Tonight one of my all time favorite horror punk bands played at Will's Pub. The Creepshow....and I didn't go. I didn't even know they were playing in Florida until this morning. Three years ago I would have sucker punched myself for not knowing the band behind "Zombies Ate Her Brains", "Run for Your Life", Rue Morgue Radio's theme song and a Misfits cover of "Halloween" that would make even Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein blush.
My reasons for not going though, I feel are pretty valid and I have not really talked about them since my band broke up back in 2011.
I feel like metal and horror punk music was a large part of my life when I was in my band Sharkteeth. It felt good going to concerts almost every other week, blasting metal from sunrise to sunset and just talking music with my band mates. That was my world! After a bad band break up you push all that away. I didn't want to hear another blast beat or metal riff even if it'd saved my life. It is really sad how a group of horrible people can ruin something so profound and special to you. And I let them.
Now back to The Creepshow...
I had contacted Will's Pub back in 2010 after I heard they were booked. I was told by the owner we could open for them....This was a dream come true! My band Sharkteeth was opening for the Canadian horror punk band I had been obsessed over! We practiced night and day and added a few new songs to our set list. This was going to be big! Sharkteeth had music on the up and coming digital music player Spotify, iTunes and shirts were being designed. This was it!
We load in sometime in the early afternoon and sound check. We belted out a new song we were working on titled "Murderchild" A song about a little demon baby. Very Damion/Omen'esq. After the song was over we heard applause and cheering. Not from just some stragglers in the bar or the bartender, but Sarah Blackwood lead guitarist and vocals of The Creepshow along with all her other band mates. They dug our music!
The show went without a hitch, Sharkteeth played their hearts out and so did The Creepshow. In this moment everything was perfect and horror punk was at its most zen moment. All the band mates chatted with one another and drank until the Canadian band was off in their little horror-mobile to the next city.
There was no drama, little to no fights. Just the love and passion we all shared for the tight nitch underground horror music. Sarah played her heart out, getting right in the crowd and rocking along with everyone.
A few months after this show Sharkteeth ran into some big personal problems. We were all not as tight as a band anymore due to these problems, but we kept playing thinking we could push through said problems. We had one more show opening for another favorite of mine, The Nekromantix (probably our biggest show to date) and after it we were done. I never picked up a microphone to sing again. Two months later Sarah from The Creepshow announced she was pregnant and was leaving the band to pursue the perfect musical career she had always wanted and to take care of her child.
The Creepshow went on to replace their singer and that was that. By this time I stopped listening to metal and punk due to the sour taste it left in my mouth. I gave a listen to their new album and it was alright. But it just didn't have the flair of horror fun that I remembered. Sarah moved on and so did I.
I don't miss playing live music in dank bars for friends and random horror fans, because that whole "rock" experience made me who I am today and I had such a great time doing it! I got to make something special with two really great guys. One who I still live with and can call my best friend and the other who I don't talk with much, but I know is doing very well for himself. (along with some wonderful guitar and bass fill ins who still crack me up to this day)
I guess what I'm getting at with all of this is that change is good! We all need to change in our lives from time to time to make this experience we have been granted even more exciting! Sure our band breaking up sucked and it felt like years of practice every single week was for nothing. But you can bet your sweet ass when a metal song pops on every now and then I instantly think back to the liquor stained carpet on that stage and the Canadian horror punk icons cheering us on.
So sure The Creepshow played tonight and I missed them. But ya know what? I'm okay with that.
