Friday 26 January 2007

The Saturday Matinee At The Hod-Rod Drive-In With NIM VIND

Welcome to the street!!!

I hope you find your visit enjoyable and terribly unforgettable!
haha. That should be my pick-up line. Other than that, I'm on the level.

Firstly, could you please introduce yourself to the readers that have yet to experience the magic that is Mr. Underhill/Nim Vind?
Ok. I'm the abominable Nim Vind....yes somewhat like the famed Abominable Snow Man. You can't snow the Snow Man!!

Who completes the band?
Me, myself and I really. My brother Anthony, known to the world as the loudest fucking drummer EVER Anthony Kilz, is the only other constant member as of late. Our good friend JJ BloodBoy, from out here in Vancouver Canada, has done most of the shows and all of the touring so far for Nim Vind as our hit-with-the-ladies Bass player.

How does, in your opinion the sound of Mr. Underhill differ to the sound of Nim Vind?
Well, as some people know, the first Nim Vind album is really the full length album Mr.Underhill was going to make. The band members took a break of sorts from Mr.Underhill and I decided to continue the idea on my own as a solo act. The only origional member of Mr.Underhill that played on every EP was Nim Vind(me) so I figured that the most sensible move for my future was to call it Nim Vind. That made the best sense...at some point you call the leopard a leopard ya know? As for the sound, The Fashion of Fear is a cool record and I'm very proud of it, its a real throw back to a lot of things about music that I love. The new album will be more of what i am trying to build as a musician and will expand more of what i am all about. It still will have the sounds of my influences, like the Misfits, the Doors, David Bowie, The Damned ,The Cars, Ennio Morricone, and etc, but this time I will try to give you more of Nim Vind the person. if that makes any sense at all.

On many peoples first listen to Nim Vind, including mine, the horrorpunk theme isnt very obvious, how much does horror influence your songwriting?
It does in a way, and doesnt at all in another way. That answer will take some explaining so here it goes: I love The Misfits, i would tell anyone, and I still do, that if you havent heard the origional Danzig Misfits, you should check it out because it is one of a kind. As for Horrorpunk, I love the fans and the scene a lot. It's really great and is built on a love a great melody, fun, and spectical. These are 3 very necessary ingredients for a kick ass night of rock and roll. The only 3 ya really need for fuck sakes. That being said, most Horrorpunk is one sound: people trying to sound like the Misfits. Dont get me wrong, if the world is being filled with great Misfits sounding bands, then we are doing great, but I want to be more than just a band that sounds like one thing. I love to much other music to make myself all about one very specific sound. I also love bands like The Cars and the Damned like I mentioned. Those bands are lighter in mood but have a excellent sense of style and melody. David Bowie is one of my all-time favorites. He is able to reinvent himself again and again because his style and personality, plus extreme talent, make everything he does so amazing. I am also a giant fan of movie soundtracks and love love love Ennio Morricone. I especially love his works on the Spaghetti Westerns. He builds a sound and atmosphere completely his own and that, friends, is the true mark of a real writer. That's what I love about the Misfits, nobody sounds like original Misfits. Everyone copies from the best, you can get close, but you can never fully copy the real thing. And I personally think it is way cooler to have influence of something but try to sound like yourself, than to try to sound exactly like someone else. There is no imagination to copying. I have an imagination and I want to use it. I try to inspire people to find ideas of their own within themselves with my music, the same way my favorites did for me. So to answer your question, Horrorpunk is really great and I love it, but I am influenced by way fucking more in that just one thing and I have the intention of presenting myself in a much much broader spectrum.

I have heard your style of singing be described as crooning many times, do you agree with this?
haha. Yes. And I love the "croon"! For me, being a crooner translates to "someone that actually sings a song". Most lead "singers" these days in bands dont actually "sing" anything at all!! I can see how screaming and rapping and talking and grunting or etc can work for bands with styles that support that, but for me i love the bands and acts that have Songs and that sing them. I really love to hear a great singer let loose on a great song that really captures their voice and personality, or vice versa. Danzig and the Misfits, really, are loved so much because the songs and melodies matched with his singing, are first rate great! All the horror aside, those songs are real songs that are based on all the old standards, and he sings like a crooner from the golden days of the 40's and 50's. I love to listen to Billy Holiday, or Elvis(who doesnt?!), or Roy Orbison, Jene Pitney, Buddy Holly, The Penguins, Little Richard, The Big Bopper, Tom Jones(he's fantastic), the list goes on and on. That is the era of the real crooner. I think bands these days really need to listen to some of that and remember that people still love a great melody and they always will. Songs are a huge part of the human experience and a great melody inspires emotion, and emotion is the fabric of art and inspired thinking. Agreed? But however, all music, whether its Death Metal or acapella, has its place in this whirlin' madness were livin'. ya know?

