Finally, Halloween is getting its musical due. Â OK, OK, technically the latest album from Southern Culture On the Skids, Zombified, is a tribute to all the awesome grade B horror movies that used to come to the drive-ins and dollar theaters when I was mis-spending my youth. Â But a tribute album is generally music that was written for whatever is being honored. Â In this case, most of the tunes are original SCOTS compositions. Â So it’s more of a theme album. Â And the theme is zombies and witches and vampires and bats. Â That’s Halloween, right?
The disc starts off with the title cut that’s a double entendre about a girlfriend being an actual zombie and just being in that state of mind, “she’s more dead than alive, she’s got no spark in her eyes.” Â Next up is Undertaker with a bubbling cauldron intro ala Monster Mash. Â Then comes Swamp Thang that’s full of Dick Dale and LInk Wray riffs. Â By this point in the project you remembers that SCOTS has been around 25+ years and they can drop a groove on just about any kind of roots music. Â The roots review continues with Bloodsucker, a Rastafarian beat to vampire lyrics. Â One of the most fun songs is Torture, which starts with a woman’s scream, then puts a Shirelles style 50’s spin on the sadistic side of relationships.
Not many bands could pull this album off. Â It’s chock full of sound effects and fun ear candy. Â But it has the solid musicianship of SCOTS behind it, and the lyrics hold their own even without the horror flick background. Â Having said that, go out and get this album to play at this year’s Halloween party. Â You don’t have to be embarrassed about the music and yet it’s going to add some ambiance to the evenings festivities.
Listen to these tracks: Torture, Bloodsuck, Zombified
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.