Saturday 20 September 2014

Dead Elvis and his one man grave.......................What's Behind The Mask ?

37 years dead.......or is he ?
We all know what happened in the privy that fateful day in August 1977, the result of too many banana and bacon burgers. The morphine, quaalude and valium enemas that probably didn't help too much either and the zip getting stuck on the white, rhinestone jumpsuit, right at the crucial moment....the timing couldn't have been worse, as Elvis simply exploded !      Or did he ?

Working part time in a chip shop !
Fast forward 29 years to a secret location known only as 'Disgraceland' (rumoured to be anywhere from a grow house on the outskirts of Rotterdam or Eindhoven to a disused 'Gris Gris' shrine in Port Au Prince) take a scarey looking dude like your man from the James Bond movie (Live and Let Die), a ouija board, a truckload of mescaline and the mortal remains of the king himself, procured no doubt from a reputable source on Ebay......Then, to the strains of  Screamin' Jay's 'Alligator Wine'.....'Mix it all up in a dish', 'Toss it over your left shoulder'....and you got a Dead Elvish ! or so they would have us believe !





An enigma in a riddle wrapped up in a conundrum.

More mysterious than 10 Bermuda triangles and even more elusive than an honest politician, the reanimated corpse of the artist formerly known as 'Mr Presley' suddenly reappeared sometime late 2006, spurred on from beyond the grave by the likes of the Masked Asthmatic Avenger, Bloodshot Bill and his right holiness, The Rev Beatman. Our cadaverous crooner sacked the band and set off on a world trek, belting out his classic signature tunes, only he didn't because Sony threatened to sue his arse for breach of copyright so he had to write a shedload of new songs. It was around this time that someone noticed the smell !...............

If 'The Sun' says it's true......!
It would appear that due to matters of personal hygiene (The stench of a rotting corpse can, at times, be a little off putting) no-one would play with him and so he had to go down the Hasil Adkins route of playing all of his own instruments himself.....Teaming up with the ghost of Jack Starr they worked on his guitar technique and made him a rubber mask as his face was falling away and dropping off in bits. Bet you didn't know Jack Starr was a make up artist for El Cheapo horror movies after releasing that classic 'My Love For You Is Petrified' ?








Uhuhahuh Uhuh !
Anyways, as he was dead the contract with RCA was gone and the fans were clamouring for his new output so he had to find someone who'd be up for releasing a few tracks....he didn't really have to look far as the German label (who were Austrian at the time) Squoodge Records were kind/daft/mad enough to put out a couple of singles and include him on a compilation or two during his '07 comeback again' tour. His entire and upto date (as of Sept 2014) discography can be found here: http://www.hisonemangrave.com/main.htm






 

Kind of inevitable really

The years rolled by and Deadelvis's lonely one man band existence was slowly but surely eating away at him (or it could have been just straight forward decomposition). He had been taking care of business and looking after the ladies in all the far flung corners of the planet, from Japan and China, to South America to Bergen in the (nearly) North Pole and even had the foresight to start his own label 'Monster Mash Records' and it was just after this when he initially met Thee Gravemen.......The unholy alliance between Dead Elvis & Thee Gravemen was a natural and obvious progression truth be told and it wasn't too long before it actually happened, the union bringing forth a first EP in 2013 and this, I am assured, will in all likelyhood be followed up with more offspring from this odd coupling in the coming years.


The latest vinyl platter from the undead king.


In the meantime, grab yourself a copy of the album while you can as it's really limited and check where he's playing next.......Hell, he is even coming to Ireland next year !

Monster Mash Records and a ton of other goodies :  http://www.monstermashrecords.nl/

Website, merch, tour dates and everything else you need to know is here: http://www.hisonemangrave.com/main.htm

Tons of vids on Youtube but here's a cool taster : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BZJ7exRBWs


Ladies & Gentleman....................Dead Elvis has left the cemetery !



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