The Nekromantix land feature piece in Slugmag.com!
The Nekromantix' Kim Nekroman, with his homemade coffin bass, stayed at the forefront of the European psychobilly scene for almost 16 years, until the band's relocation to L.A. With his wife Patricia on upright bass, he picked up the guitar and formed the Horrorpops, who tread all over convention by refusing to be classified into a single genre of music. With a new lineup in the Nekromantix and the completion of the next Horrorpops record, Nekroman looks forward to getting out on the road with his two creations.
I spoke with Nekroman about the past and his future plans, which include the usual mayhem, but he's also got a few new horrors for you all.
SLUG: How did the Nekromantix get started?
Nekroman: Well, back in 1989, I traveled to all these psychobilly festivals all over Europe, and basically, I thought, I'm going to all these shows anyways. I figured I love music, why don't I get fucking paid to go to these shows? I first played the drums in a rockabilly band for three months and found that too boring, so I bought myself an upright [bass] and three months later, I formed the Nekromantix.
SLUG: When did you build the first coffin bass?
N: I formed the Nekromantix in March of 1989, and I set the goal that we'd have our first show in three months, and we did. A friend of ours recorded the show on video. I watched it and we looked like all the other psychobilly bands, and I thought, man, I need something different. So I came up with the coffin-bass idea.
SLUG: So you are the originator of the coffin bass.
N: Oh yeah, oh yeah! I've seen a few copycats---it's true, but I came up with it back then and since then, I think I'm on number five or six.
SLUG: Can you tell us what the new lineup for the Nekromantix is?
N: I can tell who the guitarist is, but the drummer is still a secret. The guitarist is Troy [Russel], who's also known from the Rezurex, and they're a great band, and he's a very talented guitarist.
SLUG: How do you think the new members will change the sound of the band?
N: I don't know. It's not the first time I had a lineup change, so what I see every time when new blood comes into the band, it's kind of like not starting over, but it gives you that extra kick. I don't predict that many changes; obviously, there will be some, but it's not going to be a different band. But I'm sure it's good for the spirit.
SLUG: What does it take to be a member of the Nekromantix?
N: I don't know; I've actually been wondering about that myself. I think basically I'm looking for, obviously, somebody with musical talent, and at the same time, I'm looking at people I think I'll be able work with, so they need to have a good personality. Mostly it's been people that I've known for awhile. I've known Troy for years now. So that's pretty important that I know them as a person as well, because I'll be spending a lot of time with them.
SLUG: What can we expect from the Nekromantix in the future?
N: We've got this tour coming up, and I plan on doing new recordings as soon as I find some time to do that. I am very busy doing two bands, but new recordings is something I definitely want to do.
SLUG: How did the re-release of Brought Back to Life come about?
N: The funny part about that album is actually that the lineup was only three months old when we recorded that, and it kind of shows what new blood in the band can do. I'm not saying that it's that different from the former albums, but it kind of has that freshness to it. That album has been out of production for almost six years now, so about three years ago, I bought the rights to it because I was bummed out that it wasn't out there. Then when we got signed with Hellcat and I started talking to them about the re-release, they just wanted to wait until we got a few albums out. So I think that the time is right, because we do have a bigger audience over here and a lot of those people don't know how to get a hold of stuff like that.
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