Our very own HorrorPops interviewed by The Reno Gazette.
HorrorPops singer Patricia loves living the glamorous life of a rock star.
"I just got off stage five minutes ago," she said recently by cell phone from Pop's nightclub in Saugit, Ill., "and I'm in the bathroom right now sweating my butt off."
Despite her interview location, Patricia sounds happy. The giggles give it away. Her voice resonates with excitement as she talks about the band she shares with husband Kim Nekroman, who plays guitar and sings with the HorrorPops. He also is frontman for the Nekromantix.
"But Nekroman being my husband has nothing to do with the music," she said. "We started this long before we got married. It seems like I'm (friggin') married to five people anyway. It really does, even down to the smelly underwear and washing each other's clothes and making each other food and the fights and the fun and the happiness."
The six-piece band with a sound mixing No Doubt, the Misfits and Tiger Army is from Copenhagen, Denmark. It's on the Punks vs. Psychos Tour that stops June 9 at the New Oasis nightclub in Sparks.
"Make that the Punks and Psychos versus HorrorPops tour," she said, laughing. "We don't really consider ourselves psychobilly and we don't really consider ourselves punks. We're just us."
The "us" she refers to includes drummer Niedermeier, guitarist Karsten and, according to the band's press sheet, Kamilla and Naomi handling "vocals, moanin' and groanin'."
Many people call them go-go dancers.
"I don't know what to call them besides (messed) up," Patricia said. "In a good way. We're just six people on the road. We never sat down and said, 'OK, we need go-go dancers.' It was always the six of us hanging out, so it was logical for us to go together because we like hanging out.
"And it's an equal amount of girls and boys, which always makes the party the most fun."
The HorrorPops are a party on wheels. Although it formed in 1996, the HorrorPops didn't release its first CD until February when "Hell Yeah" was put out on Epitaph subsidiary Hellcat Records. But Patricia doesn't have much to say about the album. It's the live performances she craves.
"That's all we've ever wanted to do was be on the road and play together," she said. "All that other stuff, doing albums and videos and all that crap, that's just there to get us on the road."
The CD contains 13 tracks, most written in 1996.
"It was never intended to be an album," Patricia said. "We went in and recorded six tracks so we had a demo that we could send to venues so we could play. Then we realized after a few years that we were actually sending the same CD to the same venues over again. That was kind of embarrassing. So we recorded seven more songs and figured, 'Hey, we've got 13 tracks, let's put out an album and get more shows. So it's actually a collection of our two demo tapes."
The CD was the main reason the HorrorPops played in America last year for the first time.
"Personally, it's been a dream of mine to be on Epitaph since I was a kid. Then one day I had a chance to meet Tim Armstrong and I was like, 'Hey, do you want to hear our CD?' And he heard it, liked it and signed us. That was really (friggin') lucky. Just a brilliant chance."
Which means more shows for the band. But not much more cash. The band could make more money if only the musicians toured. But that's not an option.
"Money is, of course, a very (friggin') nice thing and I would like to have more of it. But it's not about that. It is expensive being six people on the road, but that is what keeps us on the road is the friendship between the six of us. So it couldn't be less or more."
href='http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2004/06/03/72270.php' target='_blank'>The Reno Gazette