They don’t call it death metal for nothing. Indianapolis four-piece band Church Tongue had a penchant for setting guitarist Chris Sawicki on fire in the middle of some heavy riffs.
And one last shout out to the guitar player of a band called @ChurchTongueIN for setting himself on fire while playin pic.twitter.com/s77zniYtQR
— VANNA (@VannaBoston) March 17, 2015
#tbt To when we set @ChrisSawicki23 on fire. #msmfest #conquerors #ct pic.twitter.com/u04gBSyzaa
— church tongue (@churchxtongue) February 26, 2015
Music blogs have called the stunt “dangerous” and “dumb,” which is to say quite gnarly and cool, with Axl Rosenberg of Metal Sucks declaring that Church Tongue—who also “blow,” by the way—will only achieve minor notoriety as “‘That band with that dude who set himself on fire’ and then will be called nothing because everyone will have forgotten about them.”
The band itself, which currently has more press materials than music videos, used their online exposure to drum up publicity for their friends’ projects. (You can listen to one of their own brutalizing songs, “Eyecon,” over on MediaFire.)
@ghostkeyband @SafeHouseIN @FALband @SERMOS317 @newhearthc @GuiltTrip_hc @LeftBehind304 @KINGMAKERBAND @knockedloose pic.twitter.com/6aljvyRBxz
— church tongue (@churchxtongue) March 18, 2015
@AddictEnt @FossilYouth pic.twitter.com/dNCEhEx5Zf
— church tongue (@churchxtongue) March 17, 2015
Strangely, Sawicki is no longer listed as a member in Church Tongue’s Twitter or Facebook bios. That’s just how fast the music industry moves in the midwest, folks: One minute you’re in flames, the next you’re going solo.
The last show we played with @ChrisSawicki23 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/L8N1fvv9xO
— church tongue (@churchxtongue) February 27, 2015
Sawicki was ambivalent about the whole thing, tweeting at critics and diehard fans alike.
Can’t wait till my 15 minutes are up so we can go back to talking about dress’ and avoid important political issues. pic.twitter.com/1Ngv5of2Fa
— critch (@Critch7861) March 17, 2015
@truestofchill that’s totally fine.
— critch (@Critch7861) March 18, 2015
https://twitter.com/danieljkadams/status/577721875545075712
@Landontours thanks homie, I did for myself not for any poorly written Internet article.
— critch (@Critch7861) March 17, 2015
Currently the Internet is split between talking shit about and praising @ChrisSawicki23 and @ChurchTongueIN…I love these dudes.
— Kyle (@kylehatesthis) March 17, 2015
@FAL_Jared @truestofchill @FALbrittany lets make that happen soon, before I become a bigger Internet gimmick than Doge
— critch (@Critch7861) March 17, 2015
@TLH_Joshua @BEARTOOTHband @ChurchTongueIN just might have to be an every night thing on tour until I die I guess.
— critch (@Critch7861) March 17, 2015
https://twitter.com/mitchvice/status/577923895250022400
if you’ve seen @ChurchTongueIN live, you know damn well that they are anything but a fucking gimmick band.
— Safe House (@SafeHouseIN) March 17, 2015
Just the sort of schisms and infighting you’d expect from any hardcore rock niche, but let’s not forget what really matters at the end of the day: an all-consuming sense of nihilism.
Fucking light me on fire and don’t put me out. Fuck my life.
— critch (@Critch7861) March 17, 2015
Hot take, bro.
Photo via Peter Sheik/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
