HorrorPops
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| HorrorPops | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Background information | ||
| Origin | Copenhagen, Denmark | |
| Genre(s) | Rockabilly Pop punk |
|
| Years active | 1996 – Present | |
| Label(s) | Hellcat Records Epitaph | |
| Associated acts |
Nekromantix | |
| Website | http://www.horrorpops.com/ | |
| Members | ||
| Patricia Day Kim Nekroman Henrik Niedermeier Geoff Kresge Kamilla Naomi |
||
HorrorPops are a Danish rockabilly band that formed in 1996. The band has their roots buried deep in new wave, punk rock, bubblegum pop, surf rock, and psychobilly.
Contents |
[edit] History
Band founders Patricia Day and Kim Nekroman first met when Day's now-defunct band, the punk rock group Peanut Pump Gun, opened for Nekroman's psychobilly band, Nekromantix, at a festival in Cologne, Germany in 1996. Despite both belonging to the subculture scene of Copenhagen, Denmark, the two had never met before, but they became friends over their mutual interest in alternative music. The two would eventually marry.
Day and Nekroman decided to form a band where they could experiment with many genres outside of their normal bands, and decided to start by switching instruments. Nekroman taught Day how to play an upright bass, while she taught him how to play guitar. The two began auditioning for a drummer, with Nekromantix guitarist Peter Sandorff even being a possible choice. They eventually chose Niedermeier to drum, a friend of Day's and a member of the band Strawberry Slaughterhouse, and officially started HorrorPops in 1998. After touring for a while as a trio, the band recruited Niedermeier's old bandmate, Caz the Clash, as a second guitarist.
In 2000, Day recruited two friends, Mille and Kamilla, co-workers at the body piercing shop she worked at to act as go-go dancers for the band's live show. The group also recorded a 7 song demo for use in a press kit, but it was somehow leaked to the public, and resulted in two of the group's singles becoming club hits in Denmark. The group spent the next few years touring Europe, until 2003, when they began recording 6 more demo tracks. During this time, Caz the Clash became a father and left the band to focus on parenting. He was replaced by another Strawberry Slaughterhouse member, Karsten. Hellcat Records, Tim Armstrong's (of Rancid) record label, decided to sign HorrorPops based on their demos. The band was able to release a vinyl single in September 2003, and began a U.S. headlining tour.
The band's first full-length album, 'Hell Yeah!,' was released in February 2004, but problems with getting work visas resulted in the band having to cancel U.S. tour dates. The band was able to make up for this loss via an opening stint for the Offspring in Europe. Mille left the band a short while later to go back to school, and was replaced with Naomi. The band soon relocated from Denmark to Los Angeles, California, resulting in Karsten departing the band to stay in Denmark with his wife. He was soon replaced with Kamilla's husband, Geoff Kresge, who had recently departed psychobilly band Tiger Army.
The band's second album, "Bring It On!," was released Tuesday, September 13, 2005. The cover art features a picture of Day with her upright bass smashed on the ground.
[edit] Timeline
[edit] 1996
Patricia's former band "Peanut Pump Gun" (indiepunk rock) was opening for Kim Nekroman's band "Nekromantix" (psychobilly) at the 1996 POPKOM in Cologne, Germany. Even though both bands were based in Copenhagen, Denmark neither of them had heard about each other before. The audience was a mix of psychobillies, punks and indierockers and the genre combination turned out to be a huge success. A few weeks after the show Patricia and Kim got together back in Copenhagen. Their mutual love for music like:"Blondie", "Depeche Mode" and "Siouxsie and the Banshees", Surf, Ska, Punk and Rock'n'Roll in general, led to the idea of forming a band with no commitment to any particular music style. They also wanted to do something that would take them out of the roles they already were known for and the first step towards that, was to swap instruments. Kim taught Patricia the basics on playing the upright bass and in return Patricia passed on to Kim from her guitar skills. Not long after, the duo were writing songs and a need for a drummer crept in.
[edit] 1997/1998
After trying out different drummers suitable for the job (even Nekromantix guitarist Pete Sandorff auditioned), Patricia's long time friend Niedermeier (Strawberry Slaughterhouse) joined and "HorrorPops" was officially a band. After a bunch of shows as a trio the "HorrorPops" quickly achieved a cult status attracting a broad audience variety. Never afraid of trying out new things "HorrorPops" recruited a second guitarist "Caz the Clash" , Niedermeier's old band mate and Strawberry Slaughterhouse guitarist. The music came together and got a lot more aggressive.
