“Not today, Satan”… or “Hell yeah, Beelzebub”?
A split is taking place in the polarizing realm of devil-rock, as practiced by self-styled “Satanic” duo Twin Temple. On Friday, country singer Charley Crockett took to social media to defend his decision to drop the act from his tour dates — even as Jack White piped up to offer them a high-profile spot on one of his shows.
White took to Instagram Friday to make an offer: “Twin Temple, would you like to open my show in L.A. on September 29th at the Hollywood Palladium? Let me know. Get in front of me Satan!” (That quip was a whimsical twist on the White Stripes’ 2005 album title “Get Behind Me Satan,” which was an interpolation of Matthew 16:23.)
Twin Temple quickly and enthusiastically responded to the offer. “Unholy hell…. Sir Jack, you have no idea what this means to us,” they responded in his comments. “Lifelong fans — ‘Dead Leaves on the Dirty Ground’ was one of the first songs I (Alex) ever learned on guitar. We were actually planning on coming to this show. It would be a most infernal pleasure to play the devil’s music with you.”
Others joined in with shows of support, apparently unafraid of getting caught up in spiritual warfare. “Viva Anton LaVey!” wrote singer-songwriter Jenny Lewis, of Rilo Kiley fame, referring to the late founder of the Church of Satan, in her support of the act that performs seemingly tongue-in-cheek anthems like “Lucifer, My Love” and “Let’s Have a Satanic Orgy.”
