Alkaline Trio talk Church of Satan

Cape Town - Matt Skiba and Derek Grant of Alkaline Trio do not pray to the devil, but they did celebrate Christmas by buying each other memberships to the Church of Satan. 

Alkaline Trio are in South Africa to play at the three RAMFest events taking place around the country.

The rockers addressed a group of journalists at a press conference in Cape Town on Tuesday and cleared up the myths surrounding their much publicised status as card-carrying members of the Church of Satan, founded by Anton LaVey. 

When asked whether people are still shocked to discover they are members, Grant replied: "Yeah it's something the media really picked up on. I remember interviews where there were distinctly more questions about our religious beliefs and our affiliation with the Church of Satan than about the new album.

'Annoyed'

"I really became annoyed. It definitely wasn't something we wanted to play up."

Skiba described their affiliation with the institution as more of a gag, saying "The Church of Satan was kind of a gag that died with Anton LaVey.

"It was never intended to be a serious statement or anything."

Merry Christmas

"It cost like $200 to join, I don't know what it is anymore... Derek and I didn't want to pay that money for nothing basically, so we bought it for each other for Christmas gifts," said Skiba.

While Skiba reportedly said in an earlier interview that he used his Church of Satan card to "watch people squirm", his association with the institution has more to do with him being a fan of Anton LaVey.

"We're both [Skiba and Grant] big fans of Anton LaVey and to me Anton LaVey was... very punk rock, it was just a different kind of thing. The Church of Satan to us is kind of like what Metallica is to somebody or whatever," explained Skiba.

"We don't really believe that the devil exists. We don't pray to the devil and we don't pray to a god in the sky."

Over and out

Skiba and Grant seem to have distanced themselves from the Church of Satan in recent years. Skiba elaborated: "For us it's just not fun anymore. People take it very seriously and we don't think anything should be taken too seriously, especially religion."

* Alkaline Trio will be performing at RAMFest in Durban at the Wavehouse on March 9 and at RAMFest in Johannesburg at Riversands Farm in Fourways on Sat March 12.