Tales from the Shadows of your soul

Rest in peace Zombeast

2009-05-20T11:22:00.000-07:00

Zombeast has called the quits...
We regret to confirm due to creative differences and other issues
Zombeast has called the quits. We all are great friends and
have made peace with the fact to grow as musicians
we need to focus our time and energy into other projects.

There may be a final show but right now we can't confirm anything.
If there is a final show, you will be the first to know as there will be
much planning ahead of time. Everyone one of us agreed this was the
right thing to do. Sadly, it was a very had thing to do as all
of 4 of are the best of friends.

We will use this myspace to let you know any further details
of what will happen with anything Zombeast related,
if anything that is..And the future projects we will be working on.

We seriously can not thank you all enough for the amazing
times you have given us.

A huge thank you to the following:

Horror High Records for putting out our album
and all the help they have given us,

Johnny Coffin and Coffin Case for all the kindness they have given us,

Calabrese for all the help you gave us from the beginning to the end,

JD Smith for the bitchin' fucking music video,

Lastly, all the bands we have played with, made friends with, toured with,
and to all the great fucking fans for loving and understanding
what the 4 of us were trying to do.

We will nto dissapoint with future projects!

-Zombeast

Talesfromtheshadows would like to thank Zombeast for the past and
wish them good luck with the future projects.

Please,take the time to read the interview we made with the guys many moons ago.

http://talesfromtheshadows.blogspot.com/2006/09/wolfskin-killers-zombeast.html

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

RIP Lux Interior

2009-02-10T11:11:00.000-08:00

photo by: Rocky Schenck

One of the greatest has passed, the most original, the inventor of thrashy rock n roll, Lux Interior has died at Glendale Memorial Hospital. SirJohnTalbot would like to thank mr. Interior for the art that changed the world, you are gone but not forgotten.

"My bones will keep a rockin' long after I've gone"

My last night as human...

2009-02-10T11:02:00.000-08:00

The cream of finnish horror-rock scene together with the masters of finnish ramopunk are putting their bones together and performing at Lepakkomies club! Rise from the grave and show your support! Yours truly will appear, roaming and foaming under the influence!

Häiriköt

Von Auer

Scarecrow

http://www.lepakkomies.fi/index.php

Pumpkin faces in the night

2008-11-02T04:17:00.000-08:00

Feast is over and it´s time to bring back
some memories, I have collected these
from very special fiends and I hope
all of you ghouls and ghoulettes will enjoy
them, without further ado: here are the
undead stories!

"Me and my long time girlfriend decided
to get married on Halloween,
so on 2007 we hired an Officiant to do
a one minute ceremony at a Famous club
in Hollywood called the Magic Castle.
Now whenever Halloween comes around we not only cellebrate
that, but we also cellebrate our anniversary as well."

Daniel Essex- singer for the Astrovamps

We once headlined "The Naked Halloween" party
That was held at Los Angeles strip joint.
It was for the porn crowd and people who wanted to see
and take pictures of naked chicks.
needless to say they didn't pay much attention to us,
but it was a good time.

Astrovamps

My wife Erin and I got married on November 1st 2005
in New York City New York. The night before, Halloween night,
we went and saw the MiSFiTS with Balzac and
Rock City Morgue at B.B.King's. We met and took pics with Balzac
and Jerry Only congratulated us on our pending nuptuals and
bought us beer all night. It was a KiLLER Halloween!
Even better is after we got married the next day
we hopped on an airplane and flew to Paris France for a week!!! :)

BOO Gruesome from the horrifics

Every Halloween is special and exciting for us,
but Halloween '98 will remain one of the most extra special
as it was the when Doc Horror and Zombina first met
(at a halloween party, obviously), leading to the formation
of Zombina and the Skeletones!

Favorite Experience: I was on a plane!
Heading to LA to do the FUSE TV Fangoria Magazine
award show. No...wait...I was on my way to New York City
...err...I have no idea where I was going but I was flying none the less.
They didn't show a horror movie...they didn't even mention Halloween...until the end of the flight when they gave out candy
and said "Happy Halloween!!". There was almost no-one on the flight so it was likely we had our own Halloween plane.
Halloween at 37,000 feet. I listened to the Misfits cranked on my headphones and had Halloween drinks with my brothers...
that was the best one ever...all shows and whatever aside.

Nim Vind

In my youth, my friends and I vandalized…er
"punked" the next door neighbors house every Halloween
for 3 years straight. The first two years, we strung fishing wire around all the trees in their backyard, poured skunk scent on the front porch
and left "tasteless" messages on the driveway in shaving cream.
Our neighbors, realizing we'd probably strike again, tried to stop us the third year by putting flood lights around the perimeter of the house.
But we were stupid and fearless, so we pulled the same stunt. We finally stopped our hijinx when the neighbors sat on the front porch
with what looked like a shot gun. It was probably just a bb gun but they turned off the flood lights and waited for us in the dark.
We knew we should end the tradition since our neighbors were willing to kill us.

-Jimmy www.CalabreseRock.com

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Von Auer strikes back!

2008-10-08T00:33:00.000-07:00

The Finnish blood rockers have returned! EP filled with tasty snacks
for everyone liking halloween flavoured meat gourmets.
The package contains three new and fresh tunes called:

Arktinen hyökkäys (Arctic attack)
Enkelikallot (Angel skulls)
Hänelle joka minut omistaa (He who owns me)

All the songs are available through Von Auers website
and myspace but be a true fiend and order the EP
from the band and support their cause!

Talesfromtheshadows will review the EP soon! Stay tuned!

http://www.vonauer.com
http://www.myspace.com/vonauer

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Springtime for zombies

2008-03-28T03:11:00.000-07:00

Hello ghouls and ghoulettes, it´s been awhile.
My account was hacked and all the interviews and
reviews I was making, were deleted/stolen.
This is not the end, updates will follow as soons as
I get some extra time in my life. Take care fiends!

The Creepshow at Bonga Tonight!

2007-06-02T23:44:00.001-07:00

Tonight! At Club BongaBonga! 3 rocking bands for only 6euros!
The venue is the same, Lepakkomies at Kallio, Helsinki.
Be there at 19.00 or you just might miss this!

Welcome to the Creature Feature show!

2007-05-18T01:46:00.001-07:00

Please introduce yourself to our readers

- We Are CREATURE FEATURE, A Two-Fiend Band
From Lost Angeles, California.
My Name Is Curtis Rx, I Play Guitar And Sing,
This Is Erik X, He Plays The Synth And Sampler.

Creature Feature, what is it? a band, ghouls on a mission?

- Both Actually, We Are A Two Composers That Decided
To Make A Band For Those People
Who Wished Halloween Would Last 365 Days Year,
But We Are Also On A Mission To Create
Our Own Unique Little Universe
And The Music In A Ghastly Invitation Into It.

Your music has a very unique sound, a mix between
horror soundtrack and music that is played in background
of a funeral service house, how would you describe
it?

- Yeah, That's Basically It, A Cross Between Horror/Sci-Fi/Fantasty
Movie Film Scores, Halloween, Cartoon Chase Scenes, And
Vintage Arcade Games. A Guess A Simple Description
Would Be Halloween Horror Music For Delightfully Twisted Minds.
We Want Our Music To Pull You Into Our World And Make
You Envision A Film That Doesn't Exist, But Should.

"The Greatest Show Unearthed" is the title of your debut album,
it includes tracks such as "Aim to the head" , "Buried Alive"
and "A Corpse in my bed" Share some details about this Cd.

- This CD Is A Melting Pot Or All Of Our Childhood Memories,
It's Filled With Dancing Skeletons, Radioactive Overgrown Insects,
Evil Carnivals,Alien Body Snatchers, Netherword Monsters,
Talking Pumpkins, Mouldering Corpses, And Flesh-Eating Ghouls.
A Few Of The Songs Are Inspired By Famous Artists And Writers,
The Song "Buried Alive" Is About The Twisted Life Or
Mr. Edgar Allen Poe, The Song "The Greatest Show Unearthed"
Is Filled With Themes From Ray Bradbury's Writings.

We Also Have A Song Entitled "A Gorey Demise" Which Is A Retelling
Of Edward Gorey's "The Ghastlycrumb Tinnies"
Using Alot Of Our Friends Names And Describing The Way They Will
Most Likely Meet Their Untimely Demise.

From music to movies, you also have your own
film production company called "Last Man On Earth Productions",
what made you form it?

- Ever Since I First Got A Camcorder,
I've Been Making Cheesy Short Horror Films,
Comedy Sketches, And Kung-Fu Movies.
Most Of My Life Has Revolved Around Movies
And "Last Man On Earth Productions" Is The
Next Phase. You've Heard Our Music And
We've Given You A Glimpse Into Our World,
Pretty Soon You'll Be Able To Watch It
On The Screen Too.

I got this statement from last man on earth productions myspace site "We Intend to give you that feeling again.",
I support this 100% but it´s a really difficult task,
how do you plan to proceed?

- It Seems Like A Hard Task, But It All Comes Down
To Your Inner Child. We Want To Make The Kind
Of Movies We Grew Up On Because Very Few
People Are Making Them Anymore.
The Way Most People Fail, Is That They Either Give Up Too Quickly,
Allow Their Inner Child To Whither Up And Die, Or Rely More On
What's Marketable And Guaranteed To Bring In The Big Bucks.

Let´s talk about favourites, name your top3 directors and why?

1) Sam Raimi Because The Entire Evil Dead Trilogy Is Pure Genius.
Evil Dead II Is One Of The Greatest Movie Of All Time. Without Sam
Raimi And Bruce Campbell, This World Would Be A Dire Place Indeed.

2) Peter Jackson Because With A Cheap 16mm Bolex Film Camera,
Ingenuity, And Four Years Of His Life, He Created "Bad Taste" Then
Reinvented The Zombie Genre With "Dead Alive".

3) George Romero. We Can Sum Up Why In One Word "ZOMBIES".

One thing I don´t get is that today, mainstream horror movie
directors have huge budjects and still they are able to screw
it up and make really bad movies, why do you think this is?
Is there hope for the horror gengre to survive?

- It Comes Down To Alot Of Things, First Of All No More
Re-makes, Instead Of Rehashing And Desecrating Old Classics
There Needs To Be More Emphasis On Fresh Unique Ideas.
The Best Horror Films Are Made By Those Directors Who Truly
Love The Horror Genre And They Should Not Be Made Solely
For Their Box Office Weekend Totals.

We Can Always Count On The Horror Genre Surviving,
It Works In Waves. The Pond Lies Stagnant For Awhile
Until An New Unstoppable Monster Emerges From
The Surface Just Like "Night Of The Living Dead",
"Texas ChainsawMassacre", "Evil Dead", "Dead-Alive", Etc.

Returning to music, I´ve noticed that you have all kinds of
competitions to your fiends, do you think it´s important to interact
with the fans and keep them interested?

- Of Course, It Is The Most Important Aspect Of
"Creature Feature", Without Our Fans Our Music
Would Have Never Left The Garage And We
Would Be Working At A Movie Theatre Instead.
We Run Our Various Contests Because We Want
All Our Fans To Be Artistically Involved With "Creature Feature",
We Also Run Our Own Website And Myspace Page Still.
There Is No Wall Between Us And Our Fans,
We Are Always Just An E-mail Away.

What is the direction you want to take Creature Feature in the future?

- We Have Alot Of Crazy Things Planned For
"Creature Feature" This Year.
We Will Be Filming A Video For Each Of The
Songs Off The Album And Compiling
A Bunch Of Cool Content To Go On A DVD Later This Year. We
Are Booking Our US Tour For October, So We Can Take The Halloween Show
On The Road. We Also Have A Few Scripts Written And We Are Just
Trying To Secure Financing For The First "Creature Feature" Full
Length Feature Film.

One last question, about the lyrics behind "A Gorey Demise" in
alphabetical order you go through some harsh destinys,
do these baseon reality or what is the deal.

- Those Deaths Are Pulled From Alot Of Places.
Some Of The Names Are Actual Friends Of Ours
And It Was Fun Writing Their Deaths For Them,
Others Come From Some Film Ideas And Stories We Have,
A Few Come From The History Books,
"T Is For Tori Who Froze In The Snow" Was Inspired
By The Donner Party.

http://www.myspace.com/creaturefeaturemusic

http://www.creaturefeaturemusic.com

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Returning from the grave with EERiE Ln

2007-05-15T11:59:00.000-07:00

Hello Boo, you have some exciting news to all horrorpunk fans!

- The Dallas/Ft.Worth Texas splatter metal,
thrash bastards are back.
EERiE Ln. has risen from the depths,
re-formed and is ready to get back
into the HORROR biz.

What is the current line-up?

- Me of course, on vocals, DEAD Lee on drums,
Edd Munster on guitars, and Sinister Hallows on bass.
There's been talk of possibly adding a rhythm
guitarist to thicken up the live sound and
free Edd up for solo work, but nothing has
been decided in that direction as of yet.
To early in the game to say.

What was the reason behind this comeback?

- Boredom. I'm tired of sitting on my ass at home playing video games
and reading comics. I need something to fuckin' do.
At first my hiatus from music was nice and relaxing.
The break was also very, very necessary for me to regain
my center as an individual and re-aquaint myself with
a bitch called reality. I now know music is in my blood
and there's no use fighting it.

I think the other guys feel the same.
Lee did some drum work briefly with his old band Alex Can't Sleep,
and Edd bopped around jamming here and there in Waco,
but for the most part all 3 of them have been on vacation
far longer than I. We're all on the same page.
Time to dust off the equipment and raise some HELL.

What were the main reasons behind the break-up of The Horrifics?

- I had alot of fun doing the HORRiFiCS but for some reason
it just never felt right down deep.
Our drummer and I were at odds every step of the way.
That got old and started to kill the vibe for me.
Our guitarist PHiBES ran into some personal issues he needed
time to take care of and requested time off from the band.

Next thing I knew our bassist Wretched did the same.
We started a mini-break and just never felt like getting
back together and doing it again. There's no hard feelings.
I speak with PHiBES on a weekly basis and hang out with
Wretched frequently. I teach them both the martial art
of Kenpo Karate. Wretched is a yellow belt and
PHiBES is an advanced white belt.

If I understood right, EERiE Ln. is recording some new material soon,
what can fans expect?

- We feel like we left the game with
unfinished business last time.
We're making a pact amongst ourselves
to put out the ultimate EERiE Ln.
album to date. We hadn't even
reached our full potential
when we called it a day last time.
As far as the music itself goes,
keep an open mind.

There's absolutely no telling what the 4 of us
will come up with when we lock ourselves
away in the garage with a case of beer
and the intent to kill.
We all like heavy and fast so those
elements will definitely be there.
I know that Edd and I are eager to write some slow, sludgey,
somber, spooky ditties as well.

It'll be interesting to say the least.
A real witch's brew of different things. 100% all EViL.

Are you excited about getting on the road again?

- I'm very excited about playing out of town again.
That's my favorite part of the live aspect of band life.
It's always great to go somewere new and meet cool new folks.

There are alot of horror bands out there, what makes you
stand out from all of them?

- To put it bluntly we're EERiE Ln. and they're not.
We don't adhere to scene standards and politics.
Never have and never will. We're here to be the best EERiE Ln.
we can be not to be the next Misfits or whatever.
The proof is in the music. And this statement is not to say that
I don't enjoy a bunch of the horror bands out there,
I most certainly do, it's just to say that our path is a
different one from theirs.

Let's talk about song writing, does the whole band get involved
or are you the brains behind the music?

- We write songs as a full unit. Usually Sinister or
Edd will bring a riff to practice and then we all get
to work on fleshing out the idea.
Every now and then Edd or Sinister will bring a full song to practice
in which case we all just tweak it out a bit just to add a
little of all of our personalities to the mix.

I've even been known to hum ideas to them so they can translate
it on their instruments or pick up a bass myself and
plink something out. I write all of the lyrics.
Edd sometimes helps me with finding the proper vocal harmonies.
It's a team effort indeed.

Is it true that your name is kind of honouring towards Eerie Von?

- Yes. That is true. I have had the good fortune of
being pals with Eerie Von
from Samhain/Danzig for over 10 years now.
He's a really cool cat with alot to say and
a source of advice and inspiration
to me and my bandmates.

To the future, besides recording new material and touring again,
what is next? Are you here to stay?

- The future is a very hard thing to predict.
We're here now and considering that the past no
longer exists and the future hasn't happened yet,
then the now is all we have. :) Can you dig it?

Send your greetings to our readers!

- We're back with MURDER on our minds!
Stop by and check us out again or for the first time at the following...
http://www.myspace.com/eerieln
We'd love to hear your feedback! Or you can peep in on
my personal page and drop me a line at...
http://www.myspace.com/boogruesome
THANX for the interview and THANX to everyone
for the years of dedicated support! CHEERZ!!!

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

EERiE Ln rises from the grave

2007-05-13T00:06:00.000-07:00

Like an ancient creature that has been lurking
in the shadows for sometime. Waiting for
the perfect moment to strike back.
EERiE Ln has risen from the grave!
2007 is the year of their comeback.

For those who don´t know EERiE Ln,
they are no strangers to the fields of horror.
They were originally formed in 1994
and disbanned in 2004.
Howling from Ft.Worth, Texas they are
better than ever!

Stay tuned for more news and treats!

Glenn Danzig - Black Aria II

2007-04-28T05:22:00.001-07:00

Released October 17, 2006
Length 34:47
Label Evilive
Producer Glenn Danzig

It´s finally here! The long waited sequel
to Glenn Danzig´s Black Aria.

In the first Black Aria, Glenn painted
the picture of Lucifer's rebellion against Heaven.
The album brought John Milton´s Paradise Lost
to flesh and blood. Where the first Black Aria
was more majestic and bold, some might say
even Wagnerish, there is a big difference
between these two.

Black Aria II tells the story of Lilith,
Adam´s first wife, long before Eve
came to the picture. The album is more
darker, it´s filled with eerie landscape,
that lurks and hypnotizes the listener.
The tempo is down, it´s like a quiet chant in the wind
and it keeps you on your toes.

To enjoy this, you have to create
the ideal surrondings to Glenn´s
dark and moody soundtrack for
lady who refused to bow down and kneel.
Dim the lights, turn the TV off and
and the your innerself loose.
It takes more to get into but it sure
will be worth the effort.

Track Listings
Overture: Winged Night Demon
Abandonment / Recreation
Zemaragad
Lamia
Bridal Ceremony Of The Lilitu
Dance Of The Succubi
Unclean Sephira
LCKR
The Succubus Feeds
Shiddin
Demons Reprise
Lamenta Lillith

RIP Bobby "Boris" Pickett

2007-04-26T22:54:00.000-07:00

Another great one has passed,
at the age of 69
the original horror rocker
has left us.
Bobby "Boris" Pickett
was the mastermind
behind "Monster Mash".

Talesfromtheshadows
would like to thank
Bobby for his art
that gave so many,
so much enjoyment.
You will be missed and your memory will
live forever.

Calling the devilman with Sean Yseult

2007-04-14T10:10:00.000-07:00

Hello and thanks for doing this interview, what have you been up lately?

- I recently started a design business
which takes up most of my time (www.yseultdesigns.com).
I split my time between New York and New Orleans,
where I also own a bar called the Saint,
and play with the band Rock City Morgue.

Starting from your school years, you graduated as graphic designer from Parsons and NC School of the Arts, did you enjoy school?

- I did, owing to the fact that both schools were
really amazing. I was lucky to grow up in
North Carolina because it cost almost nothing
for me to live on campus and go to NCSA from 6th-12th grade.
Parsons is probably the best school in the world for graphics,
and I had some very notorious teachers.

How old were you when you got interested in music?

- As far back as I can remember - by age 5
I was being trained on piano in classical and
blues improv, and was performing in nightclubs
when I was 6! From there I wanted a banjo,
then violin.

What lead you towards being a bass player?

- Neccessity! isn't that always the way someone
falls into the bass role? When we started White Zombie,
someone needed to play bass -
I was trying to learn guitar at the time,
but we found a good guitarist so...

Equipment you use?

- Specially designed Coffin Basses I had custom made,
and Ampeg SVTs.

As a musician, what has influenced you the must?

- That's really hard, because everything influences you somewhat....
Black Sabbath, Birthday Party/Nick Cave,
and I know it sounds very Spinal Tap, but alot of classical music,
especially Chopin - I love things that are dark,
slightly atonal and a bit off.

Let´s talk about White Zombie, how did you meet Rob
and what gave birth to the band?

- Rob and I met at Parsons - he was there for Illustration,
but dropped out later. When we started hanging out
we realized we both wanted to start a band,
and had really similar taste and influences.
Music was just a small part of that horror movies
and underground culture and lifestyle
were just as important to us.

White Zombie broke up in 1998, was it a suprise or
did you get together and talk thing over
and make a grop decision?

- It was a group decision, and a surprise to noone in the band.

If I got it right, you still talk with J from time to time,
what about the rest of the members?

- I see J all of the time, and we are very good friends.
He and I are also really tight with our last drummer,
Johnny Tempesta, who is great person.

Next in line was Famous Monsters, this was very different
from the sound that white zombie had.

- Yeah, obviously not influenced (musically) by anything
dark like Sabbath OR classical!
This was right after White Zombie had broken up,
and was a band I had done secretly just for fun
with Estrus Records.
I always had loved kitschy garage and surf bands,
and thought it would be fun to do one that we described
as "Josie and the Pussycats meet the Munsters".

When WZ broke up, I decided to get my two best friends
in New Orleans to play in the band -
even though neither one of them had
ever played their instrument before -
and see what would come of it!
It was really silly, on purpose,
but we got to do some great tours
and had more fun than should be legal!

FM released two albums "AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BIKINIS" and "In the night", in 2007, what do you think about them?

- Around the World was just a compilation of early Estrus 7 inches
and some terrible live stuff, but In the Night,
although recorded extremely lowrent, still has some good songs
on it and I'm happy with the whole package.

You were the bass player for The Cramps, for a brief moment,
this must have been exciting, tell us more about it.

- Yes, that was pretty amazing! Although I am friends
with them and they are great people,
it was still freaky to look over and realize I was on stage
with the band I probably have worshipped the most,
and the longest! Lux and Ivy are so insanely interesting,
every day they were turning me on to new books, artists,
movies and music. I don't know if I'll get the opportunity again,
but I'm really glad to have been a part of it,
especially for the classic West Coast Halloween Tour!

In 2002 you started Rock City Morgue with Rik Slave, tell us more about this?

- Rik was an old friend from early NYC/WZ days -
he always had cool bands. My favorite was the Kretins,
which was the perfect crossing of the Cramps and the Ramones,
two of my all time favorite bands.
I ran into him when I moved to New Orleans,
and knew it would be fun to play with him.
What I didn't expect is that he wanted to sing over
some songs I wrote on piano,
and the outcome has been pretty incredible.
He can croon with the best : Sinatra, Nick Cave and Joey Ramone
all rolled up together.

What are the future plans with Rock City Morgue?
Didn´t J produce your yet unreleased new CD?

- Yes, but it's just on a demo level recording,
we'll need to do a final recording once we have a few more songs.
In the meantime we are planning on putting out a 7" with two of the tracks.

Besides your music career, nowdays you have your own company,
Yseult Design, is this is life-long dream came true?

- I have to say yes to that, although I never thought of it as a dream
: more of a plan. I always knew that at some point I was going to try
to phase out my focus on music and get back to design.
After the evacuation for Katrina, it seemed like a good time to start!

I looked some of the designs and they are brilliant, colorful with 60-70´s vibe in it,
tell us more about the designing in general?

- They are stream of conscious drawings I do freehand, pen on paper.
They look alot like drawings I did when I was really young.
when I'm drawing them, I have rules : I have to draw fast,
no corrections (pen), and the next one has to be
better than the last. I'm trying to make the new ones
more layered and op-art.

What is next with Sean Yseult? Will you continue doing both arts?

- I am trying to phase out music, but we keep writing new songs,
so I will probably keep doing both for a while.

http://www.yseultdesigns.com

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

In Cinnamon Yard with DoppelgangeR

2007-04-11T08:32:00.000-07:00

Greetings and who am I speaking to?

Dmitry Flo: Hi! My name is Dmitry,I am in charge of music and lyrics creation, bass playing and vocals.

Black Cat: Hi, my name is Katy

Maggoth: Maggoth’s here.

Could you introduce your band to our readers, the line-up and brief history.

Dimitry Flo: Our band consists of 3 HUMANS.
Black Cat plays guitar, manages the band and keeps our web site,
Maggoth is the drums’ chief, also was spotted writing lyrics and
making band’s video, and myself.
As you can see everyone is doing something else besides
playing the instruments.
The band’s history is pretty long one.
On our official web site you can read it in whole,
I will just brief you on this one.

DoppelgangeR was formed back in 1994 in Moscow,
we went through a lot of line-up changes,
released 5 albums, participated in several compilations,
and we are continuously touring over Russia,
we have performed at numerous music festivals in Europe.

Your latest CD is called "SATURNIAN RINGS", tell us more about it, about the song-writing process and recordings.

Dmitry Flo: All songs lyrics were based on the literature of
Austrian author Gustav Meirink, medieval philosophers’ works
and particularly on works of the most known and most mysterious author Fulkanelli.
Process of songs’ creation was like that:

I was making a main composition line and
bringing it to the rehearsal studio where
we all together would bring it up to the way
we want it to sound. We pay for the studio hourly
so we have to be very precise and quick,
which I am not satisfied with cause we always want to
work longer with each song. In general all recording sessions
did not take us too long to be over with,
‘cause we knew exactly what we wanted and
did not run into any obstacles.
And of course Saturn has helped us:)

Black Cat: We were getting ready for making record for
almost half a year – practicing, arranging pieces,
improving each part.
It was first recording I was a part of, so I was worrying a lot.
But it came up much better than I’ve expected.
Pavel Gromov, the lead singer of Antisisters participated
in the recording sessions. He sung on one of the songs.
Besides that there are bonus tracks on the album,
these are 4 remixes of our song Democracy's Undead done by Two Witches,
Secrecy, The Way Of All Flesh, Redemption. We thank them very much for that.

Maggoth: It was hot, it was summer.
It did not take us too long. That was fun.

DoppelgangeR is from Russia how is the scene there? Bands that you can recommend to our readers?

Dmitry Flo: Yes we got quite many pretty good bands,
but I am not sure they are known in Europe.
There were few post-punk bands in mid 80’s and in the beginning of 90’s;
they were releasing records in Europe.
I would like your readers to check out these bands:
Durnoe Vlianie (Bad Influence), Petlia Nesterova
(Nesterov’s Loop), Godzadva.
There are many labels getting born
these days, and they want to publish this
kind of music, so the actual progress is obvious.
I do not really want to talk about their flaws.