Hailing from Canada, is their much of a horrorpunk scene there?
No. Canada is a mellow country. It's a country that sells natural resources and tourism with regards to its beautiful landscape. People love ice hockey here and are workers for the most part. The USA and Europe seem to be much more into finding the new cool thing and seeking out artistic entrepreneurs than Canada is. People here wait for the next cool band or scene out of the USA and Europe to hit the market, buy into it, and then wait for it to tour here. Canada, way back, was a coloney of England. We arent a nation built on war and pushing the world to lead in new ideas and frontiers, We are workers, thinkers, and peace makers. This attitude is still very much a part of our country and its why I think that scenes like Horrorpunk and all that will be popular to a degree but it will take a movement in the USA or Europe to really make it explode into a mainstream event....i think that time is close too.

You have a massively dedicated following in Europe, what are your weirdest fan and tour experiences?
Hmmm.....one time this chick tried to.....ahhhhh......well I was on stage.....ahhhh....She was lifting up my guitar and.....ahhhh.....

What does 2007 hold for Nim Vind?
New Album. It's gonna be a wild one.

I live in the UK and recently have seen you get some mainstream press attention, do you have many UK fans? and do you have any plans to tour the UK in the near future?
Yes, lots of fans. It's great too, because I am currently on a small label with word of mouth and the internet being the main avenue of exposure, yet we are spreading the word fast. I very much would love to tour there and will soon. Likely for my next album.

Who are you listening to at the moment and who can you recommend to our horrorpunk newcomers?
I recommend Zombina and the Skeletones to new Horrorpunk fans. To the whole of music fans, i recommend The Vincent Black Shadow. I am playing Bass for them and singing back up vocals right now. We just put out an album on a new gambling label(ha ha. How gangster rap is that?!) and we are touring for 5 months straight to promote it. I'll be working on the release set up for my new Nim Vind album in the meantime while I'm on tour with TVBS. It's a cool act with a decent female singer for once. It features the Mr.Underhill brothers backing up a female "crooner". We think pretty much every female fronted act in the mainstream sucks goat ass, so we thought we would help this chick show people what they are missing when they latest major label girlact piece of shit like the Pussycat Dolls.

Thank you for you time!!! Any last words?
"2000 dollars! ...Yea...but you wont be the one that collects it.....couple steps back."

Thanx

Doctor Von Bracken
Scare Street

PS: Nim Vind FanPage

Wednesday 24 January 2007

Texas Drag Queen Massacre - His And Hearse


Now first off im going to admit i have something of a softspot for this band having seen them live and purchasing this album and the following single from it.

One look at the album's title and artwork and you know your in horror terror-tory, this is firmly cemented with song titles like 'Rave From The Grave', 'Frankenstomp' and'My Queen Of Halloween'.

The Album's 'Coff' Intro, sounds like something from The Exorcist and is equally if not more unsettling, the mood then quickly changes to the evil-sounding horrorpunk that TDQM fans are familiar with, driving guitars, subtle bass and pounding drums provide the perfect backing for frontman, Al. B. Damned's piercing vocals. The Chorus of this opening song is so ghoulishly catchy its been stuck in my head since i first heard it. Next we have the chugging 'Undead On Arrival' which has a strong grunge sound to it and clever trademark horror-themed lyrics.

Then comes a double attack with the songs 'Toe Tag Your It' and 'Frankenstomp', both these songs show the band on great songwriting form and will have you shouting the chorus for months to come. Mid-way through the album and we get to 'Duet To Disembowel You', this song shows TDQM's love of metal and industrial music (a la Rob Zombie?) also the chorus has a very strong grunge undertone.

Next we have one of the more accesable songs on the album 'My Queen Of Halloween', with a spoken intro about an escaped killer and lyrics that include 'You Are My Ghoul From A Horror Movie' and 'Trick or Treat Spiderbaby' this song is a call to arms for all horrorgirls. Track number 8 'Ugly' is a punk rock FUCK YOU to the mainstream bastards that plague society, this song also has maybe one of the best lines in horrorpunk: 'Im Ugly And I Dont Give A Fuck, When They Gave Out Looks I Was Out To Lunch!'.

