Exclusive: Graham Parker, Other Big Stir Halloween Comp Contributors Tell Terrifying Tales
Move over, “Monster Mash”: There’s a new, soon-to-be-classic Halloween soundtrack that’s about to dig your grave and toss you into it.
Astute readers of The Bad Penny may recall our special premiere of a new song by the cultiest of cult bands, Strawberry Alarm Clock, earlier this month. “Monsters” also appears on the just-released, 41-track Chilling, Thrilling Hooks and Haunted Harmonies, a Big Stir Records collection of spooky, silly and scintillating Halloween-theme songs.
A slew of the legendary contributing artists involved with the compilation recently shared — exclusively with The Bad Penny — a litany of ghastly anecdotes and jovialities in celebration of the record, which should be an essential spin at Halloween gatherings later this month and for many years to come. Kick back and get a kick out of what members of the participating bands told us in response to some of the questions we tossed their way.
Have you had any encounters with the supernatural?
Graham Parker: “On a very early tour of mine with the Rumour, we were driving past Stonehenge well into the wee hours in a transit van. A man on a scooter was in front of us and appeared to be deliberately slowing us down. No other vehicle was on the road. He suddenly turned his head back in our direction, but under the helmet there was no face, just empty darkness. We were blasting opium mixed with hash joints, it’s true, but that had nothing to do with it.”
Karla Kane of the Corner Laughers: “Our family’s closest brush with the presumably supernatural came when my then-preschool age daughter randomly mentioned one night the spirits who apparently haunt our house. She specified their names – Matthew and Kevin – and noted that they make contact with those who are ‘open to the possibilities.'”
Christina Bulbenko of the Armories: “The Blue Hawaiians were playing at the Bordello Lounge in Downtown Los Angeles on a Sunday night, and my friend Katie and I decided to go and hear the band. We were school teachers at the time, so going to a place called Bordello gave us the giggles, haha! The building was located in the historic Victorian Era Red-light district of L.A., but during that time it was called Little Pedro’s. Above the bar was the Hacienda Hotel, and you can use your imagination as to what took place there back then.
“The Bordello bar and lounge were dimly lit, full of red velvet curtains and black chandeliers, gilt mirrors, rococo furniture and a mixture of Victorian and Mexican art. It was dreamy … and the Blue Hawaiians were on fire that night! When it was time to leave, Katie and I walked from the lounge and through the bar on our way out … but Katie looked to her right and noticed a long and narrow, unlit room, adjacent and parallel to the bar, with rows of chairs in it … like a waiting room.
“Katie decided that we should sit in the chairs and take in the vibes. We waited until the bartender was otherwise occupied, ducked in and plopped down. We both felt a chill in the air, got instantaneous goosebumps and then experienced an adrenaline surge to where our palms got a prickly sensation. Katie wanted to stay for a while but we did get caught and were asked to leave … cringe.
“On our drive home, it eerily felt as though someone was tagging along in the back seat and we kept checking … but we didn’t see anyone. As we set foot into Katie’s apartment, while still checking in with each other about the Bordello ‘vibes,’ her hall closet door swings open and several garments (still on hangers!) fly out and onto the floor. I don’t think either of us slept that night, and who knows what our students thought of our ‘deer in the headlights’ lessons that Monday!”
Mark English of the Gold Needles: “When my dad died suddenly, everything felt like a blur – the funeral, the handshakes, the hushed words of sympathy. Afterwards, we moved on to the wake. The room was full to the brim; Dad had been a popular man, and it seemed as though everyone he’d ever known had turned up to say goodbye. In the midst of it all, I spotted a friend of mine with his girlfriend. She fancied herself a psychic of sorts —claimed she did healings, communed with the beyond, that sort of thing. I’d never bought into any of it. Still, they came over, kind faces, voices soft with condolences. She placed a hand on my arm. ‘Try not to be sad. Your dad’s with you now.’
“I nodded politely, though inside I bristled. Her gaze unfocused, as though peering through some invisible curtain. She murmured, ‘He’s holding something in his hand.’ She squinted, tilting her head. ‘It looks like … a comic.’ That was my cue. I muttered a quick excuse and slipped away before she could conjure up anything else. I didn’t know if she truly believed it, or if she thought she was helping. Either way, I wanted none of it.
