LORDS OF ACID

Lords of Acid is the kinky techno project of Maurice Engelen &n Olivier Adams that, certainly in the United States, has earned themselves cult following with their sexy SM-stageshows, ditto "risqué" lyrics and exciting musical mix of rock & techno.

Lords of Acid began as one of the dozens of projects in the New Beat period by Praga Khan and his compagnons. The first single "I Sit On Acid" had such an impact and lifespan that Lords Of Acid has grown into a project with a full career, as opposed to Shakti, Major Problem, 101, Miss Nikkie Trax, Phantasia, Digital Orgasm ... which all did get a considerably lesser life.

The first single was put together by Maurice Engelen (aka Praga Khan, Shakti ...) Nikkie van Lierop (Jade 4 U, Darling Nikkie ...), Jos Borremans (aka Chris Inger, who did work in lots of other projects in 1990 and before with Praga Khan such as zoals Jade 4U, Moments of Ecstacy, Tribe 22, Dirty Harry, Major Problem, Shakti, Electric Shock) and Harry van Oekel (aka Dirty Harry). The first gig was given in Roeselare, but as the band had only 1 song, they borrowed the song "Acid Queen" from another project called "Major Project". For the stage-act, Natalie Delaet, a blonde femme-fatale, was hired in.

Maurice about this episode later : "Praga Khan "I Sit On Acid" came out in 1988 and it was a real hit in Belgium. In a way Lords of Acid was just a project name and I had a lot of projects at that time. Most of these projects were successful but the "I Sit On Acid" kept selling. Every month (over a period of 3 years) we shipped 300 copies to the States. I knew that there was something going on. In 1991, I got a call from Caroline Records in the US and they asked me to write a Lords of Acid album for the States. In those days I was very busy because Praga Khan was taking off big-time in Europe, so I decided to record this first LOA album in 4 weeks time. That was the only spare studio time that I had available. And see what happened. Strangely enough, we didn't realize what was happening because we were touring with Praga Khan all over the world."

Meanwhile, Engelen & Van Lierop Ondertussen had met with Oliver Adams, and this cooperation - which was baptises MNO after their initials Maurice, Nikkie en Olivier - would turn out to be a very "fruitfull" one (see for example the debut CD of Yasmine). On the CD "Lust", that was put together especially for the American market, there was a also some input by Agaric & Bhab, beint the new-beat alter ego's of Rembert de Smet (2 Belgen) and Ferre Baelen (Tjens Couter). In Belgium, hardly anybody knew about the existence of this album, but in the States it started a remarkeable career: since the release in 1990 it has kept on selling, putting the counter these days at over 750,000 copies. "Take Control" from the Lust-cd even led the American dance-charts for a little while.
A fine effort, which has earned Praga Khan a place in the "producer's hall of fame" there. Engelen about this: "In America we are being seen as important musical innovators. Lords of Acid was the first big act on Astralwerks, the label that now houses all the major dance-act. And it qwas the very first album to mix techno with guitar music."

Between album 1 and "Voodoo-U", number 2 - released on a sublabel of Rick Rubin's American Recordings, a new vocalist was found in "Lady Galore" (who would later gather more fame as a member of "Pussy Galore"), and the sound became a lot more industrial without losing the danceability: still the ingredients were "excellent techno-rhythms en plenty of sex", but now also "screaming guitars" and "Lady Galore's screaming & yelling". The album also gathered some attention because some of the more prudish selling points refused the album sleeve with some naked she-devils on it. Subsequently, a version of this album exists with a censured cover on which - à la Eyes Wide Shut - other objects were placed in front of the more sensitive parts<.

As an illustration of the foulmouthed humour of the band the track "The Crablouse" could be exemplary. This track got some remixes in the maxi-version, with titles such as "No Visible Symptoms", "It' there to stay" and "The Seven year Itch". The lyrics to it went - on a less subtle note - "Here's a message for the girls about vaginas, and the consequence of fiddling with a partner. Mind your labia they're never out of danger, if you're gonna go to bed with a stranger. Creatures might be hidden in his pubic area, It's the crablouse that's out to get ya! It's gonna grab you by the pubic hair. Shake your pussy when the bastard's there. It's there to stay, sucks all day. It's there to bite, my parasite".
Praga about these kinky lyrics in an interview with Whatever Magazine: "The US record company people asked us many times to be a little more careful with the lyrics but when we're in the middle of the recordings I don't really give a shit about that. I just go with the flow. I think that our music really helps people explore their sexuality. I helps people to get out of their shyness so they know it's okay to be sexy. When we write our music it's always a bit funny and not very serious so people know that sex can be fun. The thing I really like is to write lyrics that can be translated in any direction. The best example is "Pussy". An 8 years old child who listens to the song with innocent ears will never ever get the idea that we're singing about a vagina. For the kid it is completely harmless to listen to the song."

