DETAILS

Nekromantix with The Howlers & The Mutilators
Republik
Saturday, September 4 - Saturday, September 4

More in: Rock / Pop

For the majority of us, waking up dead is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But if you’re Kim Nekroman — lead singer of Danish psychobilly act the Nekromantix — it’s a daily occurrence.

It’s been more than two decades since Nekroman — reknowned for his arched eyebrows and toothy grimace — left his posting as a navy submarine operator to pursue his ghoulish psychobilly vision. Conceived in the shadow of American rockabilly, the lugubrious folk-punk subgenre was only beginning to gain momentum in his native Copenhagen when Nekroman burst onto the scene, menacingly seductive vocals and signature throbbing coffin-bass in tow.

“It’s cool to think I’ve been at it for 20 years, but it makes me seem old at the same time. Of course, I started the band when I was five,” Nekroman says, with a chuckle. “We have people who have been listening to us since they were teenagers, and it’s very flattering that our fans stick around. And more than that, they’re now bringing their own spawn to the show! It’s rare that a band can appeal to multiple generations at the same time.”

And when it comes to chunky death-punk with a western swing, Nekroman’s one of the best in the business, having worked with nearly every troublemaker in the Devil’s rolodex. Most recently, drummerette Lux (Sacred Storm, Mystery Hangup) was initiated into the family after a car accident claimed the trio’s percussionist, Andy “DeMize” Martinez, in early 2009.

The band’s first female inductee, Lux is a charismatic character in her own right — and has an impressive pedigree. Fresh off of hell-raising tours with Rob Zombie and Reverend Horton Heat, she’s had plenty of time to gel with her new bandmates in Nekroman and guitarist Franc. In fact, the trio is preparing to release What Happens in Hell Stays in Hell, the band’s first album with Lux and its first since 2007’s Life is a Grave and I Dig It.

“She had to learn all of our back catalogue and our new material in a very short period of time,” says Nekroman of Lux. “She’s a great drummer and she fits right in with the group. Last year we started recording our new album together, and we’ve been so busy touring that we haven’t had a chance to finish it yet. But it’s going really good having Lux in the studio with us.”

Adding a female to the dynamic, Nekroman notes, has been an easy transition, largely due to his role with the HorrorPops. Formed in 1996 with fellow upright bassist Patricia Day, it’s more than a psychobilly new-wave side-project: Day is also his wife. Finding common ground in the perpetually moonlit cemetery of love, the couple has produced three studio albums on Hellcat Records, all with the same lethally romantic sound as Nekromantix staples Return of the Loving Dead (2002) and Dead Girls Don’t Cry (2004).

But as morbid as his subject matter gets, both the Nekromantix and the HorrorPops are always imbued with Nekroman’s deeply cathartic sense of humour.

“I think it goes back to the old yin and yang theory. No evil without good, no death without life, these things go hand in hand,” he says. “Humour is very important to me, in my personal life and in the band’s image. It’s just like the use of humour in horror movies — it’s instrumental in achieving the desired shock effect.”

“I’ve been watching horror movies since I was four or five years old, and I never blink,” he continues. “I can see the predictability in the silence before a storm. But I do envy those people who can chew their pillows and shiver in wide-eyed anticipation. Sometimes people need to be reminded that they’re alive!”