INTERVIEW: Wolfman Chuck & The Spookalele of Doom!

Wolfman Chuck and the Spookalele of Doom make horror/gore-inspired ukulele songs. TBW writer Demetrius, loaded with silver bullets, hunted down the Wolfman himself to ask a few questions about what drives this monster!

Demetrius: Alright, so for your project Wolfman Chuck And the Spookalele of Doom- What was the thing that made you say "I'm doing this right-fucking-now"?

WOLFMAN: Wanting to get back out there on stage and showing other the wonders of the Spookalele. I have been in a lot of bands, but they always fell apart...my ego I guess. Some say a Danzig complex - I say - fuck you! Also, I don't have to show others how to play what I write - less aggravation!

D: I guess that's a pretty helpful perk eh? Collaborating with hardheaded people sucks ass, I think everyone who has tried starting a band knows that feeling.

D: Whose music do you feel you incorporate when you write? Say artists like Cancerslug, Doosh Bucket, Danzig... The sound you produce - Who would you like to thank for that?

WOLFMAN: Lyrically I would say GG, Cancerslug, Doosh Bucket, Necrophagia, Misfits. Really hard to say. I mean I listen to those bands so obviously they are an influence. Comics and Movies also. I usually get this idea in my head and go with it to the extreme, it happens naturally. Musically/instrumentally I am just throwing chords together that I like the sound of. Shit I play a uke my sound will be MY sound.

D: Good answer!

D: You know of Cancerslug of course and how the slug cult is like a second family. Where do you want Wolfman to be in the next couple of years with his fans? And do you want that kind of dedication from your fans?

WOLFMAN: I want to still be making music. Others like my music then that's great, we then have a bond and a reason to shoot the shit together. If you don't like what I do - I really don't give a shit. You're probably just a tool anyways. When it all comes down to it, I make my tunes for me.

D: To all the people that complain about the quality of the music (audio or video files). does that make you more reluctant to record a studio album or does that give you more of a reason to record a studio album?

WOLFMAN: Personally I would like to record with studio sound. Always wondered what it would sound like. But I'm fucking broke. As of now I record with a rock-band microphone I found in the trash and the program Audacity that was free online. The sound I am making as of now is fine with me though!

D: Fucking right Wolfman! Well thank you for taking the time out of your day to speak with me and I, as well of the rest of us, look forward to some new tunes!

WOLFMAN: No problem bro and remember- it's all about the love songs!

Check out Wolfman Chuck and the Spookalele of Doom here!

Fogcreature - "How I Got into Horror Music"

When i was a kid, my parents kept me and my sister in day care while they worked. One place we stayed hosted a halloween sleep over. They let the older kids watch awesome, bloody, horror movies. I wasn't old enough to watch, because I was seven, so i snuck into the room where the movies were playing and watched Pet Semetary all the way through. I was behind a bookshelf, scared to death. From then on I was hooked on horror movies. I've also been drawing bloody, gory pictures since kindergarten. Every school that I attended, I got into trouble just by drawing. If a teacher made me mad, I sent them into a death factory complete with chainsaws and circular saw blades (on paper). That evolved into a comic character named 'Blademan' who i would send to decapitate my enemies. Between drawing bloody pictures, reading Chaos! Comics and watching horror movies, I was pretty content.

I always hear musicians talk about their root influences, which are most of the time the same four bands: Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Well, those bands really do nothing for a kid obsessed with horror movies and comic books in the 90s. That's when my love for music really took off. I was twelve/thirteen and in middle school, so round about seventh grade. The school took an overnight field trip to our state capitol, Columbia SC and were allowed portable tape/cd players for the bus ride. Regretfully, I was listening to some Green Day, the Cranberries and other alternative crap when my friend, who I cut up with in science class, threw me a tape. One side was an Adam Sandler comedy record that talked about boobs and said 'fuck' a few times which was cool. The other side was White Zombie - La Sexorcisto. I instantly recognised some sound clips from Dawn of the Dead followed by enough head-banging grooves to change my perception of music for the rest of my time on this planet. I couldn't believe that someone had combined horror movies, heavy guitars and Ed Roth artwork. I begged my friend for the tape and wore the damn thing out in my walkman. As soon as I got home I bought every piece of White Zombie music I could get my hands on, hell, I still do that!

