The MONSTERS......The Early Years !

THE MONSTERS.

Switzerlands very own masters of TRASH, easily one of the best bands of the genre and with Beatman you get a someone who is truly passionate about his music, for over 30 years these guys have been touring and playing, making records, putting on gigs and just being all round good guys, Beat-Man is also the twisted genius behind Voodoo Rhythm Records and with his buddy Bobby Pantichrist (Who was a member of Garage band The Miracle Workers), they have the Bern based record shop 'The Voodoo Rhythm & Pantichrist Hardware Store'.

Here's the story of their early years from none other than Beatman himself !

 

Recent but I like it.

Beat-Man, where did it all begin?   What did you do before The Monsters?

In the early 80’s, our guitar player Yves had been in a school band and our first drummer, Oli had been in the Swiss Psychobilly band ‘The Radiations who released one 12” EP called ‘John Wayne’ and I had been involved in a couple of projects, one was a new-wave band called Anti Statek, but my first show was with a local Industrial band, that was probably 1983, where I had hit an oil barrel with a chain !

When and how did you guys get together initially? What prompted you all to form a band?

Yeah, it was August 1984 when we decided to form the band, but we’d all known each other for a long time as we’d spent most of our youth together. I guess it was in 1984 that the Psychobilly wave hit Switzerland, before that we were Parka wearing Mods on scooters listening to Gene Vincent !...Hahaha, anyway, then that whole Psychobilly thing made total sense to us, The Cramps, The Meteors, King Kurt and The Sting Rays…that was a free way to express a youth style that we’d never heard of before. In Switzerland we had our first Psychobilly band, The Bates who formed in 1983 and after that we had The Radiations whose drummer became our drummer. They squatted a small house in the village where they had grown up and we all hung out in that house, there was a pinball machine and a record player, problem with the record player was that it was constantly skipping while we danced like crazy !...It was there and then that we decided to form a band, we were all way too loud and it was the guy that had the loudest voice that got to be the singer…..That was me !

Beat-Man.

There are other influences in The Monsters sound apart from Rockabilly, what other stuff were you listening to that went in to make the sound?

I liked The Crazy Cats (Swiss Rockabilly band that released the album ‘Swiss Kiss’ in 1982) a lot as well as Rockabilly in general, it was a really big thing in the 80’s like the Mersey Beat, Garage Beat scenes and the German Beat scene was very big in my town. I come from a very freaky town with a lot of open minded hippies and punks, folk like Timothy Leary, Sky Saxon , etc spent a lot of time in my town and we had the older folks who organised all their shows, bands like The Miracle Workers, The Fuzztones, The Sting Rays, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins…We had them all over here and they were treated like kings, the crowds were always completely enthusiastic . On the other side we had a huge ‘Squatter’ scene who organised illegal parties which would be announced on the day with bands and DJ’s…up to a thousand people would turn up for them and the police couldn’t do anything as there were always too many of us, out of that came the industrial and electro scenes here. Our art scene also had a big place, Minimal Man, Test Dept, Laibach and Eintuzende Neubauten and all that came through, it was amazing, this was new and fresh, rebellious!  When we started The Monsters we had all of that in our background. We were very bad musicians on our instruments but we really wanted to do the band, a Rockabilly band actually but with all stuff that I’ve mentioned, something else was born….Hahaha.

Janosh.

The ‘Rockin’ scene in Switzerland at the time, a few folk would know The Crazy Cats but what other bands were around when you started out? What did you guys think of them and how did people react when you lot turned up?

The Crazy Cats were from the French part of Switzerland, we knew of them because Bern is kinda half German/half French but not too many people knew them in the German part even though the Rockabilly scene was big over here.  There was the commercial crap like Terry & The Hot Sox but a lot of cool bands too like The Cats Combo, The Jive Boys (from my home town) and The Ducktails, there were good punk bands too like ‘Crazy’, ‘The Bastards’, The Reaction’ and from my home town, ‘The Hangouts’ who were amazing. When we came on the scene, it was a bit different as we weren’t exactly Rockabilly. We weren’t Punk , not Garage….we were all together in one, by then the scenes had all separated from each other…and then we came along, Hahaha…but it was fantastic, since we started we have never asked to play shows, we were lucky that they ask us but as Switzerland is a pretty small place we went playing outside of Switzerland very soon. Not many bands did that back then, today it’s normal but not back then.

