Stress Down Friday - The Chilling Tunes of Choppers and Wolfmen

why not spirit yourself of to P-Mondo for a brand new monster mix of spooky tunesMondo Mania

I'd been planning to wrap up the 'see something scary' Halloween run with the trailer for this and this - my two personal favourite Amicus productions, but I actually fancy a tune or two instead.

Perhaps the moonlit crooning of Dennishopperchoppers (a one man band who plays all the instruments at the same time)? If the dark, rich resonance of Nick Cave's or Julian Cope's vocals ring your bell. DHC's album 'Chop' should be right up your shadowy alley. For a couple of other nuggets and links to his websites dig in here.

I Was Born



Don't Run From Me

'Don't Run From' me is more of a waltz-in-black type anthem, than Chop's typical late night Lynch-scapes and skeletal western soundtracking.



And it just wouldn't be Halloween with a prowl around from The Wolfmen would it? So how about the slinky lunar-tune glide of 'Je T'Aime Madame' - a grower which for me has become one the strongest songs in the Wolfmen's lair..

The Wolfmen - Je T'Aime Madame

Do you want to see something really scary ? # 5 Don't Go Near the Water

Cashing in on the cinematic splash made by Jaws (which I became obsessed with and saw at least five times at the pictures) filmmakers chunked out a mad amount of 'When Animals Attack' movies at the tail end of the seventies, pointing a potentially-hostile-to-humans finger at such unlikely aggressors as bats, worms and whales.

Tentacles
I actually paid good coin to see this Flop-O-Matic movie. Have a peep at the trailer, you will not believe the Hollywood heavy-hitters that got on board on for this titanic wet fish of a film.



Pirhana
The novelisation of Pirhana was the first adult fiction book I read (aged 12). Published by New English Library, with, I think those oddly yellow edged pages - saw this one with Carrie (so much better) as the B-movie.



The Incredible Melting Man was another horrorshow seen around this period, although I seem to be the only person that remembers it.

The Incredible Melting Man - trailer

The Beach Boys - Don't Go Near the Water (in which the BB's appear to be doing a day trip to Southend)

A drunken interlude

Here's a first - my very first drunken post and bollox to the typos

Having been walloped with a DMCA fizzer this week - here's my thoughts on it -

Fuck'em the money grubbing bastards!!!

If these sleazy weasels are more interested in casting a sly eye over real music fans excited jabber about the music they love, rather than than working out why their shitty-no-hope-identikit-every bands have tanked in the traps - they deserve to sucked into the gunk and grime of their own sleazy, scabrous doings the penny pinching pricks.

When was the last time you read any band's biog' that mentioned how great the label or publishers were?Never that's when.

Read any musicians story and it's always the same story of early doors scams, stitch ups and record label rip offs. These are the same sort of crafty bastards that would willingly charge £100 for a boxed set of previously released material that included only one albums worth of goodies not good enough to release when the band were at there hottest.

Yet these same frozone-hearted Rushmore-faced fakers are happy to hound tune-atics for any spare penny they can squeeze and start acting the bully boy tough nut over some silly odd song business

Never mind The Bullies - I'll keep on posting unil the buggers pull the plug..

Do you want to see something really scary ? # 4 Big Blogger Is Watching You

I wouldn’t normally double up or duplicate post an item – but having received a blogger takedown notification from the good people at Blogpspot - and seemingly fingers being wagged at other bloggers on the same day - thought it would be worth loading up something I posted on The Word website here as a cautionary measure for any occasional embedders or music based bloggers…..

I don't know many many of the contributors and chippers-in to The Word website are music bloggers or blog-browsers themselves - but if you qualify for either category, I have some disturbing news for you.

I run a small piece of music based puffery , a strictly happy amateur affair in some small corner of cyberspace - so a surprise yesterday then to be on the wrong end of a DMCA copyright violation warning. It concerned a post (made several months ago) featuring a 30 minute home-made mix. Fair enough really, as the mix featured a run of high profile performers like Ian Brown, Prince, Talking Heads plus Blondie and Kylie bootleg remixes. There was no clearance, permission or official endorsement for any tune used - so I can see why the plug was pulled, and have no beef about this.

But here's my concern, this particular mix was posted around Christmas/New Year 2007, as a sort of 'end of term' piece when the hits were low and the blogs weren't busy. It's rarely been a point of entry on my blog, and never been a particularly popular page according to my stats. So how did it get spotted? By a belligerent blogger or perhaps some stealthy spy-eyed software?

