By Max Kyburz
Halloween is approaching, and you need fresh tunes for your shindig. When it comes to seasonal music, there is no need to look further than the psychobilly genre, an offshoot of punk rock and 50s-era doo-wop and rockabilly with a Herman Munster touch. It’s campy, outrageous, and most of all, fun. Though I am not an enormous fan, I would say that your best bet is to check out the Cramps and the Nekromantix first, just to get a taste, then to check out Canada’s The Creepshow after you’ve heard Horrorpops.
Opening with a vampiric sermon over the sounds of an old-time boxing match, Creepshow’s They All Fall Down has a lot of ingredients brewing. There’s the straightforward Misfits-style of “whoa-oh”ing punk rock (“Someday”, “Road to Nowhere”, the poppy horn-heavy ska (“Hellbound”), and some mixture of gypsy-barroom-psychobilly-god-knows-what (“Get What’s Coming”). Just when the first few tunes of the same upbeat punk beat, “Sleep Tight,” which blatantly copies the Penguins’ “Earth Angel,” changes the pace for a moment. Despite the fact that it’s wholly unoriginal, it’s infectious, and it is one of They All Fall Down‘s most enjoyable tracks.
Psychobilly has always been a curious subculture. Though an offshoot of punk rock, for many of its die-hard enthusiasts, it’s just another day in 1955. The Creepshow has these influences, but delivers a slightly more modern sound. The cover art to They All Fall Down is something you’d be more likely to see on a Dropkick Murphy’s album, but The Creepshow shows no signs of trying to go more mainstream. Nor should they; delectable as they look, and as tight and polished as they are simply not appealing enough to reach a wider audience.
I think I may be sounding a little too hard on this album. It did not amaze me, but it did not bore me. The Creepshow is not a band trying to be the most groundbreaking band in history, even though their original melding of multiple sources and dressing one of their members as a priest are nice touches. Maybe that’s OK, sometimes music exists only for fun and never for serious over-analysis. Though there is nothing particularly exceptional or unprecedented about this record, They All Fall Down is a fun record, and a good one to keep at hand for Halloween.