1st LP.

What were your first gigs outside of Switzerland?

With The Monsters it was Germany and France, I remember a festival. They normally booked us in Psychobilly festivals but we had a fuzz guitar and were way too loud, a lot of people didn’t like that so much. We had to find our own audience. I do remember playing with The Mummies back in the days of their first tour and that was fun !

 

Yves.

After your first 2 releases (Nightmares 7” & the LP Masks), the album ‘Hunch’ was released and the sound had changed into what most people would recognise as The Monsters ‘sound’…..A much Trashier vibe and less of the classic Rockabilly style…What had caused the change?

That was because our lead guitarist split from the band and the drummer too so we were forced into becoming a trio, I wasn’t a very good guitar player but had to play all of Yves parts….So I replaced the technical parts with a wall of fuzz (Like Bryan Gregory) and we were all happy with that, on the other hand the Psychobilly scene wasn’t all that open minded anymore, a lot of fascist and narrow minded people had joined the scene who only went to see bands if there was a stand-up bass! So, we got rid of it too. A, it was too big for the van and B, we didn’t want the band to be musically defined by an instrument!  And after that we just trashed all the gigs.

1st US release on Dionysus Records.

Was it around this time that you spent time in the US and Mexico? How did the meeting with Lee Joseph happen and the release of (The most excellent) ‘Betty Pages Of Fright’ on his Dionysus label.

Lee was one of the cats from Yard Trauma who were organised by the Bern Garage scene to play over here in the mid 80’s along with The Miracle Workers (I became best friends with Robert ‘Pantichrist’ Butler and we played in a lot of bands together). Anyway Lee is a fantastic guy and he offered to release a single on his label, it was Christmas time and there’s a X-Mas song on the flip side. We became friends and I got to visit LA many times. Bern has a big connection with LA as we’ve many friends there and visit each other often, it was in 1992 while in LA that I first saw Mexican wrestling! I went straight to a sex shop and bought a Mexican wrestling mask and started ‘Lightning Beat-Man’ my one man band!

Oh, I missed that one !

Was it also around this time that you got to meet and interview  Hasil Adkins? It’s hilarious and rather surreal meeting (It’s all available on Youtube). Did you have to track him down?

That was around 1995, I was already touring as Lightning Beat-Man, my wrestling, Rock ‘n’ Roll one man band around Europe, which was surprisingly successful ! So Rocco Klein from MTV was a big fan and he gave me a TV spot on his station…I made 3 shows for him and in one of them I went to the USA to visit people, my girlfriend back then was the camerawoman and I was just playing the clown and wanted to visit my all-time superhero…Hasil Adkins ! We knew he lived in Madison, West Virginia but this was pre-internet and so we went there and it’s a huge city with a couple of million people living there (You sure about that?), not the same as a Swiss town with just a few thousand….Hahaha. So we went to banks, post offices even supermarkets asking if someone knew Hasil Adkins, finally a postman told us the way and we went to visit him, a very, very funny experience. He was like a drunk, child genius, character.

Beat-Man, Vegas style !

Tell us a bit more about the wrestling/Lucha libre. What made you bring it back to Switzerland and did you break much furniture in the apartment?

While I was in The Monsters and we are Swiss and all democratic etc, I was much further with a few of my ideas than the rest of the band so I had to form a one man band to release my creativity. I’d been recording on my tape desk since about 1984 and actually had my first solo show in 1990 but wasn’t very good, just me and my guitar. So I went to the US and saw Lucha libre there for the first time and got blown away! Thought to myself, why not mix all that up and do a one man Lucha libre band? I convinced myself and when I got back home, I did it, the idea in my head was : A. If I fight against myself, I always win ! B. Be a superhero! C. Only have 5 songs and just make the rest up. D. never play the 5 songs the same way twice so that no-one recognises them!  While I was roadying for bands touring in Europe, I started doing the support slot and the Lightning Beat-Man show just kept getting bigger, in the end I even had a backing band made up from members of The Monsters and The Miracle Workers, then we came up with the idea when we were in a sex shop in Amsterdam for apartment wrestling, that was just such a fun idea that we started the apartment wrestling movement….Hahaha!