For the 2nd CD Praga Khan wrote the songs with Oliver Adams and Carl S. Johansen (the alter ego of Ludo Camberlin), on lyrics of Nikkie. For the 3rd CD, there was another treatment : Praga & Oliver recorded the entire album instrumentally, and later on Nikkie & Maurice thought of some lyrics. Het resultaat was the cd "Our Little Secret". In the U.S.-tour that followed the release in 1997, Nikkie/Jade went on stage with the band for the first time. She wrote about this in her diary: "Went on tour with Lords of Acid. Why oh why did I ever let ex-Boyfriend talk me out of it? It was fantastic! This was like nothing else I’d ever done! Finally I got to see who those Lords fans were. I have to say I was a little shocked at how seriously Americans took this music. Our songs were supposed to be tongue-in-cheek, but they thought different! One of these people had the whole Voodoo-u cover tattooed on his chest and belly (imagine a body covered in demonesses). There were slaveboys and girls in chains…then there was this fashion thing where people get fangs made at the dentist’s! That totally grossed me out! But I would do it all again!"

Nikkie never did it again though, because sometime after, the collaboration with Praga & Oliver op. In her place came Deborah Ostrega, once a showgirl at the sides of the Walter Capiau's of this eart on VTM, en apparently not without her merits during a tour in 2000 that had both Praga Khan and Lords of Acid on one line-up. She certainly got the blessing of Penthouse : "Ostrega doesn't wear panties, which became quite evident to 1,500 fans when her latex dress crept over her midriff, exposing her nicely manicured bush. The sold-out crowd screamed its approval while Ostrega howled the word to "undress & possess" seemingly unaware that her Belgian beaver was openly on display".
But as Praga Khan corrects : "Let's be very clear: we never strip, and we do not fuck on stage. What happens in the audience is a different matter though. I must confess I sometimes have a hard time concentrating on my keyboard. But following our reputation, there is often police next to the stage, so we gotta be carefull what we do. The Lords of Acid is in the first place still about humour. If we sing about pussy, then we do that with a smile. And if you look at what happens in the discotheques in the weekend, or on late-night tv, then this is all much more extreme then what the Lords of Acid bring".

In 1998-1999 the band released "Expand your Head" - a cd with all kinds of remixes of LOA-tracks - and "Heaven is an Orgasm" - a limited edition album for the fans. It wasn't until 2001 that Lords of Acid came up with a "regular album" again, "Farstucker". This was the strangely enough only the first release of LOA that was being pushed in Europe also. This meant the band got a cd-presentation for a sold-out Ancienne Belgique in March, and got a headline position at summer-festivals such a Marktrock & Eurorock. As usual, this CD contained the "dark industrial house, kinky dance & horny lyrics" that also were the success-recepy in the past, with track-titles such as Scrood Bi U, Pain & Pleasure Concerto, Slave To Love, Lucy's F*ck*ng sKy (A Treatise on the Practical Methods Whereby one can) & Lick my Chakra.

Members :
- Oliver Adams
- Maurice - Praga Khan - Engelen
- Nikkie van Lierop
On stage the band included other "performers", such as
- Natalie Dalaet (vocals)
- Ruth McArdle (aka Lady Galore) (vocals)
- Tejo de Roeck (guitar)
- Frank Vloeberghs (aka Lord T. Byron) (bass)
- Kurt Liekens (aka McGuinness) (drums)
- Dirk Vanderauwera (drums, vocals)
- Erhan Kurkun (guitar)
- Wim Daans - aka Shai De La Luna (keyboards)

Buy CD's of this band at

Albums :
- Lust (CD, 1992, Kaos)
- Voodoo-U (CD, 1994 American Recordings / Sony)
- Our Little Secret (CD, 1997, Never Records)
- Heaven is an Orgasm (CD limited, 1998 White label - CD, 1999, Never Records)
- Expand your Head (remixes, 1999, Never Records)
- Farstucker (CD, 2001)
Singles / Maxi's ...
- I sit on Acid (1988, Kaos)
- Hey Ho (1990, Complete Kaos)
- Take Control (1992, Complete Kaos)
- Rough Sex (1993, Complete Kaos)
- I Must Increase My Bust (1993, Never Records)
- The Crablouse (1994, Caroline)
- Do What You Wanna Do (1994, Never Records)
- Sucking in the 70's (EP, 1995, Never Records)
- Rubber Doll (1997, Never Records)
- Pussy (1998, Never Records)
- Lover / Let's get High (1999, Never Records)
- Lover Boy / Lover Girl (2001, Never Records)
- I Sit on Acid (2001, Never Records)
- Scrood Bi U (2001, Never Records)

Websites :
- The official and extensive website is www.lordsofacid.com
- "Praise the Lords, the sexiest most outrageous band", article on LOA in Penthouse
- The Lords of Acid virtual Shrine by Christopher Curtis
- Interview with Lady Galore in 1995 about LOA in Arts & Performance
- Interview with Nikkie in 1998 at Chaos Control
- Video interview in 2001 in de AB by Canal Plus
- Teksten van Laïs op Waltertje's Lyrics site

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