OK so head over to Glowmonkey.com and play a couple of rounds of “Zombie Balloon Heads”. It’s a FREE, somewhat addictive Flash based game that has you filling zombie heads with ink until they explode… sounds like fun eh. It plays like a side and vertical scrolling shootemup (think Castlevania without the puzzles). It gets repetitive after awhile, but its fun and free to play!
Oh, and just for shits and giggles, there’s a Flash game named after me… well maybe not after me, but it’s another cool little Flash game that has you playing a giant man-eating worm (ala Tremors) digging through the ground, building up momentum to eat some tasty little humans running around helplessly above ground. Check out Wormfood at http://www.miniclip.com/games/worm-food/en/
Y’know…sometimes when the ol’ Zombieking walks down the street… sorry- ‘Lurches’ down the street, I always kinda wish I had my own soundtrack. Well kiddies, I FOUND that soundtrack! This time around I am talking to one of the founders of the band that plays the music in my head… the Reverb Syndicate’s Jeff Welsh! Here is a few excerpts from their bio: Since its inception over beers, The Reverb Syndicate has become one of the countries premier instrumental rock bands. The group has spent its short time together thrilling local and foreign audiences with a highly danceable blend of 60s surf, spy and go-go music. The Reverb Syndicate was formed in 2005 by guitarist Mike Bradford, guitarist/keyboard player James Rossiter, bassist Jeff Welch and drummer Mike Rifkin with the simple concept of exploring and re-imagining the music of groups like The Ventures and The Shadows and the soundtracks of old spy movies. Following this concept has lead them to two independently released albums of original music (2006’s “Operation: Jet Set!” and 2007’s “Sputnik A-Go-Go”), heavy gigging throughout Ontario and Quebec, and a headlining performance in New York City. In September 2008, The Reverb Syndicate played a series of dates in England and Scotland, hooking up with a variety of UK surf, rock and punk bands.
So… how does this relate to us being the Horror and Zombie source? Well, I was lucky enough to see them at the Ottawa Bluesfest, and while performing they did music that was inspired by cult faves like ‘the Prisoner’ and did a short speech about how then they watch movies, they tend to write their own scores to the scenes… I ran into Jeff in the lineup to ‘Night of the Living Dead LIVE!’ (more on that later) and we instantly started chatting about the show… These guys would DEFINITELY fit in to a Zombie film…and just might! *wink* Besides- I like them, and it’s my site!!!
Enough chitter chatter… here’s Jeff Welsh!
ZK: Heya Jeff, welcome to the site, thanks for taking the time to chat to us… Tell us about the band!
JW: Well King, can I call you King? The band was started 2006 when I asked my friend Mike Bradford (AKA Victor Tremolo) to start up a band while we were both between musical projects. Mike came up with idea of a surf style instroband that would write the soundtracks to “spy movies that don’t exist”. We recruited the other members (James Rossiter and Mike Rifkin), came up with a wacky fictional back story for our band and set to writing songs. And we’ve been shaking peoples hips ever since.
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ZK: Let’s get the gushing out of the way quick- you guys blew me away, and NOT just because of the Go-Go Girls (but that WAS a nice touch…) You don’t see a lot of instrumental bands these days, what brought on that decision…or was it just the plan all along?
JW: Mike B. is a big fan of surf music and tiki culture. It’s one of his first loves. So when he suggested we do the surf /spy band (or Spy-fi as we call it) I thought that this would be a fun group to play in but no one would really “get it”. We would play a few shows, have some laughs and that would be it.
Now close to five years later we’ve taken our hobby band has fans across the planet. We have headlined shows in Toronto, Montreal, New York City and as far away as London, Edinburgh, Glasgow and other cities in the UK.
ZK: What kinds of things influence your work?
JW: Being an instro band, you don’t have lyrics to tell your story or narrative. So we look for inspiration from old 60s spy movies and TV shows or old spoofs of spy movies. Its the love of campy 60s culture that kind of solidified the chemistry of the band. We pay tribute to everything from “Get Smart” to “The Prisoner” and “Our Man Flint” or just B-movie in general. But you can’t just rip those thing off, you gotta make it your own.