Black Cat: Russian contemporary scene is 10 years behind
comparing to European scene.
As Dima said already, gothic labels, magazines,
and booking agencies are just being born here.
5 years ago we could not even dream about
some European bands touring over Russia.
While ago most shows were set in Moscow,
but now it is possible to do it almost in every Russian town,
but still, in some towns militia is busting our concerts:)
A lot of young bands are in Moscow and St.Petersburg,
it the rest of the country this music still being perceived as a miracle.

Maggoth: Scene is as it is everywhere, some like us,
some do hate, some do envy. Many bands from 80’s
are worth checking them out, such as
NochnoiProspect (Night Prospect), Center, IvanovDown,
Kollezhskii Asessor and too many others to mention.

You held a record release party for your new CD in Tampere, Finland. Any special reasons behind this?

Dmitry Flo: Our friend Jyrki from Two Witches
kindly offered us to make this party and we delightfully agreed.
And as far as I know Tampere is some sort of a center of
gothic subculture in Finland, so that’s why our album release party took
place exactly there.

Black Cat: Besides that our release parties were held in London and Leeds (UK).
At the time of the album release it is important
to have some information support, so it was really great
to have such a party in Tampere.

You also performed at LUMOUS GOTHIC FESTIVAL in Tampere, did you enjoy our country and our audience?

Dmitry Flo: Yes we liked your country very much.
Everything is clean and well kept.
People are very sweet. And the most important part is that
no one was giving us dirty looks as it is common here in our country.
It’s not possible to get your working place without being paid
a lot of attention to your outlook.
What struck us the most is that people who work in the stores
spoke Russian to us.
We were very nervous right before our performance,
we were not sure how well we will be accepted,
but during the show we saw how people are reacting to our music
and they were having a lot of fun with us.

Black Cat: It’s really great and beautiful in Tampere.
We walked all over Tampere with the map, took plenty of pictures.
At the festival we saw a lot of nice people and great Finish bands.
I liked very much Nevernetles, Silene and Suruaika.
We even got CD’s of last two and I am enjoying listening to them.

Maggoth: Finland and Tampere are really great! People are beautiful.
Every time I think of Finland I say to myself,
it is sooo damn great that Finns kicked some soviet ass back in 40’s.
Your country is not touched by any of bolshevism and
I am happily realizing that it was possible by enormous and
heroic effort of your countryman.

More about live performances, your played at ROZZWISH(A tribute event for Rozz Williams work), could you tell us more about this?

Dmitry Flo: These parties are made by my friend Mikhail
and his company True-LaLa. He’s got tired of realizing that
this particular music style is absolutely unknown and
decided to organize thematic parties, where bands
who play Death-Rock, Gothic-Rock, Batcave.
It was our solo performance on this particular evening.
Besides our act there were video installations,
devoted to works of Rozz Williams, there was shown
a movie “Pig” and videos from live performances of
Christian Death and Shadow Project.

Black Cat: Rozzwish is annual party in the memory of Rozz Williams.
Usually it takes place in small club, in quiet and calm environment.
This year we played songs of our own and “Blue Hour”, Christian Death cover.

Maggoth: The good thing about this is that spectators,
who dropped by were the ones who badly wanted to come,
so the vibe in the audience was very friendly and enthusiastic.

Your thoughts about the whole Valor vs Williams thing and Eva Oґs Christian Death 1334?

Dmitry Flo: I do not know I was not present there at the time.
But from the outside I think that whole fuzz was blown out of proportions
by mass media. I personally think that the best albums
were made in this creative tandem Williams - Vallor.
But actually we are not very much interested in behind the scenes
intrigues between the band members, we love the music.

Maggoth: As it is said in one my favorite song
“We are ugly but we have the music.”

You are inspired by Christian Death but what other
bands have inspired you to write music?

Dmitry Flo: We were very much influenced by bands
that played post-punk in the end of 70’s and
first wave of Goth in the beginning of 80’s.
These are Joy Division, Chameleons, Echo and the Bunnymen,
Siouxsie and The Banshees, Bauhaus, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Ausgang, Sex Gang Children, Spacemen, and The Cure.
David Bowie, Wire, The Fall, The Stooges, as well.

On your website you state "WE CAN IMAGINE GOTHIC ROCK WITHOUT US, BUT WE CAN’T IMAGINE OURSELVES WITHOUT GOTHIC ROCK" other than the way you dress, how does this show and effect your everyday life?

Dmitry Flo: Well, it effects some how all right.
I am sure that I will never work for any of political parties
nor for any corporation. I do not exist in their world))).

Black Cat: I would say the sense of humor helps me
along with all kinds of household smalls.

And finally, reveal the truth, what is next with DoppelgangeR?

Dmitry Flo: We are planning on recording a new album.
I even will disclose you a secret.
It will be named “12 STEPS TO INHUMANNITY”
In September we will perform at 20 years to Two Witches celebration,
along with very good Finnish band SILENE.

www.doppelganger.ru
www.myspace.com/doppelgangerband

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

The Limit Club 1st full lenght release and other news

2007-04-09T22:48:00.001-07:00

You've waited patiently, and now it's finally here!
The Limit Club's first full length album "God Damn The Limit Club"
will be officially released June 5, 2007 on Phantom Cat Records!

Starting June 5, you can purchase the album right from
www.LimitClub.com, or at any Limit Club live show! Online, MP3 and CD distribution will follow shortly.

The track listing for God Damn The Limit Club is as follows:

1. Factory 43
2. The Kids Are All Dead
3. You're Pretty Warm (For Someone With A Cold Heart)
4. The Frankenstein Bop
5. Sleeptalking
6. Cold As A Coffin
7. Black, White and Red
8. The Spider Crawl
9. Braindead
10. Strangeways
11. The Black Hole
12. Losing My Mind On Purpose
13. Lost On Planet-X

The album will be $10!

All profits will go toward a Limit Club touring van!

In other news:

"Halloween is a wrap!
I am done shooting principle photography and will be begin to edit on Monday.
The film looks fucking amazing!
A teaser trailer will run before GRINDHOUSE starting on April 6th."

You can watch the trailer HERE

The ghoulest deathrock club in town, Club Bone Boogie will return shortly,
as new info comes pooring in, I will inform you.

The Lost tracks of Danzig will be out May 29, 2007, for more info go HERE

And about yours truly, new interviews have confirmed,
stay tuned for more ghoulish examinations.

Waiting all night with Gravemist

2007-03-27T10:37:00.000-07:00

Greetings and fangs for having the time to answer to some of my questions, what´s up?

- Not alot, Preparing for the upcoming tour,
Listening to Bobby Darin.

Let´s get started, who are you what do you do?

- I am Jason Mortualia Demise, I sing and play the snare
and Upright Bass for GRAVEMIST.
I am also a Legally Ordained Reverend and a Ghost Hunter.

What is Gravemist? How did you get started? Brief history if you may.

- (From our website http://gravemist.com)
"It was a dark night in 1956."
These are the tales of Mr. Jason Demise, Ghost hunter
and entertainer extraordinaire and my lovely partner
the talented songstress Natassja Noctis. We both play music
as part of the "Phineas Stein Creepabilly Travelling Show."

The CREEPERS/GRAVEMIST story is an unusual one
of two partners in musical journeys. Sadly The duo were killed
in a car accident on a dark night in 1956.
The story is still shrouded with mystery and
the facts are even fuzzy to this day. What we do know
Is that they came back to life in a local Chicago Graveyard and
have been seen playing lounge and nightclub gigs.

How can this be you may ask? Some suspect it may have something
to do with the Absinthe they had consumed in 1956
that was prepared by a poisonous hand, a bitter rival enemy who
wanted nothing more than to embarrass the duo.
Some say It helped in their ressurection?
The world may never know..."

Could you tell us more about the complilation CD´s "Tribulation" and "Trials"

- 10 years of music crammed into two DIY released discs,
all proceeds help fund GRAVEMIST because we take nothing
from our own pockets to make the band move.

All of your music has been released independently, is this something you want to continue doing or are you driving towards bigger labels?

- The Music Industry is full of weasels and snakes but If
a decent non-lying company would step up we'd be happy
to work with pretty much anyone, unless you want us to do
some crazy or unethical stuff.

You made a video of the song "Solitude", who directed it and are you happy with the result?

- Natassja directed it and we filmed it with a digital camera
and put it together using the computer. It's not even a "video" really
just the song and some pics of me acting weird.
We have yet to make a real video. Don't worry they are on the way.

Your music is labeled as creepbilly, gothabilly etc. how would you describe your own music?

- We dont trust "scenes", " genres" or labels. That stuff is for grocery stores.
We sound like GRAVEMIST. We dont like to be put in the "billy" category.
We live in the city, can read, we are not xenophobic and we are not alcoholics.
That's unheard of in their whole genre and scene. Some purist people say we are an
"insult" to rockabilly music because we are not ripping off the old bands sound and look.
But who cares what they think?

What inspires you to write music? Music, movies the undead?

- Its what we are, musicians, If we dont write music or do art you go crazy,
Look at Louis Farakkkhan.

You are from Graveyard of Chicago, how is the scene there?

- We dont have one. Retarded scene people are actively trying to silence GRAVEMIST.
We are blacklisted and banned/ignored from all "scene" type events,
mainly due to the fact we don't have political leanings
we exploit for advancement while being in a band.
The Local "goth" scene has been our biggest enemy,
setting up gigs the same night as ours, bad mouthing us, etc...

I read somewhere that you are the first openly "LGBT" rockabilly act, there is alot narrow mindness in the world, how have people reacted? Any encounters with morons while playing live situation?

- Most "music scene" people so far have been real
ignorant assholes to me and Natassja both.
It's a competition with everyone to see who can be the most
"popular" band, etc...total nonsense, Like High School.
But, There is always the balance of folks like you and
our regular supporters. When we play live only our friends
and supporters come, so we always have a great time.

More about playing live situation, do you have a steady live line-up or new guys on every new gig?

- It varies from show to show...
There are a few people who sit in more than others.

What is next with the Gravemist?

- We are touring the US this spring & summer,
and a new album is on the way.

This is about it, fangs again for the interview and it´s time for the final question, who is Dr. Reichenstahl?

- A Nazi Bastard who keeps harrassing me.
He's harmless though, most Incorrect people are.
:)

http://www.gravemist.com

http://www.myspace.com/hauntofgravemist

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Zombie A-Go-Go 8.4.2007

2007-03-23T09:10:00.000-07:00

It´s springtime for zombies and ghouls! This time the most ghoulish
club in town delivers us some undead and rotten tunes.
Be there to experience the performance of the Finland´s
finest post-punk band Suruaika. Also for your entertainment
2 fine DJ´s : Kaitsu (Schatten) and
PogoMara (If you scratch yer brain you might just remember
her from the BoneBoogie clubs)

The venue is the same as always with Club BongaBonga:
Lepakkomies
Address: Helsinginkatu 1

http://www.myspace.com/clubbongabonga

http://www.myspace.com/suruaika

Listening to the dead dog´s howl with Two Witches

2007-03-21T02:33:00.000-07:00

Greetings and congratulations are in order, it´s been 20 years of gothrock, the pioneers in the Finnish scene, how are you?

- I'm fine, thank you. Busy as always. At the moment
we are touring heavily. We played in Austria the last weekend
and this week the tour continues in Russia for ten dates,
then we are going to UK with Pro-Jekt and so on.

At the same time I'm also finishing the second album
of my side-project, SinMasters. The album comes out this spring.
We are also composing new songs for the next Two Witches' album.

And, of course, Lumous Gothic Festival takes a lot of my time.

Could you tell our readers your current line-up?

- There two guitarists, Heidi and Marko, both lives in Berlin.
A guy called Jesse for the live show. And my vocals.
Unfortunately Anke left the band a few months ago
and we haven't found anyone to replace her yet.

Back to the fact that Two Witches has been around the block for 20 years, many ups and downs I assume, So far, what has been the absolute highlight of your career?

- Every tour and single concert is a highlight for us,
but maybe the biggest highlights have been the concerts
in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Russia.

To celebrate you 20th birthday, you´re organizing a European tour, tell us more about the dates and countries.

- Basicly we are touring the same places as always.
This year we are playing one concert in Finland as well.
That is pretty rare for us nowadays.

We are also going the second time to Russia.
This time for a real tour, ten gigs in ten days.
We are really waiting for it.

The other new countries for us would be
Czech Republic and Portugal.

Life itself is your biggest influence but what bands have inspired you?

- Huh, too many to mention them all. David Bowie, Christian Death,
Virgin Prunes, Bauhaus, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Japan,
The Mission, Fields of the Nephilim, Psychobilly, 70's punk rock,
Visage, Ultravox, The Stray Cats... It would take a day to
mention all of my favourite bands.

Let´s talk about the gothic scene in Finland, the state of it, what are your views about it? Any brother/sisters bands you relate to?

- The band scene in Finland is so small
and everyone knows each others. Of course
we, as well as any other act, are having some fellow bands.
Otherwise the scene is good in Finland, especially
in Helsinki and Tampere. Many clubs, some record labels,
magazines, etc. If I'm thinking of the last decades and nowadays,
I must say I like how it is at the moment.

For some reason, for long time Two Witches has been misunderstood and belittled by the Finnish music press, why do you think this is?

- I guess we have done something wrong?
To be a pioneer is not easy. But this is not just
a question of the Finnish music press but
quite often inside the scene as well.
Maybe the reason is simple, we are just crap.

So, next is the tour but after that, the future of Two Witches? Will Two Witches be immortal?

- I hope so. At least it feels like
we could survive the next years as well.

This is about it, fangs for the interview
and feel free to promote and say hi to the fans.

- I hope to see all of you in our concerts!

Bites,
Jyrki Witch

www.two-witches.com
www.myspace.com/twowitches

Pictures by www.exeria.de and www.tinacassati.de

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Club BongaBonga Digs up Gold!

2007-03-14T05:59:00.000-07:00

It has happened!
The biggest act in the Club BongaBonga history!
MrMezola was able to do
it and the news is that on
June the 3th,
the Canadian Psychobangers,
THE CREEPSHOW
will be performing at Club Lepakkomies!
More details will follow as the batphone delivers them!
Stay tuned for more
news from the grave!

http://www.myspace.com/clubbongabonga

http://www.myspace.com/thecreepshow

Eating their brains with The Creepshow

2007-03-13T09:11:00.000-07:00

They are the creatures of the night, rock n roll demons! Out in the night to take your soul, they are evil and they work for the reaper! Beware or the reaper will sing your song! Come in and read what the most attractive ghoulette hellcat had to say about their mission...

Please give a brief history of the band, including current line up

- Well, let's see here...
we've been around for
about two years, put out an amazing record
($ell your $oul avaiable at Interpunk.com)
and we've been touring pretty
much non-stop since...
Current line-up is:
Matt Pomade on drums,
The Reverend McGinty on keyboards,
Sean 'Sickboy' McNab on doghouse bass
and my sister Sarah 'Sin' Blackwood on guitar and lead vocals. She's filling in for me as I'm expecting a little Hellcat of my own in May.

The Creepshow just released it´s debut album "Sell your soul" in 2006, was it a difficult project and are you pleased with the outcome? And how have people responded?

- I wouldn't say it was a difficult project to write or anything.
We had a lot of fun writing and recording it, that's for sure...
Honestly, we couldn't be happier with the way people have responded.
It's been CRAZY really... I mean, our record is selling huge
all over the world right now, places can't keep the thing in stock ANYwhere...
it's a little overwhelming sometimes when I actually get
the chance to sit back and think about it (which I don't get to very often...)

What would you call your music, describe the sound of The Creepshow, to those people who yet don´t know about you

- That's a tough one, each of us draws from so many different influences
that it's really hard to pinpoint any specific genre...people are
calling us psychobilly or rockabilly or even horrorbilly but, to me...
it's just plain
old good time rock n' roll that will get your ass shakin'.
There are some songs about horror-themed type stuff but there are
also songs about life on there you know? Love gone wrong songs etc... it's
ALL in there.

On your myspace site, you´ve made a cover of "Halloween" song by the legendary Misfits, what other bands have inspired you?

- Personally I am influenced by a lot of '50s artists, I like a lot of
old doo wop stuff and rockabilly stuff.
I really dig old crooners from the big band era too.
But certainly, a lot of punk stuff too ya know?
Cramps, Ramones, I'm a big Green Day fan...
there, I've admitted it... deal with it. My record collection is a very eclectic one really...

Creepshow is from Canada, how is the rock n roll scene there?

- There's a GREAT scene here!
Canada boasts some really great bands up here...
The Matadors, The Gutter Demons, Alley dukes, The Brains... the list goes on and on... I could literally fill the pages of your
magazine with how many great bands there are here. But, enough about them...
let's talk about ME and MY great band...tee hee..

Let´s talk about touring, you are coming to Finland in June and July, is this your first time in Finland, what do you expect?

- Well, Finland is a place I've always wanted to visit. Unfortunately,
our last European tour did not take us that far.
I've always loved Pekka Halonen's paintings of Finnish landscapes
and would love to see them with my own eyes... BUT...I'm not going, I'm
expecting a little hellcat of my own in May and so my sis will be
filling in for the tour! She'll be rockin' in my shoes until I return.

More about touring and live shows, what is the worst experience in a live situation so far?

- I think last year when we were touring in California...
we were supposed to play a show in San Jose but
I was unable to perform due to exhaustion.
It had never happened to me before or since.
I now know to make sure I eat well on tour no matter how busy I am.

What makes a good The Creepshow show?

- Every Creepshow show is a good one.
From the first note to the last we will have you dancing
and singing along all night! We are a top notch live act.
It's what we do.. We consistantly deliver a high intensity
rock n' roll show that will not soon be forgotten.

Little about the future, have you done any new songs, and if so when can fans expect another Creepshow release? What is the direction you wanna take Creepshow to?

- I have begun writing many songs over the last year.
The new songs are a bit of a departure from the
last record but not too much. The newer songs are a little
darker but still infectiously catchy. But, you'll just have to
wait...

Thank you very much, say your last prayers!

- Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray to Lucifer my soul keep,
and if I should die before I wake...
I can at least be happy that I left the hottest corpse
on earth behind me... *wink*

http://www.thecreepshow.ca

http://www.myspace.com/thecreepshow

Pictures by: Gordon Ball and DrMarten

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Into the Batcave with The Last days of Jesus

2007-03-09T05:52:00.000-08:00

Since 1993 they have been one of the most unique deathrock groups of Europe, they hail from the Batcaves of Bratislava, Slovakia.
Let´s see what they had to say...

The Last days of Jesus was formed in 1993, how has things changed since then?

- You know, the things have changed as we
have been changing through the years.
When we started we were approx. 20 years old.
Now we´re over 30. Some illusions are lost
but some new are still coming up.
Probably we are more straigth in our music
as well as in the lyrics, more ironic,
full of sarcasm....

What is the current line-up?

- The line up is the same like on the Alien Road album.
Fessy - guitars, Anjou de Cou-Cou- keys, Vajco - drums,
mary0 the robotjoker - voice...
we just use some different nicks for every album as
our mental illnesses are changing every year...

You are currently of Strobelight records,
how did you end up with them and how has it been so far?

- We contacted them, I think it was somewhere in 2003,
to get some promo copies of their bands for our BatCave.sk
webzine we are running here. Well, and then we finished the
songs for the Alien Road album and realized
we had no label. So, then it went very quickly,
a question, an answer, a contract, an album, great;-)
They supported us intensively and we stayed in contact,
so now there is another contract for the upcoming album in our safe.

So far, what has been the most important musical experience with your band?

- As we have been existing for almost 14 years
there were a lot of experiences in our past.
Well, some of the most important experiences
was the contract and fucking bad cooperation with EMI-Monitor,
but first of all it is about all the moments and adventures at our
live concerts and tours, as well as the already mentioned good co-work
with the guys from our current label Strobelight.

Let´s talk little about your childhood,
What was the first record you bought?
How did you get involved with Deathrock?

- Let me think... Hm, as I can remember my first record which I bought
by myself was a cassette tape of the Slovak hard rock band Tublatanka
in 1983 or 1984 ;-))) However, then I was a big fan of Depeche Mode
& New Romantic. First contact to Deathrock
was Christian Death... and that was in the
second half of the Eighties.
In those times I also started to listen to bands
like The Damned or Lords of the New Church.

What is the status for "Dead Machines Revolution"?

- The modern age is an unrelenting struggle of humans and
their devices and there is no winner. We can see it all around us?
the human race lives in consume, anything new, modern,
attractive is going old and out within a flash of second.
"Dead Machines Revolution" is the reaction of old but
viable and functioning engines against the empty values of the modern age.

How did you start making music? For example, are there any special routines in your songwriting, like you need a certain kind of atmosphere around you before you are able to write new music?

- Hm, we had something like that in the past.
Now we can say that we are happy when we have enough time for rehearsals.
Usually we are so tired of work that you can hear our frustration
in our lyrics as well as in the music.
That´s why we are more straight, ironic and rough as well.

MaryO and TLDOJ manager martin aka DJ Sexdwarf, run batcave club in Bratislava, Tell us more about this?

- Well, the Batcave Party has been organised regularly since 1996
and became the oldest and most famous Old School Goth/Deathrock/Electro/Punk n Wave
party in Slovakia. We organise also concerts and other events.
We do it totally away from the pseudo-gothbands on MTV and
in the glossy so-called Goth-magazines, we want to dedicate our webzine,
the parties and the selection of live acts to the Originals and
everybody who can uniquely exploit the heritage of
classic bands and the roots of the genre...
We already such bands playing live, like Antiworld, All Gone Dead,
Devilish Presley, Miguel and the Living Dead,
Quidam, Deathcamp Project, LT-No, Scarlet & the Spooky Spiders
and many many others.

Following the previous question, how is the scene in Slovakia?

- Well, the situation in Slovakia is very similar to the
other countries in CE region. People mostly listen to the so called Gothic Metal,
Dark Techno Industrial or whatever you´d call this shit.
But we have no real old school goth/deathrock/horror punk scene,
even as mentioned our parties are more or less into this
music and the situation in our hometown Bratislava is different
and much better than anywhere else in Slovakia.
Our Batcave parties have regularly 100 - 300 visitors.

Bands you can recommend from Slovakia?

- The Last Days of Jesus ;-) ...Well, there´s not so much to recommend.
We have a quite good electro-industrial scene
(check out the hard industrial band called Einleitungszeit for example)
and a strong punk scene (Zona A for example).
But there´s no other interesting band in goth/deathrock in my opinion...

You have toured across Europe and in north America too, when is Finland´s turn?
- Next week, with all pleasure;-) ...you know, it´s always up to the
organizers (our mail address is on our website).

This is the last one, what do you hope from the future, careerwise?

- We hope people will enjoy our new album.
Then, hope we can meet a lot of new nice people & friends...
And, of course, we would like to earn really big money with our music...

http://www.myspace.com/thelastdaysofjesus

© Pictures by Jozef Barinka

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Traveling with the Vampire Show Calabrese

2007-03-01T06:50:00.000-08:00

Many buckets of blood has shed since we last talked with the brothers of Calabrese. The greatest horrorpunk band has returned with fangs sharper than ever, releasing new album and touring is not enought, the Calabrese brothers are here to conquerer the mortal world, let´s have a bite to eat with Calabrese...

Cut to the chase, Calabrese just released it´s 2nd full length album, are you happy with the outcome?

Bobby -- Most definitely! There’s always gonna be ideas
and riffs and lyrics we wish we used, but
you gotta go with the flow and
let the evil take its course. We’re happy with it,
and we’re even more happy hearing about how
the album is controlling people’s minds and souls!

Davey -- Hell yeah!

You just held your CD release party, how did that go?

Bobby -- I will say that it pretty much bordered absolute chaos.
One of the greatest shows of our lives! We seriously had a blast,
and everyone who came to the show (all who left with bruises!)
really turned it into a rock and roll night
we‘ll never forget. There was stage diving, crowd-surfing
and enough boots to the face to last a lifetime!

Davey -- It was awesome!

The Traveling Vampire Show is the name your your latest work, if I understood correctly, you let the fans decide the name, why did you end up with this solution?

Jimmy -- We held the same type of contest for
"13 Halloweens." We want to involve our fans
as much as possible. We don't just think of ourselves as
musicians, we are also entertainers and
we feel the best entertainment is interactive.
Be it at our shows or with our CD's...we want people to
participate!

Let´s talk about the recording process, was is a painful experience or did things go smoothly?

Bobby -- It was a lot easier the third time around.
We had a clear vision of what we wanted to do,
allowing no time for sleep, stressing out or
totally sucking. We just went in and rocked!

Jimmy -- We have mastered a perfect combination of
caffeine and the occult, which makes
the recording process a blast.

Vampyrism seems to the theme on your new album, where do you dig up your inspirations?

Bobby -- Anything from comics to movies to video games.
For me, a lot of song lyrics and ideas usually come from horror novels,
the weirder and stranger the better!

Jimmy -- My vampirism is fueled by the creative mind of
Joss Whedon and the controversial E.C. Comics of the 1950's!

You´re shooting a new music video, of what song and who will be directing it?

Jimmy -- Brian Pulido, president of Chaos! Comics and
founder of Eternal Entertainment is directing our next
music video for the song "Voices Of The Dead."
Brian has written or co-written over 260 comic books
including Lady Death, Evil Ernie, Purgatori,
Chastity, Smiley, the Psychotic Button, Bad Kitty, Jade,
Lady Demon, Bedlam and The Undead, among many other titles.
Brian is also an Award-winning filmmaker
whose horror short film, "There's Something out There,"
has played 40 international film festivals and garnered 8
"best of" awards.

Davey -- To say the least...we are excited about this project!

To me it seems that you got a quite big fanbase in Europe,
when are going to bring your coffins to European soil?

Bobby -- Hopefully soon! You never really know
when Calabrese decides to invade!
But I must warn you to keep your eyes peeled and
your back against a wall at all times.
We’re coming for ya!

Jimmy -- We want to come over on our terms and
with our full show. We've had gracious offers
from labels and bands but it's just not in the tarot
cards...yet!

Final question, if you held a big monster party, who would you invite? Pick five persons - dead, alive or undead.

Bobby -- Ah, this is a good one. I
’m sure I could go on forever, but here we go:
I’d personally invite Vincent Price, Penn and Teller
(hey, they count as one!) Darth Vader, Cthulhu and Dracula.
I now just realized I didn’t invite any women,
turning this into a total dude (and giant squid) party.
Oh well. Pizza and video games!

