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A Halloween article: Damn Laser Vampires and They Never Sleep
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No one is ever too old for Halloween! Take me, for example. There is no question that I am in my adult years, and yet Halloween remains my favorite holiday, hands down. Of all the holidays put into practice throughout human existence, Halloween hasn’t anything whatsoever to do with submitting to the senseless traditions of Christianity, especially nowadays. Yes, autumn used to be a time of pagan festivities…that is, until the Christian Church stepped in, as has always been the case throughout history, and tried to make it a Christian holiday by revising it, thus creating “All Saints’ Day.” Still, to those of us who hold it in the highest of regards, Halloween is a secular celebration. It is a celebration of life by acknowledging the dead. For some it is employed as a vehicle for remembrance---a way to spend time with the ghosts of one’s past...all the dear departed souls. It is also a way to admit to ourselves that, yes, there just may be things in the world that we don’t fully understand, things that go well beyond the ordinary and enter into the extraordinary, and things that go well beyond the natural and enter into the supernatural. Just because those things aren’t right up in our faces like the foul breath of a used car salesman, doesn’t mean they’re not there. Of course, there are those who still regard Halloween as the ancients did, when it was referred to as the “Celtic New Year” or “Samhain,” and the Irish waved good-bye to the spring and summer months (the “lighter” part of the year) and welcomed the fall and winter (the “darker” part of the year). And for many others it’s just an excuse to party, to justify certain excesses and become a bit more uninhibited.
Does the thin membrane separating the things of our world from the otherworldly really become so thin on All Hallows’ Eve? If so, let us place candles in on our western window sills to honor the dead. And let us play songs that might move the spirits.
Autumn is my favorite season, too, and the mood of Halloween is decidedly consistent with the season in which it takes place. Speaking of the mood of Halloween, this is the time of year when I invariably pull certain albums out from my music collection…albums that also reflect the mood and general atmosphere of Halloween. This article is not so much about the albums that I usually pull out of the collection for this particular holiday, but about the two albums that are new to my collection and I find to be perfect for just such an occasion. First we have Damn Laser Vampires---a Brazilian trio on Devil’s Ruin Records, who blend a variety of styles that together amount to what one writer described as, “If Quentin Tarantino were to make a film based on a Bram Stoker novel, Damn Laser Vampires’ US debut would be its soundtrack.” And after a thorough listen to the Damn Laser Vampires’ album, “Gotham Beggars Syndicate,” once can understand why such a statement was made. Then we have a Detroit, Michigan rock quartet, They Never Sleep (often stylized in print as “TH3YN3V3RSL33P”), whose dark punk sound seems to have been fully realized on their 2009 release “Mother Nature Sings Her Lullaby.”
Now, some would no doubt exclaim that I have an absurdly huge record and CD collection; and while that is undeniably so, it is of no consequence to me, as I definitely prefer CD’s and records over digital downloads on MP3 Players and iPods. Call me old fashion. Truth be told, I probably am. One thing such an extensive and diverse collection of music is good for: it affords me the opportunity to select the perfect song for almost any given situation, event, affair, or environment. So at Halloween I unfailingly go into the ole collection o’ music and take out Christian Death’s “Only Theatre of Pain” and my Misfits coffin boxset (with all the old songs from the Glen Danzig days and whatnot). In addition to those two, I take out Roses Never Fade’s “Fade to Black” album (featuring Dwid Hellion, frontman for the Cleveland hardcore band Integrity), which is one of the darkest, most nightmarish records I’ve ever heard. And more recently, I have taken to listening to Knock Galley West’s album “the Quick and the Undead.” I mean, Knock Galley West is a psychobilly horror punk band out of Arizona, whose songs tend to focus primarily on the living dead…and if that is not appropriate for Halloween, then I don’t know what is! Also as of late, I have been listening to The Creepniks' “Graveyard Shindig” on Gravewax Records---a collection of dark songs from four strange Texans that collectively put surf rock, rockabilly, spaghetti western, and horror punk into a blender and puree them into a fine horrific paste of sound. And lastly, on those dark autumn nights, when the chilly breeze is blowing and dead leaves flutter downward from naked branches high overhead and the moon’s pale otherworldly glow burns cold in the heavens, I sometimes listen to Those Poor Bastards’ haunting roots songs of death, damnation, and depravity, or Bad Luck City’s slow, dark, and slightly bluesy “Adelaide” album, with its deep, whiskey-soaked vocals, eerie violin strings, atmospheric guitars, and patient drums.
Though the list could undoubtedly go on (and on and on), I should probably stop here to redirect your attention to the two bands on which this article should be focused. I have already introduced them, after all.
It was only very recently that I was exposed to the strange music of Damn Laser Vampires. More a potent cocktail of sound, really, the band tends to employ a number of flavors to make up the bodies of their songs, and those bodies are no doubt writhing in blood-stained body bags. If hard pressed to pin them down to a specific genre, they have often been referred to as post-punk, which to a degree is an accurate enough statement. But, more than anything, “Gotham Beggars Syndicate,” the band’s 2009 US debut on Devil’s Ruin, is a mosaic of pyschobilly, punk, polka, surf, gypsy, and good old rock n’ roll. Upon first listen you wouldn’t think this trio was from Brazil but Romania, perhaps residing in a moss-covered, ramshackle cabin on a windy dirt road through the dark Carpathian Mountains bordering historical Transylvania. But upon entering the cabin, one would immediately be struck by the flashing colored lights, a disco ball rotating overhead, a morbid doll collection, gothic statuary, crimson carpeting, black wallpaper, and a band wailing full-on into the wicked post-midnight hours.
When one looks up images of Damn Laser Vampires on the web, one cannot help but think to oneself that singer/guitarist Ronaldo Selistre looks a bit like a gaunt and slightly disheveled Brazilian Elvis Presley meets a modern day Dracula. Drummer Michael Munhoz has two visages---one a dark, mysterious man wearing shades and cowboy hat, and the other a bald-headed brutish madman of the kit. At last, we have the sultry, attractive Francis K. on guitar, with her bizarre form-fitting costumes and a feline gracefulness on the six-string. A perfectly matched bunch for this project, to be sure.
They Never Sleep is a native outfit---native meaning from the United States, of course--- consisting of four rather accomplished musicians and singer/songwriters, formerly of the God Bullies, Thrall, the Czars, Brain Saw, Queen Bee, and Inside Out. Indeed, the venues of Michigan have resounded with the rock n’ roll riot of They Never Sleep for a while now, with the very sexy Queen Bee (Karen Neal) on bass, the savage vocals and wild-eyed showmanship of Mike Hard, the dirty guitar of David Livingstone, and the hard-hitting drumming of Adam Berg. Like Damn Laser Vampires, They Never Sleep have been inserted into the post-punk category, which is a convenient catch-all for such bands, and often a fitting one as well. Yes, punk is the central style around which every other component of their sound revolves; but one cannot miss the surf rock quality, the pyschobilly flavor, and the garage and noise rock properties to some of their songs. Overall, They Never Sleep own a dark and turbulent sound on “Mother Nature Sings Her Lullaby”…a sound, let’s be honest, that is perfect for Halloween.
When Hard, Livingstone, and Berg were in the God Bullies, they had achieved a level of underground success, touring with such notable acts as Courtney Love’s Hole, The Melvins, Tar, Surgery, Cows, Helios Creed, and more. Though their material was released on a handful of labels, Amphetamine Reptile Records put out most of their records…and when I say records, I mean records as in vinyl. Most God Bullies fans who have no listened to They Never Sleep say that the latter is far better than the former. If that is so, then these Motor City rockers can probably expect a fair amount of success with “Mother Nature Sings Her Lullaby” and any recordings they may release in the future.
Like the resurgence of zombie films in 2005 and 2006, I can only hope that we have such a revival in the genres of horror punk, creepy psychobilly, dark roots, gothic country, and haunted blues. That would make future Halloweens all the more enjoyable, to be sure.
Happy Halloween! And don’t forget to check out Damn Laser Vampires and They Never Sleep.
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