As many of the readers who roam through the pages of this zine know, my all time favorite horror writer is H.P.Lovecraft. I always admired metal bands who were inspired by his works and worlds, and I always tried to find that ultimate band who would put Lovecraft words into melody and blend it in one great whole. Now I found it.
Terrible Old Man hail from Germany and this is their second full length album and what could I expect from a band who named themselves after one of Lovecraft stories? Frankly, I expected much and I got much. Imagine a band whose every lyric and song evolves and is directly derived from your favorite writer and his work. Well this album contains 10 songs of pure horror packed in melodic up tempo mix of heavy and doom metal but the band is not afraid to venture in some blast beat and faster waters. The vocals are cleanly sung and the singer does a great job. Oh yeah, to add more greatness, I checked the line up of the band and every member of the band is also named after one of the characters from Lovecraftian universe. This is an album that has it all, great music, great lyrics and I am happy I discovered this band.
When I first heard THE SCARECROW SHOW music I immediately fell in love. Their high energy punk was so contagious that I listened to it on repeat for days. Then I realized that it was about time to talk with the guys for my zine. Here is the interview.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR BAND TO THE PEOPLE THAT ARE READING THIS AND NEVER HEARD OF YOU?
High-energy rock n’ roll! We draw influences from a lot of different places but when you put it all together, the end result is some energetic, high-energy, punk-rock n’ roll.
WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR LYRICAL INSPIRATION FROM? WHAT COMES FIRST, MUSIC RIFFS OR LYRICS?
All of the songs start from one idea, just a little spark of creativity, which could really be anything from a riff, some lyrics or even just one line. Then we take that idea and just run with it until it eventually sculpts itself into a song.
HAVE YOU EVER PLAYED IN EUROPE? WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE THE CULTURAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN EUROPEAN AND THE U.S.CROWDS?
The Scarecrow Show has yet to make its live debut in Europe but we are definitely looking forward to getting over there as soon as we can! Some of our musician friends have told us that European crowds are very energetic and can be very supportive and embracing of bands that they love, so that is certainly something we’d like to experience!
YOU RECENTLY PUT OUT THE SINGLE WHICH IS THE MISFITS COVER. THERE IS A LOT OF ARGUING OUT THERE WHICH INCARNATION OF THE MISFITS IS THE BEST, WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Yes, we recorded a cover of “Vampira” as an outtake for our second album (which we are currently in the process of completing), just because it’s a song that we’ve been playing as a band for a while now and we all really enjoy it. The three of us are all fans of The Misfits and we all have slightly differing opinions on the topic of the different versions of the band, so we really just like to appreciate their legacy in its entirety and acknowledge the Danzig and Graves eras separately but equally. Both incarnations of the band have put out some great records and obviously everyone has different tastes so not everyone is going to like it all, but we do! Both versions of The Misfits have their strengths and weaknesses which have been argued for years now, but as fans we try not to take sides, we just appreciate the legacy of the band as a whole.
DID YOU GO TO SOME SCHOOL AND LEARNED TO PLAY YOUR INSTRUMENTS THERE?
Jon (drums/lead vocals) and Ben (bass guitar), who have written all the original songs the band has currently released, are self-taught and have no educational background in music. They simply started playing music at a very young age and kept at it throughout the years. Vince (guitar/vocals) is the only who has had any formal music education: starting out on classical violin at age 4 he eventually moved over to guitar and joined the band earlier this year. From a songwriting standpoint we’re very excited to move forward incorporating his influences on the future releases!
ARE THERE ANY URBAN LEGENDS IN YOUR AREA? IF THERE ARE, CAN YOU SHARE SOME WITH US?
Our home of western New York is home to many urban legends! One from our area that we find particularly fascinating is that of “Pigman Road”. In the town of Angola, NY there is a mile-long country road (formally known as Holland rd.) winding through the woods where (legend has it) at one time a deranged butcher lived out there by himself until some teenagers decided to seek him out and started bothering him. So according to the legend he murdered the kids and posted their heads on stakes to warn others to stay away.