Ooooh !

What was happening during 91-95? It’s a long time to leave between albums although there was a fan cassette release in 93 called The Aztec Tapes, why no official release?

That period was just a crazy time of finding yourself and stuff, we still practiced as The Monsters once a week, did shows but the music was getting more intense, more Trash but I was ready to go, I’m a maker and a pusher though sometimes I push too hard….So I went on a world tour as Lightning Beat-Man, did up to 300 shows a year, split up with my girlfriend, almost lost it etc…A very intense time but The Monsters was always home, were more like a men’s club if you know what I mean? We practice, drink beer, talk about girls and troubles, that kind of thing. The Aztec Tapes isn’t anything spectacular, just a kind of compilation that we did, kind of an early Voodoo Rhythm release…I did a lot of tapes back then and The Aztec Tapes was one of them.

Hope you enjoyed the read and we'll try to get the next part of the story up at some point, this post will also appear in the great Rockin' read Mad Music For Bad People with additional photos and stuff..look them up, they're on Farcebook too !

If you're in Bern (Switzerland) take a trip to the record shop, you can find it here :

Munstergasse 76, Bern, Switzerland.

And for more info, check out The Monsters website : www.themonsters.ch

Want to pick up a few bits and pieces by The Monsters ?  We got some here : www.trashwax.com

Keep it Trash folks ! 

           

  

       

The Cramps......Budkon (Russian) Flexi discs and other news.

One more time............please sir !

Firstly, my best wishes for the new year and I hope that everyone has a Crackin' 2016 !

Friggin' grim artwork !

Thought that I'd kick off the new year with a little piece that I'd been meaning to do for ages. When someone thinks about collecting records, and in this sense I mean Cramps releases, for most folk, Russia isn't an area that springs immediately to mind for nabbing rarities and it's true enough to say that actual vinyl releases of interest to me would be nigh on inexistent. But....in the late 80's and early 90's (and long before then too) the Russian company BUDKON were producing flexi discs on an industrial scale, churning out everything from The Osmonds to Frank Zappa and yes, even The Cramps.

Gotta love the artwork !

It's virtually impossible to guage the quantities that these flexis were pressed in, and I'd be very surprised if they were manufactured in runs of more than a thousand copies, in all likelyhood you'd be talking high 100's. On the thorny subject of copyright, first you need to have copyright and intellectual property legislation to protect the works of artists, if this isn't in place, you can't break a law that doesn't exist ! Only having  heard a couple of these I can safely say that sound quality was not of over-riding importance and probably came from cassette recordings of the albums.

Crispy Crackle and a new stylus !

Soviet era Russia must have been an interesting place albeit a difficult one to imagine in the context of today, they had their underground scenes, as did most of the soviet bloc countries (run out the tired cliches of blue jeans and Dr Martens being bartered for in downtown Moscow and the like) and what they did have was a thriving trade in copied cassettes/tapes. In many cases the more obscure/indie stuff was copied direct from various European radio broadcasts before copies of albums could be tracked down and traded....Vive le Mix Tape !   

What we do know of the Budkon releases is that some of them came out in various colours, were 6" by 6" uncut square pressings and came with some pretty awful artwork if it can be called that ? There are at least 26 different flexis from Russia as well as a handful of postcard flexis from Poland, all of which are illustrated in the excellent mini-book 'CRAMPED' which was published by French record label 'KIZMIAZ' (Google them as I'm not joking). Now as rare as they are, some of them turn up occasionally on E(vil)-Bay and there are actually a couple here : www.songsthelordtaughtus.com 

Uhuh !

