Emerging in the mid 70's under the stage name NON, Boyd Rice is a pivotal figure in the history of industrial music. While Throbbing Gristle made music from noise that could be both ugly and pretty, and Cabaret Voltaire crafted psychedelic dub records (as much influenced by William Burroughs as it was by Funkadelic) that helped shape the future of dance music as much as industrial music, Rice pushed the noise to the front and made it much more dissonant, much more violent and, in some case, much more Dada (his first 7' has two spindle holes, giving the listener two differing listening experiences).
Always a man for controversy, his use of fascist imagery (the Wolfsangel was his logo for years), association with highly reprehensive people such as Charles Manson, American Front founder Bob Heick and Anton LaVey (Rice was a senior member of the Church of Satan for many years) as well as his appearance on Race and Reason, a US public access show hosted by former KKK, John Birch Society and White Aryan Resistance founder Tom Metzger.
Rice himself feigns disinterest of such matters, and supporters take the view that he is a wind-up merchant, poking an eye at conventional society and the art world. I, personally, take the view that he is a Social Darwinist (which could be construed as a minor form of fascism) whose actual beliefs are hard to pin down and obsession with fascistic imagery has fossilised him to a certain degree (and also a tad kitsch, which he'd undoubtedly love).
This novel, first published in 2011, is a semi-autobiographical look at his last ever job as a responder for the Twilight Alam company, giving him more power than a security guard but less than a cop. Along the way he battles rats, Vietnam vets and many other colourful characters that only come out at night.
The novel depicts a decaying San Francisco where everyone is out for themselves. Such a world view is summed up rather succinctly in this short paragraph from one of Rice’s co-workers when the topic of the homeless arises in conversation:
Bill dismissively categorized them all as “assholes” or “the scum of the earth.” … “What I’ve had to ask myself about the homeless is: how big an asshole would you have to be to find yourself in a position in which not a single soul on earth would move a finger to help you? So I have to imagine these folks are major assholes, because they’ve obviously alienated every last friend and relative they have. They’ve used up all of their options and now they’re on the street and on their own.
Such a worldview can become tiresome over the course of a novel so the short running time means the nihilism packs a punch and the atmosphere evoked is putrid. However, there are moments of unintended humour: in one segment when discussing Anton LaVey’s divorce, Rice depicts him setting up gun traps around his house in case the police raid it for no reason other than to harass him, thus making him a more violent Macauley Culkin!
Not for everyone but one for those who only come out at night.
Boyd Rice, 2025, Twilight Man. Manus Sinistra, ISBN-13: 978-6124991653
⏩ Christopher Owens was a reviewer for Metal Ireland and finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland. He is currently the TPQ Friday columnist and is the author of A Vortex of Securocrats and “dethrone god”.
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