Metal Church is an American heavy metal band formed in 1980. Originally based in San Francisco, California, the group's first lineup featured vocalist William McKay, lead guitarist Rick "Chief" Condrin, rhythm guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof, bassist Steve Hott and drummer Rick Wagner. After around a year, Vanderhoof relocated to Aberdeen, Washington, and restarted the group with vocalist Mike Murphy, lead guitarist Craig Wells, bassist Duke Erickson and drummer Tom Weber. The current lineup includes Vanderhoof alongside bassist Steve Unger (since 2003), lead guitarist Rick Van Zandt (since 2008), drummer Stet Howland (since 2017) and vocalist Marc Lopes (since 2023).
Kurdt Vanderhoof formed the first incarnation of Metal Church while living in San Francisco in 1980.[1] The original lineup included vocalist Billy McKay and drummer Rick Wagner, both of whom were members of Sinister Savage (later Griffin), who remained for around "two to three months".[2] [3] Vanderhoof, McKay and Wagner were initially joined by lead guitarist Rick "Chief" Condrin and bassist Steve Hott.[4] After McKay and Wagner both returned to Griffin later in the year, Ed Bull took over on vocals and Aaron Zimpel joined on drums, however Bull left shortly thereafter due to "tensions" with Condrin.[5] While still in San Francisco, the quartet of Vanderhoof, Condrin, Hott and Zimpel recorded the first Metal Church demo, an instrumental four-track called Red Skies, in 1981.[6]
Later in 1981, Vanderhoof moved to Aberdeen and formed a new version of Metal Church under the name Shrapnel. The initial lineup included vocalist Mike Murphy, lead guitarist Craig Wells, bassist Duke Erickson and drummer Tom Weber, although Murphy left before the recording of the band's next demo, 1982's Hitman.[7] Shortly after, David Wayne replaced Murphy and Kirk Arrington took over from the outgoing Weber; the new lineup released Four Hymns and an untitled third demo in 1983.[7] Shrapnel was also renamed Metal Church in 1983.[8] In 1984, Metal Church released its self-titled debut album on independent label Ground Zero, which leads to Elektra Records signing the group in 1985.[8] The band's major label debut The Dark followed in September 1986.[9]
After the recording of The Dark, founding member Kurdt Vanderhoof stepped down from the band's lineup, although he would continue to write material and occasionally feature on future recordings.[10] He was replaced initially on tour by Mark Baker, before John Marshall took over on a more permanent basis.[11] [12] The new lineup toured throughout 1987 and early 1988, before Wayne left in the summer and initially joined a group called Intrinsic,[13] before forming his own group Reverend later in the year.[14] Mike Howe, formerly of Heretic, took Wayne's place as frontman of Metal Church.[15] Howe, Wells, Marshall, Erickson and Arrington released Blessing in Disguise in 1989, The Human Factor in 1991 and Hanging in the Balance in 1993.[16] The band broke up in 1995 due to various "internal conflicts".[17]
In 1998, when compiling the album Live, the 1982–1986 lineup of Metal Church (David Wayne, Craig Wells, Kurdt Vanderhoof, Duke Erickson and Kirk Arrington) reformed to start working on new material; Wells backed out early into the process, however, and John Marshall returned to take his place.[8] The new lineup released Masterpeace in July 1999.[18] For a subsequent European tour, Brian Lake and Jeff Wade filled in for Erickson (who was unable to play due to family commitments) and Arrington (who was detained), respectively.[8] Vanderhoof has subsequently claimed that Arrington was unwell during this period and "barely played" on Masterpeace.[19]
After the 1999 tour dates, Metal Church essentially disbanded. Wayne claimed that "Kurdt and the guys did not want to continue with Metal Church", after which the singer used the band name as the title of his next solo album.[20] Vanderhoof claimed in a 2016 interview that the reunion was "a bad, bad idea", claiming that "We did a tour and it was awful".[19] In the summer of 2001, however, around the time of the release of Wayne's Metal Church album, various band members explained that the group was still together, albeit inactive while Vanderhoof focused on his solo project.[21] [22] Wayne officially announced his departure in June 2001.[23]
Metal Church did not re-emerge until October 2003, when it was announced that a new lineup including Vanderhoof and Arrington alongside vocalist Ronny Munroe, lead guitarist Jay Reynolds and bassist Steve Unger was recording a new album.[24] The album was released as The Weight of the World in 2004.[25] In February 2006, it was announced that Arrington had to leave the group "due to health complications from years of struggling with diabetes".[26] Jeff Plate took his place, starting with recording for A Light in the Dark in January.[27] In February 2008, Jay Reynolds left the band for "personal reasons".[28] Rick Van Zandt replaced him, debuting on This Present Wasteland.[29]
On July 7, 2009, Metal Church announced that it was disbanding, citing "far too much frustration and disappointment in trying to keep moving forward", including the impending (but later reversed) insolvency of its record label SPV GmbH.[30] The group had earlier had to pull out of several live performances due to Vanderhoof's ongoing back problems.[31]