Jimmy -- I would want rub elbows with my idols, Glenn Danzig, Rob Zombie,
Joey Ramone, Johnny Cash and P.T. Barnum.

Davey -- Elvira, Bruce Campbell, Chewbacca, Michelangelo
(the sewer-surfin’ ninja turtle) and a clone of myself, because I kick ass at parties.

http://www.calabreserock.com

http://www.myspace.com/Calabrese

Also remember to read the old interview I made with the guys HERE

Pics © Diana Price
All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Burying them deep with Ghoultown

2007-02-27T11:41:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the wild west, no holds barred here,
but be warned! If you mess around,
the rope might be the next and last thing
you´ll ever see!
This interview was made with
Count Lyle of Ghoultown

Who am I speaking to? Briefly introduce yourself
and tell us more about you.

- I’m Count Lyle, I am the founder,
vocalist and main songwriter for the band.
I’ve played in several types of bands in the past which included the horror punk project, The Killcreeps,
a cult-classic doom metal band called Solitude Aeturnus
and played guitar briefly for GG Allin – back when
I was in high school, believe it or not.

The story of Ghoultown, you have been wondering
in the deserts since 1999. More details about the birth of your band?

- While doing The Killcreeps back in ‘96,
we started writing some dark western songs which had a cool feel
and a lot of unique personality. When we disbanded The Killcreeps,
I wanted to do a band based on those dark western songs
and came up with the name Ghoultown for it.

We started out in ’99, sort of making up our own sound
and image as we went. Sort of a mixture of rock, country,
psychobilly and metal. Since then we’ve done five CDs,
been on five movie soundtracks, a short film,
several compilations, put out a comic book, and toured
the U.S. several times. You can find Ghoultown poster art
in several rock and roll poster books and even in the
Vampire Masquerade: Bloodlines PC game.

How would you describe your sound to the common people?

- That’s the hardest question, since Ghoultown
has such a unique sound which brings in so
many musical elements. It’s so far off the map
of typical music in any genre that critics and fans
– and even ourselves – have trouble coming up
with a simple description. I think it gives people a
good idea when we say
‘Ghoultown sits somewhere in the middle ground
between Johnny Cash and Rob Zombie’.
At least people seems to get a mental picture of it that way.

There seems to be a huge explosion going on in the psychobilly,
gothabilly scene. Lots of ghoul stuff coming out,
how is the scene in your local area?

- Not too bad, but it could be better.
There’s lots of good bands out of Texas like Flametrick Subs,
Shadow Reichenstein, Spitfire Tumbleweeds,
and The Von Ehrics, but the support,
at least in Dallas, is sporadic. For example,
Blizkid came through a little while back and there were
only about 10 people there. It was disgraceful.
Same thing happened to our friends The Independents
when they played here last.

Talking about bands, what has inspired you musically, literally etc.

- Growing up, especially in Texas, some of the first music
I was exposed to was country and western.
Not what they call country today
– which is more like pop music - but the classics like Marty Robbins,
Johnny Cash, Waylon, Willie, Merle Haggard
and all those outlaw guys. My parents were into it,
so that stuff was always playing when I was a kid.
By junior high school I discovered rock and then punk,
metal and goth as it went on,
so I started playing those types of music.

Years later, when I formed Ghoultown,
I sort of rediscovered the old gunfighter tales
of Marty Robbins and dark moods of Johnny Cash,
which were basically my roots.
I guess I couldn’t totally escape those early influences.
With Ghoultown, I wanted to modernize those old western
beats and lyrics, so I mixed it in with my
love of punk and metal.
Out of that you get Ghoultown.

I’m also into old horror movies and spaghetti westerns,
so that has a big influence the band as well in both the music and the image.

Let´s talk more about your music,
last year you released "BURY THEM DEEP"
tell our readers more about it, recording process, etc.

- It was actually a very long process.
We started recording the songs in early 2005
and finished a first mix around the summer
of that year. At the time we had stopped
playing live and were taking a break
from everything but the recording.
Up until then we had been putting
out all of our music on our own label,
which had become a real pain in the ass,
so we decided not to release the songs
from “Bury Them Deep” at all.

Luckily, a new Texas label called Zoviet Records,
who have always been huge fans of Ghoultown,
offered to sign us and release it.
They also talked us into letting them remix the songs
and recording one more for it.
Chris Telkes, the guitarist for Nocturne,
did a remix at his home studio and it sounded great.
Now we got excited, having a good sounding album and a label,
so we got Dan Brereton’s artwork

– Dan is also a fan of Ghoultown and was so cool to let us use his art –
and Zoviet finally released “Bury Them Deep” in October of 2006,
a year and half after we started the recording.
It has received great reviews and feedback from our fans,
so we’ve been playing a lot of live shows around the Texas area
to promote it.

We also shot a video for the song “Bury Them Deep”
which is available on our website at www.ghoultown.com

Your music has also appeared in couple of movies (American Nightmare and Headcheese),
how did this opportunity rise from the grave?

- When I first put up our website back in ‘99,
a guy emailed me saying how cool he thought
our band was. Later, he just happened to turn up as
music director for American Nightmare.
He played our first EP - which is all we had out back then -
for the director Jon Keeyes.
Jon loved it and wanted us on the soundtrack.
He also came out to one of our shows and after
seeing us live,he wrote us into the movie.
We have a cameo playing “Boots of Hell” at a Halloween party.

The cast has Debbie Rochon and a cameo by Brinke Stevens,
so it’s cool to be in a movie with scream queens like that.

After American Nightmare, Jon wanted us to do more
soundtrack material for him.
We cut “Legend of Everett Sykes” for Hallow’s End.
The song came out so cool, that we released it as a
bonus track on our “Live From Texas!” CD.
We also contributed to Suburban Nightmare,
which is a twisted story about a serial killing couple.
We did a song called “Killin’s a Bitch” for it,
which plays over the ending credits.
Headcheese is one of our favorites.
Those guys are from Austin, Texas
and were Ghoultown fans.
When they did their short film, they asked if they could use
“Killer In Texas”.
It sounded cool, so I let ‘em use it.
Turned out great.

Moving into touring, you´ve toured with some great acts such as:
Blitzkid, Rocket from the Crypt, Rock City Morgue etc. Best shows?

- There’s been a lot of great shows.
We did one with both Blitzkid and Rock City Morgue
in Johnsonville, TN. The show sucked,
but the hotel that we were put up at was the
most hilarious dump we’d ever seen.
It was falling apart and some of the rooms looked
like an adobe prison cell with no windows or
even a locking door.
We had more fun laughing at all the different rooms.

As far as live shows, some of my favorites have to be the ones
where we had special guests on stage.
Jerry from the Misfits performed with us once and
King Diamond got up and sang “Killer in Texas”
at a show in Dallas.
Those are some of my heroes, so it’s definitely cool.

Are there plans to tour in Europe?
I´m pretty sure that is a audience waiting for you.

- We do get a lot of CD orders and fan mail from
Europe and we’ve been trying to get that going for years,
but we are a bunch of broke-ass Texas musicians
and have no idea how to arrange a tour in Europe.
We had a European label, but they weren’t even
willing to fly us over. If any European promoters
want to help us book a tour, then we are willing,
we just haven’t found one yet.

About your fanbase, is there are alot of rockabillys or is it a wider spread of genres?

- Our fanbase is made up of all kinds of music fans,
so rockabilly types are only a part of it.
Our shows attract punks, metal heads, psychobillies,
goths, and hellbilly fans.
I like that our music brings together a cross-section of people.
I listen to all kinds of music and go to all kinds of shows,
so I’m proud when our band can transcend labels and genres.

New year, new tricks, what is next with Ghoultown? New album perhaps?

- I am working on demos for the next CD now which will be called “Life After Sundown”.
I’m almost done… with only two songs to go before I’m finished.
I usually demo them on my multi-track recorder and
then give them to the guys to learn.
Once we start playing the songs together, then they really take shape.
I’m excited because we have some really great songs for the next one.
There’s no recording schedule or release date planned right now,
it will just depend on how soon we learn the material and are happy with everything.
Otherwise, we are just playing shows to promote “Bury Them Deep.”
We took off from playing live for over two years,
so it’s just cool to be back playing shows for our fans.

Please share your last words. Fangs and good luck with Ghoultown!

Check us out and hear Ghoultown for yourself at:
www.ghoultown.com or
www.myspace.com/ghoultown

Thanks for the interview!

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Searching for black dahlia with Astrovamps

2007-02-15T06:22:00.000-08:00

This is the tale of Astrovamps, the american deathrock phenomenon.
SirJohnTalbot had to opportunity to talk to them about
music, life and beyond life, let´s see what they had to say...

Greetings, who am I speaking to?

EYAJO: To the wicked witch of the West.

DANIEL: Daniel Ian Essex-Singer

GLASS: I'm glass. This is my friend, Tongue Tongue.
Don't worry, you have nothing to fear from Tongue
Tongue - he's only tasting you. But likewise don't
resist for he can crush you quite easily.

TOE KNEE: My moniker is Toe Knee.I perform backwards
drums and minor miracles in Astrovamps

GRIM: GRIM DE LA NOCHE.

How did you end up with the name Astrovamps?

DANIEL: It was a song on the 1st album we ever did
(Savage Garden)

Describe your sound to our readers

DANIEL: Let's see, Punk meets Metal meets Glam meets
Goth meets Horror movies, meets Porno! put them All
together and you get DEATH ROCK!!

EYAJO: We are a Death Rock band, that also mixes
touches of Bat Cave, Goth, Punk, Dark Glam, and Rock
into our sound.

TOE KNEE: I would call it a calculated and conducive
mixture of Goth,Deathrock and Synthetic/Poetic
orations mixed with smatterings of Psychobilly and
Punk.

GRIM: The best DEATH ROCK you've ever heard.

How old were you when you started to write music?

EYAJO: I started writing poetry and Lyrics in middle
school, but it wasn't until my freshman year in High
school that i started to teach myself the keyboards.

DANIEL: When I was in High school. thats when I picked
up the guitar and started to play, I was about 17.

GLASS: I was a kid, really. Probably around eight.

TOE KNEE: I believe i was borne from the womb to
create.I just needed maturity in mind and physicality
to fully realize the artform.

GRIM: Me, personally 13 years old.

What influenced you to make music such as Astrovamps is?

DANIEL: Living in Hollywood and listening to an
eclectic mix of different Rock genres. Most kids when
they start to listen to a certain type of Rock they
tend to stay within that style and don't allow
themselves to listen to anything else. but there is 50
years of Rock music and a plethora of styles to listen
to, I Listened and collected rock from the 50's, 60's,
70's and 80's. The 90's did not impress me much. And
of course being a big fan of Horror and porn
influenced me as well. It's all in there.

EYAJO: Lyrically, I'm influence by the great and
Classic poets, both old and new. I'm also Lyrically
influenced by, John Lennon, Jim Morrison, Simon Le
Bond, Martin Gore, Nick Cave, etc. Musically i'm
influence by, (rozz)Christian Death, (old)Gene Loves
Jezbel, Bauhaus, Joy Divison, Skinny puppy, Specimen,
(old)Duran Duran, Flesh For Lu Lu, Sisters of Mercy,
New York Dolls, Velvet Underground, Stars from Mars
and Bowie(Ziggy Stardust)

TOE KNEE:I have a strong and lingering background in
Glam and Goth therefore the band was a perfect choice
for me when offered the chance in the dark ages of
anno 1993.

GLASS: I pull influences from punk, metal, rockabilly,
glam... I listen to a wide variety of sounds.

If you would run your own TV station, what would you broadcast?

DANIEL: HA, thats easy HORROR and PORN!

EYAJO: I would start a Horror movie production
company, then make my own Horror films and show them
in heavy rotation on the TV station.

GLASS: Horror movies, mostly the terrible ones from
the 80's, followed by episodes of The Simpsons, Six
Feet Under, The Young Ones, and Tales From The Dark
Side, etc.

TOE KNEE: 24 hours of Various Horror movies,Poetry
readings,Metal,Goth,Punk and Glam videos as well as
ASTROVAMPS ALL NIGHT LONG!!!!!!!!

GRIM: Porn.

What makes a perfect day?

EYAJO: to have my son with me and spend it with my
girlfriend, then write some poetry and play an
ASTROVAMPS concert at night. And after the show
fucking my girl friend in the ass...That would be a
perfect day.

DANIEL: A good meal, a good nap, a good book and a
real good Fuck! (a girl with big tits being a must)

GLASS: Sleeping in, then getting oral sex, then going
back to bed. Then waking up, drinking a great cup of
coffee with a vegetarian breakfast, while reading a
great book. Then of course playing a wild show and
drinking all night with the fans.

TOE KNEE: Any day that is void of human life.Hmmmm..i
guess no day is really perfect then, is it?

GRIM: Being able to play music, having a smoke and a
shot.

I remember reading some interview where you stated that you have a soft spot for Catholic school girl look and horror movies, what are your favorite horror movies?

EYAJO: yes that was me, the school girl look is Hot
and my complete weakness when it comes to women. My
girl friend is from Puerto Rico, but when she first
flew to Los Angeles to see me, she was wearing a
japanese school girl uniform. Oh my God! You should
have seen her it! But yeah, the School girl look is
HOT! I like all the old Black and White monster films
and my favorite to this day is ''The Creature From The
Black Lagoon."

Let´s talk about the audience, what kind of people
come to see Astrovamps?
Are there a mix of genres or just deathrock people?

EYAJO: Our crowds have always had a big mix of genres,
there would be people from everywhere. Deathrock,
Batcave and Goth (mostly) , but also; rock, metal,
glam, punk and death metal people as well.

DANIEL: Honestly, all kinds. we have always had a youg
audience but lately I've noticed more and more older
folks coming. We get a real crossover crowd, Goths
with Punkers and Black Metalers.

TOE KNEE: Every walk of social miscreant known (or
otherwise) to mankind.All good people and true people
unlike the majority of bipeds.

Thing you hate the most while being on the road?

EYAJO: Waiting a day or two before the next show and
not being able to get enough ice in my drink. other
than that we do what we have to do for our art.

DANIEL: The drag time you spend on the bus. It gets to
be long and boring. You really live for that one hour
on stage.

TOE KNEE: Hot tar,Speeding vehicles and those pesky
fragments of roadkill.YUCK!!

If you could pick any director you wish, who you direct Astrovamps music video?

DANIEL: Tim Burton.

EYAJO: Peter Jackson. Tim Burton.

GLASS: Guillermo Del Toro, Chris Cunningham, Michele
Soavi, or Patric Ullaeus.

TOE KNEE: Lucio Fulci, if he were still alive or
perhaps Quentin Tarantino

GRIM: OCTAVIO ARIZALA

What is next with Astrovamps?

EYAJO: Well we will being doing a club tour in the UK
and there are other European dates in the works.
Preparing to release all our old material on "toys in
the Graveyard" and record our next full length Lp
''Pixies and Daggers.'' But other than that ASTROVAMPS
really plan to focus on touring these last years.

DANIEL: Something we wanted to do for a long time,..a
VIDEO!

GLASS: We're going to become missionaries and go to
Africa.
Or come out with another album and tour. One or the
other.

TOE KNEE: Planetary domination!!

GRIM: A new beginning for me, since I'm the newest
edition to the Vamps.

Last gasps of breath are your, use them wisely!

DANIEL: I am soon to be featured on a reality show by
MTV about a hip Hollywood Barber shop on Melrose. I
happen to work there so it should be fun.

EYAJO: I also have a few side things in the works,
''The Dreadful Dead of Black Berry Creek'' and ''The
Dead Pumpkin Patch Project.'' and their progress i
will keep updated on mysite and the ''Astrovamps''
site. Other than that you can count on more ASTROVAMPS
tours coming your way.

GLASS: Check out seaofdeadfaces.net! Or be DooMed.

TOE KNEE: Too bad.I have an extra lung on reserve.

http://www.astrovamps.com

http://www.myspace.com/astrovamps

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Loving the cemetary with The Quintessentials

2007-02-05T01:37:00.000-08:00

First of all, introduce yourself to our readers?

- I'm Les Hernandez and I formed The Quintessentials back in 1998 as a continuence of two of my older bands, Crawling Chaos and The Catalogs. Some might remember The Catalogs from our 7" on Mutant Pop, recorded in late 1997, which included a re-recording of the song 'Another Girl', which we originally released on our 'Viva Los Muertos' demo and later covered by The Queers on their alums 'Don't Back Down', 'Live in West Hollywood' and a couple others. W'ere originally from Hawaii, but I reformed the band here in Portland, Oregon, last year when I moved. The Quintessentials currently consists of myself on lead guitar and vocals, Hernan Tumbaga on Drums, and Todd Niebling on bass.

How would you describe The Quintessentials to someone who doesn´t know you?

- I'd say we're basically a Horror Punk band with a few twists.
We're influenced by Punk Rock bands like the Misfits, Ramones, Screeching Weasel,
Sloppy Seconds, The Queers, Connie Dungs, Vindictives, et cetera,
as well as Black Metal bands like Venom, Bathory, Emperor, Dark Funeral and the like. Basically, if Satan fucked Pinky Tuscadero from Happy Days,
this would be their offspring.

Is there place for politics in your music?

- Absolutely not! Our lyrics come from my own point of view,
which is neither Republican nor Democrat;
Liberal nor Green nor Anarchist nor Fascist. There's a little bit of each in my personal outlook and it shows in my lyrics, but not in an overtly political sense. It's a fun, yet extremely Meritocratic point of view. As Anton LaVey once wrote, "Responsibility to the Responsible".

Our lyrics, if it can be described as anywhere near political, would be more philisophical, in the sense that it agrees with going along with Natural Law, Individuality and Personal Aesthetics/Liberty rather than accepting what you're told to believe, read or watch on television. Other than that, we're all about good, bloody horror and fun!

For as long as there has been rock n roll, politicians,
relegious groups etc. have been accusing for musicians for
influencing kids with bad things,what do you think about this?
Is the musician resposible when some
fans shoots people at school etc?

- Most kids, being the products of their parents' behaviors and viewpoints, are already influenced at home by "bad things". America is a society based on fear and scapegoating. Everyone places the blame for themselves and their children on someone else and no one accepts responsibility for their own actions. Kids who are prone to bad behavior or violence will do so regardless of what is said to have "put them over the edge", whether it be music, movies, books, or what have you. Other countries don't have this problem even when they have the same entertainment mediums. America contains the largest population of Fundamentalist Christianity in the world, and Fundamentalist Christianity, or hardcore Fundamentalist religion in general, is nothing more than a system of creating fear to control others, which in turn creates a paranoid society in which the only way people are conditioned to react is by either complience, violence or self-destruction. Modern America is a prime example of this. What does the nightly news show you? Do The Quintessentials try to influence young minds? Fuck yes we do! We try to get kids to THINK while at the same time enjoying themselves. We try to show them life is fun and fantasy need not be neglected--that there IS magic left for humanity and they can be who they are without feeling chastised or looked down on for it. We tell kids, "You're different? Be proud and make the most of it! Enjoy life at the despite those who might hate you! Spit back in their faces by becoming better than them!"

Is there a message in your lyrics, that your trying to get across to the listeners?

- Yes and no. Besides what I've already said, my personal leanings towards Satanism always come through
and I guess I do try to dispel misinformation about it through my lyrics. Being a proud long time member of the Church of Satan
(founded by Anton Szandor LaVey in 1966), I feel it's my personal duty to make clear what others have so horribly misfigured through their portrayals in film, TV and shlock.

Let´s go to your childhood, I somewhere read that you had conflicts with different gangs
in your youth, can you tell us more about this?

- Wow--you did your homework! Yes, I grew up in the ghetto in Honolulu. Most folks outside of Hawaii don't even know they exist, but they do. Meth was huge in my town back in the very early 1980s, as were Crips, Bloods, and all that stuff. I remember walking home one night and following a trail of blood to my front door, where a kid was just taken away dead, shot in some gang-related bullshit. Hell, a kid was shot in the head in my high school parking lot by a very calm shooter who walked away in a very non-rushed fashion once, and on another occasion the school football team put a metal fork and butter-knife in a couple of guys who left in stretchers.

The gangs in Hawaii back then were mostly Samoan and Filipino, the latter being the smaller and known more for gun activity; the former for more brutal beatings by the very fact that they were so BIG! The Samoas were either Crips or Bloods and the Filipinos had their own gangs. Onething they all had in common is that they all hated Rock'n'Rollers, though the Filipinos had a penchant for Butt-Rock. Neither side contained a modicum of brains. I hated them all. I still do.

Little about live shows, after Dimebag was shot, there was a kind of hysteria going
on with artists all around the world, have you ever been afraid while being on stage?

- I've never really been afraid of being on stage. I'll certainly keep an eye out for an accidental mic stand knocking me in the teeth, but I don't think some kid will try and make me a martyr by putting a bullet in me. At a punk show, he'd be beat to non-recognition at the very attempt-- or I'd break my guitar over the fucker's nose if I see it coming. It's a pretty tight-knit scene, though you never really know.

Back to music in general, what kind of music do you listen at home?

- I listen to Punk Rock, Horror Punk, Oldies (Doo-Wop, '60s girl pop, etc.), old Metal, Black Metal, Swing, good old Jazz, Classical-- even Christmas tunes (though not the Jesus crap). Hell, I love the soundtracks from Grease and Xanadu!

The Quintessentials have been around for almost 10 years, that´s alot
when you think about how long bands usually stay together, what is your secret?

- Fascism! Haha! Really, I've played with so many different musicians in this band that it boils down to me staying true to myself and what I want out of it. This thing called The Quintessentials almost exists outside, as if I'm just the medium it comes through, so I just flow with it. I can't live without it though, because it comes from whatever makes me, me. On the back of everything we release is a symbol I call the Bloodfire Sigil.
I created it before I started The Quintessentials, for my old magazine, 'Bloodfire!'. It is a black dragon/demon with a Black Flame over its head in a trapezoid, surrounded by two circles. Within those circles reads "Strength, Will, Power, Passion". These are what drives any living thing forward, lest it die if inertia. Basically, it is vitality or a lust for life, as represented by the Black Flame of Satan. It also helps that people seem to enjoy the music--some almost as much as I do!

What have The Quintessentials been up to lately? When can we expect new release?

- Well, we just recorded a new track called 'The Black Pope', for the upcoming compilation "The Black House: a Tribute to Anton S. LaVey", put together by French Church of Satan member, Chris Menta (RazorDog), and featuring other CoS members, including many in our Clergy (as well as current High Priest, Magus Peter H. Gilmore).

We'll be releasing our new 7", titled 'Sarah Alice is DEAD!', later this year. This will feature 6 songs in all. We'll also be releasing our fourth full-length album later this year and be appearing on the World Horror Network's 'The Horror of it All, Volume 3" compilation CD/DVD set, then touring.

This is the final call, your chance to promote and
tell your greetings to fiends worldwide!

- Those interested can find us at www.thequintessentials.com (our official site),
horror-punks.com, myspace.com/thequints, interpunk.com,
hwnexp.com (Hawaiian Express Records), cosemporium.com and a few other sites. A few of these sites have mp3s you won't find on each-others' sites.

Let us know if you'd like to book us or want us on a compilation-- or just write if you want to say hello. We're pretty friendly guys. And to our very loyal fans: THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

The Horrifics R.I.P.

2007-01-29T02:07:00.000-08:00

Yes folks, it´s true. The great horrorpunk band The Horrifics
have decided to quit and bury themselfs to six feet under.
This is what boo gruesome had to say:

-Game OVER-

Heya folks!

It's cold, gray, and raining here in Ft.Worth today.
Fitting weather for the news I'm about to deliver.
I cannot say with absolute certainty that this is the end of the HORRiFiCS, but I can say with a clear conscience that,
without a shadow of a doubt, it's over for now.
We have been hard at it for the past 2 solid years.
I personally have given 12 long years of service in the
name of horror punk
and darkly themed music with no real break.
We have all changed as people over this time and
feel we're all way over due for some time off.
Anyone who has ever spoken with me knows that I am a man
possessed of many creative spirits.
I have subdued and supressed all of these things to single mindedly
chase after music as a profession.
I firmly believe it's time for me to give a voice to some of these other
artisitc outlets and see were they lead me.
As they say, no one truly knows what the future will bring.
If the guys and I are inspired once again to create horror punk,
the HORRiFiCS will of course be our vehicle of choice.
If the desire does not arise again,
and this is indeed the end of our careers in this scene,
then I am proud to leave our album "Now FEAR This"
as a final chapter in this episode of my life.
Please note that even though I am leaving the horror punk scene as an active artist
I am in no way turning my back on the people I've met and the friendships I've forged.
I will be just as easily contacted as I have always been at my personal MySpace page...

http://www.myspace.com/boogruesome

Also check out the interviews I made with the Horrifics in the past:

Getting Horrified with The Horrifics

Track by Track

Club BongaBonga fiendly presents LOS RAW GOSPELS

2007-01-19T02:24:00.000-08:00

LOS RAW GOSPELS roaming across Finland!

Attention Finnish ghouls and ghoulettes, It´s
BongaBonga time!
3 days of sweat and groovy sounds, show up and
give BongaBonga your
support! Here are the dates:

24.1 Tampere
Club: VastaVirta
Pispalanvaltatie 39
33250 Tampere
5e

25.1 Helsinki
Club: Lepakkomies
Helsinginkatu 1
2e

26.1 Turku
Club: Bar Päiväkoti
Kaskenkatu 3
20700 Turku
5e

http://www.myspace.com/clubbongabonga
http://www.myspace.com/losrawgospels

Taking off the masks with The Lurking Corpses

2007-01-16T17:42:00.000-08:00

What made you form The Lurking Corpses,
current line-up and story behind the name?

- We formed The Lurking Corpses in the fall of 2001.
We wanted to start a horror band in the vein of
The Misfits with a strong metal
influence as well.
I (Von Ghoul) came up with the name.
I wanted something that sounded like it could be
the name of an old horror film.
Our current lineup is
Wolfgang the Shredder (guitar),
The Nameless Horror (bass),
Friar Frightengale (drums),
and yours truly, Lord Vladimir Von Ghoul (vocals).
This is the lineup that appears on
our latest release "Lust for Blood".

Besides the bands that you´ve posted as influence in myspace list,
what other things in life inspire you?

- Horror movies, 80's slashers, mondo, Fulci,
Argento, Universal monster classics,
gore, golden age of porn,
Stephen King, Vincent Price, graveyards,
haunted houses, E.C. comics, dead babies

The Lurking Corpses was formed in 2001, what has changed since then?