Title track 'His And Hearse' is a Horror-rock 'n Roll song straight from the 8th circle of hell complete with backing screams and a simple but rocking solo. Now the pace slows down with 'Possessed', an ode to the evil inside each and every one of us, this song also shows some awesome song writing skills from these boys.

'Kill Yourself' brings the horror straight back although your parents may not approve (haha!) of you singing 'Die! Die! Suicide!' at the top of your bloodied lungs. Then we get to fan and live favourite (and single) 'Dead Girls' this a comedic tribute to those girls that spend all their lives looking in the mirror and as a result end up dead inside. And to end the album 'Home Sweet Home 1313' which tells the tale of a day at the munsters residence on halloween!!! All in all this is one horrific album and is one of the best modern horrorpunk records around.

Oh also i heard a certain Mr. 13 is a big fan of these guys!

Sunday 21 January 2007

Rival Skulls - Hell Ouverture



Rival Skulls are a horrorpunk 5-piece from Italy, yep you read right italy.


Now Italy isnt known as a hotbed of horrorpunk talent but RS certainly make upfor the lack of bands.RS arent a new band, they've been working hard to break out of the italianunderground since 1999, and already with two sucessful albums released on Blood And Guts Records, they released 'Hell Ouverture' in 2006.


Their third album is by far their best release to date,and after i had the pleasure tolisten to it for the first time i had to stop and think about what i had just heard.I was confused, i wasent sure, some of it was familiar and some of it was new but allof it was slightly quirky. So i put the CD on again and realised that the quirkyness was what i loved! And that everytime i listen to the songs on this album, i actually think about what im listening to and enjoy it on many levels. This album pulled me in after only the first listen and will continue to pull me inwith its incredible vocal hooks, amazing guitar skills, driving, pounding drumbeats andpummeling basslines!!! this album rocks and in all the right ways!!! And if for any reason you dont believe me then just check out the songs on theirmyspace profile (www.myspace.com/rivalskulls), i recommend 'Ravenchild' as your first song.Rival Skulls are gonna be an important band within horrorpunk in 2007, make sureyour with them for the ride!!


For fans of: Danzig, The Crimson Ghosts, Bauhaus

Monday 15 January 2007

Grave Words With Coffin Keenan - Under A Nightmare Interview



Welcome to Scare Street!


Who is visiting us today?

Hey, you're being visited by Coffin Keenan-lead guitar/vocals, sirs and madams.


Who else completes Under A Nightmare?

Well there's Jordy Coroner on bass, Marky Madness on Rhythm Geetar, and the Cubscout of Death on the skins.


What Are your releases to date?

Ghouls On The Gallows CD (Unreleased 6 track demo) (2002)

I Thought She Was Dead CD (16 track Demo LP) (2003)

Valley Of The Scarecrow CD (Debut Full Length LP) (2004)

Return Of The Rot CD (2nd Full Length LP) (2005)

"Rock-A-Horror Show" Compilation CD (2006)

"Art Institute Of Pittsburgh" Compilation CD (2006)

"It Came From Trafalgar" Soundtrack CD (2007)

Monsters 89 CD (3rd Full Length LP) (2007)


Which songs from your latest album 'Monsters 89' are you most proud of?

Oh boy, well I think I've had the most fun recording and playing live the following: "blood on the wall", "dead youth", and "between madness". There were alot of songs on this album that meant alot to me, I put more of myself into these songs rather than just making more campy fun songs, mind you those songs are still there also, haha.


Ive noticed you have an awesome amount of fans, have you ever had any weird experiences with fans?

The weirdness usually tends to follow marky where I usually just get drunk idiots who want to brawl on stage. I think the best story with mark is we were playing the smiling moose in pittsburgh in 2006 and in comes the band Kittie, the drummer was drunk off her ass and tried to pick up mark. With jordy one time we raffled his body of to some lucky lady at our first horrorfest show in 2004, that was a night to remember. Otherwise we've had many memorable experiences with people, and we love playing everwhere we get the chance.


What are UAN's plans for 2007?

