Biography
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Years Active
1996 – 2021 (25 years)
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Founded In
Brooklyn, New York, New York, United States
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Members
- Aaron Hammes
- Ben Kotch (1997 – 2007)
- Franz Nicolay (2001 – 2011)
- Jack Terricloth (1996 – 2021)
- Lucky Strano (1996 – 2010)
The World/Inferno Friendship Society was a dark cabaret band from Brooklyn, New York. Its style merges punk, klezmer, and gospel, while its collective membership features horns, piano, guitar, a number of percussionists, as well as a variety of other instruments such as accordion, xylophone and orchestra bells.
This musical collective has historically had over 30 members, including former members of Dexys Midnight Runners. Usually one can expect to see about nine or ten members on-stage when they perform. The group is led by singer Jack Terricloth and guitarist Lucky Strano, who have been the most constant members throughout the group's history. Terricloth is known for his pointed commentary during shows: his monologues have touched on politics, his transformation from the "old school," and baiting of bouncers which usually end up with the band buying drinks for the whole staff.
Members have also played in Sticks and Stones, Guignol, The Hold Steady, Nanuchka, Kid Casanova, Anti-Social Music, Morning Glory, Planned Collapse, Star Fucking Hipsters, The Dresden Dolls, and have been guests on Mischief Brew, stellastarr*, Public Radio International and Leftöver Crack recordings, as well as having The Casualties, along with Paul Maroon of Jonathan Fire*Eater on guitar, make a guest appearance on the recording of "Our Candidate".
Their lyrics often concern historical and/or biographical subject matter, such as Weimar-era Germany, Peter Lorre, Jeffrey Lee Pierce of The Gun Club, Paul Robeson, Leni Riefenstahl, Dante Alighieri, Jonathan Fire*Eater and other personages deemed to be of historical significance. Other songs deal with the terrifying, exulting, magical, and awful aspects of life that "make it more than waking up and going to work every day". One notable composition is a three-song cycle about love and loss in a temporary autonomous zone which appears on the 2002 album Just the Best Party. The lyric pattern and subject matter of the song cycle are similar to The Wild Party.
Jack Terricloth died in May 2021, but the band continues to live on through the establishment of the Jack Terricloth Foundation, a not for profit organization dedicated to preserving Jack's legacy. In October 2023, the band's first posthumous album, Valhalla, Definitely, was released, a collection of previously unheard material refined by the current members of the Society.
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