- Our lineup has completely changed from our first cd,
"23 Tales of Terror", with the exception of me.
After the release of "23 Tales of Terror",
the other original members left to
pursue other musical endeavors.
Being that I have always been the main songwriter of the band,
I decided to keep the horror show going and find new musicians.
I think the current lineup is the best yet!

You released "Lust for Blood" last year, could you share more details
about the writing and recording process?

- The writing process of "Lust for Blood"
was a fun one.
We incorporated many different styles
of metal and punk
to make a very diverse album.
There are elements of death metal,
horror punk, rockabilly, thrash,
hard rock and oldies.
We wanted every song to have it's
own unique sound.
My favorite tracks are probably
"Something Wicked this Way Comes"
and "Graveyard Devourment"

Let´s talk about appereances and live situation, you ghouls wear
skull masks and capes on stage, what makes a perfect Lurking Corpses show?

- A good crowd who is willing to have fun.
We like to see crowd movement and participation.
We always invite the crowd to join us in singing the words.

More about playing live, has there ever been a situation while playing live
that made you feel embarrassed? For examble like falling down etc etc.

- Hmm...When we play, I narrarate in a Crypt Keeper-like voice
in between songs and make jokes.
My voice has slipped out of character a few times from laughing. Oops!

We´re pretty much covered the past but what about present? Future plans?

- We are going to be playing a lot
in support of the new cd,
including an east coast tour this February.
We are currently writing material for a third release.

Last words are yours, fangs again!

- May all of your horror dreams come true!

http://www.myspace.com/thelurkingcorpses

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Thomas Gun - Dressed to kill, for the night thrills

2007-01-13T14:17:00.000-08:00

Greetings, who is it that I´m speaking to?

- Thomas Eldorado Gun III. Hitman for hire.

You´re currently playing with the Necrophilicons,
how did you end up those ghouls?

- I've played a handfull of shows with them
while I was in other bands like Nuke,
and the Hubies. When I moved to their neck
of the woods I got a phone call
from Mr. Rob Rotten (lead vocals) asking me
if I wanted to sling the guitar for the band.
I accepted and I was put to work right away.
We released a 4 song EP entitled
"Just a Little More Blood"
4 fast hardcore/punk songs talking about
murder and blood.
It's really fun. And the songs are really fast.
Even faster live.

You also played in Nuke and the living dead, what other
bands have you played in?

- I played with Nuke and the Living Dead for 2 years,
I learned a lot playing with those guys.
I became a better guitar player, and a better singer.
Basically if you can't do that doo wop shit,
you can't roll with the Living Dead.
I also play with "the Necrophilicons" on guitar and back up vocals.

One of my main bands right now is called "The Hubies."
We're a 3 piece band where I sing lead vocals and play guitar.
It's straight forward punk rock n' roll.
Not all the songs are about gory shit,
but a lot of it is.
I also currently play bass for the punk band "The Beat-Ups"
with Dave and Rob
from the Necrophilicons.
I've been in a ton of bands growing up: Switch 76, Robbery In Progress,
The Vampirates, just to name a few.

What kind of equipment do you use?

- My main guitar is a Dearmond/Guild M-45 replica of the
Guild Bluesbird semi-hollowbody.
It has the balls of the devil in it's pick ups.
I wouldn't trade it for anything else.
It plays any genre and makes it sound good.
Punk rock, hardcore, ska, rockabilly, whatever you want, it can do.
As far as amps go, I usually play out of Crate amps.
I like their heavy distortion. Plus their cheap.

Let´s talk about influences, how did you become a musician,
what inspired you?

- When I was a little kid we lived in New Jersey
(my dad was stationed there when he was in the Army)..
my sister was 9 years older than me and was into the hardcore/punk scene
that was exploding all over.
Black Flag rolled into town when I was 5 years old.
My sister really wanted to go, but couldn't because she had to babysit me.
Luckily the show was all ages and she drug my ass along.
I don't remember much of it, but my sister has a picture of me on
Henry Rollins shoulders somewhere.
As far as me wanting to play music.. Elvis was my earliest recollection of music.
I used to sing his songs like it was my job.
The first records that actually got me into wanting to play
an instrument was "Living In Darkness" by Agent Orange.
I wanted to play guitar like that.
A few years down the road Nuke and the Living Dead got to play with Agent Orange
and I got to tell Mike (guitar) all about that.
He was really flattered. The record that made me want to play in a band
was by a Canadian hardcore/punk band called "Marilyn's Vitamins"
the record was called "Politics on the Dancefloor."
It was social-political. It opened my eyes to how a punk scene is supposed to work.
They rolled through my little town in northern Michigan growing up
a couple times and I thought they were the best live band I ever saw.
Most of my stage moves are stolen from Dan their guitarist
(who I still keep in touch with).

You have done quite alot solo stuff, "Rotten EP" is the most fresh release,
are you happy with the stuff so far? How have fans responded?

- My solo stuff is a lot of fun.
I do it just for fun. I'm not really trying to make any money off of it..
that's why most of my stuff is available for free online.
So far people have really responded well to it.
And when I play solo shows, I usually get good reactions.
Usually people see a kid with an acoustic guitar at a punk show and
think he's gonna cry and sing emo songs.
And when I open my mouth and start talking about how
I'm gonna shoot you in the face because you snitched on me.
Then they change their tone.

Nuke and the living dead is probably the most well known "project" you´ve
been in and the band called it quits (last gig will played Jan 20th),
best memories along the way?

- I'll always cherish the time I spent in that band.
Those guys were my best friends. And we're all still good buddies.
Playing with the Living Dead was the first time I got any taste of real touring.
Playing in strage towns, traveling in a cargo van in the summer time
with no heat while Johnny Ogres is in the back sitting on a cooler
full of Pabst Blue Ribbon singing Rancid songs on the acoustic guitar.
That's what I'll remember most.
All of us just singing our favorite bands songs while on the road.
I'll also miss coming back from a show incredibly drunk off our asses
singing doo-wop songs under a street light at 4 in the morning with
Johnny and Renfield. Drinking way too much at practices.
Making fun of Deano's "gay sway" when he wants to switch it up on the drums.
And Nuke calling you on the phone when he's taking a shit (I won't miss that though).

Beside solo stuff and other bands you´re in, what do you hope from the future?

- I just hope to continue to have a good time playing music.
And I hope others like the songs I continue to put out.

Final question, name the all-star band line-up and include yourself in.

- Ah shit. That's a good question. I guess I'd play guitar,
Mike (Agent Orage) on guitar, Nuke on lead vocals, Paul Simonon (the Clash) on bass,
Slim Jim (Stray Cats) on drums. And we'd call ourselves "The Shit." haha!

http://www.myspace.com/thomasgun

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

RIP Yvonne De Carlo, " Lily Munster".

2007-01-10T14:13:00.000-08:00

Yvonne De Carlo
September 1, 1922 - January 8, 2007

Yvonne De Carlo aka Lily Munster has passed away.
Horrorfans around the world will remember her as the wife of
Herman Munster from the classic monster sitcom,
The Munsters. She was 84 years of age.
This is what Kevin Burns had to say:

" for TV viewers, she will always be known as Lily Munster in the 1964-1966 slapstick horror-movie spoof "The Munsters." The series (the name allegedly derived from "fun-monsters") offered a gallery of Universal Pictures grotesques, including Dracula and Frankenstein's monster, in a cobwebbed gothic setting.

Lily, vampire-like in a black gown, presided over the faux scary household and was a rock for her gentle but often bumbling husband, Herman, played by 6-foot-5-inch character actor Fred Gwynne (decked out as the Frankenstein monster).

While it lasted only two years, the series had a long life in syndication and resulted in two feature movies, "Munster Go Home!" (1966) and "The Munsters' Revenge." (1981, for TV).

At the series' end, De Carlo commented: "It meant security. It gave me a new, young audience I wouldn't have had otherwise. It made me `hot' again, which I wasn't for a while."

"I think she will best remembered as the definitive Lily Munster. She was the vampire mom to millions of baby boomers. In that sense, she's iconic," Burns said Wednesday. "

Read the whole article HERE

Iwao Takamoto 1925-2007

2007-01-09T14:06:00.000-08:00

He was the man behind Scooby-Doo, The Jetson´s dog : Astro
and many others.
Worked with Disney and Hanna-Barbera Productions.
Takamoto also directed several full-lenght films,
including Charlotte´s Web
and The Jetson´s - the movie.
2005 he he received the Golden Award from
the Animation Guild, for his work in the field of animation.

Iwao Takamoto was 81 years old, He will be missed.

Faster ToxicToons faster! Kill! Kill!

2007-01-09T13:17:00.000-08:00

Ok, fiends here you go, a quick interview with the talented, fiendish
and man of many faces: Eric Pigors

Hello Eric, how are you doing?

- OK,just trying to make a living at what i love still.
Drawing freaky stuff.

What is up with Toxic Toons,have you released
new stuff since we last spoke.

- Yah some new shirts,i'm always thinking
up new designs all year
so check the site often to see whats new.
Posterpop put out a line of TOXICTOONS stickers
and a patch in 2006.

I self published a new hardcover book of my newest artwork called ,"CRYTIC ART"
I'm working on a DVD with and old cartoon i did called "LETS CHOP SOO-E! "
back in 1990. It played on MTV'S Liquid Television and
a few animation tournees back in the 90's.

It will have some other stuff like an interview,
animation from the website,videos fun kreepy stuff like that.
It should be out in April i think.
I have also been doing some new art for people in the horror industry
and a few bands like the GHASTLY ONES,Psychocharger,Vagabond.
And i am always doing new artwork for myself so i am pretty busy all the time.

There is alot of various items released from Toxic Toons,
Is there a line that you won´t cross?
Give us an example what would be offlimits.

- All my other merchandise i pay myself to make so
i always try to find best quality places.
I dont think i would ever go as far as KISS where its overkill.
But i try new stuff all the time to see what fans want,and what they dont i stop making.
I dont think i would ever do TOXICTOONS toilet paper,
although the way i go thru toilet paper that my be a good idea.
What i dont sell i can always use.
I do everything in small quanities now just to see what goes over
and because my moohla is running low.

What is next with Toxic Toons?
Have you ever thought about doing a Toxic Toons cartoon?

- Yah ,i still totally want to do a Halloween special with my work one day.
I did some stuff which you will see on the dvd i mentioned above.
Animation is fun but a lot of work.
And selling a show that actually gets made on tv is so friggin hard.
The studios usually want a copy of what ever is already hot and
they own all the rights so you get no merch rights or very little.
And then it's almost all sent overseas to be done,so who knows how it will turn out.
But i do like seeing my characters come to life,and i love old cartoons,
especially the ones in which everything is alive at night and weird.
Like you are in another world hallucinating. Like old Betty Boop,Tex Avery.

Thanks again for having the time, last words are yours.

- Yah come check out www.toxictoons.com and maybe you might find
something you like or at least have a good sick laugh!

http://www.toxictoons.com

Also check out the interview we did with Eric many moons ago HERE

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Wearing red with The Brides

2007-01-06T09:02:00.000-08:00

This quick interview was made with COREY GOREY.

Greetings, how are the brides doing?

- What Brides? Oh US!

The Brides is fairly unknown here, how would you describe your music?

- Rock and roll mixed with rock and roll.

You just back from tour, how did that went?

- Well we got to ride around in our van again,
and I think we drank something they call alcohol.

"Got It" single was released in July, are you happy with the result?

- Not really. We were hoping for getting it used in a corporate banking commercial
but settled on running out of copies.

When can we expect the next full lenght and what can we expect?

- We're shooting for March,
but from the looks of it let's say
"sometime in spring 2007."

I hear alot of vibes from the 60´s 70´s and 80´s in your music, what other things
have ispired you?

- Naked ladies, homosexual "action,"
sports networks on cable television, Alfred Jarry.

I read from your website that you were taking part of a Joy Division/New Order tribute,
tell us more about this?

- I'd like to, but Failure to Communicate Records in Chicago is responsible,
and they never told us what to say about it.
This brain: totally empty.

They´re making a Ian Curtis movie, your thought about that?

- I hope he doesn't die in the end,
because I love happy endings.

Jumping to my favourite question, favourite horror movies?

- Does "Young Frankenstein" count?
If not, I'll go with "Phantom of the Paradise."
But that's a musical, so I guess...is it too cliché to say "Dracula"?
Well, there...I said it.

If the Brides would do a soundtrack for some movie, what kind of a movie it would be?

- A musical porno that takes place in a disco and the main character is nuts.
Kind of like John Waters' "Desparate Living" meets "Kiss Meets the Phantom"
meets "Tracy, I Love You"

Last Question, were do you see The Brides in 2010?

- We would have said outer space a few years back,
now I think we're leaning towards nursing home
for mid-life crisis victims.

http://www.myspace.com/thebrides
http://www.thebrides.net

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Rising from the ashes with Cryptkeeper Five

2007-01-01T14:34:00.000-08:00

So who are lurking behind the name The Cryptkeeper Five?

- D.T. on drums, Jimmy on guitar, Scotty on guitar,
Blue on sax, Nicky on keys, Jack on bass and me,
Johnny on Vox

What is the story behind your name Crypkeeper Five?

- We were young, we weren't really thinking
about it and it fucking rocks...
It didn't occur to me that there was a band
called the Crypt Kicker Five
in the monster mash, long until we were playing...
it must have been unconcious, no it was definately unconcious...
we wanted something kooky-horrorish and
something retro like The Dave Clark Five
and The Jackson Five...
so we settled with The Cryptkeeper Five...
Joey Ramone told us never to change it,
and i don't think we ever will...

Your band was formed over 5 years ago, what made you form this band?

- Me, Jimmy and D.T. started it when our
last band broke up in 1997...
we were too young to just stop playing and
had too much to prove, still do...

On your website you state "We are punk rockers but were not punk, we´re not
rockabillys but we wear grease in our hair" labeling sucks but
how would you describe yourself to someone who hasn´t heard of you yet?

- We always get asked this and we always say rock & roll...
People don't understand that either...
We classified ourselves as Punk/Rock/Alternative on myspace and
we've gotten flack for that too...
i think it's best to let yourself make your own mind up...

Following the previous question, what are the top 3 influences in general?

- hehe... Punk Rock, Rock & Roll and Punk...
I can't name just 3 bands that influence us...
I love The Ramones, The E-Street Band, Rocket from the Crypt,
The Green Goblyn Project, The Misfits, Elvis Costello,
Elvis Presley influence me,
but for the band there are too many bands to name...

On october 27th you released two new albums as a package, are you happy how the
albums came together and why did you decide to release them at the same time?

- I think i am happy with them...
Both albums are by far the best thing we've recorded yet,
i know i could have worked on em for at least another maddening year...
It was time to stop working on it tho...
We decided to make it a double disc cause we were contactually bound
to a record label that didn't do dick for the band and
finally our contract ran out October...
We just constantly recorded throughout the term and
it was impossible to release everything as one disc...
we actually had 44 songs, 4 discs worth of music...
So we broke em up into 2 albums 28 songs
and srapped the rest...

Let´s talk about songwriting in general, what is the recipe for a basic
Cryptkeeper Five song?

- Snakes, puppy-dogs tails and big fat snails...
the writting process is always changing...
for a short time we all wrote seperately...
i wrote a lot...
but we are starting to colaberate more
and i like it alot more now...

Little about touring, many bands have said that the worst part of touring
is sitting long times on a bus and just waiting, do you agree with this?

- No, sitting a long time in a van is the worst part...
8 guys in a van is a lot worse that 5 in a bus...
cry me a river, you have a fucking bus...
we have a van w/4 seats for 8 guys...

Ok, You have just released two great albums, now touring, after this,
what is next with your band?

- We are writting again...
We'll be touring a lot this year,
i would love to do the whole country,
but we'll see... We'll be recording a split w/ Blitzkid this year
and a few more splits...
We got a lot on the horizon...

Since it´s the eve of new year, what have you promised to do better next year?

- A lot of internal things that we need to do to get the machine running smoother
for both us and our receord label Bony Orbit...
I think we did things pretty good this year tho, so we'll see...

I hear my song calling, last breaths are yours!

- Thanks for thinking about the CK5, thanks for the interview...
We really appreciate the support...
Thanks for reading this if you are...
Go check us out at www.cryptkeeperfive.com or
myspace.com/cryptkeeperfive... Thanks

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Happy New Year Ghouls!

2006-12-31T05:04:00.000-08:00

Hello fiends, this past year has been amazing.
We have received lots of great feedback and
support. I, behalf of the whole Tales crew,
just want to say how much this means to us.
Without you and your support this wouldn´t
be possible.
So, happy new year
and I wish next year will be even better
than the last.

What is next, you might ask?

Well, new reviews of curse and
we are starting a new section,
articles about great old horror movie actors and
directors.
We have also confirmed many new interviews
with great acts and one big suprise is coming to your
way soon.

Stay ghoul and remember to stop by!

Singing the Graveyard Love Song with Miguel

2006-12-29T08:12:00.000-08:00

Greetings, who am I speaking to, please introduce yourself

- Hi there. Here's Nerve69,
song writer and founder of Miguel &tLD.
Thanks for interest in our band.

Miguel and the living dead was formed in 2001
as a one man project,
could you briefly tell the story of your band,
line-up and the biggest influences

- It all started as my one man project around summer 2001.
I was hanging around and thinking what to do during those lazy days.
And the only idea that came to my mind was
"hey, man, maybe you should at last record all these songs that you wrote
within all those years?!". And I started to do that.

About 2 years later my friends from new wave band Eva listened to these songs,
they had a blast and offered their help.
Signer Slavik was the first which joined the team.
We recorded demo that caused a big interest all over the world.
Then we decided to form a regular "live" band to make the concerts possible,
so then the rest of Eva joined Miguel and we started to play first shows.
A few months later we signed to Strobelight Records and released debut album.
And that's all. Now we are going to record new songs.

Our biggest influences were, are and always will be old punk and
new wave bands of 70's / 80's like Alien Sex Fiend,
The Damned, Bauhaus, 45 Grave, New Model Army,
Chelsea, Ausgang, Charge, U2, Lords Of The New Church,
Misfits, Sunglasses After Dark, The Clash, Ramones,
Fields Of The Nephilim, Christian Death, Samhain, The Cult,
The Birthday Party and many, many more.

We also love wild powerful garage rock'n'roll, 2 Tone ska,
psychobilly, gothabilly, surf, country, even some pop-rock tunes.
I think that our music is a mixture of many various influences and
that's what make it so unique.

Write down the ingredients that make Miguel and the living dead

- What kind of ingredients do you mean?

You are currently working on a new album,
how is that coming along? What can fans expect?

- Things are going well. We have done most of songs and
at the beginning of January
we'd like to start recordings. You can expect basically the same mood
and feelings that mark our previous songs.
Maybe new album will be more powerful.
There rather won't be slow songs like
"Salem's Lot" or “Sexy Velvet Shadow”.

After the album is done, I assume you are going on the road,
what makes a perfect live show?

- Many things like venue, equipment, tech crew etc.
but first of all is the audience.
If the people are fine and want to have fun along with us
then the show even with the crap sound provided will be perfect
and unforgettable to each side.

Touring in general, do you prefer bigger venues or small clubs?

- To be honest it doesn't matter to us.
We love to play in small underground clubs but
we also enjoy a lot playing on festivals like Wave Gotik Treffen or
Judgement Day for hundreds of people. It all depends on the audience.

what would be the ultimate tour to take part in, pick the bands.

- It could be a big tour of The Cramps and The Damned with support acts
like Shadow Reichenstein, Deadbolt, Psychocharger, Ghoultown and Frankenstein.
I'm afraid it would end after first two concerts because of drinking to much
and permanent hang over.

Let´s talk about the scene, in your opinion,
how is the scene in Poland and rest of Europe?

- Polish punk / new wave / goth scene was very strong during 80’s.
We had really amazing bands which weren’t being known worldwide,
although they deserved it a lot. Siekiera, One Million Bulgarians, Variete,
Made In Poland, Madame, 1984, Armia, Brygada Kryzys, Kosmetyki Mrs Pinki,
Joanna Makabresku – to mention the finest ones.

Some of them split up, some are still playing,
but today it’s hard to say about any “scene”.
Polish punk and goth scenes are now completely separated
and nothing worth of attention happens there.
Especially goth scene in Poland sucks!
It’s dominated by dummy metal heads or trance-industrial-EBM kids,
which consider themselves a “goths”. It’s ridiculous…

We have some kind of neo-post punk / cold wave music and great bands like DHM
or Wieze Fabryk, but it’s not any serious scene, just a particular bands.
And all in all the same lonely band is Miguel & The Living Dead.
We try to bring punk / rock’n’roll music back into a goth scene,
try to remind all these kids what are real origins and roots of goth music,
but general situation sucks a lot!

Regarding nowadays European scene situation looks much better.
There's a plenty of great deathrock / goth punk bands like Popoi Sdioh,
All Gone Dead, Eat Your Make Up, Gotterdammerung, The Last Days Of Jesus,
Tchiki Boum or - my absolute number one -
The Eighties Matchbox B-line Disaster
(I cannot understand why people still put them into "indie" genre???!!).
Generally I can say that there's a lot of great bands all over the world!
Probably every 2-3 weeks I discover some fantastic band.
I listen to all kinds of music,
but if we talk about nowadays
deathrock / post punk / gothabilly music I cannot forget to mention about great American scene
and crews like Phantom Limbs, Ghoultown, Shadow Reichenstein,
Weegs, Sixteens, Cult Of The Psychic Fetus, Turn Pale, Hayride To Hell,
The Tunnel Of Love, Baby Shower, The Rosedales, Sin City Ghouls, Bloodjunkies,
Igor Spectre and many more…

Into the dreams, where would you wanna be in next 5 years?

- I think between the legs of Eva Green would be fine place.

Time to close the book, thanks again for the interview
and feel free to say the last lines!

- Thanks a lot for interview.
Greetings to all our fans wherever they are.
Special hugs to the alien worms from Alpha Centauri,
we miss you.

http://www.myspace.com/miguelandthelivingdead

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

The Ghastly Ones - Target: Draculon

2006-12-28T05:01:00.000-08:00

The Ghastly Ones
Album: Target: Draculon
Label: Ghastly Plastics Corp.
Release date: 2006

Imagine yourself in the mix of the most beautiful beach
and the most dark and cold place in outer space.
That is the place which this album takes you.
Yes, they are back! The most groovy ghouls out there, The Ghastly Ones.
Last time we talked about these ghouls, the name of the game was
"A-Haunting We Will Go-Go" their debut album which cruised in the shores
and dark castles of the Earth.
Now that the Earth is conquered, it´s time to move the surf-ship
to outer space.

"Target: Draculon" is a instant scfi-fi surf classic,
the album is filled with Fender bending groovy sounds
from beginning until the end.
With a Tracklist like this you just can´t go wrong!
Or what do you think about titles such as
"Grave Dig Her", "Spooky Girl" and
"Double Agent 73 (Who Came In From The Cold)"
I thought so! The future of The Ghastly Ones looks bright,
can´t wait for the next release!

Tracks:

- Intro
- Target: Draculon
- Without Warning
- Blood Countess Sees All...
- Grave Dig Her
- The Sighting...
- Shockmonster Stomp
- Now Fear This
- Weird Spaceship...
- Spooky Girl
- Double Agent 73 (Who Came In From The Cold)
- Full Throttle, Empty Bottle
- Flying Saucers Over Van Nuys
- Dimension 66
- Brand New Sin
- Llorona
- Scuzz Ghoul Meets Curl's Girl
- I'm In...
- Orbitron.

Also read the previous review of A-Haunting We Will Go-Go
and the interview I made some time ago: Take a ride with the Ghastly Ones...

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Opening the cemetary gates with Scarecrow

2006-12-18T03:27:00.000-08:00

Hell-O, please introduce yourself to our readers

- Hi, I’m Jack from Scarecrow.

What is the current line-up in Scarecrow?

Ruho (guitar)
Samsam (drums)
Grim (bass)
Jack (voice)

Briefly sum up your band´s history

- Scarecrow was founded in 2000 and only the bassist has been replaced
a bit over a year ago. It all took up from this band we put together in 1999,
we played covers from Ramones, Smack and Misfits.
Then at new years eve we were watching Danzig’s music videos with Samsam
and I said this is what I wanna do, this has the right attitude to it.
That same night we came up with the name, Scarecrow.
I’ll never forget that new year.
Right from the start I decided that because we are crappy players,
we’re going to do only demos and smaller releases before even thinking about
doing a full length. After “La Morte...” we were ready.

How would you describe your music to someone who hasn´t heard of you yet?

- It’s a tough question really, all I can say is that
Scarecrow is fucking raw horror punkrock shit.
What else do you need, really? No, I try to avoid putting our music to a certain box
, it only distracts people. Go and listen, make your own descision.

Let´s talk about Scarecrow´s debut album "Deadcrow", It was released this year,
are you pleased with the result? Was it a hard birthing?

- I’m very happy with it.
It’s absolutely great to get very good reviews from zines all over the world,
even here in Finland.
The best thing is that we had no problems whatsoever doing “Deadcrow”,
and I know the next album’s going to be better, a lot better.
I think we spent five days recording “Deadcrow” and there was no hurry,
no pressure or anything. Things went smooth.

Besides the most regular horrorpunk influences, what other stuff inspires you
when you write music?

- Hate, misery.

Scarecrow has done quite alot "touring" across Finland, what is the
weirdest place you´ve played in?

- Well we have done some few gigs here in this godforbidden country.
The weirdest gig was propably when we played at Lumous-festival.
We played on this small boat that sailed in this incredible rain
and there were something like over a hundred goths stuffed inside.
We played over an hour and were dead beat because it was like hundred degrees inside
the boat. That was great.

You also did a minitour in Italy, how did that go?

- Yes, we did a few gigs near Milano, in these small towns like Asti.
That was a great first trip outside Finland.
We flew there, the guys over there had arranged all transportation
and place to sleep. Drank alot of beer, ate even more pasta.
The Italians are very nice people overall. I’d like to go back.

Horrorpunk-rock scene has been growing alot past few years, there are alot
of bands that sound very similar, your views about the scene?

- Yeah, that’s true. There’s many bands that sound exactly the same,
all trying to be like Misfits without any perspective of their own.

Since Scarecrow is very horror based band, what horrormovie represents
the spirit of Scarecrow the best?

Jack: Return of the living dead - Nosferatu
Grim: Braindead, because it’s fun and gory.
Samsam:
Ruho:

About future, when can fans expect new stuff from Scarecrow?
Any plans for a bigger tour in Finland and rest of Europe?

