Brides of Destruction was formed by
Nikki Sixx and
Tracii Guns in Los Angeles in 2002 initially with the name
Cockstar after
Mötley Crüe went on hiatus and Tracii left
L.A. Guns. The lineup was rounded off with singer
London LeGrand, keyboardist
Adam Hamilton and
Kris Kohls of
Adema on drums. They were advised by radio programmers that the name
Cockstar wouldn't be announced on air. They briefly adopted the moniker
Motordog before settling on
Brides of Destruction after it was suggested to Sixx by a friend. Hamilton left shortly after and was replaced by
John Corabi, also formerly of Mötley Crüe, who became the band's second guitarist. They entered the studio with producer Stevo Bruno to begin recording. Kohls left the band in early 2003 but is still credited in the album for the songs "I Got a Gun", "Natural Born Killers", "Revolution" and "Only Get So Far" despite Sixx stating that his replacement,
Scot Coogan, had re-recorded the drum parts for them: After recording his guitar parts for all the songs, Corabi left the Brides stating he wanted to pursue a solo career as his reasons. In an interview years later Corabi cited some tension with Guns and little writing input contributing to his decision to leave: Sixx's future
Sixx:A.M. bandmate
James Michael features on the album, co-writing "Brace Yourself", "Natural Born Killers" and "Only Get So Far". Justin Nichols and Grammy nominated songwriter Kevin Kadish are also given writing credits on the song "Life" which sees drummer Scot Coogan performing lead vocals. After recording was finished, the album was mixed by
Grammy Award-winning producer and mixer
Steve Thompson. Initially it looked like the album would only see a
Japanese release after signing a deal with Universal Records and failing to find a label for an
American/
European release. Due to this it looked likely the band were to split until they signed a deal with
Sanctuary Records and set a release date that was pushed back a number of times eventually being released on March 9, 2004. The band chose "Shut the Fuck Up" as their first single and recorded a video with director Paul Brown. The song was chosen as a protest against politicians discussing the war against terror. Despite the fact that the track was edited for radio, the song did not receive as much airplay as the band would have liked and the track failed to chart. ==Release==