Through high school, along with taking drugs, I was playing drums in a band and sewing Halloween shit all over my clothes like a White Zombie fanboy. I like lots of bands, lots of different genres but I'll always go back to White Zombie for inspiration. White Zombie is my Led Zeppelin, my Black Sabbath. That sounds lame but it's true. For me they are the perfect band. I love horror anything really, love metal, love almost everything Ed Roth ever did. Ed Roth is the father of the rat fink and designed custom cars like the Dragula in the 50s and 60s. I would have loved to meet Ed Roth before he died. Having said all this I'm not a huge Rob Zombie fan. If he were walking my way down the street I'd run the hell away. Because I'm willing to bet my left nut he's a douche, and I'll just be damned if I let anyone ruin La Sexorcisto or Astrocreep 2000 for me.

Fogcreature is horrorstep-producer from the US. You can check out his tracks here!

Ghoulshow - "How I Got into Horror Music"

My whole life I've been fascinated by horror music and its ability to make one cringe or shiver and how the music can cause you to feel the same terror a character is going through. For as long as I can remember horror film scores have captivated me, I can remember as a child, falling in love with scores from movies like Gremlins, Nightmare Before Christmas (or anything composed by Danny Elfman) and Beetlejuice. Since hearing them I had pondered for hours how one goes about creating such beautifully twisted music, and what thought processes must be occurring for such eeriness to exude from a person’s mind.

I spent hours learning about horror music, watching copious amounts of horror films, listening to their scores, and listening to other horror artists and musicians around the globe on CD and on the net. Some artists had a huge impact on the way I view and hear horror music as a whole, such as Nekromantix, Zombie Ghost Train, Nox Arcana, The Meteors, Midnight Syndicate, Calabrese, Camille Saint-Saens, Creature Feature and the like. These artists’ lyrics and music really stuck with me because of its ability to remain catchy, unique and at the same time deliver something that all good horror music does, and that’s fear.

Many films and television shows over the years have had plenty of impact on my ability to create and perceive horror music. Usually it’s a soundtrack to a movie that will grab my inspiration rather than the film itself. The rare few movies and shows that do visually and literally inspire me are flicks like Killer Klowns from Outer Space, anything by Tim Burton, Tales from the Crypt and Creepshow. On top of all this, horror in other media like video games, novels and comics really facilitate a wonderfully spooky mood.

All in all I’d say horror music rather than horror film has a greater effect on how I go about making music as an artist. I draw inspiration from soundscapes and sonic paintings produced in my mind when I hear any kind of music, but seeing something soaked with blood definitely doesn’t hurt the process either!


Canadian producer Ghoulshow makes spooky electronic music which you can check out here!

Tommy Creep's Top 5 Albums of 2013

I must've been living under a rock because I didn't hear about the Spookshow splitting up and forming Miss Behave and the Caretakers until months after this had been released. Since the last Spookshow album came out 9 years ago, I was pretty psyched to hear it. Not at all disappointed, fast horror punk songs with great vocal melodies but with a bit more diversity than the Spookshow.

More awesome horror-themed bass-music from Figure. Switching between hard-hitting drumstep and funky-yet-epic electro-house tracks, all laced with the signature horror-trailer voiceovers. This volume introduces 50s B-Movie-themed tracks and creepy interludes into the mix. Can't wait until next Halloween for the Volume 5!

Big Hoodoo raps about black magic and monsters over well produced beats, not much more to say than that but definitely worth checking out!

A bit of a shock at first, the music is a lot less dark than their previous albums and the horror references are more subtle, but the songs are catchy as hell and the crooning vocal performances couldn't be any better. Definitely a more commercial sound, but if any band deserve to make it big, Calabrese do and if they do so with a vampire-biker themed album, even better.

The usual brilliant exotica-influenced horror-surf tunes. Highlights include the Western-influenced, Less Playboy, More Cowboy and a cover of the classic halloween-novelty, Rockin' Zombie. If you haven't heard of Messer Chups before then this is a good album to start with before checking out the earlier, more experimental, equally awesome albums.