Courtroom Wedding, the feral new album by singer-songwriter-punk rock legend Chris D.’s new unit Poison Fang Society, succeeds In the Red Records’ release of two expansive albums by the bandleader’s Divine Horsemen, Hot Rise of an Ice Cream Phoenix (2021) and Bitter End to a Sweet Night (2022).
The taut, economical eight-song set grew out of several songs penned in the immediate wake of the COVID pandemic lockdown and originally envisioned as material for a third Divine Horsemen record. But logistical problems involving the band’s co-lead singer Julie Christensen’s ability to record in Los Angeles led to the formulation of a new solo configuration rooted in the past.
Poison Fang Society guitarist Larry Schemel, most recently of Death Valley Girls, and Tucson-bred drummer Johnny Ray are both veterans of the eight-piece lineup heard on the Flesh Eaters’ 1999 album Ashes of Time. They are joined by bassist-keyboardist-guitarist Sharif Dumani, who also engineered the collection and co-produced with Chris D.