And while on the subject of Russian releases, we heard over Christmas of yet another boot either due out or possibly even out already although I doubt this as the folk we've dealt with over there don't have it yet. It's from the same source as the fabulous Real Mens Guts LP which came out last year and so if it's anywhere near the quality of that I'm on the list. Haven't heard any of the tracks that are on it yet or even what it is exactly apart from that it's recordings from 1986 in England (A Date with Elvis Tour ?) but the cover looks great if that's anything to go by. Once it surfaces I'll be all over it like a rash but don't hold your breath as the last time proved a nightmare with the good people at the customs and import admin...Anyway, soon as I know more I'll get a post up. 


Have a Rockin' Rollin' Crampsical 2016 and Stay Sick !

2015. A pretty good year for music and 2016 looking even better !

Classic.

Yep, plenty of fine releases during 2015 means there's a lot less shelf space than this time last year in the Ross household. A couple of great albums from Marcel Bontempi, a heap of Cramps releases due mainly to a loophole in EU laws concerning radio broadcasts which has allowed some UK & German labels to put out a few better than average, semi-official albums, the truly stunning Trash Is Neat 6  featuring a ton of mega rare tracks and how could anyone not be happy with the release on DVD at last of The Cramps gig at the legendary Hacienda. Our friends in Russia have been no slouches either with albums from Messer Chups and The Guitaraculas, while down in Spain a bunch of vinyl came out for The Smoggers and Charm Bag, and the excellent Ghost Highway Records put out the latest vinyl offering by Sweden's The Nomads in the form of the live LP 'Demolicion'.

Absolutely Essential.

Speaking of The Nomads, easily one of my top 5 releases of this year was the long awaited vinyl edition of 'Stagger In The Snow' and we only had to wait 31 years for it !!! For those of you that only know the Nomads from their later 'heavier' output this will come as a complete surprise ! In the early 80's these guys were at the front of the Swedish Garage/Trashabilly wave...along with bands like The Stomach Mouths, Crimson Shadows, Bottle Ups and the like. What we got with this truly amazing release was 30 tracks of pure delight with an almost even split of Rockabilly and 60's Garage Punk covers. The guys down at Bang ! Records have done a remarkable job remastering this and even managed to dig up original artwork...Brilliant considering that original copies of the cassette go for daft prices ! 

 I love this album !

There were also great releases from Diablo Records following on from the awful closure of their studio & record shop in Camden, and I can only imagine it wasn't a very nice time for 'Doyley' (Ex-Klingonz, Zorchmen and current honcho with The Guitar Slingers) trying to keep things afloat as well getting his releases out...Anyway, he did it with a couple of 12" slabs of lovely vinyl from The Guitar Slingers, including the sublime and trashy as hell...'Carnevil Of Souls' and the first new LP from the legendary 'Deltas' in many a year ! Other good news was seeing that Mark Robertson (Yes, that one !...The original drummer of The Meteors) is back behind a drum kit and will be playing gigs during 2016 with The Zorchmen !

Rockabilly Madman.

Not entirely unexpected, it's been the German labels that have been unleashing the bulk of cool vinyl on the world, couple of new volumes of 'Back From The Grave' and those brilliant revamped back-catalogue editions from Crypt, The Fuzztones 30th anniversary re-edition of Lysergic Emanations. Part Records gave us 2..Yes two volumes of the truly awesome, grand daddy of Trash, 'Johnny Legend'. Screaming Apple put out a few cool LPs and a turkey of an album by 'Cozy' (it happens sometimes but it's not to my taste at all). A shedload of quality limited editions at Squoodge from some of my fave artists kept me happy as did a few of the records released by old reliable 'Soundflat'. News of Stag O Lee's 'R-Man' being hospitalised was a low point earlier on in the year but we all hope that he's out of the woods now to keep releasing all of that fantastic stuff he digs up !

Would make the perfect LP sleeve.

One of 2015's highlight's for me was seeing the vastly under-rated 'Hillmans' get their first official release on Western Star, it's real shame it only came out on CD but then, who knows what may transpire during 2016 ? If you haven't got this album, you're really missing out on something special, Their mix of Old Scool Psychobilly, Garage Trash with a healthy dose of Cramps sensibilities gives them a remarkably fresh sound which puts them apart from a lot of the clone type bands....Yeah, you need this !