Through a Facebook contact I heard of another blogger also receiving a similar DMCA warning shot yesterday. I haven't checked any forums or message boards yet, but wouldn't be surprised should reports of taps on the shoulders of music bloggers and downloaders become an increasingly common occurrence.

It seems the internet traffic police have shifted gear and raised their game. If non-leaguers like me are appearing on a radar at DMCA HQ and being trawled for copyright compliance, heavy hitting blogs and sites like Hype Machine, could well be going the way of Kazaa, Winmx and Napster.

If this is the case, fill your boots where you can, while you can.

Do you want to see something really scary ? # 3 Going Underground

I’ve always enjoyed the classic seventies run of Dr Who (John Pertwee/Tom Baker), but I’m not an anorak by any stretch of the space time continuum

So surprising then really, that the band of baddies who prompted the most frightmares and stealthy footed sprints to the door are a lower league outfit of dark menacers known as The Ogrons

Yes, the Daleks were scary in a screechy neurotic Nazi-livery-talking-mobility-scooter way, the Sea Devils lumbering around in string vests/fisherman’s nets were politely frightening – but The Ogrons, a morbid mash-up of the Planet of The Apes Gorilla soldiers, cross bred with The Klingons were the most blood chilling of all the intergalactic bad guys.

I only saw them in just one series (where I think they lived under a bridge, by a canal) – but their fang baring, cadaverous leathery faces, twisted psycho-killer grin and sly eyed silence have stayed with me ever since.

When shooting for the new series of Dr Who gets underway (and why not have Jim Dale as a new Doctor), hopefully The Ogrons will be high on the list of re-animated enemies.

And if you fancy putting the self-inflicted frighteners on yourself why not have a day trip to Chislehurst Caves ( used as a location for a Pertwee period Dr Who series) over 20 miles of man made caverns and passageways, dug over a period of 8000 years. Used as a former WW2 air raid shelter and sixties music venue, but with no electric light after the entrance and large looming tunnels around every corner - you can be sure of short night's sleep after your visit..

The Haunted Chamber at Chislehurst Caves - could you take up the long running challenge to spend a night here?

Do you want to see something really scary ? # 2 Terror TV

I'm a terror for a Public Information Film, and this seasonally shadowy short film applies the classic codes and conventions of any Hammer or Amicus production....

A Donald Pleasance voice over.

Set dressed with convincing contemporary costumes (for the time) and locations.

An other-worldy, wraith-in-rags visitor - death in the form of 'The Spirit of Dark and Lonely Water' (a proto Dark Rider) tempting you to tumble.

A fist-shaking 'I'll be back' coda.

They really don't make 'em like this anymore.

Dark And Lonely Water


Also well worth a watch are almost any of Brian Clemens 'Thriller' series (with it's spooky tooting flute theme), almost all episodes have the intimacy of a radio play or theatrical performance - with the close crop shots and stripping out of any unnecessary incidental music all adding to the in-the-room experience

'Possesion', 'I'm The Girl He Wants To Kill' and 'One Deadly Owner' are must see All Hallows TV

'One Deadly Owner' intro


And I think my MP3 player may be psychic. Literally, as soon as I'd thought I really must find some spooky tunes this, this and Marsh Hunt's - '(Oh, No! Not) The Beast Day' popped into play.

Brrrrr..

Do you want to see something really scary ? # 1 Kendo Nagaskai

As the shadow of Halloween starts to creep towards us, it's time to log in the blog, some seasonal scaries..

First up is Kendo Nagasaki - yes him of the blood red dead eyes, tattooed head, lumbering Leatherface gait, and startled little piggy squeaks and squeals. The man-mass of Giant Haystacks menaced like a silent film foe, Cyanide Sid Cooper was just a caveman stooge - but Kendo, Kendo really was genuinley terrifying wasn't he?

The unmasking of Kendo Nagasaki


There's some recommended reading here..

Observer interview with Kendo

And Simon Garfield's The Wrestling is a must read if you were ever a watcher of ITV's Saturday afternoon rumbles.

Stress Down Friday - Farewell for Five Centres

Well, FC's decided to shut up shop - so that's another one gone pop. Apprentice and Istvanski self destructed. Axe Victim.. sorry - Col, Clair Woo, Matt and Suzy Roman have all had the blog-wobbles - and who hasn't? Knocking out a blog can feel like descaling your brain sometimes.

Anyway let's raise a glass (of Mateus, natch) and say goodbye, for now, to FC - and if you do decide to return to the Blogosphere old chap, don't forget stop in and say hello on either of my pieces of ol' puffery.

Fairport Convention - Meet On The Ledge


Fairport Convention - Meet On The Ledge


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