[edit] 1999/2000
The HorrorPops are playing with the idea of bringing in a couple of (gogo) girls for their stage show. Not your average gogo dancers but something more rotten. They didn't have to look very far, Patricia was working at a piercing shop at the time and co-workers Mille and Kamilla weren't hard to convince. This was also the year HorrorPops recorded the album's first 7 songs (at Christiania's Ventura Recordings). These recordings were mainly intended for a band press kit when booking shows but it somehow was copied and got multiplied all over the world. Strangely this led to the songs "Ghouls" and "Psychobitches outta Hell" becoming Copenhagen Club hits.
[edit] 2001/2002
Mainly concentrating on live shows the HorrorPops built up a huge following and closed the year playing at the Legendary "Wild at Heart" club in Berlin, Germany.
[edit] 2003
The demand for some kind of release motivated the HorrorPops to once again enter the Ventura Recording studio and lay down 6 more tracks. At this time Caz the Clash became a dad and his highest priority naturally fell on his beautiful baby daughter........He got replaced by yet another Strawberry Slaughterhouse member Karsten. Hellcat Records were so impressed with the 13 songs and signed HorrorPops. A vinyl single containing "Ghouls" and "Psychobitches outta Hell" was released early September on Rancid Records and the full length album Hell Yeah got scheduled to hit the streets January 2004. With the single in hand HorrorPops ventured out on their first US tour as headliner for the "Aloha from hell tour" with 9 shows across California and Arizona. This also brought the first US interview to HorrorPops witch happened to be with Vogue. With the band always finding humor in things and wanting to please 'the moms', HororPops ended up with a trendy and very funny article in Vogue. Later same year the band got a great preview of their upcoming show with Rancid in LA weekly and a fantastic show with Rancid and Tiger Army at the Wiltern, LA. This show brought HorrorPops out to a lot of new people.
[edit] 2004
(Highlights of 2004: debut release, Offspring support tour, performing at Jimmy Kimmel, sold out Troubadour W.Hollywood, performing live at BBC1, sold out London twice, playing main stage at Hootenanny and much, much more...) Hell Yeah was released with a bang February 10, the interest in the band grew amazingly and when they did their release show at Amoeba Records, it was packed to everyone in HorrorPops surprise. HorrorPops was then supposed to follow up with a grand U.S. tour, but got stuck in immigration paper work and had to cancel the whole tour. Fortunately The Offspring was just about to head out on their month long European tour and with a 3 day warning HorrorPops got offered the chance to join them as main support. Horrorpops played their butts of every night for an audience counting between 5000 to 16000 people and then continued on with their own 1 1/2 month headline tour in Europe. Shortly after the European tour ended, HorrorPops returned to the states to play the Jimmy Kimmel show and a few California shows, but realizing the work that laid ahead and how time consuming the band had become, Mille had to leave the band to go back to school. Mille got replaced by another good friend of the band, Naomi quickly renamed NoNo. HorrorPops started touring the states, first on Punks VS Psychos, then as main support for Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards and then back to Europe for another tour. One tour took over the next in 2004 and the band to loved every minute of it. Unfortunately Karsten had to leave the band, he met the love of his life and wanted to spend every minute with her witch was kind of hard to do with the bands tour schedule.HorrorPops played around 110 shows in 2004 and are now back in Los Angeles to rehearse and record a new album, they will however play just one last show in West Hollywood to announce their new guitar player.
[edit] 2005
The HorrorPops second album, "Bring It On" was released, featuring new guitarist, Geoff Kresge, which the HorrorPops claim to be their best guitarist yet!
[edit] 2006
The HorrorPops have spent most of 2006 touring Canada, Asia, Europe, and the States, including a Warped Tour stint.
[edit] Current lineup
- Patricia Day - Vocals, Upright Bass
- Kim Nekroman - Guitar
- Geoff Kresge - Guitar
- Niedermeier - Drums
- Kamilla Vanilla - Go-Go dancing
- Naomi - Go-Go dancing
[edit] Former members
[edit] Discography
12 inch Vinyl Limited to 1000 copies. September, 2003; Rancid Records
CD and 12 inch Vinyl February, 2004; Hellcat/Epitaph
Picturedisc Limited to 500 copies and 500 signed copies under pressing Only sold on Tour; Hellcat/Epitaph
- MissTake
CD Single Hellcat/Epitaph Europe
- MissTake
7 inch Picturedisc Limited Edition Hellcat/Epitaph Europe
CD and 12 inch Vinyl September, 2005; Hellcat/Epitaph
