We've got a SECRET...!

Greetings to All!


Wowza! What a fantastic few months it's been. The Witches have been very busy, brewing up some tasty concoctions that will blow everyone out of the cauldron once it's announced.


Can't let the old black cat out of the bag just yet, but stay tuned, 'cuz you won't be disappointed. 


Get ready to PARTY!!!

The 2011 Horror Hootenanny in Nashville...

This year's Horror Hootenanny was a total rockin' SUCCESS!!!

Our hats off to Dr. Gangrene and all the amazing bands (The Creeping Cruds, Alucard, Coffin Bangers, Spookhand, and headliner Dead Dick Hammer) who made this year's Hoot the bloodiest best ever.

Your (G)hostess, EllieBatt!

A full write up and photos will follow in the days to come... for now, we must return to the Crypt and slave away at a few other projects we have in the works. But for now, we tease you and leave you with a few tasty photos to nibble on!

Scaree poses with a truly scary Zombie!

The lovely and talented purveyor of Evil Pumpkins, Tanya Roid Coffinberry!
(Jeano Roid Coffinberry looms in the background)

Zombie Mark and GhoulEllie

Dr. Gangrene and Little Bloody Dead Bo Peep

The 30th Anniversary of THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION - as performed by the Eat My Fuks

A Loving Tribute!

July 30^th – The Pond - Franklin, Tennessee

In the dark days of 1981, an unknown independent filmmaker by the name of Penelope Spheeris shook up our cozy, sanitized little existence with the release of her documentary about the underground local punk rock scene in the southern California streets and suburbs. Featuring concert footage of legendary Los Angeles punk bands of the day (X, Circle Jerks, Fear, The Germs, The Alice Bag Band, Catholic Discipline, Black Flag) and interspersed with interviews of band members, the publishers of Slash Fanzine, and the young punks who made up the majority of the audience, the film was a social statement, offering a look into a growing subculture that was sick of having been force-fed the bloated carcasses of commercial rock, and was, for the most part, largely ignored by both the corporate music industry and media of the time - and was actually considered a dangerous threat by the authorities.

This movie caused such uproar at the time that the city’s infamous police chief, Daryl Gates, wrote letters to the local theaters, demanding the film not be shown anywhere in southern California, for fear of riots and outright anarchy in the streets.

Three decades later, Chief Gates is long-gone and forgotten… and Spheeris’s epic film has grown to cult status the world over. 

In recognition of the 30^th anniversary of Spheeris’s seminal punk rock movie, local Nashville musicians, the EAT MY FUKS – an impressive who’s who of old school punk luminaries from present and past Nashville bands (including Children Shouldn’t Die, The Exotic Ones, Rednecks in Pain, The Creeping Cruds, Fun Girls from Mount Pilot, Committee for Public Safety, I am Sabot, Cretin Grims, 9 Parts Devil, and Scrotum Dog) mashed together to create what us oldsters affectionately refer to as an "AARPunk-approved hardcore band." But that little bit of gray on their heads didn’t signal any slacking decreptitude whatsoever – the EAT MY FUKS proved that PUNK ROCK IS NOT DEAD!

For those of us old geezers who were there the first time this went around, it was a gas to reignite the booze-driven fires of youth that have not (as yet!) flickered out.

Oi! We're desperate (for more PBR)!

The gig was full of heart, piss and vinegar (and copious amounts of Pabst Blue Ribbon) made magic with a running video of the movie projected on a large screen behind the stage as live music melded perfectly to a veritable punk rock cornucopia of songs. 

Please be advised you will be filmed. Blah blah blah.

Here, the old guard showed the new kids what real talent and devotion meant in honor of this landmark film. Back in the day, when MTV was in its infancy (and you could actually see punk rock videos played on the channel!), it was all about teen angst and rebellion in Bible-thumpin,' Regan-era America … but today, for those of us nearing that 50-something age mark, it was all we could do not to break our half-century old hips as we slammed gently to the frenetic energy given off in abundance, and gave beer-soaked bellows of glee each time the iconic Eugene appeared onscreen, which added a humorous element to this incredible show.

 

And what a show it was - definitely the best punk show we’ve seen in a very, very long while! We felt like we were back home in Los Angeles and even developed a case of the nostalgic chill bumps up and down our spines. 