Little taster of what is coming in 2016, just the tip of the Iceberg but enough to get me looking forward to seeing the postman !
- Messer Chups : Spooky Hook LP......Coming out in early March (maybe earlier)
- Marcel Bontempi : Wolfcall 7"..........Coming out on Migraine Records during Spring.
- The Smoggers : LP.............................Coming out on Soundflat early 2016.
- The Go Go Cult : Headhunter 10".....Coming out on Western Star in mid January.
- Dr Bontempi's Snake Oil Co :  CD....Coming out on Squoodge in mid January.
- The Monsters : New LP ....................Coming out on Voodoo Rhythm during 2016.
- The Charity Case : How To Fall LP...Coming out in Spring 2016.
- Rev Beatman : New LP......................Coming out on Voodoo Rhythm during 2016.
- Empti Fish : Anthology LP.................Coming out in Spring.

And here at Trash Wax we've a whole heap of releases which should keep your turntable spinning throughout the year, so keep your eyes peeled and your ears open !  And don't forget to go and buy something from the Trash Wax Webstore....the more you buy, the more we can release ! : www.trashwax.com

And if you don't see anything interesting at the webstore, go get your friggin' eyes checked !....or more reasonably go to our Discogs store where all the one off records are.....over a thousand of the buggers !:  www.discogs.com/seller/Darrenross

Have a great end to 2015, Party like there's no tomorrow ! Wishing you all a Rockin' new year, Fuzz On and Stay Sick folks.
 

More vinyl and other great news......Munster Raving Loony Party Line-Up.

Good man you !

Well, I'm far from being Jack White's number 1 fan as I don't even like The White Stripes and could never understand what all the Hoo Hah was about regarding them...But I have to admit, he's put his money where his mouth is and has done something about an issue which is close to his heart and which he's obviously very passionate about, not only has he opened a Third Man Record Store in Detroit (I believe) but he is due to bring a substantial pressing plant (also Third Man) online any day now...Hat's off to you Dude !....damn sight more real than buying a yacht or a small island in The Carribean !

Someone had to fill in all the info...by hand !

Squoodge Records out of Berlin celebrated their 10th anniversary this year in splendid style by releasing a series of (very) limited 7"s via the Squoodge record club, the final 2 singles turned up this week and what a pair of beauties they are ! The last to be released will probably send all of the Billy Childish fanatics into some form of collective frenzy as it's the Pop Rivets 'John Peel Session' from 29th Jan 1980...A beautiful item I'll admit, pressed in swirled purple vinyl and at just a 100 copies, it's sure that an example or 2 will no doubt appear on Ebay fetching silly money at some point. Another in the series that will have collectors salivating all over the place is the Marcel Bontempi 7", again a lovely, swirled vinyl edition of a 100, numbered copies featuring 2 previously unheard tracks, 'Mambo Jazz' with 'My Father's Grave on the flipside....very nice indeed. Other releases in the series saw Trixie Trainwreck paired with Rev Beatman, Bloodshot Bill had a release to himself as did Bill Fadden & The Dangerous curves (more news about Bill Fadden later) and the 7" from Fia Sco & The Majestics cetainly was a new one on me, pleasantly so....The other releases were by King Salami, The Laser Mutants, Gerritt & The RnR Stalinists, Travis O'Neill, Chris Almoada, Babe Miller & His Tear Droppin' Fools....A decent clutch of very desirable vinyl by anyones standards !  

As I mentioned there a little earlier, news that Bill Fadden and The Rhythmbusters were calling it a day and hanging up the instruments was put out over social media. Bill, as some of you know, was one of Marcel Bontempi's backing musicians when MB appeared in the UK and long before that he spent a couple of years as guitarist in The Go Go Cult. During his time with The Rhythmbusters they released a bunch of great 7"s for Migraine & Squoodge all of which are well tracking down incidently....Whatever comes next ? I'm sure it'll be well catching.

US edition sleeve.

It's also been a bit of a bumper year for Hound Gawd Records too, they -rereleased the classic debut album 'Lysergic Emanations' by The Fuzztones, with half the pressing housed in the UK released sleeve and the other half in the US released version. Some of them were coloured vinyl (Slime green, obviously) and all come with a nice Fuzztones logo poster....hard to believe that it's been 30 years since this first came out....I remember quite clearly seeing them as the support to The Damned at Portsmouth guildhall....was rather taken by them at the time too ! Also out on vinyl was the Legendary Shackshakers album 'Cockledoodledon't'...class album which had only ever been available on CD upto this point....

