Zombie Thursdays is a weekly feature with guest blogger, Miranda. You can read more about her here. Hello, zombie fans! This week I am bringing you another musical review of a horror loving band. I honestly hadn’t even remembered this band until my iPod happened to shuffle on them this week while I was on one of my many long drives to and from work!The band is Creature Feature, a two-man (or two-fiend, as they call themselves) band from LA that consists of Curtis Rx and Erik X. I haven’t been able to discover too much about them, or their specific origins. I’m sure it exists, but I think they like to be purposely vague. What I do know is that the band was formed one night in 2005 after a Halloween party. The band mates also run a multimedia production company called Last Man on Earth Productions. Currently, Curtis Rx is writing original music for a web-series called Playing Dead directed by Ted Raimi (actor and brother to Sam). Creature Feature music is also in the series. Not a lot to go on, but let’s get to the music and some of their other projects!I first heard of Creature Feature on my way to a Nine Inch Nails concert. Two of my friends, knowing my love of zombies and horror, put on their CD called The Greatest Show Unearthed. Right away I was thrilled! The first song, of the same name, is all about an evil circus/carnival rolling into town. Perfect for a freak show loving girl like me!
The song that will intrigue zombie lovers is “Aim for the Head.” This is a pretty cool and catchy little tune! Erik X plays synth on the album, and its influence is heavy in each song. It makes the music feel campy, but fun, and certainly has the creepy haunted house feel. In this particular song, the band mixes music and lyrics with audio from Night of the Living Dead! The song starts off with clips from the newscaster in the film reading the report of how the ghouls are eating the flesh of those they have killed. The lyrics are hilarious! The band draws from several of the Dead and Living Dead movies. Some of my favorite parts are-- Can I pose a question-- How do you kill what is dead? I just shoot from the hip And aim for the head! If you kill the brain Then you kill the ghoul And its motor functions!(Throwing the phrase ‘motor functions’ into a song is just so ridiculous, and that’s why I love it!) There is no more There is no more There is no more Room in Hell(A tribute to the extremely famous Dawn of the Dead line)I really wish there was an actual music video for this song, as I’m sure it would be really entertaining. According to the Myspace page for their production company, it says a video for “Aim for the Head” is one of their current projects... but who knows. At the very least, it would be great if someone made a fan video for this, however, the song has a copyright, so unless you want to get sued, I wouldn’t recommend it. The whole album is good, but another standout song to me is “A Gorey Demise.” Yes, I spelled that correctly. They are referring to the amazing author and illustrator, Edward Gorey. The song draws on inspiration from The Gashlycrumb Tinies and lists, alphabetically, the way that twenty-six different people have died (during the annual obituary readings, as described in the song).My only critique of the album is that many of the songs sound similar musically. This similarity may be due to all the synth that is used. Each song seems to sound the same at first, and it takes several listens before many of the songs start to stand out on their own.This album is great for any horror fan who has a sense of humor. Unlike a lot of “goth” horror music, it isn’t dark or depressing in sound (although some of the lyrics are pretty frightening); it is fairly light and upbeat and will have you humming some of the songs for days! But the best way to learn about them and their music is to take a listen-- Enjoy “Aim for the Head!”
______ I'm also a fan of Creature Feature, after seeing them open for Wednesday 13 a few years ago. I was impressed that two people could make that much sound. They're a fun band to listen to.
The band is Creature Feature, a two-man (or two-fiend, as they call themselves) band from LA that consists of Curtis Rx and Erik X. I haven’t been able to discover too much about them, or their specific origins. I’m sure it exists, but I think they like to be purposely vague. What I do know is that the band was formed one night in 2005 after a Halloween party. The band mates also run a multimedia production company called Last Man on Earth Productions. Currently, Curtis Rx is writing original music for a web-series called Playing Dead directed by Ted Raimi (actor and brother to Sam). Creature Feature music is also in the series. Not a lot to go on, but let’s get to the music and some of their other projects!