Difference between revisions of "Ben Christo"

Revision as of 09:51, 19 November 2017

Ben Christo on stage with NxN (2013)

Benjamin Christodoulou aka Ben Christo joined The Sisters of Mercy in 2005 to replace long-time guitarist Adam Pearson, who had left the band after their Twothousandfive Tour.

Ben Christo played his first gig as a guitarist with The Sisters of Mercy during their 25th Stage Anniversary at the House of Blues on February 16th, 2006 in Las Vegas. The concert was also the starting shot for the worldwide 2006 Tour Sisters Bite The Silver Bullet.

Since then, Ben Christo plays lead guitar, at times also bass and does some background vocals with The Sisters of Mercy. Here's an interview with him about how he came to join the band. In case you should need an impression of his guitar playing at the time click here.

Other Projects

DJ-ing

Ben Christo is widely known for his love of hard rock, punk, glam, metal and rock in general. Already before he joined The Sisters, he occasionally appeared as a DJ at various events. He is currently one of the inhouse-DJs at the weekly Decadence events, the hard rock hangout at St. Moritz Club, London, Soho.

Shot Through The Heart

Right from its beginning, Ben Christo has also been a member of Shot Through The Heart, a "monthly night of live hard rock, AOR and glam metal covers in North London", named after a Bon Jovi song and dedicated to covering 80s classic tracks from AC/DC, Def Leppard, and Skid Row to Guns N' Roses, Heart or Whitesnake to mention just a few. Here he would play (lead) guitar or do the vocals or background vocals. The live sets are usually enhanced with guest musicians from various rock/glam/metal groups and followed by an Aftershow DJ-night with Ben Christo until 4am. With all his projects, Ben Christo can be found on Twitter and Facebook.

Killswitch UK

He is also the vocalist and guitarist of Killswitch UK, a Killswitch Engage tribute band who indroduced themselves as follows:

After collaborating together on New Year's Eve 2015 for a storming set of metal covers at the now sadly defunct 12 Bar Club, Andre Joyzi (Breed 77) and Ben Christo (The Sisters of Mercy) have decided to join forces once again to launch Killswitch UK - the ultimate Killswitch Engage tribute band. Joining them will be Martin Jackson of Confyde and Rich O'Donnell and Jay Gladwin of London death-metal outfit Karybdis. Playing hits and deep-cuts from the entire Killswitch Engage discography, be sure to catch Killswitch UK's at a venue near you!

Killswitch UK can be found here @FB.

PIG

Early in 2017, rumours were arose about Ben Christo collaborating with Raymond Watts and his <PIG> project on their coming six-track EP Prey & Obey. And indeed, the record was released with Metropolis Records mid-June 2017. For further updates, do also
keep an eye on pigindustries@FB.

Night By Night / NxN

Apart from the above mentioned activities, Ben Christo has also been a founding member of the London-based band Night By Night or, in short, NxN. Starting in 2008,
they produced their first official video Time To Escape followed by the promo video to their most recent single The Moment released on August 5th, 2013. NxN toured
in March 2014 supporting Swedish rockers Europe, who were also sharing the stage with The Sisters of Mercy at Rock Zottegem in July 2014. In June 2015, however,
the band declared "Now, for the foreseeable future, we will be exploring different avenues. Thank you again for all your passion for NxN!!" and went on hiatus. For possibly
upcoming developemts and more info, please keep an eye on the official Night By Night website. The album (and more) can be ordered from here

Night By Night - Announcement for the Debut Album NxN

Night By Night - A Thousand Lies

Links concerning NxN

Some interviews and NxN release facts

• Already in March 2013, Night By Night was awarded single/EP of the year with "Time To Escape" at the 2013 Pure Rawk Awards.

'From Rubber Dollies To Rainbows - PureRawk Interview with NxN in 2012

• On Friday, June 27th, 2014, Classic Rock Magazine played the new NxN single A Thousand Lies on their Tracks of the Week Round-up! Likewise, the according video

was aired first exclusively via the Classic Rock website. NxN's single A Thousand Lies is now generally available for download @iTunes....

• On 6 Juli 2014, online music magazine Rockoverdose featured an extended interview with Ben Christo about the history of NxN, his music with The Sisters of Mercy,

the new NxN album, video production, future gigs and touring, and everything one might possibly want to know. It was once available at:

Ben Christo (NIGHT BY NIGHT, THE SISTERS OF MERCY) on Rock Overdose:"The beauty of NxN is that it is everything I have always loved about music in one band"

but unfortunately, it has meanwhile disappeared. All we can offer you now, is this large article/interview with Screamer Magazine, L.A. of July 2014:

http://screamermagazine.com/interviews/proofed-night-night-moment-finally-arrived/

• Another interview of 2014 with Ben Christo (in German language, however) can be found @Terrorverlag.com/Interviews

Live Before The Sisters Of Mercy - AKO

• https://myspace.com/ako
• https://www.discogs.com/de/artist/557906-AKO-2
• https://www.discogs.com/de/artist/557905-Ben-Chivers
• https://www.last.fm/music/AKO/+wiki
• https://www.discogs.com/de/AKO-Find-Yourself/release/732700

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJZswWYmZzM

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NbixglqSsI
• http://betweenplanets.co.uk/2003/11/13/ako-tomorrow-nights-regret/

External Links

• Ben Christo's YouTube Channel and plenty other videos featuring Ben Christo

• Ben Christo's Discography @discogs

• Loads of Shot Through The Heart performances on YouTube

• Spoiler: The new ghouls are ...