, saxophonist Gary Whisker, Tony Pettitt on bass, guitarist Paul Wright and drummer Alexander "Nod" Wright...
, and even New Order
New Order
New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris...
and Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
. In a 2008 review of Gone to Texas
Gone to texas (album)
Gone to Texas is the fourth album by the American rock band Jessica's Crime. It is a concept album centering on themes of vengeance and retribution, inspired in part by the Forrest Carter novel of the same name and its movie adaptation, starring Clint Eastwood, and in part by the Dark Tower cycle...
, seminal Death-Rock music critic Mick Mercer
Mick Mercer
Mick Mercer is a journalist and author best known for his photos and reviews of the goth, punk, and indie music scenes. He has photographed the bands Tragic Venus and Blondie in the UK and Europe.He publishes a monthly online magazine called "The Mick"....
picked up on the Sisters
The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy are an English rock band that formed in 1980. After achieving early underground fame in UK, the band had their commercial breakthrough in mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasing new recorded output in protest against their record company...
and Nephilim
Fields of the Nephilim
Fields of the Nephilim are an English gothic rock band formed in Stevenage, Hertfordshire in 1984. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Carl McCoy, saxophonist Gary Whisker, Tony Pettitt on bass, guitarist Paul Wright and drummer Alexander "Nod" Wright...
undercurrents, describing the record's eponymous track as "Preacher Man
Dawnrazor
Dawnrazor is the debut album by Fields of the Nephilim released during May 1987. The record contains the singles Preacher Man and Power which was co-produced by the band and Iain O'Higgins....
waltzing with Vision Thing
Vision Thing
-2006 Re-issue:Along with the group's previous two releases, Vision Thing was re-issued in November 2006 with bonus tracks, which, listed as follows:-Personnel:*Andrew Eldritch - vocals, guitar, keyboards*Andreas Bruhn - guitar*Tim Bricheno - guitar...
," while the disc's third track––the jazz-tinged Gateway Shuffle––was likened, somewhat surprisingly, to Goth-folksters The Dancing Did
The Dancing Did
The Dancing Did were a British post-punk/folk punk group formed in Evesham in 1979, who were described as "a cross between the Clash and Steeleye Span". They released an album in 1982 and split up the following year.-History:...
.
Cover songs
In addition to their original material, Jessica's Crime have long been known for their sometimes bizarre choices of cover songs, the arrangements and performances of which often stray far afield from the source material. Notable examples include The Jolly RogersThe Jolly Rogers
The Jolly Rogers are a pirate-themed Renaissance folk group who perform at Renaissance fairs in the Midwest United States. Their high-energy performances of traditional sea shanties, humorous songs and improvisational comedy skits are big crowd pleasers wherever they go...
ode to Blackbeard
Blackbeard
Edward Teach , better known as Blackbeard, was a notorious English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of the American colonies....
the pirate, 'The Devil's Son', as well as the Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley
Ellas Otha Bates , known by his stage name Bo Diddley, was an American rhythm and blues vocalist, guitarist, songwriter , and inventor...
standard, 'Who Do You Love', both from their 1998 LP, Psychosemantic; their second record, 2001's 'Scarecrow + Hizbollah' yielded a techno-metal take on 'Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight)' by Swedish pop icons ABBA
ABBA
ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...
, in addition to a surprisingly emotional rendition of Gary Numan
Gary Numan
Gary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...
's paean to robot-love, 'Are Friends Electric?'; their most recent offering, 2006's epic Gone to Texas
Gone to texas (album)
Gone to Texas is the fourth album by the American rock band Jessica's Crime. It is a concept album centering on themes of vengeance and retribution, inspired in part by the Forrest Carter novel of the same name and its movie adaptation, starring Clint Eastwood, and in part by the Dark Tower cycle...
included a bar-room singalong of traditional folk ballad, 'The House of the Rising Sun
The House of the Rising Sun
"The House of the Rising Sun" is a folk song from the United States. Also called "House of the Rising Sun" or occasionally "Rising Sun Blues", it tells of a life gone wrong in New Orleans...
'. They have recently announced that their next project will be an album of cover songs titled PROJECT : GHOLA. While that has yet to materialize, a live album recorded during their 2010 Texas performances has been released, titled ERSATZ
Ersatz
Ersatz means 'substituting for, and typically inferior in quality to', e.g. 'chicory is ersatz coffee'. It is a German word literally meaning substitute or replacement...
.
Discography
- 1995 Wintersongs cassette EP
- 1998 Psychosemantic
- 1999 Psychosemantic (sub-figura 1.5)
- 2000 The Mutiny CD EP
- 2000 Don't Cry CD single
- 2001 Love is Vengeance CD single
- 2001 Scarecrow + Hizbollah
- 2001 Scarecrow (second jihad)
- 2002 Letters to Suzuka: An Anthology
- 2006 Gone to TexasGone to texas (album)Gone to Texas is the fourth album by the American rock band Jessica's Crime. It is a concept album centering on themes of vengeance and retribution, inspired in part by the Forrest Carter novel of the same name and its movie adaptation, starring Clint Eastwood, and in part by the Dark Tower cycle...
- 2009 Weird Tales & Gonzo Sleaze
- 2010? PROJECT : GHOLA
- 2010 Ersatz
Members
| (1989) as Mistress Christia |
|
|---|---|
| (1990–92)
as SpeedKings |
|
| (1993) |
|
| (1994) |
|
| (1995–96)
as Jessica's Crime |
|
| (1997–98) |
|
| (1999–2002) |
|
| (2003–present) |
|
External links
- Official Website
- Myspace (official)
- [ Jessica's Crime from Allmusic]