The HorrorPops are covered by The Journal Press!
The Warped Tour is like any enterprise. It has to offer a consistently strong product at an affordable price. And as far as the music business, it has to constantly evolve to meet changing tastes without completely alienating the fans and artists who have made it an annual summer event for 11 years running.
This year, among the legions of three-chord screamers who never seem to go out of style stands the horrific vaudevillian psychobilly/punk upstarts HorrorPops.
The Denmark-born, L.A.-based HorrorPops combine a love for many things --- 1950s rockabilly music, sneering punk attitude and speed with hints of ska and new wave --- into one jumpy side show. Along with the musical escapades are No-No and Kamilla, two go-go dancers from the wrong side of the tracks who complete the HorrorPops' traveling circus show by being as anti-pretty as they can.
Lead singer and upright bassist Patricia Day admits HorrorPops attract the curious as much as the fervent followers. Their maverick sound and set-up also lends them a minority status in punk music, one that defies so many of the conventions imposed on an art form borne from iconoclasm.
"Rock 'n' roll has shrunk; there's not that many people who listen to it anymore," Day said by phone during a recent off-day from the tour. The road-weary festival stops Wednesday at Verizon Wireless Music Center, Noblesville. "It's kind of become a subculture and R&B is taking over. And when something becomes a subculture, there's always this need to split it up even more. It started in the '90s with the whole grunge period. We should all get over it and admit if it has two guitars and an electrified drum kit, we kind of like it."
HorrorPops --- rounded out with lead guitarist Kim Nekroman (former bassist for the Nekromantix and Day's husband), guitarist Geoff Kresge and drummer Niedermeier --- allow each member to include his or her love of trashy music, tawdry fashion and tasteless B-movie humor into the final product. That, in large part, makes their music so noncategorical.
"We don't plan on anything," Day said. "We are six people in a band; we do have all these influences."
In fact, her philosophy behind their high-camp quotient is really quite simple: "If it's fun to play, we'll play it."
When Day and Nekroman first formed HorrorPops, one avenue they took for inspiration was swapping their instruments. Day took on bass and Nekroman took to six strings. They extended that idea to Kresge, their newest member who up until last year was playing upright bass in fellow Hellcat outfit Tiger Army.
"When we went to find somebody else, we said it's gotta be a friend before all," Day said. "We really don't care if the person can play guitar. That's the HorrorPops story. Kim and I swapped instruments. We don't play instruments we can actually play the best; we just have fun with it."
Though it might make for unusual and stimulated collaboration, it can also make it tougher to simply perform. Day concedes she still isn't completely comfortable playing the upright bass.
"It feels like a coffin, it's so big," she said with a hearty laugh. "I still don't know how to play it. I've played it since '96 and still feel like a beginner on it."
Singing and simultaneously strumming such a monstrosity makes for a memorable workout, too.
"Try running up a hill while you clap your hands and sing at the same time. That's about the feeling I have on stage."
Nonetheless, good times are paramount in HorrorPops. Though this sleazy mirth machine sports a married couple, the camaraderie is evident among everyone in its ranks.
"I would say we're all married," Day said. "We can tell each other's dirty underwear apart. In the band, we're all each other's wives, husbands, brothers, fathers. I know it sounds blah, but it's true. We're together basically in one room 11 months out of the year, so I don't know who's husbands with whom anymore."
By Wade Coggeshall
wade@jrpress.com