Pretty damned decent...*****

Now, here's a thing....If you get Matt Verta-Ray (Speedball Baby & Heavy Trash) to produce a power trio which includes The Cramps last drummer 'Jungle' Jim Chandler....something pretty interesting is going to happen ! And you can take it from me that The Twin Guns album is fair awesome ! Called 'The Last Picture Show' it's a hard one to nail into any pigeon hole...There's a bit of early Gallon Drunk in there, a bit of late era Gun Club and they cover 'Harlem Nocturne' a favourite of mine (the version by The 5678's), folk who like The Flaming Stars would love this and for sure a wee nod to The Cramps in parts....can't say I'm overwhelmed by all of the vocals but it's a minor detail.     Here's the promo vid for the album :  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRDHYCxw3UM

Buy me here : www.trashwax.com

Unless you've been asleep for most of this year, well, since about May...you'll have noticed that we've gotten ourselves into the record releasing business (Huzzah !) but it hasn't gone anywhere near as smoothly as we'd imagined (No shit, I hear)...But we still managed 4 LPs, a 7" and a CD ! Our latest release The Shockwaves 'No Way In, No Way Out' which should have been with us a couple of weeks ago still hasn't materialised so no surprises there as the factories have only managed 1 (one) delivery that was 'almost' on time ! So our last release was basically those Trashtastic Gooners from Reading (UK) The Go Go Cult ! If you haven't got this yet, I'd encourage you to asap as it's really rather good and not only that, we got Marcel Bontempi to do the artwork so it's nice looking too ! As it's pretty much pointless trying to do an orderly schedule, we have adopted the approach of 'It gets here, when it gets here ! So in no particular order we have for your delectation in 2016, the following, 12" EP 'Feline Frenzy' Marcel Bontempi, CD 'No Way In, No Way Out' The Shockwaves, LP 'Spooky Hook' Messer Chups, MLP 'The GooGoo Muck Sessions' The Raymen, LP The X-Men Vs The Vibes, LP 'Into The Syntax Era' The Sine Waves, LP or CD The Bugs & The Halflings, 7" Charm Bag, 12" 'Spider Baby' Vince Ripper and a heap more which are currently under wraps ! Just keep your eyes peeled !

Last year we had a bit of a spring break in Spain at the MUNSTER RAVING LOONY PARTY and it was a ball, yep ! We got off our faces, we were at times desperately drunk, we saw some great bands and met lots of lovely people...so we're heading back at the end of April for what is to my mind one of the best 'meets' / 'minifests' around, with no further ado here's what's on the menu this time ! In no order whatsoever : Jack Oblivion, The Sick Rose, DeadElvis, The Mobbs, The Mokkers, The Morlocks, Sex Crime, Muck & The Mires (Looks like this years preferred letter is 'M' for bands names !) Thee Gravemen and headlining the whole shebang....The one and only Leadfoot Tea !


Most of the stuff mentioned on these pages is available for a few schillings so don't forget to go and buy some records (stock items) here : www.trashwax.com
And here for one offs, OOP stuff and expensive bits : www.discogs.com/seller/Darrenross

Have fun and Stay Sick peeps !

The Guitaraculas.....New LP 'Two Bottles Of Blood'

Available here : www.trashwax.com

The amazingly awesome GUITARACULAS have an LP out at last and it's on our very own Trash Wax label....for those of you who may not be familiar with The Guitaraculas or Messer Chups (the over talented Oleg Gitarkin plays in both) they're a Russian band taking Rockabilly and Surf into some pretty damned interesting places ! It's not easy for these guys to get together very often as Oleg is based in St Petersburg, Sasha in London and Rockin' Eugene is in Moscow and the Sax player is in The Netherlands somewhere so any chance of catching them live really shouldn't be missed !
This album very nearly didn't happen at all as Oleg explains it developed out of what was more or less a jam session....The CD release of the album was released in Russia on Oleg's label 'Gitaracula Records' with completely different mixes than the tracks on this lovely vinyl release. Here's what Oleg had to say in a recent interview for Mad Music For Bad People magazine (highly recommended incidently). I just think that these guys are the dog's bollox and if you need any more convincing just checkout the video below of 'Vampira's Curse'....Pure Magic !