First and foremost is to get the new album "monsters 89" out, because we've had it for free on the net forever and need physical copies for shows, etc. We've actually already begun writing our next cd too. It comes down to the fact that we've had to press all our cds, shirts, etc ourselves and it's been hard. We've been on Crypt of Blood Records since 2004 and still don't have an official silver-pressed release. Hopefully something will pull through with them or whomever will promote us in the future. After that, we plan to tour as far and long as possible. We've been wanting to get out to the west coast and mid states forever, but havent because we need a van and gas money. But we've been dying to do it, and we will someday. That goes as well for overseas,etc. We'd love to tour the UK, Germany, etc!!


Is there any story behind the name - Under A Nightmare?

As far as how we got the name, we were pondering forever it seemed in 2002 and were originall called Synapse for a couple demos we did. We eventually were playing our first show and changed it to Under A Nightmare mostly due to the fact that I had always wanted to have a band with nightmare in the title. We had this scetch of a bratty girl lying in covers on a bed with an angry monster underneath the bed, thus came, Under A Nightmare, as a sort of joke.


Have you ever visited the Devils Dragstrip?

Haha, you'll have to ask marky about that one, but to me, when we've travelled to Buffalo NY about five times now, we've had this mad max type battle along the highway a couple times. Usually I'm at the wheel and the cubscout will toss someting like underwear or donuts at jordy in another car, its a good laugh upon the Devil's Dragstip.


Who are you favourite horror monsters?

Jason Voorhees, Frankenstein, Dr Phibes, The Creature, and zombies in general


Do you have many fans in the UK?

Recently we've had the pleasure of meeting people like yourself and "harri-san", and many others, so yeah it's growing I suppose, I know we'd love to get over there and tear things up in the night.


Thanks for you time, any last words?

Thanks alot for the interview and review! Everyone download monsters 89 for free from our myspace blog or soundclick page!! Check our myspace for updates,shows, etc coming up! http://www.myspace.com/underanightmare


Doctor Von Bracken

Scare Street

Saturday 13 January 2007

The Poisoning - The EVE EP


You love horrorpunk but your getting slightly bored of all these danzig-a-likes that all sound the same and you want to find a horrorpunk band with that extra bite?

If you answered YES to the above question then The Poisoning are the band for you!! With a strong hardcore influence and a strong metal undertone running throughout each song, TP are a force to be reckoned with. Think The Crimson Ghosts meet Cradle Of Filth!

This EP (the EVE EP) is a raw, stripped down horrorpunk/metal masterpiece, choosing not to conform to one genre and showing their songwriting talents. Each song sounds well written, performed and produced, surprising really for an underground horrorpunk band. But with songs like 'Seal Broken Doors' and 'untitled' The Poisoning show their true potential to be a very popular band among the Scottish and British underground. Already with a devoted following of undead fans, they are never short of gigs and are always looking to evolve and improve on their original and fresh modern-day horrormetal sound. This EP is available from the bands myspace(www.myspace.com/poisoning) for the small amount of £4, and believe me it is worth every blood covered penny!!!!

This year all The Poisoning's releases will be available from The Room 21 Records' ITunes, Amazon and Download punk webstores worldwide
www.room21records.com
www.the-poisoning.com (coming soon)

Thursday 11 January 2007

An Evening In With The Jackal! - The Crimson Ghosts Interview



Hi, who are we speaking to and how are you on this fine day?

You are speaking to the Jackal. I am fine so far but pretty hungry…I will hunt for prey later…


Your role in The Crimson Ghosts?

I am guitarist and doing the backup vocals. Besides that I produced all our outputs in my own “Casket garden” studio and did the layout of both our albums


Who completes the band?

The Reverend beats the hell out of the drums, Vlad sings the lead vocals and Monstro plays bass


How has the year been for TCG?

It was pretty successful! we released our 2nd album, signed an endorsement contract with northern California based custom guitar company MONSON GUITARS (http://www.monsonguitars.com/) and got our own custom Picks from PYRAMID, played a lot of really cool shows, met new people…yeah…we hope that 2007 will be at least as good for us as 2006!


Any New Years Resolutions?

Yeah, being more undead than in the old year!


What does the coming year hold for the band?

From January 1st on we work with the well known booking agency M.A.D. which hopefully will result in serious touring. Besides that we already wrote material for our coming album. Who knows what else will happen…


This has always bugged me, did you start as a misfits surf tribute or is there another crimson ghosts?

We started as a misfits cover band in deed, but we are not the US surf tribute band. They just use the same name as we do…so far you are the first person who asked us about that other band, hahaha


What are your releases to date?

