New York, NY (Top40 Charts) "I have always absolutely loved
George Michael and his work, especially this song," says Raymond Watts, mastermind behind celebrated post-punk band , about his cover of WHAM!'s "
Last Christmas". "It's equally cheesy and gorgeous!" Taken from the holiday EP BLACK MASS which is released today, December 7, 2019 via Armalyte Industries, this single joins other holiday covers of Elvis Presley's "
Blue Christmas" and John Lennon's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)." Available as a FREE download on Bandcamp at https://armalyte.bandcamp.com/album/pig-black-mass, there is a donation option in which 100% of the profits will be donated to INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE (https://www.rescue.org). Watts continues, "George Michael died two years ago this Christmas so this is a little tribute to his genius and I hope he would have enjoyed the version and the charity which will benefit from it."
The video for "
Last Christmas" which premieres today online, is a festive animated video that includes cameos by both Watts and
George Michael as well. "Grete Laus [director] made the fantastic video for 'Last Christmas' and after a brief chat about ideas and a direction I left her to it," says Watts. "She immediately understood what I was looking for and took it to another level. It is equal parts charming, funny, sinister and slightly malevolent. The perfect ingredients for a regularly dysfunctional Christmas."
Still reeling from their North American invasion this Fall on his thunderous 'HELL TO PAY... IN THE USA' tour as well as support on Killing Joke's latest swing, recorded this EP immediately after getting off the road at their Ranch Apocalypse studio. Following the success of his duet with SASHA GREY on their dark-disco interpretation of "That's the Way (I Like It)," Watts and regular collaborator EDEN (who takes the production reins on this particular sleigh ride) have created a fascinatingly dark and twisted porcine interpretation of these seasonal classics.
"I wanted to pay homage to the great Christmas songs, have fun with them but also take a stand against the ever rising tide of toxic bigotry in this increasingly brutal world while remembering there is a better part of ourselves," Watts says.
Black Mass - Tracklisting
1. Last Christmas
2. Blue Christmas
3. Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
Watts and have had a very exciting and active history since his beginnings in the late 80s. Aside from his groundbreaking albums, he has been a visible part of the industrial music scene since the early 1980s. He has toured with KMFDM (of which he was also a member), Nine Inch Nails, Schaft, Schwein, and Einstürzende Neubauten, among others. He has written music for fashion and film for Chloe, Marios Schwab, Halston, The Row and the sound design for the exhibit Punk:
Chaos to Couture at NYC's Metropolitan
Music of Art. But the most ground-breaking and perhaps most rewarding was his collaboration with the late and immensely celebrated fashion icon
Alexander McQueen who commissioned Watts and his old Psychic TV partner-in-crime John Gosling to embellish the serene instrumental track "Inside" (from 's Genuine American Monster album). The fluid soundtrack to McQueen's masterpiece, Plato's Atlantis, the show was reprised after McQueen's untimely death as the finale of
Savage Beauty, the posthumous retrospective that broke all records at The Metropolitan
Music of Art in New York and
Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