Video for 'Love's Secret Domain' : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbnYUHnR9TU

- Who are The Guitaraculas and where are they based ?

Initially we started off as a duo – myself, Oleg Guitaracula of Messer Chups on guitar and my friend Sasha Bassferatu of an old Russian 80’s goth band on bass and vocals (he also appeared as The Voxter on Messer Chups’ Heretic Channel album). I live in St. Petersburg, Russia and Sasha lives in the UK, in Manchester. Later, Ir  Vendermeulen ( who incidentally lives in Amsterdam), became our saxophone player. Recently, we grew into a four piece – we got Rockin’ Eugen from Moscow on drums. So, as you can see, we are an international outfit really.

Different artwork for the Russian CD (rear).

- When did The Guitaraculas first start and why ?

About a year ago, in November of 2013 to be precise, Sasha was visiting St. Petersburg and we decided to do a cover of Coil – just the two of us you know? We got ourselves into a studio and ended up doing an albums worth of tracks. I had some riffs and half-finished pieces, plus a few complete songs. Sasha added some lyrics where they were needed, and we kinda “kept the tape rolling” – know what I mean? I asked Ir to add some sax, theremin vox  and I also played the drums on the original recording. Then I spent ages mixing the thing – between other work and touring with Messer Chups etc. 

The Linkster !

- Describe The Guitaraculas sound and what are their influences ? Where does the inspiration come from ?

Its basically the 60’s surf with some hot-rod, rockabilly, horror and any other retro psychotronic trash thrown into – you name it. We are influenced by many - From Link Wray and The Cramps to Ministry and Coil, from Henry Mancini and John Barry to Bauhaus and Nick Cave. 

- Are The Guitaraculas and The Bonecollectors related ?

Not at all, these are two very different projects.

I just like this poster !

- What is the 'Scene' like in Russia for bands such as The Guitaraculas ?

There isn’t such a thing as “retro” scene in Russia, not in the terms as it is in Europe. In big towns like Moscow and St. Petersburg there is a reasonable niche for this sort music, although it’s admittedly a far narrower gap than say in Spain. But it’s always been like this – in “retro cultural” aspects Russia is quite behind such countries. We do have some rockabilly and psychobilly bands and some surf and garage bands (they are all decent musicians, to extend) – but the situation with clubs is dire. That is probably why initially, The Guitaraculas didn’t plan to play live, but with addition of a drummer I think we just might. I reckon we may prove a good draw, purely on the connection with Messer Chups if anything else.    

Video For 'Vampira's Curse' : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbnYUHnR9TU

- What are the plans for future Guitaraculas releases ? More albums ? singles ?

I think we are slowly gearing up for a second album. We did some video shooting this summer – there will be two new videos of us on You-tube pretty soon. One is a full blown trash overtake of the Coil number – Love’s Secret Domain. The other is going to be an upgraded version of Vampira’s Curse. So look out. 

- Apart from playing in Russia are there any plans to take The Guitaraculas on tour to Europe ?

Anything is possible. The trouble is we all live so far apart, we don’t even rehearse regularly, but if there are offers we might do it – why not?

- Can you tell us or recommend other bands which are similar to The Guitaraculas ?

Why, of course, the Messer Chups, haha ))))

- Anything you would like to say or add in closing?

There will be a double cd release in Australia soon – one disc will be a Messer Chups album and the other The Guitaraculas.  I have remixed it for the occasion – asked our drummer to overdub my original drumming (I was never happy with it). The album seems to be doing seriously well, considering we basically recorded it to amuse ourselves. But then, this is quite a common thing with many interesting objects d’art isn’t it?

Big thanks to Oleg & Sasha.

BUY THE ALBUM HERE : www.trashwax.com   or just email me at the address above.

Stay Sick Kiddies !