No School Like The Old School

I`m getting a bit sick and bored of the emo and American influence on the modern day psychobilly look. I`d like it if the style went back to the old days of DMs, Creepers, Bleachers, Cut Off Vests/Wifebeaters, proper vintage hand me down Levi`s, painted leather biker jackets, ripped up to fuck band tees and the like! I mean, even dungarees have had a comeback in womens fashion recently so why the hell shouldn`t the new (de)generation of psycho kids embrace their musics fashion history??

There`s nothing wrong with a band tee, jeans and creepers/boots etc but brands such as Lucky 13, Liquor Brand, Kreepsville etc are just too high priced and too be honest are not a true reflection of the style. Old school psychos wore hand me downs or made do with the clothes they already had from their past styles like scooter boys, punks, skins etc and evolved these looks by mixing other styles like rock and roll, teddy boy, rockabilly etc on the cheap.

Psychobilly has never been about being told what to do or what to wear so why should it be now?? Kids, I`m not telling you what to do here btw, it`s just a suggestion, go back and look at old psycho pics (like the ones below) and take some inspiration. I gauarantee you will turn heads on the street!!

Dolemite, mutha'fucka', ya heard'er!

A friend of mine introduced me to the legendary Rudy Ray Moore about a year ago. Before this I`d seen the trailer for the Human Tornadoe on the Grindhouse Trailer Classics DVD but didn`t really know who he was however, I know I liked what I saw.


"I'm gonna let 'em know that Dolemite is back on the scene!"

Since then I`ve searched out little tidbits of info on the man and sourced out his music, films and quotes, the man was a jive talking, ass kicking, lady loving sex machine and it is a shame he is no longer with us.


"Damn! Looks like my women is on time"

His movies include : Dolemite, The Human Tornado, Monkey Hustle, Petey Wheatstraw, Disco Godfather, Rude, B A P S, Penitentiary II, Legend of Dolemite, and more and he generally played the same character in all his movies, his own creation Dolemite.







He has also released records and has worked with the likes of Snoop Dogg, Big Daddy Kane, Insane Clown Posse and Blowfly.






Many say Rudy was an inspiration on the hip hop and black power movements of the late 70`s and early 80`s with many artists citing him as a major influence.


"Dolemite, mutha'fucka', ya heard'er! "

Dolemite you are sadly missed.



"I'm gonna let 'em know that Dolemite is back on the scene! I'm gonna let 'em know that Dolemite is my name, and fuckin' up motha fuckas is my game! "

Another One Bites The Dust

Some sad news today as another bastion of the Manchester clubbing scene sadly passes away. Jillys Rockworld (and the Music Box) is finally closing it`s doors.



Although it is sad I am surprised that the place has lasted as long as it has in the current climate. Cheap drinks and entry were the norm at Jillys and the place never actually seemed to move with the ever changing Manchester scene.

"Originally called Fagin's, it was a well-known caberet club throughout the seventies and eighties where many of the top stars of the day, such as Scott Walker, Cliff Richard, Lulu, Tommy Cooper, appeared. Fagin's first opened it's doors in 1970, with the downstairs club openning 18 months later in 1971. Now known as The Music Box the downstairs was then called Rafters. Throughout the eighties Fagins continued very much as a cabaret venue, but also would put on various rock gigs with bands such as Hawkwind and Thunder."



The venue was the main place in Manchester where psychobillies, goths and punks would all converge and get along and share hair styling tips.



"In 1990 Fagins was renamed Rockworld and started a new era with a complete changeover of music policy which saw the club become Manchester's premier rock club. The Friday Allnighter was introduced with DJ John Gannon (The Banshee and The Ritz). At that time both upstairs and downstairs were made into one club. Then 1996 Rockworld's upstairs were split further to create the new room 1, whilst downstairs was seperated to create the MusicBox. A new venue for gigs and special events like the many regular dance nights held there. Whilst the upstairs now incorporated the Jilly's name."



Sad news indeed as Jillys now gets added to the illustrious names already in the Manchester club obituary. The only question you need to ask yourselves is who will be next???


??????

What A Load Of Old Bollox!!