Metal Church announced in October 2012 that it would be reforming for shows in 2013, with a lineup of Ronny Munroe, Jay Reynolds, Kurdt Vanderhoof, Steve Unger and Jeff Plate.[32] By the time they played their first show back in January, Rick Van Zandt had returned in Reynolds' place.[33] The band released Generation Nothing later in 2013, and after a subsequent touring cycle, Munroe stepped left to "pursue other interests" in September 2014.[34] His replacement was announced as the returning Mike Howe in April 2015, after a short trial period during which time he wrote new material with Vanderhoof.[35] A new album, XI, was released in 2016.[36] Plate later announced that he was leaving the group in March 2017.[37] The following month, former W.A.S.P. drummer Stet Howland was announced as Plate's replacement.[38]
The band released Damned If You Do in 2018,[39] followed by From the Vault in 2020 which included four new studio tracks.[40] These were the final Metal Church recordings to feature Mike Howe, who died by suicide on July 26, 2021.[41] The band became inactive following Howe's death, with Vanderhoof waiting until September 2022 to confirm that it would continue with a new vocalist, who they had reportedly chosen.[42] In February 2023, it was announced that Marc Lopes was Metal Church's new singer.[43] A new album, Congregation of Annihilation, was released that May.[44]
| Image | Name | Years active | Instruments | Release contributions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kurdt Vanderhoof | all Metal Church releases from Red Skies (1981) to The Dark (1986), and from Live (1986) onwards | ||||
| Steve Unger | all Metal Church releases from The Weight of the World (2004) onwards | ||||
| Rick Van Zandt | lead guitar | all Metal Church releases from This Present Wasteland (2008) onwards | |||
| Stet Howland | 2017–present | ||||
| Marc Lopes | 2023–present | lead vocals | Congregation of Annihilation (2023) |
| Image | Name | Years active | Instruments | Release contributions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rick "Chief" Condrin | 1980 | lead guitar | Red Skies demo (1981) | ||
| Steve Hott | 1980 | bass | |||
| William McKay | lead vocals | rowspan="2" | |||
| Rick Wagner | drums | ||||
| Aaron Zimpel | 1980 | Red Skies demo (1981) | |||
| Ed Bull | 1980 | lead vocals | rowspan="2" | ||
| Carl Sacco | 1981 | drums | |||
| Duke Erickson | bass | all Metal Church releases from the Hitman demo (1982) to Masterpeace (1999) | |||
| Craig Wells | lead guitar | all Metal Church releases from the Hitman demo (1982) to Live (1998) | |||
| Tom Weber | 1981–1982 | drums | Hitman demo (1982) | ||
| Mike Murphy | lead vocals | ||||
| Kirk Arrington | all Metal Church releases from the Four Hymns demo (1983) to The Weight of the World (2004) | ||||
| David Wayne | lead vocals | ||||
| Mark Baker | 1986 | rhythm guitar | |||
| John Marshall | guitar | ||||
| Mike Howe | lead vocals | all Metal Church releases from Blessing in Disguise (1989) to Hanging in the Balance (1993), and from "Badlands" (2015) to From the Vault (2020) | |||
| Ronny Munroe | |||||
| Jay Reynolds | lead guitar | ||||
| Jeff Plate | all Metal Church releases from A Light in the Dark (2006) to Classic Live (2017) |
| Image | Name | Years active | Instruments | Details | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brian Lake | 1999 | bass | Lake temporarily replaced Duke Erickson, who was unable to tour due to family commitments, in 1999. | ||
| Jeff Wade | drums | Wade performed some drums on Masterpeace and took over from Kirk Arrington on the subsequent tour. | |||
| Ira Black | 2005 | rhythm guitar | Black substituted for Kurdt Vanderhoof in summer 2005 when the guitarist had "prior commitments".[45] | ||
| Paul Kleff | 2016 | lead guitar | Kleff and Caffery stepped in for Rick Van Zandt during early 2016 when he had to have eye surgery.[46] [47] | ||
| Chris Caffery | |||||
| Bobby Ferkovich | 2019 | Ferkovich performed on an Australian tour in the summer of 2019 when Steve Unger couldn't make it.[48] |
| Period | Members | Releases | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 |
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| 1980 |
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| 1980–1981 |
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| 1981 |
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| 1981 |
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| 1981–1982 |
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| Early 1983 – summer 1986 |
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| Fall 1986 |
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| Late 1986 – summer 1988 |
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| 1988–1995 |
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| Band inactive 1995–1998 | |||
| 1998 |
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| Late 1998 – June 2001 |
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| Band on hiatus 2001–2003 | |||
| October 2003 – January 2006 |
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| January 2006 – February 2008 |
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| February 2008 – July 2009 |
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| Band inactive July 2009 – October 2012 | |||
| October – late 2012 |
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| Late 2012 – September 2014 |
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| April 2015 – March 2017 |
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| April 2017 – July 2021 |
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| Band on hiatus July 2021 – February 2023 | |||
| February 2023 – present |
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