Unreleased 10 Track Demo CD (only Misfits cover versions - 2002)

Untitled 5 Track Promo CD (2003)

“This is Horrorpunk Vol.1” Compilation CD (2003)

Untitled 3 Track Promo CD (2004)

“Graveyard Hop” Compilation CD (2004)

“2 much Horrorbusiness” Compilation CD (2004)

“Crying on a Saturday night” Compilation CD (2004)

“Zombies from Mars…” Compilation CD (2005)

“Leaving the tomb” CD/LP (Debutalbum of THE CRIMSON GHOSTS - 2005)

”Fiend Fest 2005” Live DVD (2005)

”Rock´n´Roll Highschool Compilation #2” Compilation CD (2005)

“Carpe Mortem” LP / CD (second Album of The Crimson Ghosts - August 2006)


Favourite Crimson Ghosts song?

I can´t name just one! That’s like you should tell someone which of your children you like most….but what are your personal highlights of THE CRIMSON GHOSTS?


Do you like to resign to the backstage or get among the fans?

If we got the time to party with the crowd we of course share some drinks with them!!


Thank you very much for you time. Any last words?

Thanks for the interview! And to all the living out there: go and buy our albums unleash hell in front of the stage and visit our online tombs on http://www.crimson-ghosts.de/ and www.myspace.com/thecrimsonghostsgermany

!!! STAY UNDEAD!!!!

Tuesday 9 January 2007

Dead Pleasures - Evil Dead EP


Recorded in the summer of 2006, this Ep is a collection of rough, raw, punk rock songs from Telford's premier horrorpunk band Dead Pleasures.

Having been informed by the band that this was a rushed EP just to show the fans how they have grown, i am very pleasently surprised, yes the production is very rough but this is heavily outweighed by the talent on show and the level of catchy sing along tunes.

DR Zombie, Billeth and Daisy Graves have written and recorded a modern punk record with all the blood and guts of the 70s punk scene, fans of very early misfits will love this band

To start the Ep off and carry on the theme of the classic cult Sam Raimi movie we have the intro 'Necronomicon' and first track proper 'Evil Dead', by now you should be picking up on the theme of zombies and this band love their zombies. The first track that stands out to me is 'Eat My Brains', i love the time changes on this song, i didnt expect it and i found myself headbanging along with the track without knowing. Next came 'Ghost Train', which to me had a slight psychobilly sound to it, but none the less when the chorus kicks in you know its a true punk anthem. Next we have 'They're Coming To Get You...', this is an intro to the finale of the EP and is a perfect way to set the listener up for the ball-crushing song that is '...Barbara', this song ends the EP perfectly with an insanely catchy sing along chorus.

Yes, this EP is rough sounding but that is quickly forgotten when you experience the songs, Dead Pleasures are a band who know how to write a good, simple punk rock song and i am sure they will be at the front of the british horropunk scene within the next year, i expect great things from this band in 2007 and so should you!!

Thursday 4 January 2007

Fletch Cadillac - S/T EP



Fletch Cadillac are a Horrorpunk/Rock 'n Roll 4-piece from the UK, there sound has a very punky edge but incorporates the fun of psychobilly. This S/T Ep is their debut release and is such a strong debut.

First Song 'Headstones' is a perfect opener and really sets the listener up for the next three tracks, fun and strong guitar lines, driving bass and drums and the brilliant use of gang backing vocals.

'Time To Die' is the next song and it starts with the engine of a hot rod starting up and then kicks in the trademark catchy riffs and driving punky sound. The vocals on this track are very original and in my opinion this will definately be a fan favourite.

Next, 'Strangers Follow', this is maybe my favourite track, i love the intro riff and i find the drums reminiscent of psychobilly and maybe slightly ska influenced. I love the lyrics in this song too, covering everything a horrorpunk needs including the underworld .

And finally we get to 'Boogeyman Said', this is tied for my favourite track, its most definately the most fun track on the EP, pure horrorpunk from start to finish. Gang backing vocals and plenty of 'woahs' make this song a sure live favourite, but it works just as well if not better on CD.

Also included on this EP is the video for 'Time To Die', which tells the tale of the band kidnapping a young lady to feed to their undead fans! Goresome!!
The production of this Ep is near immaculate and really shows the cadillac boys talents. If your a fan of Calabrese or Blitzkid among others, you will love Fletch Cadillac

'Music to ride a hot rod to hell to'