Growing up on the outskirts of Detroit, Carla Harvey found her escape from suburban tedium through music—the classic rock swagger of Guns N’ Roses, the extreme metal of Pantera, and the industrial excess of Belgium’s Lords of Acid.
“As a kid growing up in the Midwest, they each offered a little bit of danger that was missing from daily life,” she said in a mid-April interview. “I was a fringe society kid looking for something meaningful. I could relate to the anger in Phil’s voice and the energy of Pantera. With Guns N’ Roses, the lyrics spoke to me, along with the swagger of the band. I still dress like Axl Rose in 1987 on a daily basis.”
Then there was Lords of Acid, who Harvey joined as lead singer in January of 2025. She first heard them while dancing at Detroit’s City Club. The group stood apart from the others with their underground club single “I Sit on Acid,” their transgressive electronics and their raunchy lyrics.
“Lords of Acid had this crazy sexual tension and a whole different kind of music I hadn’t experienced,” she recalled. “Growing up in Detroit, classic rock is shoved down your throat 24 hours a day. Hearing this electronic music that made you want to dance was altogether different and really captivating. The lyrics were so tongue-in-cheek, but also very sexy and fun. If you’re in on the joke and you get it, it’s awesome.”
Lords of Acid are currently out on their 35-date “Cheeky Freaky” tour. Performing these songs gives Harvey a way to connect with the music she loved as a teenager in ways she never expected.
“Anyone who saw me on the last tour can plainly see that it’s definitely a 16-year-old version of myself up there having the time of her life,” she said. “I’ve been able to maintain that 16-year-old level of energy in the things I really love and care about. When you get on stage and immerse yourself in that music and character, you just can’’t help but be happy and go bananas.”
Harvey isn’t new to the world of high-decibel rock. She co-founded Butcher Babies and now fronts her own project The Violent Hour. Managing those multiple musical identities has given her the opportunity to try on different stage personas, allowing her to play out fantasies while remaining true to herself.
“It’s really cool for me because I get to be a character in Lords of Acid that is so different from everything else,” she explained. “You’re not going to see me be the same Carla in The Violent Hour as you are in Lords of Acid. You get two different sides of me, but they’re still both very much Carla.”
Harvey met her bandmates for the first time just two days before the launch of their “Praise the Lords” tour. She learned the setlist in isolation, walking onto the San Francisco stage without a single full rehearsal to open the show with “Voodoo-U”—the very song whose climactic high note had fascinated her as a teenager.
“It was terrifying. It’s such a high note to sing. It’s more like diva singing in a lot of ways,” said Harvey, who’s known for her guttural screams and thrash-metal snarls. “I sang a lot in Butcher Babies, but this is a different kind of singing with Lords of Acid.”
Harvey is thankful that “Voodoo-U” isn’t the first song on the current setlist. “Not on this tour,” she said, clearly relieved. “I think I’ve grown so much over the last year, having the opportunity to do something that is so different and so unique.”
In addition to signature songs from throughout the band’s seven-album catalogue, fans can expect to hear new material from Acid Reign, the first Lords of Acid full-length release in eight years. While bandleader Praga Khan had written most of the songs before she arrived, Harvey slipped elements of her own vocal style into the mix.
“I definitely put my own little Carla on things,” she said. “There are some things you’ve never heard on a Lords of Acid album before, including some growling.”
Meanwhile, the band’s live shows continue their time-honored tradition of pulling women from the audience up onto the stage. Carla encourages fans to wear their best outfits and participate in the performance. She values these shared moments with the crowd.
“I have always celebrated other women, and I think it’s the funnest part of the night,” she said. “Lords of Acid is definitely a lifestyle band. People become part of this culture. You wear your best outfit, get your ass on stage, dance with us during ‘Pussy,’ and have the time of your life.”
Lords of Acid, May 31, Sunday at 6pm, The Ritz, 400 S 1st St., San Jose; theritzsanjose.com.
