Coven (rock band)

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Coven
General information
Genre (s) Psychedelic rock
founding approx. 1967, 2007 - today
resolution circa 1975
Founding members
Esther "Jinx" Dawson
Mike "Oz" Osbourne
Steve Ross
Current occupation
singing
 Esther "Jinx" Dawson
Electric guitar
 Chris Nielsen
bass
 Mike "Oz" Osbourne
Steve Ross
former members
guitar
 Chris Nielsen
guitar
 Jim Donlinger
John Hobbs
Keyboard
 Jim Nyeholt
Alan Estes
Frank Smith

Coven was an American psychedelic rock band that caused a sensation due to its satanic image. The band had a one-hit wonder with the theme song for the film Billy Jack .

biography

The band was founded in Chicago around 1967 by singer Esther "Jinx" Dawson, bassist Mike "Oz" Osbourne (not identical to British singer John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne ) and drummer Steve Ross. Originally from Indiana , Dawson was a trained opera singer . Coven first appeared publicly in 1967 and 1968 as the opening act for Vanilla Fudge and the Yardbirds . They were supported by guitarist Chris Nielsen and keyboardist John Hobbs. Music producer Bill Traut became aware of the band and brought them together with guitarist Jim Donlinger. The band got a recording deal with Akarma Records and released their debut album Witchcraft: Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls in 1969 . In 1970 Donlinger left the band to reorganize with Michael Tegza Lovecraft . The satanism displayed with the album and stage shows led to a boycott by dealers and the media. When the band was brought into connection with Charles Manson through a newspaper article in March 1970 , the distribution company Mercury Records took the album out of circulation.

The band therefore broke up in late 1970. Singer Dawson reformed her shortly after to record the single One Tin Soldier (The Legend of Billy Jack) for Tom Laughlin's film Billy Jack . The song was featured on the Billboard Hot 100 from 1971 to 1973 , where it reached number 26.

Because of the success of the single, Sunshine Snake Records (a sub-label of MGM Records ) signed Coven for an album. In 1972 the second studio album Coven was released . In 1974 the third studio album Blood on the Snow followed on Buddah Records. A music video was made for the theme song at Disney Studios , but the song failed to make it onto the Billboard charts . The band broke up in the mid-1970s. Singer Jinx Dawson began a career as an actress and model . A comeback attempt by the band in 1990 failed. In 2007 a compilation Metal Goth Queen: Out of the Vault was released. It consists of unpublished recordings by Coven. Well-known guest musicians like Michael Monarch (ex- Steppenwolf ), Glen Cornick (ex- Jethro Tull ) and Tommy Bolin (ex- Deep Purple ) can be heard .

Image and reception

The debut album Witchcraft contained the 13 minute long recording of a black mass written by producer Bill Trout under the title The Satanic Mass . This was recorded as well as Anton Szandor LaVey's title track of his LP of the same name in 1968, but LaVey explicitly described his version as a "Satanic Mass" in contrast to the Black Mass, which in his opinion was merely an "inversion of the Christian rite". Coven bassist Osbourne suspected that the recording was made before Coven's, but doubts that LaVey actually conducted a mass. The first song was called Black Sabbath . The album was provided with a gatefold cover, the front of which showed "the obsessed faces of the three band members". A photo of a black mass was printed on the inside. A naked woman (probably Jinx Dawson) formed the living altar in the center of the picture. Michael Moynihan describes in his book Lords of Chaos the music as typical late sixties rock, stylistically comparable to Jefferson Airplane . Other sources refer to the music as "pure devil rock" . The nine pieces of the debut album and the black mass at the end are "an introduction to modern witchcraft". The 1970 debut album Black Sabbath by the English band Black Sabbath called the music magazine Rolling Stone "England's answer to Coven".

Coven also showed a black mass during their live performances. One of the roadies was tied to a cross in the back of the stage during the show. The stage was illuminated in red and was full of candles. Each performance ended with a cover version of Procol Harum's Walpurgis , which turned into an Ave Maria . Singer Dawson closed the performance with a quote from Aleister Crowley and the exclamation “Hail Satan!” . At this point the roadie tore himself away from the cross and turned it over to the Petrus Cross . This made Coven one of the first bands in rock history to openly display a satanic image. They also showed the Mano cornuta as a satanic symbol on Witchcraft as one of the first rock bands . The satanic elements in music were lost over time.

The band was later given as inspiration by various musicians, such as King Diamond , who used parts of the text of the Black Mass without information for the song The Oath on his band Mercyful Fate's second album Don't Break the Oath , and Selim Lemouchi ( The Devil's Blood ). In the 2000s, the Internet community stylized singer Jinx Dawson into the prototype of a " Gothic Queen ". The title of the 2007 sampler referred to this image.

Discography

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Singles
One Tin Soldier (1971)
  US 26th 11/27/1971 (18 weeks)
One Tin Soldier (1973)
  US 79 08/11/1973 (6 weeks)
Albums
  • 1969: Witchcraft: Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls (Akarma / Mercury )
  • 1972: Coven ( MGM )
  • 1974: Blood on the Snow (Buddah)
  • 2007: Metal Goth Queen: Out of the Vault (Nevoc Musick)
  • 2013: Jinx (Nevoc Musick)
Singles (selection)
  • 1971: One Tin Soldier ( Warner Bros. )
  • 2016: Light the Fire (Nevoc Musick)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Moynihan , Didrik Søderlind: Lords of Chaos . Extended and revised edition 2007. Index Verlag, 2007, ISBN 978-3-936878-00-4 , pp. 27 .
  2. ↑ Satanic Mass. ( MS Word ; 204 kB) Accessed September 30, 2010 (English).
  3. ↑ a b c d Moynihan / Søderlind: Lords of Chaos , p. 24f.
  4. ↑ a b Jack Fritscher: Popular Witchcraft: Straight from the Witch's Mouth . Popular Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0-299-20304-7 , pp. 86 .
  5. ↑ James Sullivan: Twisted Tales: Coven Take Witchcraft and Devil Horn Hand Salute to the Top 40. spinner.com, archived from the original on July 22, 2012 ; accessed on November 7, 2009 .
  6. ^ Moynihan / Søderlind: Lords of Chaos , p. 26
  7. ↑ Chart sources: US

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