- There’s nothing sure yet, but propably there will be a new 7” coming up,
a bit like earth a.d.–styled outburst, a very limited edition.
No plans for the next album yet, that’s long way ahead still.
Next year we’ere going to Sweden for a few gigs and again to Germany
for a longer tour. Time will show what happens.

Voices are calling, I better fade, send your regards to our readers

- New shirts are under work and available soon,
get one or die! Also the album and great looking badges
are available through our website.

www.scarecrow.rocks.it
http://www.myspace.com/nighmary

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Groovy murders with Von Auer

2006-12-15T21:44:00.000-08:00

Greetings, please introduce yourself to our readers

- We are Von Auer, the greatest (and the only at the time) graveyard punk rock
band singing in finnish from Tampere, Finland. Our line-up is and will be 'til
the final day:

Otto von Auer - lead vocals
Juha Silmämaali - drums
M. Coffin - bass
H.C. Kuivala - guitar

Your band´s name is Von Auer, story behind the name?

- At the beginnig, the band name was Auer
which is rarely used old finnish word
for haze or mist and we tough that it would be a good name for us, adding horror
and finnish language together. Unfortunately,
some other jerks had came out with
the same name here in Finland, so we added Von afterwards
according our lead singer Otto von Auer.

Von Auer is relatively new band, briefly go through the beginning to the
present day.

- I (H.C.) have played in several bands with Otto before Von Auer
(mainly hardcorepunk) and M. Coffin and me used to play Ramones together
(mainly Havana Affair) while getting drunk or whatever.
Von Auer was put together at fall 2003, first
with our friend Läski-Heikki behind the drums.

Along the years 2003 - 2005 we got kicked out several times
from our rehearsal spaces and that really slowed down
our development as a band.
Also it didn't help us at all that our drummer Läski-Heikki
broked his back badly and were
unable to play drums anymore (or so he said...[kapina.org/abduktio]).

At spring 2005 after a long search for new drummer Juha Silmämaali
joined the band.
At fall 2005 we recorded our first EP
"Torkahtaminen voi olla kohtalokasta"
and after that we have done some gigs, mainly at Tampere.
Future is insecure, as always. And of course,
just month ago we got yet again kicked
out from our rehearsal place.

While listening to our EP "Torkahtaminen voi olla kohtalokasta",
I´m picking up influences from Misfits-Samhain to Calabrese, what else has
influenced you?

- I think we are musically influenced by all of those punk and rock bands
which we have listened through the years.
There are too many to list.
Spiritually of course Misfits, Samhain and Danzig
have been the inspiration to start a band
like this.

What do you think about the modern Misfits? IMO the whole merchandise
parade
has just got out of hand.

- Modern Misfits with Graves on vocals was kickass stuff
and Michale is a wonderful singer.
This is the opinion that the whole Von Auer share.
Personally I lost my hope on Jerry and the Misfits when Graves left/get kicked
out of the band...
Also some should remark Dez that he looks more spooky
without his corpsepaint.

Let´s go back to your EP, are you happy with the result?
Are there any things you would do different?

- Yes, there are things that we would do different.
"Torkahtaminen voi olla kohtalokasta"
is a kind of complication of songs
from years 2003 - 2005.
On the album there are songs that are first ones with melody
that we (mainly Otto and I) have composed and
it was first time ever when Otto sang in studio.
So I think we have developed in many ways,
and of course the new songs are so much better.
Also the sound atmosphere of our next record will be less pop and more dark
and punk, like our gigs have been.

What inspires you when you write lyrics? Any special rituals in the
songwriting process?

- I get my influences mainly from movies, books, tv-series
(don't have fervour to start name dropping...you know which ones i mean)
and missheard sentences.
Also the latest ouija board session with the band gave me some bizarre ideas.
For the
"Torkahtaminen voi olla kohtalokasta"
Otto made all the lyrics expect for "Murhagroove",
but after that I have done most of the lyrics. I think that the
essence of Von Auer lyrics will be more cartoonish in the forecoming records.

Next step with Von Auer?

- Get a new place of rehearsal and grow our irc-galleria -community.

Fangs for your time, last howls are yours!

- 138 times thanx for you, virpoen varpoen,

H.C.

for the upcoming horror business,
check out our website and download "Torkahtaminen voi olla kohtalokasta" EP for
free:

http://www.vonauer.com

http://www.myspace.com/vonauer

All pictures by Lassila Juha

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

DieMonsterDie - Lifes Blood: past-present-future

2006-12-12T15:22:00.000-08:00

DieMonsterDie
Album: Lifes Blood: past-present-future
Label: Dr Cyclops Records
Release date: 2006

What i´m holding in my hands is the new DieMonsterDie release.
It contains killer 27 songs from six previous albums including songs from:

The Continuing Mission To Destroy Rock N Roll, No Future For The Weak,
What Is Shall Always Be, Honor Thy Dead, Only The Dead Will Survive
and 3 tracks from upcoming brand new album, coming in 2007.

Musically DieMonsterDie is somewhere in the middle of:
Alice Cooper, KISS, Misfits, Samhain
and bunch of other metal and old school punk bands,
but at the same time they´re uncompromisingly doing their own thing.
Lyrically, do I need to say more? It´s all about death,ghouls,
horror and the darker side of life with a twist of sarcastic black humor.
I would definitely pick these song as a highlight of this album:

"Black is the color of Darkness",
"One night at Devil´s rock",
"Red wedding Dress"
and "Gravedigger Girl".

This is a great way to meet the band, if you´re already familiar with DieMonsDie´s
ghoulish tunes. Great package from start to finish and I won´t let you go
until you bleed. Still don´t own it?! Bad bad ghoul! No excuses!
It´s free, go to: http://horrorpunks.com and start downloading it suckers!

http://www.myspace.com/diemonsterdie

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Club BongaBonga presents:

2006-12-07T18:17:00.000-08:00

December 14th, 2006 Hellsinki
Lepakkomies, Helsinginkatu 1

Age old battle between Helsinki and Turku.
Contenders are:

In the blue blue corner wearing blood and sweat: Hellhound Frenzy (Psychobilly/Punk)
And in the red corner, handsome and groovy:
The Over Attacks (Punk/Ska)

Come and see which town prevails and gets the best looking ladies!

http://www.myspace.com/clubbongabonga

http://www.myspace.com/hellhoundfrenzy

http://www.myspace.com/theoverattacks

Seeking hate with Cancerslug

2006-12-04T11:23:00.000-08:00

Briefly, share some details about Cancerslug for those readers
who haven´t heard of you yet

- The last true rock n roll band on the planet
a dead breed that still believe that music can be real
that rock is a lifestyle and not just a commodity
we give our art away for free and kick peoples ass live

Biggest influences musically?

- Anger, hate, rage, love, death
lyricly: h.p. lovecraft, e. a. poe, sun tzu, miyamoto musashi
Bands: rasputina, black flag, glenn danzig, neurosis, the damned,
the germs, fear, filth, doom, eadboy and the elephantmen

Let´s talk about your latest CD "Book of Rats", tell us more about the
writing/recording process and are you happy with the result?

- "Book of rats" was just a collection of demos that we havent really recorded yet,
the versions that people have dont even have a bass guitar on them,
its just alex and a drummer jamming out some ideas for songs

I noticed that all of your albums are available through your site in mp3 format,
great way to spread the word
but are there any other motives behind this? Are you anti-label?

- Im pro art.... and anti anything that takes away from art or tries to lead art into a more commercially accessable format.....
giving my art away for free keeps it pure and in the long run will leave a truer legacy of work behind...
im not saying i wouldnt ever put anything out on a label,
im just waiting for the label that still gives me complete creative control of my project

What do you think about internet? While ago there were a rumour spreading around that
Cancerslug has split-up etc etc. Does these rumours bother you?

- As long as people are talking about cancerslug, I dont really care what they say.....
at least they recognize our existance, love it or hate it
the interenet is a great way for independant art to be spread to the masses

Little more about your music, you have song title such as "I love pain", "hateseeker", "straight razor rape",
where do you dig up these titles and inspirations to your lyrics?

- Whatever gets peoples attention, we hide our true message in between the dick and fart jokes...
I think most of our real fans are smart enough to get it

Moving on to touring, what is the weirdest thing that has happen to you while being on stage?

- Self mutilation, audiance mutilation, attacks by our enemys,
and on stage gratification fom fans.... you name it.....
check out our full length dvd for details

If you could pick two bands to tour with, who would you pick?

- Deadboy and the elephantmen
the dwarves

From touring to movies, what are your favourite horror movies?

the beyond
aftermath
the howling

Future plans with Cancerslug?

- Record, tour, repeat

Thanks again for the interview, feel free to say the last words!

- Always great to have anyone interested in our little project
cancerslug has been going 6 years strong, and there are no plans for us to stop,
we have over a hundred songs you can download for free online,
and many more on the way

stay tuned for our new disk "fuck you, from hell" over a year in the making,
its going to be our masterpiece

http://www.cancerslug.net
http://www.myspace.com/cancerslug

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Devil´s night with DieMonsterDie

2006-12-02T09:44:00.000-08:00

So how are things at the moment?

Meatwhistle: Right now things couldn't be better, we are fresh off a date here in salt lake city, with GWAR it was an amazing show, Gwar are great Guys, and we gained many new fans.
things couldn't be better.

Zero: Furthermore there will be an abundance of new releases from
Diemonsterdie in the near future.
Our new album is set for an early-2007 release and we also plan to re-release our extremely rare "Honor Thy Dead" album by next spring.
I think Honor Thy Dead is an outstanding piece of work and I'm excited that it will finally be widely available.
The first printing was very limited so if you own an original copy it will be a rarity.
The new printing will have a new artwork layout so you'll definitely be able to tell them apart.
Finally we'll be appearing on The Horror Of It All Volume 3 compilation with one song plus a video of the band.

Tell us more about your band DieMonsterDie?

Meatwhistle: For me DMD is my lifes blood, i love the band,my mates, and everything we do.
we have been together for a long time, and it still feels so new.

Zero: We've all been musicians for years and Diemonsterdie marks our return to the grand traditions of rock n' roll.
The songs all gotta have hooks and the band must have Presence.
The crowd only loves you more when they find you visually compelling.
Personally speaking, with Diemonsterdie it's as if the monster in me has finally clawed his way through the skin and gets to enjoy being in the driver's seat.
It's been building for years and now it's to the point where I barely exist as a human being in the 9-to-5 world.
That guy is more like a disguise I wear to blend in until the next show.
We set out simply to form a band that was impossible to look away from when seen live.
Since 99% of what I write has a dark theme or monsters or aliens we knew right off it would be a horror band.
It was surprising to find there is such a dedicated and widespread underground for this type of thing.

Biggest influences musically?

Meatwhistle: the entire band has a very huge music history,
I love everything from Ramones to Satyricon, Slayer to the Bee Gees,
Zero has a vast collection and eclectic taste.

Zero: GG Allin the ultimate rock n' roll madman influenced me a lot psychologically.
It had a lot to do with my state of mind at the time I discovered his music.
KISS and Alice Cooper made a huge impression on my young mind.
They were fucking superheroes to me because I owned the comic books they appeared in and there they were doing the biggest, most theatrical shows ever.
That kind of rock n' roll really appealed to me.
Black Sabbath, Hellhammer/Celtic Frost- that stuff was so grim I just loved it.
Ramones, Misfits, Judas Priest- the list goes on and on.
If everything I like to listen to influences me then I am influenced by one Hell of a lot of bands.

DMD is from salt lake, hows the scene up there?

Meatwhistle: I like to think of it as the west coast epicenter for horror bands,
the people here are willing to accept new ideas and music.
and with every show, the crowds get bigger and more devoted.

Zero: Horror's rising and it's become a thriving scene in Salt Lake City.
The variety of styles in horror music draws more people in every day,
it's just a matter of exposing them to it so they realize that this is something they will like.
Everybody secretly has that morbid fascination with death and thing forbidden and horrible.
Horror music gives them a way to express their inner demons and sinister urges to a snappy backbeat.

Your views about the horrorpunkrock scene these days?

Meatwhistle: it is definitely coming alive!

Zero: It seems to be growing steadily and there's a lot of great bands to represent it.
It's also becoming more of a community as it gets more organized.
Hopefully the scene will be able to maintain it's cool one-big-family vibe as it gets more popular and not fall victim to pop culture overexposure.

In your view, what´s the difference between European and North American scene?

Meatwhistle: Europe our fiends! they love horror punk/horror rock,
i think it is a much larger scene in Europe, the North American scene is growing by leaps and bound every day,
that is why we started worldhorrornetwork.com to bring the fans and all of the bands together in the US.

Zero: It's definitely larger in Europe but the US it catching on.
Europe also has all those ancient different cultures to draw upon for inspiration.
By comparison, the US only has a few hundred years of history and essentially one culture.

Let´s talk about you CD "ONLY THE DEAD WILL SURVIVE". Are you happy with the result and was it a hard project?

Meatwhistle: i dont think any band is every truly satisfied with a recording, i love the album,
i beleive it to be our best to date, we have sold thousands of copies, and i would like to think our fans, love the album as much as we enjoyed making it.
if you dont own it go BUY IT!

Zero: I'm very pleased with Only The Dead Will Survive.
Recording is never a hard process for Diemonsterdie.
We record within the boundaries of a strict budget so we are well-rehearsed before entering the studio.
The downside of a strict budget is not being able to experiment a bit more before deciding on a mix.
Vocally there's times you go with a take that's as perfect as you could get it, time permitting.
There's always going to be some things I would change but It's likely I'd never be totally satisfied.
We try and top ourselves with each new album.

Following the previous question, shed some light on your song writing process?

Zero: Songwriting usually begins with a list of what I think would make good song titles.
Most often the music comes during rehearsal when we're all freeballing it and the next thing you know we're all playing the same thing.
Occasionally someone will come in with something they had written outside of rehearsal but mostly it's during practice.
Within 5 to 30 minutes we'll have all the parts written and arranged and I'll pick a title from the list.
Vocally I will sing gibberish until I get a melody down and I'll fit the title in the chorus somewhere.
The band will practice the song like this a few times and lines of lyrics will come to me through my stream of consciousness gibberish spouting.
Finally I will sit down and finish the lyrics, filling in the lines that never congealed between the ones that did.
The entire lyric writing process takes me a while.
Left to my own devices sometimes I don't finish a song's lyrics until we're in the studio recording it.
I have literally finished lyrics while sitting on the recording studio couch and telling everyone to take a 10 minute break for drinks and smokes.
I work fast when the pressure's on but if there's no pressure, look out!

As horror is the theme here, favourite horror movies?

Meatwhistle: The Exorcist,Ju-On,TCM,The Elephantman

Zero: Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the Evil Dead Series,
Return of the Living Dead I&II, Day of the Dead, Frankenstein,
Creature From the Black Lagoon, Dracula, all those old black and white movies with mummies, The Ring, The Shining, American Werewolf In London, the Alien series

And favourite actors?

Zero: Horror actors- Lon Chaney, Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff......
Mainstream actors- Johnny Depp, Eugene Levy, the voice cast of The Simpsons, Art Vandelay....

Future plans with DMD?

Zero: Besides the albums I mentioned before we're writing new songs for another album, we're not in a rush with this one since we still have an album we need to finish mixing.
We plan to play some shows outside Utah in 2007, mostly west coast and midwestern states.
The stage show will always be a work in progress so expect a bigger better than '06 show next year.
We'd certainly like to get over to Japan someday....

Any plans for European tour?

Meatwhistle: we are very interested in touring Europe!
if we can line up the right booking agent we WILL be over there in 2007!
anyone know a great booking agent give us a call!

Zero: We are working on being able to visit Europe in 2007,
everything is in the planning stages but we are making progress.
If all goes well we'd like to be able to make a short visit late in the year.

Time to die, last words are yours!

Meatwhistle: Support Indie Horror Bands, BUY their music and merch,
download Britney Spears and U2, they can afford it!
support these bands and this genre and you will see amazing things start to happen!

Zero: I think the lunar landings were faked......

http://www.myspace.com/diemonsterdie
http://www.worldhorrornetwork.com

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Reading the dead man´s diary with The Spook

2006-11-30T10:39:00.000-08:00

Firstly, introduce yourself to our readers

- Hello, here is Ross Feratu, one of the guitar players of THE SPOOK.
I also do the computer and manager parts in the band,
do the layouts and graphics and keep an eye on our websites and myspace-site.
Sounds really busy - so it is!

The Spook has been around for awhile, tell us briefly about your history?

- Well to tell a long story in some sentences: we started back in 1999
to write our first songs. We did NOT cover any MISFITS songs "to learn" about horrorpunk.
We did our own stuff right from the beginnig. We recorded 4 Songs for two demotapes.
Each sold 150 times and after that we did a split 7" with those dudes from Frankenstein Drag Queens.
This 7" was sold out in quickly, too.

Then in early 2000 we get in contact with André and People Like You Records and we did an MCD/10" and later in 2002 we releases our CD/LP on PLY Records.
Then we get rid of bad things: we fired our singer out of quality and personal reaseons.
We found Dean Roca in early 2004 and started writing new songs for some compilations and 7"es.
In mid-2005 we changed our drummer and got Vic Chains, the man with the hardest punch in Gravelands, and start preparing for our next album.
We wrote about 15 songs and in April/May 2006 we entered the studio and recorded new 13 songs with a little help of Mille (KREATOR), who co-produced the album.
In June/July Andy Sneap got the data and mixed and pre-mastered the whole stuff.
It sounds awesome, man! Right now we are looking for a new and better and more honest label.
We are dealing with several labels and by the end of this year we hopefully can reveal a official release date of "LET THERE BE DARK".

What made you take the name Spook?

- Well, the name THE SPOOK was some kind of the best name we thought of back in those days.
We had a lot of suggestions for a name but we took THE SPOOK,
which is still the best to our opinion.

Tell us more about the term GRAVEROCK?

- The term GRAVEROCK for us is more or less our own music style.
We are not only punkrock, not only metal and not only rock.
Our lyrics are dealing with magick, death, love, heaven and hell - so there need to be more than just plain Horrorpunk.
We love to call our music GRAVEROCK for it gives us all a wider range of options for development.
We can unfold more creativity and there are less limits for us.
I mean, we are writing songs for seven years now, we cannot and will not do the same on every album.

From what I´ve understood, The Spook were recording and mastering a new
album last summer, how is this project coming along?

- All recordings are done and mixing, too. Only the final master will be done soon - as soon as we fixed the deal with a new label.
We are ready to release, we want to tour again in 2007 - all over Europe!

What can fans expect?

- Fans can expect 10 to 13 songs of stunning GRAVEROCK!
We have some fast songs, some mid-tempo songs and one or two slower songs.
All are full of power, melodies, grooves and melancholy.
The songs are more developed and structured than the ones from the "Some Like It Dead" album.
I mean, there are three years between those albums.
It's a normal process for a band.

Any plans for touring and possibly coming to Finland?

- We will definitely tour in 2007.
If the album is doing great in Europe we will tour Scandinavia for sure!
We need a good distribution and booking agency but after all we will come to Finland, too!!
We have several fans in Finland, as we know from all the feedbacks.

From the studios to the next question, about songwriting, any special rituals or places to get you going?

- No, not anything special. Mostly we write the basics of the songs with three or four band members down in our rehearsal chambers.
Anyone who is having a great idea, riff or hookline for a song throws in that part and we start playing and jamming.
After that we collect the best parts and build a good song-structure.
We try out several ideas and we work on the songs again and again until we have the final version and all of us are pleased.

Let´s talk about influences, what/who have influenced you the most?

- Well, there are a lot of influences. Mainly each one of us has different influences.
So I can only talk of myself: Glenn Danzig, Rob Zombie, NIN, Manson, Entombed,
Faith No More, Glucifer, All, Black Flag, Bad Brains, John Zorn and a lot more!

This is the question I always have to ask, favourite horror movies?

- Okay, here you go: House Of 1000 Corpses, The Devil's Reject, Alien 1-4, Dracula, Frankenstein,
The Grudge (asian version), The Others, Shadow of the Vampire ... and lots more.

Following the previous question, what do you think about the hollywood
way of re-making every single old classic horror movie?

- Well, I like some of the ideas, but I do not share interests in movies like the US movies Grudge 1 + 2 and such.
Those movies are more boring and destroy the magick of the original ones.
It seems like all 30 years they are doing remakes of all the classics: like the originals in the 30ies,
then the Hammer productions in the 60ies and 70ies and now the are doing those remakes again.

Back to the Spook´s, what do you expect from the future?

- Well, we want to start with a new label and want to support the record by touring a lot.
We want to do one or two cool video-clips for the album.
We want the album to get cool reviews and lots of promotion and features.
All peaple should hear the new THE SPOOK as there are some more developments that need to be heard!

Coffin is calling, the creepy green light is yours!

- Okay, some final words, right!?
I thank you very much for your engagement and support!
Right now, me and my wife Beccy Lavender (www.beccy.net)
are preparing for our upcoming clothing label called SPOOKABELLA Clothing (www.spookabella.com),
which will only be for the girlz. In JAN 07 we will launch our website incl.
onlineshop, models, music and more.
Make sure, you all check the sites below!! Thank you and creep in touch,
"Let There Be Dark" will soon be out in spring 2007!!

- Ross Feratu

- -
THE SPOOK | Graverock Deluxe
www.thespook.de
www.myspace.com/thespook
- -
SPOOKABELLA Clothing
www.spookabella.com
www.myspace.com/spookabellas

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Breathing Transylvania with Spooky DeVille

2006-11-29T12:11:00.000-08:00

Hello Spooky DeVille, how is life?

- Other than a few bumps and bruises, we can't complain.
Life is good for the undead....if that makes much sense at all.

First, tell us the tale of Spooky DeVille.

- Kid Gruesome (guitars) originally played drums and El Cucuy (upright bass) played guitar
for a band that never took off but still booked a show.
After a member left We aquired a longtime friend to play drums, Billy Diesel.
With 2 weeks to that show with Brutally Frank in late March '06,
Dozer joined up and we then took the name Spooky DeVille and somehow wrote an 8 song set in time. We suprisingly had a great turnout for a Sunday Night in the land 'o Mormons.

How would you describe your music to someone who hasn´t heard it yet?

- If Herman Munster wrote songs for Johnny Cash after eating a Chili Pepper with Doyle Wolfgang on Guitar.

Biggest influences musically?

- That's kind of a tough one...Mad Sin, Lost City Angels, Ghoultown,
Roy Orbison to name a few. We like to keep things creepy but still fun.
We also have a big '80's Hardcore influence

Spooky DeVille released earlier "Nightlife" EP which is now turning into a full
length release, share more details about this.

- You pretty much nailed it there. Our producer's (Johnny Demonic of Left for Dead)
computer took a dump after recording the E.P. and by the time it was fixed and ready to be mixed, We had enough good songs to fill out a Full length....We have a limited supply of the rough version,
but We are polishing everything to put out sn official pressing.

Let´s talk about the Salt Lake City scene, how is it?

- Everyone is very diverse but only a hairline seperating the different scenes.
We draw from each of those and Everyone is super supporting and friendly.

From what I´ve understood Utah is a very religious are, have religious people given you any hard times?

- I had a job at a Mortuary and got fired for not being Mormon...
but as far as Musically...I think they are just scared of us so they don't bother.

I´ve always been interested how different musicians write their music,
any special rituals or obsessions while writing new material?

- Dozer writes songs at work and just puts the words to Music that the band is working on.....
We sometimes sacrifice a single white dove to appease the Gods of rock in inspiration,
while eating pork chops.

Since we´re wondering in the fields of horror, favourite horrormovies?

- Halloween, Anything with "Of the Dead" in the title, a good Zomedy is always good, Slither, Universal monster Movies.....
Milo and Otis. hahaha. Horror movies in General are always good fun.

Your view about the present horrormovie releases, seems that every film is a re-make
or poor Japanese ripoff.

- As long as they are well done it's ok...just no Teeny Bopper bitch in the lead role.
The Ultra-Violence in recent movies is amazing though.

Tomb is calling, last words are yours

OJ is not a murderer......shit!

http://www.myspace.com/spookydeville

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Getting back from surgery with The Vincent Black Shadow

2006-11-28T03:55:00.000-08:00

Hello and firstly, please introduce yourselfs.

- Tony Drummer extrordinaire from the vincent black shadow.

Could you briefly tell the history of TVBS?

- We formed in 2003,in Vancouver bc it started with me ,
my bro Robbie and Cassandra.

How would you describe your music to someone who hasn´t yet heard
of you?

- It is a collection of different feels,genres and styles of Rock music.

Your debut album "Fears in the water" was released in July 2006,
are you happy with the result and was it a hard "birth"?

- Yes we love our record and worked very hard on it.
The writing came naturally to us but it was hard too be patient waiting for its release.

You´ve been touring alot this year, best and worst experiences so
far?

- Warped was great,met alot cool people and bands like Nofx, and helmet who are real cool people.
Germany was great this year to,first time on a double decker tour bus.
I really love the southern states in the spring,the people are great there too.
We got to do the fuse chainsaw awards afterparty and cass got to present wich was real
cool too.

While being on the road, there is alot of spare time, and I would
think that sometimes it´s kind of boring to sit on a bus and wait, how
do you keep yourselves focused and entertained?

- We like to correspond with our fans on myspace,we watch alot of movies
and just like to relax and party.

There is a musicvideo of the song "Metro", tell us more about it,
who directed it?

- Ron Martin ,who was great and was based on the records artwork that was done by cassandra.
The treatment was done by peter karroll.

Let´s talk about influences, musically and literally?

- Everyone in the group comes from a different place musically,
but we have alot of similiar tastes, like Danzig,Billy holiday,
Avenged sevenfold,Cardigans.I know cassie likes alot of japanese pop,
rob likes a lot of stranges stuff like phantomas ,chris likes punk like the damned,
and fear and I love metal and prog metal like Iron
maiden,Dream theater and Avenged sevenfold.

TVBS is from Vancouver, Canada, how is the music scene there?

- Stagnant wich is whhy were happy to tour,love the city but the scene
is all but gone,and so are most of the venues.

Talesfromtheshadows is very horror oriented so I have to ask,
Favourite horror movies and actors?

- Melinda clark,Kane hodder,sherri moon zombie.
Doug bradley and all these actors and actreses respect various roles.

Back to TVBS, future plans and dreams?

- Continue to tour and record and make new fans and meet new inspiring people.

Thanks again for giving me the opportunity to interview you, good
luck in the future and last words are yours.

- What the fuck is juice..I want some grape drink!
http://www.bodogmusic.com/tvbs/
http://www.myspace.com/tvbs

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Club BongaBonga tomorrow night!

