Revco 

This year, music revolutions came full circle: Sonic Youth’s Daydream Nation celebrated its 20th birthday and the band hit the road. Woodstock blew out 40 candles and enjoyed a month-long celebration in its honor. 2009 also marks the first time in nearly two decades since Revco (aka Revolting Cocks) embarked on a headlining tour.

Al Jourgensen’s Ministry side-project is back on four wheels again with current members Josh Bradford, Sin Quirin (Ministry), Clayton Worbeck (Stayte, Simple Shelter), Aaron Rossi (Ministry, Prong, John5) and Stevie Banch (Spyderbaby). The “LuBriCaTouR” will hit Salt Lake City sans Jourgenson, who is only appearing for a handful of dates. Josh Bradford, who held an 801 area code for part of the 90s and who contributed to the local music scene, will take over lead vocals for the Club Vegas show, where the band will dust off songs they haven’t showcased in years.

“We are all so excited—there’s no apprehension,” Bradford says. “A lot of our peers on the road tell a lot of doom and gloom with the economy and the troubles in the music industry, but we’re just happy to go have some fun.”

How does Bradford, who joined the band in 2006, compare their new material to the Revco he used to listen to as a fan? The early Revco and Ministry songbooks evoke the late ’80s, like “New World Order,” Ministry’s rant against President George H. Bush.

“Early Revco had its own little inventive energy, rebellious, and amazing in its time. Now, we’ve taken the rebellion in a different direction. Instead of usually sexually rebellious, this is more ‘cock rock,’ gay dance club. The live show is different every night,” he says. “The new group is evolving into a traveling, out-of-control party. We will try to grab some girls from the audience to get up and dance. We want to bring back the fun side of rock & roll.”

The traveling circus sideshow adds a glass-eating, knife-swallowing, fire-eating dimension to their traditional live show, which features a heavier sound based on live drums and fewer electronic flourishes.

Revco are toying with the idea of doing some remixes onstage, a nod to their recent Sex-O Mixxx-O, a disc of remixes of tracks off their early-2009 LP Sex-O Olympic-O.

Highlights from the album include “Keys to the City (Invincible Mix)” by Pop Will Eat Itself with its heavy drums and over-the-top reverb; “Lewd Ferrigno (Club On Mix)”; and “I’m Not Gay (I’m So Gay Club mix),” tweaked by Dave “Rave” Ogilvie of Skinny Puppy, which starts out in techno territory before flirting with disco.

Worbeck contributes two remixes with Bradford: “Cousins (Sexy Problems = Sexy Solutions Mix)” and “Abundant Redundancy (Clockworks and Cold Steel Mix).” The theme of the album as announced in the title takes some extreme and obsessive directions.

One of Bradford’s favorite tracks is by Seismologist, a childhood friend of the record-label owner, who remixed “Wizard of Sextown. “It’s kind of a creepy, crazy dub,” he says. “The song is a porno retelling of Lord of the Rings.”

“The difference between my other bands [Stayte and Salt Lake City project Simple Shelter] and this band is the difference between going to a box social and going to an orgy where someone shows up with farm animals. It’s the difference between driving by a car crash that’s just a fender bender and a bus full of nuns with bodies splattered everywhere,” he says. “Revco is the only band I’ve been in where I have to make sure I have underwear on. The only problem is the label said, ‘No bail this time.’”

Meaning, the band can’t get naked on stage, “Unless we get enough donations from the audience.”