Also, we use the concept of movie narratives as a link to the fan who is in the front row and wants to connect with the music but doesn’t want look like a tool playing “air-guitar”. So the fan can kinda tell the “Oil Slicks and Ejector Seats” is the soundtrack to the car chase scene in our little pretend movie.
We are writing our third album right now (“Operation: Jet Set” was released in 2006 and “Sputnik A-Go-Go” came out in 2007) but this album is shaping up to be more influenced by the people we’ve met and the places we been than any of others.
ZK: Now I realize that since we’re a ‘horror’ site it might have been weird for me to ask for an interview… but when you said you guys ‘write your own soundtracks to scenes in movies you watch’ I instantly could hear you in a zombie movie. Give us a couple of examples of where your music was inspired by cult/horror films…
JW: Well our stuff is predominately driven by the spy motif. So not much in the horror vein aside from my taste in movies in my personal life. Just for fun, we used to cover the theme song to The Munster’s in our shows, so I don’t know if that counts.
Back in the early days of the band, we wrote our own radio play, in the style of the old radio serials like The Shadow. I always thought it would be cool to take that concept and do a radio play and record it, release it on CD with our music being interwoven with the radio play. An old horror style story would definitely work in that format.
If you like our stuff but want it with a bit more of spooky feel, I would recommend a band out of Toronto called the Von Drats or the Ghastly Ones from California.
ZK: The standard question: Fast or Slow Zombies- which do you prefer and why?
JW: Well what type of Fast Zombies are we talking about? Cause I’m not sure if 28 Days Later style ones really count as zombies. Personally, I’m more scared / a fan of slow zombies. They are like the never stopping, always lumbering, killing juggernauts. Slow and steady. You never saw Jason run in any movie. Why? Cause you always know not matter how fast the promiscuous teens run, he will always catch up. Same with slow zombies. That and they way they lurch gives me the willies.
ZK: So what is on the horizon for you guys?
JW: We are gonna keep writing the new album in the hopes of Spring 2011 release. We will also play shows locally in Ottawa and maybe do a run up and down the 401. Check out www.thereverbsyndicate.ca for details or friend us on the social networking tool of your choice. As long as you choose either Facebook or MySpace.
ZK: Where can people get your stuff?
JW: In finer independent music stores in Ottawa. Also through our website or on iTunes if you want a digital copies. You can also order our CDs at www.cdbaby.com in both physical format or in download form.
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ZK: Now, the most important question… can I get… the Go-Go dancers numbers… ?
JW: Ha, actually we don’t even have their numbers. They work through their own top secret security agency and just magically appear 20 mins before show time. Or whenever we’ve drank the better part of a bottle of scotch. Its quite remarkable actually….
WHOOPS- ‘the Zombiequeen’ just caught wind of that last question… better not follow up on that one… Thank you so much for taking the time to chat to us, Jeff- we will keep an eye out for you guys! …Literally! Now- Go to their SITE!
I’m the Zombieking, and this topic is now DEAD to me…
Just a quick text update:
I meant to mention this when I was talking about the return from Gen Con, but we have a new (sometimes) contributor! His name is ‘Z1′ and he will probably focus more on the gaming side of Zombies and Horror… but who knows! That grows our little crypt here to 4 and we just keep on going! Keep an eye out for his review of the Killing Floor coming soon!
Had a great trip- and will be posting up some pics over time to show some of the great stuff we encountered at the show including the winners of some of our new ‘Zombieinfo.com’ Grade A tee shirts… (We co-sponsored the Zombiewalk- it was a hoot!) Over the next few months we will be sharing a buttload of awesome stuff, our convention schedule is pretty heavy right now, CanCon Aug 20th-Aug 22nd, and Fanexpo Aug 27th to 29th… so we will be amassing lots of great stuff for all you freaks! STAY TUNED!
Just a quick note to let you all know I am away this week- so if you send me any info or questions from the contact page I will respond…just not very quickly. I have some great posts for you while I’m gone too… and I’m pretty sure I’ll come back with a few interviews and such! In lieu of a ‘real post’ here is a Lolzombie to keep you amused:
