Halloween Night at Studio Seven Brings the Very Apropos Koffin Kats With Psycho 78 and Hard Money Saints, By Holly Homan

It was Halloween night and The Koffin Kats were headlining a show at Studio Seven in Seattle’s SODO District. Their psychobilly songs center on topics macabre, making them an appropriate band for the occasion of my favorite holiday. They even began and ended their set wearing crazy headpieces looking like Muppet faces on donuts. I arrived early, determined to see all the bands, but the guy at the door said he didn’t have a guest list for East Portland Blog and to come back in 15 minutes or so, but to wait outside. Well, it was rather cold outside and I didn’t want to wait in my cold care either, so I drove around for about a half hour, got stuck on the wrong side of the tracks by a slow moving but very long train and finally got in after the show started. Even then the same guy manning the front door was reluctant to let me in, then looked at his list again and said something like I was under the wrong name or something and waved me through.

This band on stage introduced themselves at the end of their set as Psycho 78. I don’t know if they were the first band on because the Studio Seven flyer listed five bands but I only saw four. Yet Psycho 78 is listed last on the flyer and yet I know Hard Money Saints came on after they did while the flyer lists Sledgeback. I was confused.

That being said, I enjoyed Psycho 78. Being from Tacoma, WA, I now understand why they made jokes about the Tacoma Aroma and how it’s not so bad any more. They made jokes about how the guitarist liking the Seahawks makes him “suck.” The lead singer, stocky and bald, wore an old school prison uniform with the black horizontal stripes. Their music was somewhat reminiscent of The Misfits and this feeling in me was fortified when the singer announced that most people think Jingle Bells is the best holiday song ever written, but he thinks another song is the best holiday song written. The band then tore into The Misfits’ Halloween. It was a worthy cover. There were only about twenty people on the dance floor at this point, so those who showed up later and missed this band, missed a rare treat. I will see these guys again. This three-piece packed a punch! Not psychobilly, but harder rock with some hooky guitar riffs.

Next up was Hard Money Saints. This is a band I’ve seen many times (although it’s been probably more than a year since I’ve seen them) and will see many times again. I love Hard Money Saints. They’re psychobilly but with a bit more of a country feel ala Johnny Cash. Singer/guitarist James Hunnicutt has a smooth and succulent voice that makes you want to stop and listen. Hard Money Saints are a three-piece with a stand-up bass, guitar and drums. They play a variety of psychobilly from more rockabilly style to the aforementioned Johnny Cash style. They succeeded in warming up the small but rapt crowd.

The third band if they mentioned their name, I didn’t catch it. They were a four-piece with a stand-up bass player who doubled on much of the vocals. At time their music was downright morose but then they’d liven it up. When they livened it up, they were much more enjoyable, but the vocals were a bit screamo for my taste.

By the time The Koffin Kats hit the stage the audience was sufficiently warmed up. Unfortunately there wasn’t a huge crowd. I’d say maybe a couple hundred on the dance floor and maybe another hundred upstairs in the bar. I could be off by a hundred or so, but there was definitely not a huge crowd. I still got slammed into so many times and thrown against the stage I was sure my torso would be severed from my legs. The three-piece trioVocalist/up-right bass player Vic Victor spun his bass around, played it like a guitar, stood on it, performed a pas de deux with it, but never missed a note.

At one point he and the lead guitarist switched instruments for a couple songs, then switched back. It happened so quickly it almost seemed like sleight of hand.

Near the end of their set, the two of them abruptly left the stage and dashed up the stairs to the bar. The drummer kept the beat going until their triumphant return where they bragged about “how quickly they downed those shots.”

Koffin Kats performed many of their classics such as Six Feet Under and Koffin Kat Love. The two strings members ran across the stage, dodging each other like a well choreographed ballet. Their set ran well over an hour and even without an encore, everyone left happy including many sweaty bodies from the dance floor. It made me wonder who exerted more energy — the body slammers and those who ran almost the entire time in the circle pit or the band.

This was my third time seeing the Koffin Kats and I guarantee it won’t be my last. I love this band.

My one disappointment was that it was Halloween and although many showed up wearing costumes, there was no costume contest. Has anyone been to a club on Halloween and been deprived of a costume contest? Somehow that seems sacreligious.

– Holly Homan