Ever been kicked in the teeth? Well, right now as I sit here and listen to The Third Six—The Church of Hate’s© newest release which is about to hit the shelves—I feel just that...and I like it.
If you suffer from a bad attitude, the place to express yourself is at a Church of Hate© show. Bringing forth the lowest-tuned guitar licks on Earth, a consistent, hard-hitting drum beat, and vocals that spread the Gospel via screaming and yelling—along with half-naked chicks dancing, flogging and performing live, on-stage piercings—the Church will somehow hypnotize you and suck you in so deeply in that you just can’t turn away. These, my dearest readers, aren’t your typical bunch of musicians simply trying to put up a front and then glad-hand you all night long after their set. They mean what they say, and they say what they feel. Their name alone says it all—The Church of Hate©. This isn’t a front for displaced or misguided teenagers who wish to ‘shock and ahh’ their crowd, but rather a group of guys who aim to spread their infectious disease among the masses while devouring anyone who stands in their way.
Now you would think that with that attitude, no one would attend nor wish to see these rapscallions. However, the Church of Hate© has a solid fan base which spreads across the entire Northwest. Whether they’re in Portland, Seattle or Tacoma proper, they will pack out just about any room I’ve seen them in—which is many. The fans seem to understand it, and I suppose it might take actually seeing them to ‘get it,’ as I was hesitant myself from a booking agent’s perspective in having them perform on my stage. Would they break shit? Would they completely fuck up my room? Yes on both counts. What they broke (for me) was the mold of what most of the bands I see, hear and book sound and perform like. It was an amazing set; I found myself stomping my boots and chanting along. As for fucking up my room, they did indeed do just that; however not a single thing was damaged. What they fucked up was the monotonous routine that seemed to be plaguing the city at the time, and I was quite pleased. There still isn’t a single band I’ve ever heard or seen like the Church.
To let you in on something that may make them hate me even more is the fact at how utterly humble and cool they were to work with. Coming in blind, they didn’t expect anything from me (or vice-versa), but by the end of the night I was hooked, and we began what exists to this day as an excellent working relationship. Their dedication to what they do spoke volumes to me alone.
After establishing themselves out of their hometown of Tacoma, WA, the Church sold out of their first release in a year—pretty damned good. By the time their second album came out—another EP with yet another six tracks, it went like hotcakes, and was eventually repressed. The newest installment is aptly named The Third Six (each EP contains six songs apiece). This album shines above the two prior releases (not to undermine how great the first two are in any way), in that it exposes a defining progression in song writing. It’s still the Church, but it’s apparent they pushed themselves harder than ever on this album. Their hometown CD release party was an epic event or a nightmare if you happen to have thin skin. Next up is the all-ages CD party at Studio 7 on Friday, April 21st. If you have any cojones, you’ll be there.
At the Church of Hate© headquarters, I had a chance to ask the band a few questions to put some spice into my otherwise biased review of them.

Ditch: So, guys—why ‘Hate?’
CxOxH—Love is stupid, hate kicks ass (laughter). There’s a lot more to hate than there is to love in this world. You can have one without the other. We choose to push the envelope as opposed to doing the same ol’ shit everyone else does.
How did you guys meet up in the first place?
At a Promise Keepers convention, asshole (more laughter). We all started up about eight years ago, had similar tastes in music, views on religion and politics and the balls to go out and say whatever we wanted. Hasn’t changed a bit, except we’ve all gotten better and found that we hate a lot more than we did in the beginning.
How do you feel about the progression of your music from the first album to now?
Attitude is the same, songwriting is different. We’ve been together for seven-plus years and we know what we want. Our sound over time has developed into something of its own. The message remains the same. This album is definitely the best of the three. The songwriting is better, the production is better. We write together as a group now, whereas in the past we used to bring pieces of equipment to the jam shed and make an album.
What was the influence for this album?
The lyrics are inspired by hatred in general. More often than not by Christians, tweakers and homeless people. Everyone has hate, so everyone can relate to the material on this album if they wish to dig in to their own selves, and recognize that it exists in each one of us.
So now what? What’s on the agenda for you guys?
We’re trying to go to the next level. We wanna eliminate Christanity as a whole for one. On the first two records we weren’t really thinking outside the box. During the writing of this one we stepped way outside and have challenged ourselves to make this record be our carrier on tour as we spread the hate.

There you have it. The Church of Hate© is out to get you, so either give in now, or be stomped when they do in fact take over. Again, don’t forget their CD release party at Studio 7 this month on Friday, the 21st—all ages, bar w/ID.

The Church of Hate© is:

The Reverend—Vocals
Bew—Guitar
Mangoat—Bass
Owen Money—Drums

—DiTCH