| The Fun Ghouls | |
|---|---|
| Genres | punk |
| Years active | 2004-present |
| Website | www.myspace.com/funghouls |
| Members | |
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Fish Ghoul |
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The Fun Ghouls are a punk band from New Brunswick, New Jersey that formed in 2004, best known not for music but for quirky short films they made and starred in.
Their influences include The Misfits, Black Flag, and Nirvana.
When My Chemical Romance released an album in 2010 in which each band member had an alter-ego, Frank Iero chose the name 'Fun Ghoul' in reference to The Fun Ghouls as both bands were members of the New Brunswick, New Jersey Basement Scene.
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The Fun Ghouls achieved cult status after starring in the 2005 film Melissa Jerkface Contact's The Fun Ghouls in which Melissa Jerkface places a phone call to the band.
Since then, they have filmed a sequel Melissa Jerkface Contacts The Fun Ghouls 2: Melissa Jerkface Contacts Fish From The Fun Ghouls' Sister and a prequel Melissa Jerkface Meets The Fun Ghouls.
Since 2005 there have been rumors of a debut album titled The Fun Ghoul's Phone Home coming out, and numerous producers and engineers have been attached to the project including Scruff Scrufferson of the New Brunswick trio Kohuff, and John Slover. In a 2006 interview with The Daily Targum, Fish quipped "this thing is becoming our Smile," in reference to the infinitely delayed legendary Beach Boys album.
The group spent 2007 dormant musically, however ended up starring in a fourth movie, Melissa Jerkface asks Fish from the Fun Ghouls for Nick from Seasick's contact info which some fans found to be hard to follow and a little too self-referential.
In April 2008 The Fun Ghouls were the surprise headliner for a planned 3 day music festival taking place in New Brunswick, NJ at the end of April called New Brunswick Three Day Weekend.
On Halloween 2008 the Fun Ghouls played a special show in New Brunswick, NJ. This marked the first occasion where the three original Fun Ghouls and Melissa Jerkface were in the same place in over 2 years. Although internet rumors circulated that it was not the real Melissa Jerkface and was actually New Brunswick DJ Jay Insult in a Melissa Jerkface costume, they were proven to be false when a JerseyBeat blog post verified that it was really her.
While "Fun Ghouls Phone Home" has still not come out as of November 2008, a bootleg of 4-track demos leaked called "The Tata Tapes." The band most likely leaked the material themselves as a way to help raise money for Tata's Pizza, a local pizza restaurant that had fallen on hard times. The CD was only available at the restaurant itself with the order of one slice. Fans found the material to be unremarkable but Fish Ghoul maintained it was only demos and that the real album would be different.
On the day of the Halloween reunion show, the Ghouls and Melissa Jerkface got together to make one more short film titled "Melissa Jerkface and The Fun Ghouls watch Melissa Jerkface Contacts The Fun Ghouls." Although nothing official is known about the film other than the title, it is assumed that the movie will heavily reference the first one. The film is scheduled to premiere at Red Bank International Film Festival in 2009. Speaking at Rutgers in 2009, quirky New Jersey director Kevin Smith called the Fun Ghouls/Jerkface films "a huge influence."
In March 2009, Fish Ghoul confirmed that the film would indeed be an official selection for the Red Bank International Film Festival. He mentioned nothing about the status of "Fun Ghouls Phone Home," but did mention that thanks in part to sales of The Tata Tapes, Tata's Pizza would remain open at least until the end of 2009.
During a television spot on Last Call with Carson Daly in 2011, Screaming Females bassist King Mike sported an original, limited edition Fun Ghouls t-shirt. This appearance has spawned a revival of the group's theatrical endeavors. In production currently is the much-awaited completion of the Melissa Jerkface trilogy: Melissa Jerkface Contacts The Fun Ghouls 3: Melissa Jerkface contacts Mr. TaTa to get Cheese Ghoul's new number and get a t-shirt.