Patricia of The HorrorPops talks with Canada's Chronicle Journal

HorrorPops puts fun back into rock
By Stephanie MacLellan
The Chronicle-Journal

Her head might have been a little foggy from the show the night before, but the lead singer of the HorrorPops was crystal clear about the state of the rock scene in her native Denmark.

"There is none," said Patricia, nursing a hangover in her Edmonton hotel room Thursday morning, before dissolving into giggles. "It's the Third World country of rock 'n' roll. There's five million people in Denmark, and three rock 'n' roll venues."

After growing up surrounded by techno-loving club kids, it shouldn't be surprising that when the HorrorPops started playing rock music, it didn't sound much like any established rock style. The first album, Hell Yeah!, flows seamlessly between punk, surf, rockabilly, ska and '80s pop, sometimes combining elements of each in a single song.

Patricia said that's because of the diverse musical tastes of all the bandmates: guitarist Nekroman, who also leads the Nekromantix; drummer Niedermeier; bassist Geoff Kresge, ex of AFI and Tiger Army; and her fronting the band on stand-up bass.

The way she tells it, there was never enough of a rock-loving population in Denmark to support subcultures that could put parameters on their musical tastes.

"There's all these rules --- you can't all of a sudden play a surf song if you're a punk band," she said. "We started HorrorPops to be a band with no musical limitations.

"We just wanted to play all the music we like, even those records in your collection that everyone has that you don't want to show people you have. Like Barry Manilow."

The resulting sound, with its irreverent take on rock music and horror-movie lyrics, is remarkably fun. At a time when the prevailing mainstream punk sound is earnest and political, it's a throw-back to the Ramones approach to music.

"(Rock) takes itself way too seriously," Patricia said. "Rocking out is not about saying, 'My dad hits me.' It's about drinking a lot of booze, and having a lot of fun."

Which brings us back to that headache Patricia mentioned at the start of the interview, the result of another raucous HorrorPops show the night before. ("There was a lot of beer involved," she moaned.)

With two "evil" hardcore rock go-go dancers, as Patricia describes them, a stand-up bass and other on-stage antics, HorrorPops shows are known for being chaotic and unpredictable.

"People say they don't even know where to look, because there's so much going on, on stage," Patricia said.

The challenge is getting that same experience across in the recording studio. For their upcoming album, Bring It On, they tried for that effect by turning to a punk legend for production help: Bad Religion guitarist and Epitaph Records founder Brett Gurewitz.

"Sitting next to him for a month has been an honour," Patricia said. "I just kept pinching myself.

"He hasn't changed our songs at all. He's really into taking our sound, and getting it on record as well as we do live."

In the meantime, the HorrorPops are enjoying their Canadian tour, which stops at the Apollo tonight. It's the first time they've come to Canada, and Patricia said they wish they'd come sooner.

"It f---in' rocks," she said. "All the shows are sold out, it's so great.

"And especially the guys say, there's a hell of a lot more pretty girls in Canada."

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