LETS TALK HORROR. ANY PREFERENCES IN THE MANY SUBGENRES OF THE HORROR? MINE ARE SLASHER AND HAMMER HORROR BUT ALSO I AM A SUCKER FOR FOUND FOOTAGE!
Whatever evokes a strong emotional response is considered to be good horror to us! Whether it’s a low-budget found-footage film or the newest sci-fi horror film with state-of-the-art special effects, anything that really grips you and creates a strong response is considered to be good horror to us!
HOW IS LIFE AND SCENE IN YOUR HOMETOWN? WHAT DO YOU DO FOR LIVING? ANY BANDS, VENUES, ZINES…? CAN YOU RECOMEND SOME BANDS?
As a band we are based out of a very small town in a rural area so we have to drive a bit just to get to the various “scenes” that we are a part of, but we are very active in the Buffalo, NY music scene as well as the somewhat small but constantly growing rock music scene at the University of Geneseo (which Ben and Vince attend), both of which receive us very well. There are a ton of very talented local bands in our area that we know of so our local scene as a whole definitely seems to be on the upswing! But honestly we’ve received the best responses on the road playing in different cities so we’re looking to do some more traveling in the future. Ben and Vince are both attending college and Jon currently works at a restaurant as we attempt to take the band to the next level. And some other local bands we seriously enjoy are Dredneks (swamp-metal) and Malarchuk (doom-metal)!
WHAT IS BETTER IN YOUR OPINION-GREAT HORROR MOVIE OR NICELY WRITTEN HORROR BOOK? I MEAN IT IS REALLY HARD TO DECIDE ISNT IT?
Very tough question! Jon and Ben are big readers so our first thought is that a book is better because everyone can visualize the story in their own way, only based on the details the author has laid out, and that makes reading a uniquely personal experience. But we would probably have to say that overall, a masterfully-directed film is better than a spectacularly-written book because a film allows the director to get their point across to all in a unified way that all viewers can internalize in (more or less) the same way, right down to the exact details that when written, some readers may skip right over or miss entirely. Often times it is the small details that make something truly great, so we would have to say that a great film is better simply because it minimizes the chances of the details of a story getting lost translation.
WHAT IS THE FUTURE HOLDING IN STORE FOR THE SCARECROW SHOW?
We are currently planning the release of our second album as it gets closer to completion, and as we mentioned previously: we definitely plan to do some more traveling as a band in the near future. For now we’re scheduling a couple more short tours for 2018 so stay tuned for more details, we’ve got a lot in the works right now!
INTERVIEW COMES TO AN END. DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO ADD AND WOULD LIKE TO SAY AND I DIDNT ASK YOU?
Check out our music at www.bandcampcom/thescarecrowshow , on iTunes, Youtube, or wherever you get your music, and thank you very much for having us as well as supporting us! It’s because of people like you that rock n’ roll will never die!
Spill Your Guts is a band made of international crew, based in Shanghai, China. After releasing a couple of ep-s, this is their first full length studio album.
Spill Your Guts play pretty darkened hardcore punk with some black metal and rock n roll influences. The guys really know how to play, they recently returned from the extensive Russian tour. I would love to see them and hear them live one day. The album has 9 tracks and it is an energetic bomb so it will melt your face off and make your ears bleed with pleasure.
The lyrics are all in English language and I love how they are written, kinda deep but with a sharp edge. Thematically, they deal with some personal issues like being far from home, but also a lot of political stance, like fighting against prejudices in modern society, then again about friendship and how to keep it, and these guys have a really big heart and it is in a right place. This album proves that hardcore has no physical boundaries. The music is metal influenced and very dark, but also has some very fast blastbeats in song structures that kinda slow down in almost sludgy passages in some parts. Vocals are screamed and nicely done but there are also some clean melodic sung parts like in “Satan 3(some)”
This album is really good and if you love your hardcore punk with some dark stuff, get it and support these guys, I am sure that every support means a lot to them!
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 