Society Burning is a coldwave industrial rock act composed of Daveoramma, Twitch, and Boom chr Paige. Originally founded in Las Cruces, New Mexico as a side project of Daveoramma’s in 1991 by the moniker ‘The Watchmen’, a tribute to the Alan Moore graphic novel. Shortly before the release of project’s first self produced work, Daveoramma brought on guitarist Boom chr Paige. They first caught the attention of Chase of Cargo/Re-constriction records that same year. The band also gained recognition via Usenet newsgroups and the nascent Internet, being one of the first acts to embrace the technology as a marketing vehicle.
The duo released another self produced work in 1992, gaining attention from Chase again, as well as German label Kugel Blitz. Both labels released compilations featuring the band, but the band was forced to change its name upon discovering another band already used their moniker. The resulting name ‘Society Burning’ (ripped from a quote from a Denver, Colorado newscast) was chosen in time for both record labels to use it on both compilation appearances. During this time the band enlisted the help of Michael Smith of Fiction 8 for assistance on keyboards on-stage.
In 1993, the band met Steven Seibold of Hate Dept., who would go one to produce/re-engineer the song “Human Waste” for the Re-Constriction compilation ‘Thugs ‘n’ Kisses’. This would be the beginning of an odd precedent set by Re-Con and the band for ‘premixing’, or releasing the remixed material before releasing the original versions of their work.
In 1995, Society Burning signed to Re-Constriction. The following year, the label issued the premix cd Entropy Lingua. In 1997, Re-Constriction issued the full-length album Tactiq, of which Peter Scaruffi called "one of the most violent works" in the Nine-inch-Nails--KMFDM style category in his book A history of rock music 1951-2000.
Over the next two years, the musicians worked mostly independently: Daveoramma worked with a cast of voices to bridge songs for the parody/tribute album Cyberpunk Fiction while Boom chr Paige worked as remixer for artists including Leæther Strip, Purr Machine, THD, Urania, Hexedene, and Battery. The band parted ways in 1999, following the closure of Re-Constriction. Daveoramma has since relocated to Los Angeles, California, Twitch remained in Denver, Colorado, and Boom chr Paige is currently located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The band regrouped 2007, writing material for a new release on their own Audiocomm International Publishing label, including plans to release their previously unreleased album ‘State of Decay’, which had been recorded in 1994.
Read more...