For the first time in eight years and without an album to back them up, Belgian acid house/industrial outfit Lords of Acid hits the road, ending their too long hiatus to co-headline the “Sextreme Ball” tour with fellow industrialites, Chicago’s My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult.

Lords of Acid visionary frontman Maurice Engelen (aka Praga Khan, aka Maurice Praga, pictured right) was persuaded to return from the break to celebrate the 15th anniversary of his band’s “Sextacy Ball” tour with Thrill Kill Kult, both bands proving their relevancy with packed shows and appreciative crowds.

While he’s not accompanied by longtime collaborator Oliver Adams, or any other old school Lords of Acid members, he’s backed by an all-American lineup of musicians who are also longtime LOA fans – former Ministry/RevCo guitarist Sin Quirin, bassit M3 (ex-Powerman 5000), drummer Kirk Salvador (ex-Society One), and Nocturne vocalist Lacey Connor, whose exposure on reality TV likely helped her land this sweet gig (you may remember her as the red-headed femme fatale from Rock of Love, or the villainous bad girl learning to be a lady in its follow-up, Charm School).

I got the opportunity to talk to Praga last week, and he shed some light on his current misadventures, from meeting his band for the first time three hours before their debut show, to dealing with a gun-toting stranger on the tour bus.

This article appears in Jul 29 – Aug 4, 2010.