2006-11-22T02:31:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow night, Club BongaBonga brings to the stage:

The Grit
The Patsy Walkers!

Again the ceremony is FREE! The place of ritual is
Lepakkomies Club
Helsinginkatu 1
HELSINKI
Drag your bones there and shake your asses! This is the final warning! FREE OF CHARGE
So YOU don´t have any excuses!

http://www.myspace.com/clubbongabonga
http://www.myspace.com/thegrit
http://www.myspace.com/patsywalkers

In the garden of rage with Others

2006-11-21T11:28:00.000-08:00

Fiendish evening to you, how are things back in the caves of Binghamton?

A: Rainy, wet and dreary... Just another day in lovely Bingoland.

Tell us more about your band, Others, current line-up and briefly about your past?

A: Well, lets see. Current line up is – Mistress Jessica / Vocals, M.A.D. / Guitar, Dano Voodie / Bass and Mr. Webb on percussion.
We formed in march of 2002 after me (marquis), Dano and Mistress Jessica left a band we were in called "Spanker"(2000 - 2001).
My guitarist from "Bloodsuckingfraks" joined us and after a spell we found Mr. Webb and started jammin together.
We started by playing some of the old songs from Spanker and "BSF" til we figured out what direction we wanted to go.
I wanted to do more of a gothic horror thing to really bring put Mistress J’s voice and EDX and Mr. Webb wanted to do metal.
Dano said "as long as it's heavy and doesn't suck I'll play it".

So i wrote abunch of songs to try out on everyone, at first it was more punk and nobody was really happy with it.
So i went back to the drawing board, combining my love for horror with metal and gothic overtones. It was a hit and that’s how it all started.
We recorded the “7 Song EP” in August of 2002. Recorded “Garden of Rage” in 2003/2004 with producer Jsff DaBella at Mansion Audio. E.D.X. left in 2004,
was replaced by Lady Bathory in 2005, left 5 month’s later).
Signed a dstrobution deal with Dr. Cyclops Records in 2005.
“Garden of Rage” finally came January 2006. We did a few movie sountracks, got on many comps, played all over the north east and here we are today.

Biggest influences?

A: My biggest influences are man’s inhumanity (especially as of late) but mostly all things horror,
a dark and stormy night, Vampires, creatures of darkness and so on. Musicly,
I’m influenced by everthing from Classical to 50’s rock, swing and so on...
but over all I was influencd by certain bands that have their own unique sound such as
Danzig, AFI, Cradle of Filth, Godhead, Manson, Ramones, Tori Amos, to name a few.
I really want “Others” to be a one of a kind and not sound like anyone else.

Let´s talk about your record "Garden of Rage", where did you record it and
who produced it?

A: We recorded the album at Mansion Audio in Binghamton N.Y. with Jeff DaBella at the helm.
I’ve known Jeff forever and always went there to record (we recorded the 7 song EP there),
so when we went back to record another album, Jeff had been following the buzz about us and told us he wanted to produce our next album,
he loved what we were doing and wanted to really bring our sound together.
After some thought we decided to go for it. We had the same vision for the album and it was a match made in hell.
He worked us into shape, then we started laying tracks in June of 2003. Jeff let me co-produce it with him, which was a real honour and a learning expirence.
We had a blast and we wrapped it up in January of 2004.

About songwriting, how does an "others" song come to life? Rituals?

A: Um, usually I start with a human sacrifice... Not really,
I’m just kidding (or am I ?). I usually write about what inpires me.
If I get a riff or a lyric in my head, then that’s what i go with and build around it.
Sometimes I write the lyrics first, sometimes the music. I then make a demo Then the process is,
I show it to Mr. Webb, then to Dano Voodie. Once we have it down,
we’ll record a another demo and then I hand it over to the singer (with my scratch vocals)
and then Presto!! Another “Others” song is brought to life.

Others appears in the Danzig tribute CD, tell us more about this

A: Well, I had been a member of “The 7th House” forum (Official danzig Fan Forum)
for years but hadn’t been there in a spell, when I heard about a tribute being put together by bands of the forum and it was being approved by the man himself.
Me being a huge fan (and a major influence on my song writing), I said “I must get on this!” I wrote to the proper contacts and after some bloodletting and beging I was able to get on it.
We choose “Thirteen” and “Skulls” but “Skulls” didn’t make the cut. Jeff Dabella Produced the song for us and we’re quite pleased with how it came out (better than i imagined).
It’s an honour to be a part of this and a shout out has to go to Radu for puttin this baby together (and having us on it).
The tribute is only available for a short time, it is a limited release of 666 copies with no repress.
So get your copy while supplies last. Visit http://www.hedonismrecords.com/HR_store.html

About horrorpunk, how´s the scene in your hometown?

A: Scene? Your lookin at it kid. There is no horror scene here in Binghamton,
hell there’s barely a scene at all. It’s mostly Screamo / Emo bands.
The scene itself (Punk / Metal), died a few years back when they inacted the smoking ban.
Almost all of the rock clubs closed down because people refused to go to bars and clubs if they couldn’t smoke.
I used to book shows but now it isn’t worth it ‘cause no one will show up.
There’s a few places that do all age shows once in a while.
It’s slowly making a comeback (the overall scene). There’s a decent scene in Scranton PA , Kingston PA.
We mostly play out of town and maybe at home a couple of times a year.

Touring is a big part of being in a band, best and worst memories from the road?

A: They’re all good. It sure beats workin... We’ve had a few crummy gigs but that’s to expected sometimes.
Ya can’t always pitch a perfect game if ya know what I mean.
We just did thee days with Horror of ’59 out in Buffalo, Detroit and Akron and had a blast.
I personally love playin on the road.

I gotta ask, favourite horrormovies?

A: Well, speaking for myself, I would have to say Nosferatu and Dracula are my favorite movies.
I love the whole myth of the Vampire and what it represents.
I really love the old horror movies, they always left room for your imagination.
Now a days, it’s all right there on the screen, the blood, the gore, ect...
Don’t get me wrong, I like some of that stuff too but it’s all overkill now.
I mean there’s only so many ways some can be disembowled.
It seems that you need tons of blood and gore to make a horror movie today.

What does the future hold for Others?

A: Hopefully alot. We’re gonna take a break from playing out to write new material for our next opus (and pay off some bills).
We have about 30 songs so far. I wouldn’t mind getting on a few more movie soundtracks as well.
Make a few videos. Who knows what the future lies but we’ll be around for a while.

Scream for our readers of the last time... for now.

A: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to all our fans, friends and family for supporting us over the years.
Thanks to Jeff DaBella and Shane Diablo for believeing in us, Bob and Horror of ’59,
all of the radio stations that play us, Ted Alderman from Wicked Dreams Entertainment,
Radu and all at the 7th House, Thanks to all the ghouls at the World Horror Newtork (www.worldhorrornetwork.com) and Thank you for the interview.
Vist our website :
www.othersgothichorror.com or www.myspace.com/others

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Blitzkid - Five Cellars Below

2006-11-19T02:18:00.000-08:00

Blitzkid
Album: Five Cellars Below
Label: Fiendforce records
Release date: 2006

Blitzkid is a horrorpunkband that doesn´t leave you cold, they have been around for
10 years and they know what they´re doing.
So this is Blitzkid´s latest and finest, "Five Cellars Below" is such an good package
that I don´t know where to start. The sounds are brilliant, songs are complete
and they support each other making the album sound "full and complete".

The album is filled with horrorpunkmagic, it´s melodic, mix of fast and mellow songs and it takes you over like a hurricane. Try songs like "Starlite Decay", "Mary And The Storm",
"Terror in The Haunted House" and my personal favourite "Vanishing Riders"
This CD is definitely worth purchasing, so get it now!

Tracklist:

Black Mountain Backstep
A Blind Bargain
Dementia
Starlite Decay
Mary And The Storm
Midnight Mile
Lady In The Lake
Terror In the Haunted House
Genus Unknown
Demon Machine
The Torn Prince
The Trunk
Bloodletting
Carve Out A Heart
Vanishing Riders

http://www.blitzkid.com
http://www.myspace.com/blitzkid

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Mister Monster - Prom night massacres

2006-11-15T01:30:00.000-08:00

Hell-o, please introduce yourself to our readers

- J.Trioxin, Vocals and guitar in Mister Monster and Touring guitarist for Michale Graves.

Mister Monster was formed in 1998, briefly tell us more about the history of Mister Monster.

- It was started as a side project, i was in a band playing bass and i had written songs like Prom Night and Dead Flesh Gurl and needed a way to get them out.
So i recorded the songs one day with my friends Mars and Jimmy Skinz.
We pressed about 250 cassettes and were asked to play a halloween show,
the response was great and the tapes sold out in a matter of weeks so we just kept it up.
i had written more songs and by that point jimmy and mars had bowed out.
so i went into Planet Grey studios and recorded 10 songs on my own.
4 of these are scattered through out a few different compilations and the rest have become the famed "5 Song Sampler"..
the album was never released in its entirety.

Mister Monster is from New Jersey, how is the scene up there?

- Its mostly cover bands and emo kids. As far as deathrock goes theres a few but they arent very well noticed because they came out a little too late.
At the time, with the Misfits excluded, Mister Monster was one of the only horror rock bands in NJ, (Along with the Crypt Keeper 5).
So we got noticed and respected, the Misfits had already made a comeback but were not yet the lame household name they became after around 2001.

The legendary Misfits are from NJ, how much have this influenced you guys?

- the fact that theyre from NJ has influenced me zero...
the fact of their music has influenced me Heavy. My first tattoo was when i was 16 of the the Crimson Ghost,
so i obviously dig them. I think its fucking stupid when bands try and act like they dont know the bands that have obviously influenced them,
I've even been told that I've been an influence to some newer bands and that to me is the best fucking thing i could possibly hear.
To be ONE precent of the chemicals that make up any band is an honor and i am extremly greatfull.

Following the previous question, your biggest influences?

- Phil Spector, Bob Rock, Brian Setzer, Keith Caputo, Mike Ness,
Johnny Cash, Glenn Danzig, Doyle, Eerie Von, a TON of 50's DooWop
(not that bubble gum "Walk like a man" bullshit either).

Let´s talk about song writing, any special rituals while writing new material?

- None, i cant sit down and write a song, which is why i can never tell when an album will be done,
i could be driving or sleeping and an entire song will just come to me and ill lay it down and its done.
Very few changes are ever made from the original time of demoing to what actually comes out on an album.
I have forced it out before and i hated the aftermath. I usually have the vocal line and then i put down the guitar after that to sccompany it.
Im more of a vocal line melody man, i never sit down with my guitar and play riffs til i hear something i like.
I look at myself more as a writer and not so much a player.

When can fans expect new material from Mister Monster?

- Anytime now, my guitarist just quit so im deiciding on doing the record myself or have one or many bands back me up as far as instruments go...
we'll see.

Touring, any plans concerning europe?

- I dont need a ton of money but i need just enough to break even,
im not looking to make money but i also cant afford to lose anymore so if someone were to offer us a chance to come over to europe then of course id love to.
I did a tour over there with Blitzkid and it was probably one of the best-times Ive ever had on the road.

From touring to the future, where do you see Mister Monster in the next 2-4 years?

- Could be exactly where it is now and it could be huge,
you never know in this business. I would like to get some new music out though because as much as everyone loves "Over Your Dead Body"
i am sick of it and dont want that to be my crowning acheivment.
Its a blessing and a curse, im so happy that people seem to love that record but theres also alotof pressure for the next one to be as good as or better.
If its worse than whats the point? im just gonna do what i do though, i know ya cant please everyone,
but id like to, at leaste the fans anyway.

We´re always curious about bands fav. movies, top5 horrormovies?

Return of the Living Dead
Bad Taste
Demons
The Wolfman
28 Days Later

Time to go back to the coffin, any last words?

- Thanx so much for the oppurtunity to speak.
These interviews let people into me even if justfor a few minutes.
I dont really give a fuck of people love me or hate me, as long as they like the music thats all i really give a shit about.
People have gotten so fucking dramatic over the past few years and they seem to wanna know more about 'what really happened'
as opposed to just buying the fucking album.

http://www.myspace.com/boowop

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Sleeptalking with The Limit Club

2006-11-13T12:41:00.000-08:00

First who are the Limit Club?

Nick Feratu: The Limit Club is made up of three completely average Psychobilly Deathrockers from Phoenix, AZ.
The George on drums and percussive type instruments.
Cadaverous Joel on upright slap bass.
And myself, Nick Feratu on guitar and vocals.

What made you form this band?

Nick: Joel and I were in a garage band together a few years ago and
when that band met it's end, we decided to continue playing together with a brand new project.
We were both really inexperienced in the music world, but we decided that the new band would have new original songs and a new Do-It-Yourself attitude.
Joel and I also both shared a common love for Sun Records rockabilly and all things surreal, dark and evil.
So we simply combined those two elements to make what has become the Limit Club's distinct sound.

Story behind the name?

Nick: I writhed around on the floor for countless hours trying to think up a suitable band name for us.
It had to be something unique and interesting, but I didn't want anything cliche or false.
Nothing to do with monsters or death, because even though we love such things, I felt that most of the best band names in that area had already been taken.
Then I started looking at where other bands were getting their names.
I noticed that some of my favorite bands took their name from their favorite songs and movies.
The Sisters of Mercy took their name from a Leonard Cohen song, The Misfits took their name from a Marilyn Monroe movie and so on.
So I followed suit and took the name of my favorite song and branded our band with the name "The Limit Club".
The song of the same name was written by The Damned and you can hear it on the "Friday The 13th EP".
It's similarly dark and atmospheric, so I found it absolutely perfect for our band.

Biggest influences musically?

Nick: Our influences are all over the place. I'm a music fanatic,
so I listen to all different genres from vintage country, rockabilly, psychedelic garage, punk rock, new wave and goth.
I guess if I had to narrow down the top five influences they would probably be The Damned first and foremost followed by The Quakes,
The Sisters of Mercy, Johnny Cash, and Morrissey.

What are your Biggest achievement so far (concerning the Limit Club)?

Nick: I think our biggest achievement so far is just making a name for ourselves.
I think that as a band, we're starting to develop a recognizable style to our music that is all our own.
Also, we've worked out a song-writing process that seems to work for all of us and we're going into a studio to record our first full length album of all original material later this month,
so I'm pretty proud of that. And it's also pretty cool that we're finally getting to play shows with some of our favorite bands like Zombie Ghost Train and Nim Vind.

Let's fantasize a bit, pick anyone you wish, fav. band to tour with and why?

Nick: I'd personally like to tour with The Coffinshakers from Sweden or Dave Vanian and the Phantom Chords.
Those were the two bands that really captured what "Gothabilly" was in my mind.
It wasn't necessarily the fastest or loudest sub-genre of rockabilly,
but it had a air of mystery that was missing from all the rest.
So that's who I'd pick. Without those two bands, The Limit Club would look and sound completely different.

The Limit Club is from Arizona, also Calabrese and Zombeast are from that region, how is the Arizona scene?

Nick: The Arizona scene is going fucking crazy right now!
There are so many good bands that are popping out of nowhere.
Calabrese and Zombeast are two of the big ones and we're friends with both of those bands,
but we also have guys like Stitch Hopeless and the Sea Legs, The Hollow Bodies, Creepsville, The Numptys, The Dead Tones, and then you have guys like Marco Polo from Curse of the Pink Hearse who have been at it forever and are still hanging in there.
I've lived in AZ for most of my life, and this is the the best the local music scene has ever been in my memory.
Now if we could just get some decent venues to play, maybe the momentum we're building will continue to grow.

Future plans with the Limit Club?

Nick: The future is looking pretty bright for us right now.
As I mentioned, we're going into a studio later this month to record our first full length which will be released late January to early February 2007.
Then we're planning West Coast tour dates.

Last but not least, who would win in a fight between Karloff and Lugosi?

Nick: Bela would rip Karloff in half!
He has that Romanian death grip you know. But Vincent Price would destroy 'em both.

http://www.myspace.com/thelimitclub
http://www.limitclub.com

Pictures by Diana Price

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Tales of winter

2006-11-07T06:42:00.001-08:00

Greetings fellow fiends, as you have probably noticed, Tales from the shadows is taking a break at the moment. Future plans? Return of all returns is approaching, we will return with a vengeance. Plenty of new interviews and reviews have been confirmed. Until we meet again, take care and remember to lock your doors and windows.

- SirJohnTalbot

Suruaika

2006-10-29T01:26:00.000-08:00

It´s almost Halloween so I thought I would give you ghouls an early treat, interview with the lead singer of the Finnish postpunk/deathrock band Suruaika. Let´s see what Matthew had to say...

Hello Matthew, how are you doing?

- I´m fine, thank you. Sitting at home listening to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
after visiting the library.

I heard that Suruaika is taking a break, reasons behind this decision?

- To be honest, I got sick with the whole fucking thing by the time we were doing the shows for our latest album
early this year. Sure we had a blast with Varjo and so on, but I felt that something was just wrong.
Hard to say what exactly, it´s been and gone now. This is just my personal opinion.

As a band though, we felt that we had a good reason to take a break after Pexte left.
It would have been a pain in the ass to start looking for a drummer right after that so why not take a little breather
while we´re at it? The Lumous Gothic Festival gig we played with Ykä (Knuuttila, Shadowplay, ex-Musta Paraati)
was cool though, it would have been stupid to turn down playing there! And yes, we had a great time that weekend.

Suruaika was formed in 1997 and I assume that the road has been long and rocky, best and worst memories?

- Yeah, it´s been a long road! Some of the best memories for me have been playing some amazing shows
during the last few years and working with Ykä, who I mentioned earlier.
Also meeting Glenn Danzig and giving him our CD was pretty cool.
Too bad it was our debut which we´re not too proud of but hey, it´s the thought that counts!

Some of the worst memories have been the countless line-up changes and certain _very_ traumatizing road trips.
Everything happens for a reason so I try not to dwell on the bad things which are in the end outweighed by the good ones.

Your latest release "Pelkäämme vain toisiamme" was released couple of months ago,
are you pleased with result?

- It´s a good album but to be honest, I don´t listen to our own records that much.
I already know how the songs go so I concentrate on writing new stuff.
I like the album musically a lot but it doesn´t take a rocket scientist to figure out that most of the lyrics are about
me being sick and tired of being in a band...

On "Nimesi jää elämään" EP there is a Danzig cover song, how and why did you
end up doing a cover of this song?

- Before recording "Pelkäämme vain toisiamme" we went into the studio to record a few covers just to remind us
what studio work is like incase we´d forgotten. The two other tracks were Killing Joke and Ratsia covers.
The whole session was fun to do.

Wasn´t that song supposed to be on a Glenn Danzig tribute CD?

- Yes, there was talk about that. After thinking about it for awhile we decided to put it on the EP instead
because we thought it would be easier for our fans to get it that way.
Haven´t heard the tribute album, is it released?

Leaving Danzig behind, personally speaking, who are your biggest influences?

- Besides the obvious ones (Killing Joke, Joy Division etc.) and all the Finnish postpunk bands of the early 80s
I´d have to say two britpop bands, Suede and Pulp, among tons of others.
In the last couple of years one of my biggest influences has been Michael Gira (Swans, Angels Of Light)
who´s music changed a lot of things for me last year.

I listen to a lot of different stuff, always have done, and enjoy broadening my musical tastes.

Following the previous question, since "Tales" is very horror oriented, favourite horror movies?

- The best horror movies of the recent years (you all know the classics) in my opinion are 28 Days Later
and surprisingly the remake of Dawn Of The Dead. You can´t go wrong with angry dead flesh!
I also liked Creep which had the same guy who played Ian Curtis in 24 Hour Party People as the monster.
The Exorcism Of Emily Rose made me afraid of the dark for a week.

My LEAST favourite horrorflicks of the last few years are Land Of The Dead (Romero really fucked that one up)
and each and every film where the scariest thing in the world is supposed to be a black-haired little girl
stuck in a hole or something. Ha!

Back to Suruaika, what can we expect next?

- We agreed that we´d start rehearsing again in january 2007.
We still don´t have a new drummer but we´ll cross that bridge when the time comes.
I´ve been writing new songs during the last few months that sound quite different
but still have the kind of "Suruaika vibe" to them.
I won´t tell what direction they´ll take but what I can tell you is that we´re NOT gonna "go metal"
or start lip-synching EBM stuff. You can trust us on that!

Little about touring, tell us your dream team, favourite bands to tour with?

- Pretty much any cool band that has our friends in the line-up.
It would also be cool to support bands like Killing Joke if they ever bother to return to Finland.
The main thing I dream about when it comes to gigging (we´ve never done a proper tour) is to get paid each time,
have a clean minibus and a place to sleep at night after drinking our beers.

Once again, thanks alot for the interview, as usual, last words are yours.

- Thanks you for the interview and many thanks to our fans for supporting us during the years.
I hope our next releases and gigs will be worth the wait!

http://www.suruaika.net
http://www.myspace.com/suruaika

*Pictures taken by Veli-Matti Rintala www.koiruoho.com

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

From beyond the Grave comes... The Rezurex

2006-10-24T06:33:00.000-07:00

This was made with Daniel deLeon, the lead singer of Rezurex.

Hell-o, how are things at the moment?

- Good now that i arrivied in Europe!
I am at the airport drinking some blood. no,
i mean beer, ha ha!

Tell us briefly about your band Rezurex

- Rezurex started in 2002 with original band members, Jeff Roffredo, James Meza, Troy Russel, and me, Daniel deLeon.
We are all from the Los Angeles area. I live in Hollywood.

Musically speaking, who are your biggest influences?

- My biggest influences are Cramps, Damned, David Bowie, Billy Idol, Stray Cats and The Doors.
I enjoz many styles of music.
I first learned of music from my parents who listened to 1950´s Rock and Roll.

From what I´ve understood, you run the Fiend Fest in the states, tell us more about this.

- It is no longer called , the fiendfest. that is because the misfits threatened to sue us
for using the name of their fiendfest the put on every once in a while.
we now have a better name, "Living Dead Fest".
The first one will be in Hollywood on Jan 13th 2007 featuring bands from Fiendforce Records.
The line up now is, Rezurex, Nim Vind, The Other, Stellar Corpses, Order of the Fly and More than Never.
This is a good mix of horror punk and psychobilly!

Rezurex is signed with the German based Fiendforce records, how did you end up with them?

- I have know Thorsten from Fiendforce for a few years already.
He went to see Rezurex on our first tour to Europe about 2 years ago.
As soon as we finished our set, he immediatly asked us to be on his label.
I could not refuse because i liked him as a friend and had trust in his label.
Fiendforce has done a great job promoting us and glad we sighed with them!

On your debut album "Beyond the Grave" you have both English and Spanish(Dia De los muertos and Nueva Vida) lyrics,
story behind this?

- We all live in Los Angeles and most of the people here speak spanish.
Also, my family is from Mexico and Spain. So basicly the language has been part of my life.
It is funny because here we also mix english and spanish, as a joke we call it Spanglish.

More about your debut, was it a hard project and are you satisfied with the result?

- No it was not a hard project, because we had the songs ready to record a year before.
the only hard part was to fund the recording. i am happy with the results!
Now we have enough material for 2 more albulms, but we need funding for that, too.

You made a video of the song "Devil woman from outer space" and it´s very fiftees and old horror movie style,
who directed it and it must have been fun to do?

- That was a fun to film! We filmed it in Malibu, CA. That day was in the middle of winter,
but the temperature was 80 degrees farenhiet. HOT!
We had Sparky from Demented Are Go guest star in it along with
Emily Marilyn as Devil Woman.
Also, the car you see belongs to Troy.

Special treat for the Finnish fiends, Rezurex is coming to Finland with Blitzkid in November,
are you looking forward touring in Europe?

- I have been looking forward to this more than any tour!!
It will be our first time in Finland, so i hope we can scare you enough.

About touring in general, what is the best and worst thing about it?

- Best is meeting new friends, having a good time, and seeing the world. Worst is when you come home.

Following the third question, other influences besides music? I always ask about favourite horror movies
so let´s start with that.

- My favorite horror is classic Frankenstien, Dracula.
But i really enjoy horror comedy, like Dead Alive, Return of the Living Dead, Frankenhooker.
I also star in one of those movies called, Day Of The Dead Part 2.
Next year i am supposed to be in a movie called, Frankenpunk. I will be Frankenpunk, ha ha!

Ok this is about it, fangs for having the time to answer to my questions, looking forward seeing you play live
in Finland, the final words are yours!

- THanks! And i am looking forward to visit all of you from Beyond The Grave....

http://www.myspace.com/rezurex
http://www.rezurex.com

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

The Spookshow - Psychosexual Chapter 2

2006-10-22T20:24:00.000-07:00

The Spookshow
Album: Psychosexual Chapter 2
Label: Crypt of Blood Records
Release date: November 1st 2006
Producer: Jonas Kjellgren. Black Lounge Studio

The Spookshow is and old new friend, coming from the graveyards and swamps of Sweden.
Psychosexual Chapter 2 is the second part of the trilogy, and every one of these
suckers have been released near Halloween time, so how ghoulish is that?

The album itself is a groovy mix between punk-rock and poppish tunes,
lyrically it´s pure horror, a b-movie marathron with pretty girls getting sliced and diced,
ghouls, demons and zombies lurking in every corner.

Tracks like "Baby Baby Baby", "Talk About The Living Dead" and "Sleep with the dead"
will keep every horrorfan satisfied and begging for more.
Go get this album... you won´t regret it!

"I can bring flowers to your grave, I can but I Won´t"

Tracklist:
I can but I won´t
All I want is to poke your eyes out
Baby Baby Baby
Carry me Home
Talk about the living dead
Follow me Darkness
Bloodshed
We Are Bleeding
Here comes the Zombies
Love Them Young
Angel without Wings
Burning
So Lonely I could Die
Sleep with the Dead

Read the interview with The Spookshow we did earlier! HERE

http://www.thespookshow.net
http://www.myspace.com/thespookshow

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Club Bonga Bonga returns! Proudly presents: THE MUTANTS

2006-10-19T00:37:00.000-07:00

Ok finnish fiends, leave your coffins and join the party!
Club Bonga Bonga returns with a vengeance !
And brings you... from the sewers... THE MUTANTS!
+ DJ Tweedle Dee
Be there or be very afraid! Muhahaha!

Club Bonga Bonga at Lepakkomies
Helsinginkatu 1
Hellcityfors

http://www.myspace.com/clubbongabonga

http://www.myspace.com/themutants

Gathering the body parts with FRANKENSTEIN

2006-10-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

This interview is made with Dave Grave,

Ghoulish evening, how are you doing?