Highlights included a fantastic homage to The Germs’s lead shrieker Darby Crash by Children Shouldn’t Die’s Mike Sims, who reveled in his perhaps too-convincing performance of 'Manimal' by faux-drunkenly slurring the lyrics, and falling bodily across tables, into patron’s laps and then onto the stage floor. 

Mike Sims and Troy Guinn

Mike teeters ...

Mike, Crash-ed out!

Audience members wondered aloud if he was really that drunk – it was fucking hilarious to see their bemused nervousness of Sims’s Crash-inspired antics!

Children Shouldn’t Die’s Melysa Baucom and The Exotic Ones’ Troy Guinn delivered solid chunks of creamy X goodness, executing their best Exene/John Doe chops of several songs, including 'Johnny Hit and Run Pauline' and 'We’re Desperate' to perfection as the Creeping Cruds resident guitar god, Jeano Roid Coffinberry, chopped chords like the Devil himself.

Melysa and Troy hit and run it

The kick-ass Baucom later returned to stir up some wholesome punk rock shit with Fear’s 'I Don't Care About You.'

Melysa recruits while Charles affirms

 Wolfie Von Crud (lead howler from The Creeping Cruds) did Lee Ving proud by successfully ripping to bloody shreds a cavalcade of Fear songs, including 'Beef Baloney' and everyone’s heartwarming punk favorite, the anthemic 'I Love Livin' in the City.'

Wolfie howls for Beef Baloney while Jeano shreds!

 Let’s not neglect to mention the stellar performance by Rednecks in Pain’s Charles Tidball and his array of Circle Jerks songs. Tidball had the audience and the entire slam pit up front of the stage in a writhing whirl with his powerful Keith Morris-inflected vocals.

Charles doesn't care about you. No, actually, he does!

 "Just like how nursing homes make the residents do the 'YMCA' and 'Get Physical' in the name of exercise, in 30 years from now, they’ll be doing a circle skank to 'Blitzkrieg Bop,'" Tidball quipped. 

9 Parts Devil’s lead crooner Dave Willie delivered a one-two punch, first with his surprising rendition of a finger snappin,’ agro-lounge version of the old Misfits gem, 'Skulls' (joined in with a very harmonic Mike Sims) and then later slamming with the best of them to a litany of Black Flag songs with a ladies’ nylon stocking pulled over his head for startling effect.

Dave wants your skull... he needs your skull!

And the hardest working drummer in the biz award goes to Mark Medley, who threw down the beat for everyone with nary a break in between!

Mark Medley, man of steel (and sticks)!

 Warm punk rock fuzzies were had all around! Music City’s best of the best hinted that another performance of the DECLINE tribute was already in the works… we sure as fuck hope so! Our solitary complaint about this steaming-hot, summer night’s show was that it ended far too soon for our liking. We want to know if this will indeed pan out, because you can count on us being there, raising our fists as high as our ancient, arthritic joints will allow as we continue to mosh, clinging to our walkers, shouting out our amended version of the old punk rock credo:

Live Fast! Die… eventually.

And one last thing we all wanted to know that went unanswered was: what the FUK ever happened to Eugene???
- Sheree Allen and Ellie Gee
Photos by Ellie Gee and Carl Lambert
Photo of original boxcover of THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION 
property of Penelope Spheeris

***NOTE: There has in fact been another DECLINE tribute scheduled on October 1st at Foobar in East Nashville! Don't be a poser, be there!

Who gives a Hoot? We do!

Mark your calendars, ghouls and goblins!
Saturday, October 8th at The Muse in downtown Nash-Vegas!
The 8th annual DR. GANGRENE'S HORROR HOOTENANNY!

But first! We'll partner with the annual Nashville Zombie Walk before the show begins.

Like last year, the Zombie Walk is collecting non-perishable food items brought by the zombies in attendance, which will be donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee. Just 'cuz they're undead doesn't mean they're uncaring! The zombies we have known and love happen to be a very generous lot...


After the Walk, everyone will shuffle on down to The Muse to rock out at the Hootenanny. Wicked Witch Productions will be giving away a bag of killer-cool swag: a Day of the Dead Cackling Skull Coffin Case! This one-of-a-kind goodie was lovingly handmade by us Witches ourselves, and will be just one of the prizes awarded by Dr. Gangrene to some lucky attendee at the show.


Who knowz ... it may be YOU!