Myself and Polly Esther will be back on the decks again this Friday (16th April) at Bollox in Manchester.



We`ll be on at 11.45 to 00.45 so be sure to come down and check us out:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=112510975439478&ref=mf

Anyone For A Slumber Party??

What makes a slasher film great? Lots of blood? Naked girls? A silent deranged killer? A suburban setting? A cast of unknowns? Comedy? Low budget, bad acting and bad lighting etc?

If you had a movie in mind that ticked all those boxes I wonder if it was the same one I was thinking of??

The Slumberparty Massacre from 1982 ticks all the boxes for me.


"He`s Dressed To Thrill"

The concept of an escaped driller killer on the loose and heading back to his old town is classic slasher fare and his choice of weapon being a power tool will equal buckets of blood and unique killings however, I feel that writer Rita Mae Browns script (which was written as a satire of the slasher genre and rejected by the studio bosses who wanted to play it serious) sets this movie apart from the likes of Friday 13th, Halloween, Black Christmas, etc as the writing seems very Hitchcockian in a way. The suspense is mounted, the comedy is in abundance and the pace of the film is very slow, yet not dragged out. I mean, it only runs for 77 minutes but it does feel more like 2 hours.


"He`s A Driller Queen!!"

I`m not saying that the film is a great work of art and should stand with Psycho as a testament of how a horror film should be made as it`s not a great movie!

"I Love You, I`m Behind You"

The budget was relatively small (check), the cast were all unknowns (check) the acting is not great (check) and the script (even though written intentionally that way) is very cheesy and wooden however, everyone involved does exactly what they need to do to make this movie a very enjoyable and slightly different take on the slasher genre.

"Do You Reckon This Milk Will Be Off?"

With any slasher movie and especially this one, I don`t feel any need to add a synopsis or plot summary as you know the score already but if you`re looking for something that stands out from the rest here`s something to whet your appetite!!

You Have The Right To Remain Silent ... Forever

Been going through an old school phase recently, watching horror flicks I watched when I was a kid and stumbled on the 80`s trash action horror Maniac Cop on Amazon for like a penny so naturally I had to get it!!


"You Have The Right To Remain Silent ..... Forever!!"

I forgot just how good a film this is!! I mean it is your standard trash film from this decade that brought us the likes of Frankenhooker, Basket Case, Braindead, Evil Dead 2, Killer Klowns From Outer Space, etc but what sets it apart from similar movies is the intelligent script, great setting (New York), story premise and a stellar cast featuring Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead trilogy), Robert Z'Dar (Cherry 2000, Tango And Cash), Tom Atkins (The Fog, Escape From New York), William Smith (Run, Angel, Run, The Ultimate Warrior), Richard Roundtree (Shaft) and Sheree North (How to Be Very, Very Popular, Babs Kramer in Seinfeld).
The team of writer Larry Cohen (Black Ceaser, God Told Me To, Q, It`s Alive) and director William Lustig (Maniac, Vigilante, Relentless) bring a standard slash and stalk horror to the mean streets of New York and add in a taught crime action thriller type story to make Maniac Cop completely riveting from start to finish!


"New York City Cops, New York City Cops, They Aint Too Smart"

The basic story is this: A Maniac Cop is stalking the gritty streets of New York dressed as one of New Yorks finest, brutally killing innocent people that get in his way. Bruce Campbells character (Officer Jack Forrest) is singled out as the culprit however, Tom Atkins character (Frank McCrae) is determined to find the real criminal who turs out to be Officer Matt Cordell (Robert D`Zar) an old school, shoot first think later cop who was put in prison by a corrupt mayor and legal department when he was too close to exposing their dealings with the mafia. Inside prison Cordell was brutally attacked by the inmates, most of whom he had personally put away. Slashed to pieces and deformed, the prison mortician was sure he was dead but let Cordells partner (Sheree North) take him out of prison to care for him, thinking that in his braindead state Cordell would never survive! How wrong he could be as Cordell took to the streets to murder (the seemingly) innocent people of New York on his mission to slay the whole NYPD and even the Mayor for wronging him!!

I would seriously reccommend this movie (and it`s 2 sequels) to any genre fan with an appetite for gore, fun, comedy and trash!!