- Bigger than life, and twice as ugly!

So what is Frankenstein doing at the moment?

- Working on material for the second album,
and trying to coordinate shows around
everybody's schedules. Stevyn has an
upcoming tour with The Last Dance,
and Mr. Jeremy may be going on
the road with 45 Grave, both in October.
It makes things a bit more complicated,
and can be a little frustrating, but that's the price
you pay when you believe in supporting your scene

You got back from Black Lung tour, how did that went?

- Even better than the first tour (which was great)!
This time, I fractured my elbow and tore a muscle
in my leg in Prague, the 4th show of the tour,
and everyone in the band got sick with
some kind of lung infection,
but we didn't cancel a single show, and managed to spread
our disease throughout Europe!
The audiences were great, we sold out of CDs and t-shirts in Vienna,
and had to have friends bring out more to Italy.
Just before the last show, in Turin, some half-wit slammed
the backstage door into my arm, and re-fractured my elbow!
Incredibly painful, but nothing can stop the monster,
and we gave them a show! I'd call that a pretty good tour!

Frankenstein is quite unknown here in Finland, how would you label your music to strangers of your music?

- The less Finland knows about Frankenstein, the better for Finland!
Seriously, though...Frankenstein has successfully avoided
being pinned down under any one specific label.
We attract a mixed crowd of mostly Horror Punk and Psychobilly types.
Goths seem to be intimidated by us...One particular Goth label
(whom I will not embarrass by naming)
claimed we were "too heavy" for them. I've always
just referred to our sound as "Swamp and Grind",
and let the audience figure it out for themselves.

Biggest influences musically and literally?

- Various 60s garage bands, Alice Cooper and Iggy (of course!),
personal experiences during the evolution
of the early Punk and Death Rock scenes...
Bands like The Screamers, Residents,
Cramps, Birthday Party, and Foetus all widened
my horizons to some extent. I grew up on a steady diet of
horror movies, late-night rock and roll radio,
and a fascination with the darker aspects of human history.
In the end, nothing is as dark, bizarre, and twisted,
as the real-life horrors that mankind creates for
itself. All very inspiring.

Frankenstein has been around for along time, shortly tell us best experiences so far?

- With the old 1990-92 line-up, there was the time
we played "A Day For Human Rights", and at the party
afterwards there was an armed standoff with 2 carloads of gangsters,
or the show where almost the entire audience was tripping on LSD.
In '96 we met Ike Turner after a show at the Whisky-A-Go-Go,
and he came to our next show, the following weekend (even took us out to breakfast!).
Other best experiences would be working with my good friend,
former guitarist Rev. Whitey Peckawood, hearing
Frankenstein played on a jukebox and the radio for the first time,
working in the studio with William Faith,
getting the current line-up together,
releasing the album, playing Las Vegas, touring Europe,
having our album and t-shirts included in a traveling exhibit
of the impact of the Frankenstein character on pop culture,
and being included in Tim Rochels' book, "Schwarze Szene".

You released your debut through Fiendforce, are you happy with them so far?

- I've been told that both the CD and 12-inch green vinyl
versions of our album,
"An Ugly Display Of Self-Preservation"
are in their second pressings, so I have no complaints.
Fiend Force's chief fiend, Thorsten,
did a lot of promotion for the album's release and our 2004 tour...
magazine ads,posters, etc. Fiend Force has grown since then,
and now includes Nim Vind, Shadow Reichenstein,
and Crimson Ghost, not to mention Thorsten's own band, The Other
( I hear they may have recently signed TheResurrex).
The bands' overlapping tours this last spring spread the promotion a little thin,
but Thorsten wiselychose Motherdance Productions
to keep things running smoothly on the road (Special Thanks to Delores Lokas!),
and the local club promoters
(with only a couple of exceptions) did more than their share promoting the
shows. We've done well with Fiend
Force, and I'm looking forward to having them release our next album!

You were touring in Europe, was it a good experience?

- Let's see...We arrived to a bomb threat at Frankfurt Airport,
played the Fiend Fest in Solingen, partied with
Provokator.org's Pam and Marika in Prague, and I "Tea-Bagged"
the audience at the Whitby Goth Weekend!
There was our sobering visit to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp,
Heilbrunn's Stereo Total club (and the
beautiful Frau Klaudia!), the Terra Gotha festival, playing Nurnberg's Z-Bau,
5 or 6 encores in Vienna, reuniting with old friends in Italy
(and working with Alphonzo and Alberto in Napoli), my
after-tour visit to Amsterdam's
Vrolik Museum (an outstanding collection of human heads, parts, and malformed
children in jars!), all the great shows in between,
and all the great people we met along the way...
Yes, I'd say that touring Europe was a good experience.

Apathy Sucks 7" was just re-released, are you planning to release more old stuff?

- On "Ugly Display" we included the hidden 14th track "City Of People",
from the same 1996 session as the
Apathy Sucks track,"Bad Dog Blues". There are a few other tracks from that
session, as well as some earlier recordings, that I've thought about releasing.
I recently secured copyright to a number of "lost" recordings of my
earlier bands Zombie Legion (1979-81) and
the original Voodoo Church (1981-82).
A few CD copies were handed out during the Black Lung tour.
They may be released as limited editions
sometime next year on the Meathouse
Audiografik label, and a website history of both bands is going online this
winter. The former bassist for Voodoo
Church, Tina Winter, started using the name again in 2001, and has been
spreading all kinds of bullshit trying
to erase the true history of the band. She's even tried to trademark the name,
and has claimed "There are no
recordings of Dave with Voodoo Church", but the former guitarist for both bands
(and Tina's ex-husband), Rob
Reimer, recently admitted he destroyed the master tapes of the 1980 Zombie
Legion studio recordings, and
threatened to destroy the master recordings of our 1981 Voodoo Church studio
sessions as well. But this isn't the place to get into it. If you're in need of a cheap laugh,
you can check out a preview webpage at
Meathouse.com.

Gotta to ask about your bands name, Frankenstein obliviously comes from the character
from Mary Shelley´s novel. But what else does it mean to you? I´ve always thought I could be a metafor for
bunch of similar guys finding each other and noticing that together they make a perfect match and you
created this band, the monster of Frankenstein. Am I close or is it just my imagination?

- "Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus"...Great imagery and symbols! The
scientist and the monster
he created, the reanimation of dead flesh by high voltage, the perfect excuse to
stumble around onstage and
scream loudly at an audience! Since I started Frankenstein in 1985, the band has
gone through various line-ups,
sometimes falling apart as some limbs rotted off, only to rise again, back from
the dead and bigger than ever.
This time around I managed to stitch together some quality parts!

Following the question above, favourite horror movies?

- That's like asking which grains of sand in the desert are your favorites!
Of the old classics, "The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari", Murnau's "Nosferatu",
the old Universal Studios' Frankenstein films (obviously),
and Todd Browning's "Freaks".
There's the original version of "The Haunting" (best ghost film ever!),
Jacques Tournier's "Night Of The Demon", Mario Bava's "Black Sabbath",
Polanski's "Fearless Vampire Killers", Passolini's
"Salo", "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things", "Living Dead" films,
"Texas Chainsaw Massacre" 1 and 2, Fulci's "Zombie", "Cemetery Man", "Ed Gein"
...there are too many to mention!

Let´s go back to touring, any plans to visit Europe anytime soon? And please, come to Finland.

- I'm looking forward to touring Europe again, once the new album is finished,
hopefully before next summer. I'd like very much to come to Finland!
Any offers? I should warn you that, being half dead myself, while your
colder climate would keep me from decomposing any further, I would require
several beautiful Finnish girls to keep my blood warm and pumping. Any offers?
Any parts left over could be used to build a Franken-Finn!

About the present time, what does the future hold for Frankenstein?

- The new album, more stuff available from the website, another rampage
through Europe...If I told you any
more, I'd have to kill you!

I will leave the last words for you, thanks alot for the interview and good luck in the future!

- What good is being undead if you can't play live?

http://www.frankensteintheband.com

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Track by Track with The Horrifics

2006-10-05T12:08:00.000-07:00

Going beyond the covers, going deep into the process and diving in the world of horror lyrics

1.The Overlook

This track is actually a sample from an old record my wife has in her collection.
The original title was "the Whispering Foxtrot" and it originally came out in 1907.
We changed it up a bit and re-named it after the haunted hotel from the King movie "the Shining."
We actually took Mz.Gruesome's old record player into the studio, set up a mic and recorded it as it played
and then manipulated it later with the digital tools we had at our disposal.
The coolest part about this track to me is that it's over 100 years old.

2.Uzumaki

This song lyrically was penned about a Japanese horror manga by the same name written by Junji Ito.
"Uzumaki" translates from Japanese loosely as "whirlpool" or "spiral."
It's about a small town in Japan that becomes morbidly obsessed with the spiral pattern and all of the dark consequences that
spawn from their obsession. There's also a really good movie adaptation that came out not too long ago.
Creepy as HELL! Alot like a more demented Tim Burton flick. I stongly urge folks to go check it out for themselves.

3.That Which Lurks

The music was written by Wretched before the HORRiFiCS formed for his previous band with PHiBES and RiCTUS, the Blue.
If I remember correctly all I did was change the composition a bit and re-write the lyrics to be about
the early 70's Marvel Comics' horror character the Man-Thing. A sad, shambling swamp creature who instills fear into everyone it touches.
The way that character looks was always cool to me when I was a kid and always stuck in my mind.
The title was a nod to horror writer H.P.Lovecraft.

4.Forever the Night

Yet another song about an early 70's Marvel Comics' horror character.
This time the tortured soul that is the Ghost Rider.
My brother HELL Hound and I grew up reading the old issues about Johnny Blaze and his fall from grace.
Eventually becoming the flaming skull faced motor psycho nightmare.
Interestingly enough our father was in an outlaw biker gang in the 70's named the Ghost Riders so that kind of makes it a bit more personal
to me.

5.Under My Knife

The title is a funny play on the title of my favorite Rolling Stones song "Under My Thumb."
I always end up playing that song on old juke boxes long after I've gotten slobbering drunk at whatever beer joint I've ended up at.
Our tune is about the legendary Haddonfield killer Michael Myers from the "Halloween" movie series.

6.This Hungry Suffering

We wrote this song in like 10-15 minutes.
Wretched was sitting by himself while the other guys were outside on a smoke break at practice one day plunking out this somber,
sad sounding bass riff and it just got my mind to working. The title is a referance to a line out of the Samhain song "the Birthing."
When it was written I was about to take off to get married to Mz.Gruesome so I wrote the lyrics about our love transcending the grave.

7.In Dark Descent

I wrote the lyrics to this song about the religeous figure Lillith.
Adam's first wife before Eve, Lillith left Adam and the Garden of Eden to spawn with demons.
She is the mother of abominations. Credited in ancient times with crib death. At the end of this song we are invoking Lillith's secret name-Lamashtu Strix.

8.Do You Remember Hate?!

This is an old song originally written by my first band EERiE Ln. Musically written by EERiE Ln. original guitarist Von Creepy,
arranged by me. One day I got to thinking about Jesus and Dracula so I wrote a the lyrics as a comparison of the 2 iconic figures.

9.SCAREcrow Fields

This one is hard to explain. It's gone through alot of changes over the years.
Originally written as a blues ditty for EERiE Ln. but although we recorded a version of it we never released it.
A few lyrical changes, a complete musical overhaul, and 2 bands later here it is.
Lyrically written about the lonely life of a scarecrow strapped to a pole alone in a huge corn field.
The title is taken from a stage of an old Playstation video game I love called "Medevil."
If you're a gaming nerd like me there's also references to "Street Fighter" and "Dark Stalkers" found in the chorus.
See if you can figure them out. A bit slow for me to really get into live but the recorded version is one of my favorite tracks
we did for the album as it gave me the chance to actually sing and we sunk alot of atmosphere into it.

10.GO! GO! Godzilla

Self explanatory. I like giant radioactive lizards hell bent on the destruction of man. :)

11.HELL-O Mary Lou

An old EERiE Ln. tune originally recorded for the "BLiXX" album.
It's about the 80's b-movie "Hello Mary Lou:Prom Night 2." This version actually has MAD Mike GHOUL from Cali horror punks Plan 9
playing the drums.

12.Target Earth

Named after an old Sega Genesis video game, I later found out that there's an old black and white sci-fi flick by the same name.
About little green men vaporizing the un-suspecting people of the Earth with their death rays.

13.DEAD Kidz

The last EERiE Ln. tune to end up on the album. This is actually the first song I ever had a part in writing on guitar
and the first original EERiE Ln. song ever written.
I wrote the verse riffs and got the lyrics written and arranged and then Von Creepy came up with the catchy chorus riff.
Originally titled "Dead Kids In Black." It was written about us as kids and now it's more about the kids who come to the HORRiFiCS' shows.

14.Fury of the Goat-Man

This one is a crowd favorite. Fast and furious. This song, as short as it may be, took us forever to finish.
It's about a local Ft.Worth Texas urban legend.
Supposedly there's a half-man half-goat creature that roams the wood surrounding Lake Worth who likes to jack with the kids
who end up out there knecking and what not.
Known to fling tires at cars on the lonely back roads and to jump on the hoods of parked cars when people are making out.
He's been spotted several times over the years since the original sighting in the early 70's
and has ended up in local papers more then a few times. A crypto-zoological mystery.
No one know were he came from or were he hides by day light.

15.R.I.P.(Ripped In Pieces)

This a loose re-working of another un-released song from EERiE Ln.
About the cannibal killer family from the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" movie series. Dog will hunt.

16.Shadowcaster

The title has been floating around for years.
I wrote this lyrically about the creepy Count Orlock as portrayed by Max Screck in the classic vampire movie "Nosferatu."

17.The Overlook Reprise

Another sample from the "Whispering Foxtrot."
A fitting end to an album about the macabre and mysterious working of the dark side of things.
I thought it book ended "Now FEAR THis" rather nicely.

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

The Horrifics - now FEAR this

2006-10-05T09:59:00.000-07:00

The Horrifics
Now FEAR This!
Label: 1031 Records

They come from the deserted ghost town in Texax and Horrorpunk is the name of the game.
They´re fast, cruel and awesome! Steady package of dark rock n roll.
Things lurking in the shadows, and under your bed.
It´s everything you´ve always wanted from this genre.
For a debut album it´s very mature and well done, production is just right,
the sound of the band knocks the smelly soxs off your feet.

With songs like "SCAREcrow fields",
"Go! Go! Godzilla" and "Shadowcaster" you just can´t go wrong.

Imagine those old horror comics
and horror movies and spice it up with Charles Manson kind of madness,
these things compained and you get The Horrifics,
first class horror music. If you don´t still own this album,
order it now!

-Track Listing-
1.The Overlook
2.Uzumaki
3.That Which Lurks
4.Forever the Night
5.Under My Knife
6.This Hungry Suffering
7.In Dark Descent
8.Do You Remember Hate?!
9.SCAREcrow Fields
10.GO! GO! Godzilla
11.HELL-O Mary Lou
12.Target Earth
13.DEAD Kidz
14.Fury of the Goat-Man
15.R.I.P.(Ripped In Pieces)
16.Shadowcaster
17.The Overlook Reprise

http://www.thehorrifics.net
http://www.myspace.com/thehorrifics
http://www.1031records.com

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

The wolfskin killers - Zombeast

2006-09-27T06:12:00.000-07:00

This interview was made with Mario and Jared

When was zombeast formed?

- August of 2005

Your biggest influences?

- Samhain, Danzig, The Misfits (77-83), Son of Sam, AFI, anything really..
From goth shit to metal shit to punk rock shit.

Your song "wolfskin killer" is featured on the horrorhigh compilation,
that must have been a great break for you guys?

Jared: Yeah, It was pretty fucking awesome. We had only been a band for about 3 months when Horror High contacted us for the comp.
So it was pretty crazy to have all this intrest in the band this early and with only 4 songs on our myspace.

Mario: as jared said we weren't a band for that long,so to be asked to be on a comp was crazy to me.

And you actually signed a record deal with horrorhigh records, shed some light to the process.

Jared: Horror High wanted a unreleased track for the comp. So at that point we had just written 'Wolfskin Killer" and decided..
"hey fuck it lets give them that song". So we sent it to them and as soon as they got it we got e-mail from Horror High just saying
how fucking awesome they thought the song was and how they felt we had major potential.
Then they came out and saw us live and just thought the whole band was incredible live as well.
They felt Mario's voice really shined in the whole moment of being on stage and shit.

Mario: since they liked wolfskin killer we sent them a demo with more of our songs,they came to see us live and i guess
they liked what they saw and heard.

Zombeast is from Arizona, one of the greatest horrorpunk bands, CALABRESE also comes from the region, how is the scene in Arizona?

Jared: The scene is fucking great. Its really grown over the years. Calabrese are great friends of ours and we play together constantly.
However, the newest band from AZ thats making some noise is "Hour Of The Wolf". We actually all hope some day Zombeast, Calabrese,
and Hour Of The Wolf can hit the road for a small tour. We really feel we can bring some attention to Arizona.

Mario: it seems to be getting bigger,every show.especialy when there's several good bands to see.

You guys just played a show with Calabrese, the Limit Club and couple of more bands,
how did that go?

Jared: It was awesome.. The whole show turned out great. I've never seen so many people at that venue before.

Mario: it was a very good show,it's always great to play with calabrese.

Future plans with touring, Europe perhaps?

Jared: Well once the album drops in october via Horror High Records (www.horrorhigh.com)..
We plan on hitting the west coast and such. We will get everywhere.. Just going to take a little bit of time.

Mario: like jared said we are going to have to start small cause we still work for living,you know.
but eventualy we hope to be a touring band.

Now that you´re signed with Horrorhigh, when can we expect a debut album?

Around the end of october..

Following the previous questions, what can fans expect?

Jared: Well my opinion about it is.. Well its kinda all over the place in a good way.
I think with each song you can hear some of our different influences. I mean of course there will always be the underlining Danzig influence.
Thats a given. But some songs remind of Samhain, then AFI, and even some darker slower shit like Type O Negative.

Mario: lyrics so they can sing along.

As a big horror movie fan, I always ask about favourite horror movies and actors,
could you name couple of your favourites?

Jared: I'm real big on the Zombie flicks. Dead Alive and Dellamorte Dellamore will always hold place in my heart.

Mario: the beyond,basket case,the howling

I bet the future will be good for you guys, what do you expect from the future?

Jared: Touring touring touring. Crazy fucking shows and meeting our fans across the world.
Also, Just to grow as a band really. So far for the next album I have about 5 songs written and I can already see major growth.

Mario: more shows,hopefully touring soon.

Fangs for the inteview, the last words are yours!

Jared: Don't fart in the shower, it might possibly kill you.

http://www.myspace.com/zombeast

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Zombeast album update!

2006-09-27T06:06:00.000-07:00

1. Cthulhu
2. Witch
3. Life of Hell
4. That corpse won´t Die
5. Die Slow
6. Down in Flames
7. Flesh Eaters
8. In Nightmares
9. Black Death
10. Eternity
11. Wolfskin Killer

Finally the artwork for the album is finished! Zombeast and
HorrorHigh figured we would give everyone a sneak preview of the album cover
drawn by Zombeast´s frontman himself, Mario Montechello.
Along with this preview comes the release date...! This album will
drop Halloween 06.

http://www.myspace.com/zombeast

Blitzkid coming to Finland

2006-09-22T10:46:00.000-07:00

One of the pillars of horrorpunkrock is coming to Finland!
The dates are November 11 and 12th 2006.
Venus are 11th Hotelli Ellivuori, Vammala
and the most legendary rock clubs in northen europe Tavastia Helsinki on the 12th.
Yours truly is going and I´ll try to do a new interview with
the ghouls behind Blitzkid.

See you all there!

Zombiewalk Helsinki + Afterparty

2006-09-16T16:52:00.000-07:00

The dead are taking Helsinki by storm! Join the army
of the dead and march through Helsinki.

Afterparty is held in Lepakkomies and your host is the best UG club there is: ClubBongaBonga!
Ghoulish tunes from beyond and friends to die for!
Be there of be afraid!

http://two.fsphost.com/ZWHelsinki/

http://www.myspace.com/clubbongabonga

Having a bite to eat with - Zombina and the skeletones

2006-09-10T01:26:00.000-07:00

Introduce yourself to our readers

Zombina: Hello! I am Zombina,
from Zombina And The Skeletones!
Doc: And I am Doc Horror, one of her Skeletones!

Hello Zombina! You just played a great gig here in Finland.

Zombina: Yeah! It was great, wasn’t it? It was such fun. We played the Lumous festival,
the crowd was amazing! I didn't know anyone had even heard of us in Finland,
but loads of people were actually singing along! They knew all the stops, too!

Doc: Even we don’t know where all the stops are!

Zombina: We enjoyed the midnight sun, it was really confusing.
Everyone had cool rock n’ roll cars and there was a sauna in the back stage.
You don’t get that in the UK!

Doc: It was a silly idea to take a sauna before the show, though.
You really need the body moisture in order to play guitar and dance around.
I nearly fainted several times

To someone who doesn´t know Zombina, how would you describe your music?

Doc: New wave horror pop rock n’ roll?
Zombina: Evil doo wop harmony surf punk?
Doc: We need to figure out a convenient tag soon
Zombina: We play real pop songs with catchy melodies and three or four part harmonies,
but loud and fast with punk guitars and crazy organ playing
Doc: We’re sort of loose and sloppy but we’re also extremely tight
Zombina: The lyrics are dark and gory but at the same time funny and cute
Doc: Why, we’re a mass of contradictions!
Zombina: We don’t sound like anyone else, so we have a hard time explaining it to people.

Bands that have inspired you the most? I can hear some ramones and misfits there along with
rockabilly sounds.

Zombina: That’s definitely where we started from! The Ramones, The Misfits, The Cramps, The Rocky Horror Show, old school punk and old rockabilly and sock-hop rock n’ roll stuff...
but there’s all sorts of different sounds in the mix now.
We used to listen to lots of metal and alternative rock when we were kids, Nirvana,
Black Sabbath, Rocket From The Crypt

Doc: ... then we went through an eighties goth phase in six form and got into Bauhaus
andthe Cure and stuff like that, then we went on to the quirkier end of new wave,
like Oingo Boingo and the B-52’s and from there back to sixties garage,
girl bands like the Shangri-La’s and the early origins of horror rock like Screaming Jay Hawkins,
and Screaming Lord Sutch

Zombina: And the other Skeletones are into completely different stuff, again Jetson loves
Prince, Jonny Tokyo collects Beach Boys albums it all ends up in our music eventually!

You´ve been playing with such legends as The Damned, how did that go?

Doc: We’ve played with so many of our heroes now, we get cool autographs all the time.
It’s one of the best things about being a Skeletone.

Zombina: We’re lucky to have picked role models that won’t disappoint you when you meet
them! The Damned are lovely, so are The Meteors, The Misfits, Dinah Cancer, Frankenstein,
Wednesday 13. They all turned out to be super friendly. The Groovie Ghoulies are so nice
that Kepi actually stepped in and played drums for us when we opened for them in Edinburgh
and Kit fell ill... What other rock singer would do that for the support band?
He took one of our CDs and learned the whole set just by listening to it. He’s a hero!

Zombina and the skeletones come from Liverpool, how´s the scene there?

Zombina: It’s pretty extensive. There’s millions and millions of bands to choose from there’s something for everyone here.
I recommend aPAtT for weirdness, Blue Demon for
rockabilly and The Down And Outs for punk rock, but there’s just so many. If anyone wants a
fun rock n’ roll holiday, visit Liverpool and pick a couple of random shows. It’s a very musical town.

Could you shed some light to your songwriting, how does the zombina tunes come to life?

Doc: In most cases, I’ll put on a horror movie and switch off my brain, after about ten
minutes I’ll write a song title down, usually something stupid like, Zombie Hospital
or Robot Tigers Rule The Night then after another couple of minutes it just seems obvious
how the song should go. If I can’t finish it there and then I get Zombina to come round
and fill in the gaps. Then we all get together to sort out a good arrangement.
Jonny Tokyo is good at figuring out harmonies usually we’ll just keep playing
it until it starts to make sense.

I read somewhere that youre gonna release a new CD next year, what can we expect?

Zombina: The new CD is called Death Valley High, and it’s actually out in December,
just in time for Christmas. It’s a concept album, not in a pretentious prog rock way,
but in a way that all the songs together tell a story.
It was originally supposed to be a film! We had an idea for a screwball horror musical sort
of like Class Of Nukem High meets Carrie meets RockN’ Roll High School,
but it didn’t work out. It was a bit over-ambitious, we didn’t really
have the budget we needed so we just condensed it into a killer album instead.

Doc: It is sort of experimental, though. There are a lot of synthesisers going on and it
shifts styles from song to song. It might sound weird to people who’ve only heard Taste The
Blood but it’ll make more sense if you’ve heard Monsters On 45,
which is a compilation of all the singles we put out in the last three years.

Horror movies are close to your heart, what do you think about the modern horror movies, to
me 99% is the same hollywood crap or re-makes.

Doc: Yeah. I can’t believe the cheek of some of these remakes.
How can you even think that you can improve on Texas Chainsaw?
Dawn of the Dead? The Wicker Man? Fucking Psycho? You can’t!
If you mess with a classic you can only make it worse. They should try remaking
something that sucked in the first place, like Nymphoid Barbarian In Dinosaur Hell or Eegah?
Something where there’s still a little room for improvement. Orgy of the Dead.
They could just keep remaking that film over and over,
it doesn’t even need to be good to be good!

Zombina: The old films are still the best, but it’s unfair to say all modern horror movies
are crap. I didn’t mind the Chainsaw remake, I prefer the original but it wasn’t the worst
thing ever. The Wicker Man looks like it’s gonna be a waste of time.

Following the question above, who is your favourite horror actor of all times?

Zombina: Lugosi all the way. They don’t make ‘em like they used to.

Doc: I’m gonna be equally groundbreaking and original and say Karloff.

Let´s talk about your fanbase, since there are lovely girls in the band, are there many
horny men in the front row?

Doc: There’s only one hot chick left in the band now that Kit’s quit, but yeah,
the boys like Zombina She won’t answer this question. She’s gone shy. That’s not like you, Zombina, you just did that top ten songs to fuck to interview for Bizarre

What about horny females?

Doc: Yeah, the girls like her, too. She’s way more popular than any of the boys are with the
female groupies. It’s not really fair... all these girls rush up to us when we come
off stage and the me an the other boys are going ‘Hello’
and then we realise they’re not even looking at us, they’re going straight past us to drool
on Zombina. It’s humiliating.

