The evening after Halloween brought dance macabre to El Corazon starring the Nekromantix.
Singer Kim Nekroman, with his coffin shaped bass, held said bass above his head, held it like a guitar or straddled it all without missing a lick. On several occasions he even licked it. And he had high pitched screams down to a fine art.
The Nekromantix performed many of their classics like Gargoyles Over Copenhagen (Kim Nekroman is originally from Denmark) and Horny In A Hearse. Guitarist Franc has been a mainstay in the band for about the last decade and gave the band much of its power with his catchy licks while baby drummer Adam (seriously a baby. I doubt he’s 30) gave the band its thrust. His prowess on the drums belie his youth and this was evident when the other two left the stage and let him slam away with wild abandon. When they returned I half expected his kit to be smoking.
After playing Haunted Cat House and a couple other songs, the band left the stage, then returned for a one song encore. Nekromantix never disappoint and I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen them.
Prior to Nekromantix was a band called the Loveless. Hailing from Dayton, OH, this four-piece hit the stage like a fast moving freight train and never slowed down. Think Motorhead with a psychobilly flair. When they finished their set I sat in the bar and realized there was a leak in the ceiling as I was hit with a couple of drips. The Loveless probably put that crack in the ceiling. They rocked. The Lovelss are, Bret Cottongim – Lead Guitar,Vocals, Justin Barbarino – Rhythm Guitar, Vocals, Dick Gross – Upright Bass,
And Andris Devine – Drums.
The band performing before the Loveless was an all girl quintet from Nashville called the Dead Deads. And holy bajolee did they rip it up. They all had long hair which they whipped about constantly while they shredded guitar strings, slammed skins or pounded a keyboard. Their songs definitely fit in with the psychobilly macabre theme and singer/guitarist Meta Dead (they all use Dead as their last names) could sing like a song bird one second and growl and scream the next. Bass player Daisy Dead, lead guitar player Betty Dead and keyboard player Hella Dead contributed perfect harmony, or scream-ony as much of their songs consisted of perfectly pitched screams. Drummer Billy Dead slammed away as if possessed. All these ladies showed perfect showmanship to the point where I didn’t know who to watch because they were all doing something, whether it was whipping their hair, leaping about the stage or just plain emoting.
They all had perfectly matched black stripes around their eyes adding to the look. They claim to be a new band, yet they were tight and totally knew their way around the stage. I’ve added them to a list of bands I hope to see at their own show.
Unfortunately Raw Dogs played first and I arrived too late to catch their set, so I owe you one, guys. I did, however, arrive in time to catch the entire set from a band called Graveyard Shift. This five-piece from Seattle also use names macabre, and their singer , Murder Mike, was so intense I kept expecting him to burst a vein in his neck. Near the end of their set he had fake blood oozing out of his mouth as he sang, grunted and growled the songs. This band’s motto is, we make your parents puke. If my parents were still alive, they probably would. But I’m a parent and I was intrigued. Graveyard Shift is, Matt Meyhem – Guitar, Tyler Tapeworm –Guitar, Ben Grimm – Doublebass, Braindead- Drums and the aforementioned Murder Mike – Vocals.
Seattle used to get a lot more psychobilly than it does now and I hope that changes soon. This night was way too much fun.
[Holly Homan has seen and photographed Nekromantix at least seven times in the last handful of years. To see Nekromantix through the years, go here.]