Homoelectric: The Aftermath!!

Me and Polly DJ`d at Manchesters legendary Homoelectric on Good Friday. We had a set at 11 - 12 planned however, we also ended up doing a second set at 3.00 til 4.00!! So we opened and closed the night!!

We were on in The Piano Bar with Zoe McVeigh (Bollox, Bad Dancer, Hooker) and Jo Good (BBC 6music) and I must say that we blew them both away!! Here`s a link to some of the tracks we played (in no particular order) :

http://www.zshare.net/download/74770160ca6a5691/

France Galle - Les Tombre Filles
Francois Cactus - You Can`t Put Your Arms Around A Memory
Persil - Kennedy
Divine - You Think You`re A Man
Money, Success, Fame, Glamour
PIL - This Is Not A Love Song
Tingle In The Netherlands - Prostitutes Handbag
Ste McCabe (feat David Hoyle) - Militant Disco
David Bowie & Nine Inch Nails - Scary Monsters, Super Creeps
Peaches & Scream Club - Fine As Fuck
Le Tigre - Hot Topic
Client - Down To The Underground
Falco - Rock Me Amadeus
Sigue Sigue Sputnik - Love Missile F11
Soft Cell - Sex Dwarf
Lady Gaga & Marylin Manson - Love Games Remix
Fischerspooner - Emerge
Nina Hagen - New York New York
Roisin Murphy - You Know Me Better

We had a great time, met some lovely people (and some not very lovely people too!!), chatted to the one and only Divine David, hung out with good friends and drank a lot of free beer!!

Me and Polly would like to say a massive Trash-O-Rama thank you to all at Homoelectric for being so hospitable and helpful all night and most of all for letting us get on with it and do what we do. xx



"TRASHED!!!!"

M-m-m-m-m-m my Bandito!!

My partner in crime, the lovely Polly Esther has recently had her blog picked as an official Vice Magazine blog of choice!!

Check out Hardcore Dior Backdoor here:

http://hardcorediorbackdoor.blogspot.com/

I`m so proud of her and absolutely love her to bits, here`s some pics!!

One, Two, Freddy`s Coming For You!

I`m not a massive fan of the remake and have been mightily peeved over the last few years when all the great horror movies of the 70`s and 80`s have been given the Hollywood veneer and whored out to a whole new audience who would never get the original so they need to be given a watered down version!
It makes me mad I tell thee!!
The last couple of years and the next few from what I can tell, will be remake, rehash, reimagine, sequel, prequel, frequel central however, there is one movie remake that I am quite looking forward to and that is the reimagining of Wes Cravens A Nightmare On Elm Street.

Now I wouldn`t have thought that anybody could slip their hand into the glove of Freddy Krueger and pull off a performance as scary as
Robert Englund in the first Nightmare movie but it looks like Jackie Earle Haley (Rorschach in Watchmen) may have just pulled it off.



Wes Craven is on board too so yes I`m quite excited and willing to let Freddy stalk my dreams again as he did when I was 12!!



Here`s some sneak pics:

Dog Will Hunt: A Tribute To Bill Moseley

Most of you reading this may not know who Bill Moseley is however, those of you who are horroro geeks will hold the man in very high regard.
Bill Moseley is a genre legend, appearing in movies such as Rob Zombies Halloween, Devils Rejects and House of 1000 Corpses, TCM2, Army Of Darkness, Dead Air, Repo: The Genetic Opera, Night Of The Living Dead(1990), Vampira The Movie, Silent Night Deadly Night 3 and many more bit parts in horror TV shows in the US.

Bill also has a few movies in post production for 2010/11 and recent movie appearances such as Memories Of Murder, Night Of The Living Dead: Origins, House, 2001 Maniacs: Field Of Screams and he is also rumoured to be in the highly anticipated The Blob remake from Rob Zombie!!

Bill is also a talented musician who has released albums with Buckethead (Guns & Roses) and the band Cornbugs!!

Billy boy we salute you!!!!












Want more Bill?? Check out the trailer for the cult unfinished unofficial sequel to TCM2 - An All American Massacre:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Texas_Chainsaw_Massacre_%28franchise%29#All_American_Massacre