Where do you see yourself and the band in the future?

Zombina: In the centre of some mass orgy by the sounds of it. Doc’s totally exaggerating!
We want to be able to just keep doing this forever. We’re having an unbelievably good time.
Thanks to everyone involved with Lumous and everyone who came for making us feel so welcome!

Ok, that´s about it, thanks a lot for the interview and break a leg in the future.

Zombina: Okay! I’m on my way to the future anyway. I’ll break as many legs as I can.

http://www.zombina.com

http://www.myspace.com/zombinaandtheskeletones
All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Burning the candles with - Redemption

2006-09-01T14:13:00.000-07:00

Redemption was formed in 1996, what was the force
that made you form
the
band?

- I started the project because of a drop off in good
traditional Gothic rock in the underground.
Unfortunately it took a few years for me to get the
band on its feet. But we have been going strong for
around 6 years now and there are no signs of stopping

To someone who hasn’t heard of you yet, how would
you describe your
music?

- Our music is Traditional Goth rock with a modern
twist. Deeply intoned vocals, ethereal synth sounds
and driving beats beneath a big guitar sound. That
pretty much sums it up I think

On your website you state you are influenced by
Sisters of Mercy and
Mission UK,
what other thing have inspired you?

- Life in general is what inspires most of my writing.
Musically I like to keep things fresh so depending on
my mood I will try tons of different things and styles
to carve out the sound I want.

Your debut album was self-released, is this the way
you like it or was it something you were forced to?

- Currently we are in the do it yourself mindset. You
have more control over the product that way. It would
be nice to have some big money behind us and get our
CDs out to more people but it would have to be the
right situation contract wise. We are happy selling
multiple albums right now. It keeps things simple and
special for our fans.

Following the previous question, are you pleased
with the result?

- Absolutely. Erik and our producer James and I worked
very closely together to get the album to sound the
way we wanted it to. I thought the end result was
fantastic.

Shed some light to your songwriting process, any
weird rituals?

- Not really. I do most of the writing in general. So I
just bring the mostly finished song to the rest of the
band and we hammer out their parts and make the magic
happen. As far as rituals go, we mostly consume
copious amounts of alcohol and let our intuition do
the work

Gothic music scene is constantly changing, your
views on the scene?

- Your right it is constantly changing and that is the
wonderful thing. I love the fact that there is such
variety. It keeps things lively. Right now we are at a
great point in the fact that the internet has brought
us all together in ways that where not possible
before. That makes everything far easier and more
accessible to a greater number of people.

Do you enjoy touring or is it just necessary evil?

- We love to play live and touring is a part of that.
Being on the road has its definite ups and downs but
there isn’t a better way to spread the word.

Redemption has a real high energy live show and
touring is necessary to present that. After all we are
a band not a bunch of guys who just sit around their
studio and make music. Playing live is integral to who
we are and what we want to promote.

I have seen so many acts that its obvious they don’t like to play
out. Personally I find it absolutely refreshing to
know that a band sounds and performs as well or better
than their recordings. We strive very hard for exactly
that.

Let’s talk a little about horror movies? What do
you think about the re-makes that Hollywood
is making? Almost every classic is going to made or is
already re-made.

- Its true. Some of them are better remakes then others.
I have enjoyed most of the remakes I’ve seen and maybe
I’m getting old but most will never compare in my mind
to the originals. There is something about seeing a
horror film when you are young that you can never
shake. So the classics will always live in my mind as
what they are. Classic

Favourite horror movies?

- I love horror movies so there are to many to mention.
But some that stick out currently are: John Carpenters
The Fog, The legend of hell house, The original
Salem’s lot, The 3rd Omen film, Susperia, Phantasm,
Silence of the lambs and some of the more campy films.
Like Dead alive and Shaun of the Dead.

What does the future hold for Redemption?

- Well currently we are writing and recording our next
release which will hopefully be finished and out by
late December early January. Of course more live shows
and touring and hopefully getting to Europe sometime
next year.

http://www.redemptiononline.com/

http://www.myspace.com/redemption

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Tragic Black

2006-08-18T09:30:00.000-07:00

For those who don´t know Tragic Black, briefly tell some facts about
your band.

vISION: TRAGIC BLACK is a five piece band from Salt Lake City and is amongst the
most active and dedicated modern Deathrock bands. With Vision - lead vox, Vyle -
bass/keys, Hex - guitar, and Seputus - drums.

While the current line up is somewhat new, the core founding members Vision &
Vyle have released various self-released CDs since their inception in 2000.
Released their label debut "The Decadent Requiem" on Strobelight Records
February 2006, and have numerous compilation appearences, as well as concerts
and festivals all over the USA, most recently the WAVE GOTIK TREFFEN festival in
Leipzig Germany.

Genres are necessary evil, where would you put Tragic Black?

vISION: We are a progressive Deathrock band with elements of old school goth
rock, glam rock, post/punk rock, industrial, and new wave.

How are Tragic Black songs born? Could you share some details on
your writing style?

vISION: We work together, no one person does all the song writing.
We each write our own parts for every song. A lot of the time I will have new
lyrics, share my vision for the style of the song and then each of us will
create what becomes a new song. It's like that for each of us, if Hex has a
guitar riff or if Vyle has a bass riff, they will play it and we will all write
our parts that suite it well.

On your latest release "The Decadent Reqieum"(excellent -editors
note) there is a alot different vibes, are you happy with the result?

vISION: I am. Our vision and message in The Decadent Requiem cannot be summed
up by any one style or theme, rather the combination of musical styles and ideas
that inspired us to create The Awakening that is TDR.
It gets across a lot of the initial ideas that made us want to form this band in
the first place. To awaken to certain forces in the world we are forced to live
in and your place in it.
The music on TDR was written with different people over 4-5 years.
It is essentially our 1st official CD, and the phase of Awakening.

You made a Christian Death cover for Strobelights New Dark Age 4
complation, tell us more about this?

vISION: Hell yeah, it's "Skeleton Kiss (RIP Mix)" we recorded exclusively for
this compilation. We are all big fans of Rozz Williams and have covered
Christian Death and performed memorials for Rozz in the past. This song is our
newest release and is a glimpse of what is to come next.

Let´s go to touring, I read somewhere that you love to tour, best
places to play?

vISION: Chicago is an amazing place to play, we have played there twice and will
soon play a third time!! Release The Bats in Long Beach are killer places to
play.
Texas rocks too, we only played there once, but it was bad ass.

You just got back from Europe, was it a good experience?

vISION: It was a great experience, I felt so releived and excited seeing the
German/European deathrock/goth scene. We left Europe incredibly inspired and
started writing lots of new music when we came back.

What is the difference between American and European scene?

vISION: It seems closer, and bigger. In the states it's so far spread apart.
There are a lot of fiends, but we are spread so thinly in the states, whereas in
Germany each city seems to have it's own relatively big scene.
The people seem really into it, it felt good to be around people who have the
same love for it as we do.

Last 3 CD that have been spinning in your CD player?

vISION: Chants of Maldoror - Every Mask Tells the Truth (amazing!!!!!), All
Gone Dead - Fallen & Forgotten, and Moi Dix Mois - Dix Infernal.

Favourite horror movies?

vISION: In the mouth of madness, Dawn of the Dead, Nightmare on Elm Street,
Event Horizon, all the Halloweens, and all the Exorcists.

What will the future hold for Tragic Black?

vISION: New music, more gigs in Europe, Mexico, US and one day, hopfully,
Japan! More and more updates to our official website www.tragicblack.com.
There is much to come from Tragic Black, there's some really exciting news I
cant say just yet, so stick around and enjoy the terror-ride!

Fangs alot for the interview and good luck in the future! Final
words are yours.

vISION: Fangs to you too! It's been nice chatting with you!
Many greetz and cheers to you and yer fiends for now!!

http://www.tragicblack.com
http://www.myspace.com/tragicblack

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

For the Finnish Fiends

2006-08-16T03:58:00.000-07:00

Club Bonga Bonga proudly presents!

Club Lepakkomies
address: helsinginkatu 1

Miss Monster Club
horrorgarage with a twist of punkish vibes!

+ DJ playing punk, horror, psycho etc etc.

And the best part... It´s free! C´mon fiends and support your local scene! See you there!

http://www.myspace.com/clubbongabonga

http://www.missmonsterclub.com

Stalking with the Jackalopes

2006-08-08T04:56:00.000-07:00

(Interview is with lead vocalist Rev. Chad A. Wells)

Hell-o, whats up with the Jackalopes?

- We're currently in the middle of a big change. We recently had to let our long time guitarist, Ronnie Tinkham go.
We're in the middle of writing and demoing songs for the new album and recording the songs that are ready.
We've broken up and fallen to pieces several times since our inception and I'm just not willing to do that whole,
break up and reunite thing anymore. I will continue on with the project with entirely new members if I have to.
The Jackalopes continue to grow in spite of ourselves. We've been really selective with the shows we've played in the past year
and in spite of not touring this year, we continue to sell more and more CD's and gather more fans and friends.

To someone who hasn´t heard about you, how would you describe Jackalopes
music?

- It's Rock N' Roll with a dark side. There are elements of punk, metal, rockabilly, psychobilly, psychedelia...
It straddles several genre lines. We're most often grouped in with "Horror Punk" bands and I'm happy to be there
but only as long as that's allowed to encompass more than just the same Michale Graves era Misfits cliches.
That stuff was great but it's really become the jump point for most Horror bands.
As long as your singer is mimicking Mike then you're in the club! Horror music for me starts back a little earlier... Could be my age.
I'm into my 30's now so I've been into this kind of music since the 70's.
Also, we don't just sing about graveyards and pumpkins. Our lyrics range from silly and nonsensical at times to really deep and harsh.
Also, our music isn't about false spookiness and mopiness. It's about having fun while chucking a Molotov cocktail at established morals,
ideals and religions.

What made you guys form the Jackalopes?

- A common love for alcohol, drugs, music, murder, violence...
Motorhead, Misfits, Ramones, Motley Crue, Alice Cooper... I had a band that was much more abrasive at the time
and I wanted a way to inject a spoonful of sugar into that project. I wanted to do a sort of serious without being boring,
mean and evil, satanic and spiteful, pop fueled punk band.

Biggest influences?

- I have a ton of influences from outside of The Jackalopes scope of influences...
As a band we're coming from a Motorhead, Misfits, Ramones, Motley Crue, Alice Cooper, Antiseen, Frankenstein Drag Queens place...
Although Rue Morgue magazine did catch a Hawkwind influence in a couple places and I thought it was great that they caught that...
I dig everything from Prince to Elvis, Frank Zappa, Yoko Ono, John Prine, Nick Cave, Hank Williams, Mike Patton...
I need music that is at once emotional without being pretentious as well as visceral and challenging.

The Jackalopes played with the legendary "the murder junkies", that must
have been quite an experience?

- Those guys are amazing. Merle Allin is the world's nicest outlaw. I am and was a huge GG Allin fan
and was crushed that I never got to play with him before he died but I got to play with his brother and Clayton from Antiseen on vocals...
Antiseen is a huge influence on The Jackalopes and myself so that ruled.
My clothing company, AartKult, just sponsored those guys on tour with Hank III and AssJack!
We did a rad Charles Manson tribute T-shirt for them.

Following the question above, best touring experience so far?

- We always had fun playing the Heavy Rebel Weekender in Winston Salem, North Carolina.
We did that 3 or 4 times... We loved playing in the jailhouse. The crowds were rabid there! White Trash Luaua was a best
and worst tour experience. It was like 30 degrees on top of a mountain in Virginia,
just above the place they filmed Dirty Dancing! A bunch of bands, camping, no facilities, not much of a road to speak of...
We were in the woods! I wrote a story about it that was published in the book "Gigs From Hell", published by Headpress from the UK.

I usually ask this question from everyone I interview, Favourite horror movies?

- All the old Universal flicks, especially Frankenstein.
I love too many to try to do a list here... I like really hardcore gross out stuff. Also anything by Jim Van Bebber.

What do you think about all the re-makes that hollywood is making?

- Well, most shouldn't be called remakes. They're taking a lot of liberties with things.
They should craft some new characters and give it a new name and a spin.
Nobody will mind if it's inspired by some other movie to do a remake and toy with the characters and memories
that certain people hold in such high esteem... It's sorta like me calling myself Elvis ya' know!?
No, I'm influenced by him, I'm not him... Your Texas Chainsaw Massacre was not the same Massacre!
Some of them are good on their own, but they're ruined by the fact that they're calling themselves this other thing...
That is sorta my problem with post-Danzig Misfits.

In a horror movie about The Jackalopes, who would play you?

- I get told I look like Elvis and Jack Black... JB's sorta short to play me.

Last one, what does the future hold for The Jackalopes?

- You never really know with us. The new material that will become our next album is heavier and darker than before.
I see us experimenting more... Pushing the boundaries of what people think Horror music is.
We're working in new members of the band right now and I'm sure their input will season things.
"Black Church A-Go Go" will be the next full length CD. There is also a retrospective/rarities and b-sides type thing planned with
Crypt of Blood Records. We will continue to be selective with our touring and playing out.
I make music to create art and not to be a dancing, painted monkey on the stage.
We'll still perform live but only if it's going to be a quality performance in a worthwhile setting.
I'm personally involved with numerous other projects. My experimental project Wulfkult will release a new CD very soon.
Some of the material dates back before The Jackalopes. I also am doing an old timey country project called The Hazard County Heathens
with my brother Gerede (of The Bang Tale), an ambient/black metal/ritual noise project called Glasyalabolas,
a guitar drone project called SunMelter, a new wave/death rock project called New Way Vendetta and several other interesting experiments.
I write for several magazines, most notably, International Tattoo Art...
I tattoo for a day job and I design album covers, posters, T-shirts and stuff for bands...
The Jackalopes are one of my biggest projects but it's just one of many things I do to keep my head from exploding.
Oh yeah! There will be a Jackalopes book project soonish as well!

http://www.thejackalopes.net
http://www.myspace.com/thejackalopes
http://www.rumblegraffix.com
http://www.myspace.com/revwells
http://www.aartkult.com
http://www.myspace.com/aartkult
http://www.myspace.com/wulfkult
http://www.myspace.com/glasyalabolas
http://www.myspace.com/newwayv
http://www.tattooteam.com/rev.html

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Having a bite with the Young Werewolves

2006-08-04T16:33:00.000-07:00

How did the tale of The Young Werewolves begin?

- Clawing their way out of Transylvania...errr....Pennsylvania, The
Young Werewolves searched to unfold the true roots of Rock 'n' Roll.
The band began in early 2002 when three wandering musicians met in
the city of Philadelphia.

By mixing the styles of classic hot rod
rock 'n' roll to outlaw punk rock, The Young Werewolves hope create
a timeless sound guaranteed to make you howl along and strut your
stuff.

The Young Werewolves are from Pennsylvania, how is the horror
scene there?

- There are a few good Horror Cons around here. We’re lucky to be
located in the Tri-state area of New York, New Jersey &
Pennsylvania. It lets us cover alot of ground. It seems wherever we
go there are creatures of the night that come out of the woodwork!

You´ve got your debut album out, are you pleased with the result?

- We couldn’t have asked for more. We’re going back into the studio
with the same guy ( Andy Kravitz ) in September, for the 2nd.

How does a song like "Curse of the Cocaine Mummies" come to life?

- It was a special on the Discovery channel about mummies in South
America that are wrapped in cocoa leaves. We set a twist on it & the
rest is history!!!

Biggest influences in music?

- WOW! So many to choose from…The Ramones, Elvis, The Misfits, Buddy
Holly, Stray Cats, The Monkees, and The Cramps…just to name a few.
Between the band, we pretty much cover the gamut of musical
interests…everything from Mozart to Morbid Angel!!!

First five horror movies in your collection?

Young Frankenstein
Braindead (…that lawnmower scene ROCKS!!! )
American Werewolf in London
Dracula ( the original )
Shawn of the Dead

Let´s go to touring, best experience so far?

- Again, so many choices! Recently, we opened for Rock City Morgue.
Sean Yseult’s (White Zombie) new band. Dana was thrilled about this.
Sean was a major influence on her. We’ve played with Elvis’ guitar
player, Sleepy LaBeef. Robert Gordon. Alot of good times.

What would be the band of choice to tour with in a fantasy world?

- At this point it would be in our best interest to shoot for the
Horrorpops or Social Distortion. But if we’re goin fantasy, that
would depend on which one of us you were talking to. Miles Davis,
the Misfits (original lineup), or the Dead Boys.

Euro dates?

- We’d love to jump over the pond, funding doesn’t allow for it at
this point…Is that an offer??? Our funds at this point are sunk into
this new CD. We’ve got a way to go for financing this one. Keep your
paws crossed. Europe sounds right up our alley & hopefully we’ll
make it to you soon.

Last but not least, what is the Wolf-man up to these days?

- Don’t you know??? Hmmm, maybe you hadn’t heard. He went into
retirement & passed the torch onto us! We keep him updated as to the
lycanthropic adventures of the world. He just got to be too popular,
you know, being mobbed at the store, flash bulbs everywhere. He was
a prisoner of his own fame. We try to shield him from all that. We
actually like the flash bulbs!!! Shhhhhhhhhhh!

Ooooooooowwwwwwwwwww!,

The Young Werewolves
http://www.theyoungwerewolves.com
http://www.myspace.com/youngwerewolves

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Killing in a hearbeat with The Spookshow

2006-07-29T14:25:00.000-07:00

Greetings, what are the spookshows up to?

- We have just recorded our next album “Psychosexual Chapter 2” that will be out on Halloween this year.
All our album will be released during Halloween. We will do one show in Gothenburg in Sweden and one in Denmark together with
the English band The Caravans. Both shows in September. More info about this can be found at our website.

Please introduce yourself to our readers and tell us more about you?

- My name is Mike Dungeon and I play guitar in the Swedish horror punk band The Spookshow.
I write all songs together with my brother Knife Dungeon who also plays guitar in the same band.

What is the current line-up for the Spookshow?

- Miss Behave – Lead vocals, Knife Dungeon – Guitar, Deadbeat – Drums, Carol Anne – Bass and Mike Dungeon – Guitar.

I was browsing your website and I noticed that there were pictures and art from old horror movies, what other things have inspired The Spookshow?

- Everything that have something to do with horror works fine.
I also get inspired from other music such as songs from the 50ies. Sometimes you can hear the influences and sometimes you don’t.
I can take weeks without writing any new material at all then suddenly you grab the guitar and write three new songs in ten minutes.
I can’t really say why it is like this. I don’t know where all the inspiration comes from but I guess I “collect” them and
then after a couple of weeks they need to get out in some way. I think most people works like this and each person has their
own way to “ease the pressure” in sports or whatever. I write songs.

You released your debut album in 2005, are you happy with the result?

- We are very pleased with the result. We got more response than we where hoping for.
All reviews we got so far have been great and the American and German fan base is growing faster than we expected.
Interpunk in the US are selling a lot of records for us. We are constantly somewhere between 200 and 500 on their top list.
The highest is like 110 I think. Almost at the top 100…ha ha ha

Your releasing a trilogy, all albums are going to be released on Halloween, what can we expect?

- All three albums will be very similar since the material for all three is done.
The third album will hopefully be the best. We think so. “Psychosexual Chapter 2” will be a bit slower and more laid back if you compare
to “Psychosexual Chapter 1”. The third album will be more up tempo.

You made a musicvideo, could you tell us more about this?

- I shot the video myself in the woods outside my town. We filmed the video without any budget at all and
Koffin Keenan from the band Under a Nightmare (also on Crypt of Blood Records) put the video together.
It’s a classic chase through the woods. A poor blond a bloody girl gets chased by an axe murderer and she ends up dead.

So how is the horrorband scene in Sweden? Any brother and sister bands?

- In Sweden there are very few horror punk bands I’d like to name a few though:
The Dead Next Door, T-Virus, and The Nightshift. My absolute favourite in Sweden is The Dead Next Door.
I love their music and someday I hope we will release something together.

- We will try to stay out of Sweden since the scene is so small.

You have toured with great horrorbands, what is the funniest band to have around on tour?

- I really like both The Other and The Spook. They are really nice and fun people.

Traveling is a big part of touring, do you like to sit in cars or does it make you bored and angry?

- We get along very well. We always travel in a motor home so we got a lot of space.
During the tours we play cards, Yatzy and sleeps. I think it’s really fun to go out and play.
We get bored sometimes but never angry…so far. I can be frustration to get lost but that is nothing to get angry about.
When I tour, I get the same feeling as when you are going to a school trip as a kid.

Let´s move to other things, what do you think about the stage of punkrock and horrorpunk today?

- I can only speak for the Swedish stage but I think it’s growing now after being almost dead for several years.
The punk scene has been dead for along time in Sweden and the closest to punk we get is Good Charlotte at MTV.

Where do you see the spookshow in the future?

- We will continue to release one album each year as long as we got a record label.
The plan is to release the trilogy before going on any bigger tour.
We will take it slow and really choose our gigs carefully.

Fangs for the interview, any last words?

- Within a couple of weeks, you will be able to listen and download a new song from our website www.thespookshow.net
Also make sure to check us up at My Space www.myspace.com/thespookshow

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

Letting the flowers die with Blitzkid

2006-07-25T14:18:00.000-07:00

Greetings and first off thank you for having the time
to answer to some questions

GOOLSBY: Thank you, sir!

TB: Thank you man!

Blitzkid was formed in 1997, what other bands have you played in?

GOOLSBY: This is the first band I was ever in. Since then,
I've played in Bobby Steele's UNDEAD.
Dr. Chud's X-Ward. Doyle's GORGEOUS FRANKENSTEIN.
WEDNESDAY 13. and MISTER MONSTER.

TB: Well, I'm 29 now and I started playing in bands
when I was 14. There was Viper, Tribulation,
Blood Covenant, The Lovepunks, Grape, Bound For Glory,
Ziklag Chase and then Blitzkid.

Horrorhigh is re-releasing "Let Flowers Die", you must be excited about
this?

GOOLSBY: Of course! We're really happy to know that
the albums (this includes the re-release of Trace of a Strnager as well)
that we recorded such a long time ago with no idea anyone
would ever hear them are now in such a nice demand.

TB: Oh yeah, it's always cool to know that records
we released years ago are in such demand now
from kids in the underground. We're happy people want to
be fans of us enough in the sense that
they may've just discovered us and want to hear
our older recordings.

Blitzkid was touring in Germany this summer, how did that go?

GOOLSBY: Always a dream come true to travel to Europe.
I've always wanted to be there but i never imagined
i would be there touring in a band.
It's so much nicer than being a torist on the old folks bus.

TB: The last tour of Germany was incredible.
It seems each time we're over there, our fanbase gets
bigger and bigger, and we've met some of the nicest
people in bands over there. It's great all around.

"Trace of a stranger" was released in 2005, when can we expect a new
Blitzkid record?

GOOLSBY: This summer! It's called FIVE cELLARS BELOW
and it's on FIEND FORCE RECORDS.
Best label ever. period.

TB: It comes out August 25th, on Fiend Force Records.
It will be called FIVE CELLARS BELOW.

Lately you´ve been touring alot, what is best in touring?

GOOLSBY: Meeting new peole. Meeting good bands
and forming lasting bonds with those people.
You also learn a lot about yourself out there.
what your strengths are and things like that.
It's a great character building exerience. Every time
i come home form tour i have learned more about the world,
about people, and most of all about myself.
You never stop learning and that's the great thing.

TB: For me it's playing live everynight, and as Goolsby said,
meeting new people and fans.
Every tour I come back with a few more close friends that
I know will be there the rest of my days.
It's also rewarding to form that common
thread with bands of our peers.

This one is for Argyle, you joined the Gorgeous Frankenstein(ex-Misfits
Doyle´s own band),
how did this happen?

GOOLSBY: Dr. Chud who i want to point out to the world right now
is one of THE most nicest and sincere people in this industry
suggested i audition.
At first, i didn;t becuse i felt weird sending in a picture and
live vidoe of myself to Doyle of all people.
I dont know, it just made me feel like i was trying to be someone special
but i did it anyway.
He called, we talked, that was it.
What an awesome person.

Which one do you prefer, the original misfits line-up or the new one?

GOOLSBY: I think they are both great bands.
I consider them 2 different bands with the same name.
Both have their own special quality that make them unique,
while at the same time sharing a common thread.

TB: I like them both. You can't touch the Glenn era stuff because it is
and will forever be classic,
but I really think they did some great things with Chud
and Michale in the band as well, and they showed alot of artistic growth on
those two records.

What bands have influenced you the most?

GOOLSBY: Personally, the CLASH, the DOORS, BUDDY HOLLY,
TSOL, KING TUBBY, OPERATION IVY...the list goes on.
WAAYYY too many to list here.

TB: Megadeth, Exodus, Anthrax, Bad Religion, the Ramones,
Strung Out, No Use For a Name, Social Distortion,
King's X, a virtual ton.

If Blitzkid was a horror movie character, who would play you?

GOOLSBY: Lonn Chaney but he's not capable of that i suppose.
I would have to go with the guy who played the evil monk in
The DaVinci Code.
that dude is capable of my badassness.
haha, im kidding people.

TB: I would be Michael Myers,
because not only did he just have to methodically stalk his victims
with something as simple as a walk and a butcher
knife, but he cannot die it would seem.

Let´s talk a little about inspirations, how does a Blitzkid song come to
life?

GOOLSBY: First you get dumped or something you love dies.
If this isnt the case, then take an emotion you cant explain
with words and make a riff out of it.
refer back to all those old horror movies and how they
all parallell injustices of the real world
and find a way to put it into words.
Then play it live and bleed.

TB: Draw from your own personal experiences,
think about how you can relate a song to
people even if it's using creepy imagery or an old movie
to explain a metaphor about real life,
and go from there...

If you could choose one singer to be a guest star on your album, who
would it be?

GOOLSBY: Greg Graffin. Bad religion. Period.
Dead...Buddy Holly.

TB: Jonah Jenkins, of Only Living Witness.
Dead would have to be Joey Ramone.

Every person leaves a mark on this planet, how would like to be
remembered after you´re gone?

GOOLSBY:Someone who looked so hard into the future that his eyes
came all the way around and burned holes in his back.

TB: Simply as someone who was known within the horror rock circles of being
capable to write a decent song or two. Honestly, I just want to be remembered.
Good, bad or indifferent....

Time to fade away, the last words are yours

GOOLSBY: Life is tough, but it's tougher when you're stupid. pass it on.

TB: LONG LIVE THE HORROR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.blitzkid.com

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.