“The thing about Dad was, he had this uncanny knack for knowing everything about everything. We used to joke he was like a walking encyclopedia – always ready with a fact, a story, a detail nobody else could recall. A few days later, my elder brother was clearing out Dad’s car. He came into the house with a grin plastered across his face, something clutched behind his back. ‘Now I know why Dad knew so much,’ he said, eyes gleaming. ‘Look what I found in the boot.’ With a flourish, he handed me the treasure. Something neither of us had ever seen before.
“It was a comic: The Beano Book of Amazing Facts.”
Blake Jones of Blake Jones & the Trike Shop: “Every day, and in every way, we encounter the ‘supernatural.'”
Mike Crooker of Librarians With Hickeys: “Late October 1974, Lancaster, NY, 3 a.m. I had fallen asleep with headphones on after listening to the CBS Mystery Theater (again). My REM sleep was short-circuited by a blast of screeching white noise that at first was extremely disorienting, and then morphed into a surge of panic as I struggled to figure out what the hell was happening. The sound faded out to a sea of static, and then maybe 10 seconds later, the radio station signal came back to music (‘Melody of Love’ by Bobby Vinton. which was inexplicably huge in the Buffalo market that year).
“At this point, I’m wide awake, sweating and bug-eyed as I scanned the bedroom. I took the headphones off. Not a sound. Thirty seconds later, I hear it. An impossibly low rumble that made the window rattle, faintly at first, until the sound got progressively louder and I thought the pane would break. Outside my window, there’s a powerful searchlight that made the inky night look like high noon. It took my brain a few seconds to catch up to the escalating sound as the adrenaline kicked back in again, and I ran to the window.
“Outside, hovering maybe 300 feet off the ground and a quarter-mile away, was a military helicopter slowly rotating towards me. I dropped to the ground as the beam came closer. The light paused, flooding my room. I froze. Ten seconds [passed]. I held my breath. Twenty seconds [passed]. Finally, the light eased past and continued its search up the block. And then it all faded away as if the last 90 seconds hadn’t happened. Did it?
“After a fitful sleep, I ask my parents the next morning if they heard anything last night. No. I listen to the radio to see if was something as simple as an escaped prisoner or a high speed car chase. Nope. I read the newspapers, watch the evening TV broadcasts … nothing. I’ve spent the last 51 years wondering what scenario fits the narrative above. Aliens? Spies? Corporeal Ghosts? Zombies? None of those answers make me sleep any easier, haunting me even today.”
Lori Franklin, a.k.a. Lady Darkevyl: “When I was a teen, my little brother and I were watching Stephen King’s It [the original TV miniseries]. Our folks went to walk around the block, it being a nice day and all. After a few minutes, right as Pennywise was making a grand appearance, there was a huge boom! And the power went out. Having seen movies before, we looked at each other and hightailed it out of the house to find out folks. Turns out the transformer in our neighbor’s yard had exploded and knocked out the whole neighborhood. Sure. It definitely wasn’t a clown monster. Ok.
“Years later, while I’m finally reading the book, I’m reading a scary part when a spider drops from the ceiling (or who knows where) and right onto the middle of the page. Being an arachnophobic, I’m sorry to say that page now has a little spider stain.
“I’m not saying It is cursed, but I didn’t like turning my back to the Paul Bunyan statue in Bangor.”
The Incurables: “While many kids grew up next to parks and beaches, the official landmark where The Incurables were raised was the Eloise [Asylum] psychiatric hospital. Starting out in 1839 as a poor house and farm, this 902-acre facility eventually developed into an asylum and sanatorium. Our early memories of riding by in the backseat of our parent’s station wagon, watching the residents peaking their heads through the wrought Iron fence, was like taking a trip to Coney Island.
“Eloise officially closed in 1982. Just in time for a young band to look for inspiration and background for photo shoots. We often traveled to the ruins of what was once an incredible yet frightening community. This place had its own zip code, had 78 buildings and held 10,000 patients. We loved and respected our time there but also often felt like we were not alone as we photographed our experience. Initially just looking for a rough ‘rock and roll’ background, we found that the landscape became a member of the band. We would turn in unison as we heard voices from the remaining walls. Ask did you hear that? Was that here before? Swear that we saw something move. Too many photos were unusable as there was a strange light ruining the film.
“We have written two songs about Eloise and probably influenced for others. Today, Eloise still stands even though it is but a couple buildings. Located on Alice Cooper Drive, you can still tour ghost adventures and haunted tours. Eloise will always be home to The Incurables.”
What’s your favorite horror movie?
Rebecca Hall and Ken Anderson of Hungrytown: “One of our favorite horror movies is the 1973 cult classic folk horror masterpiece The Wicker Man, set on a remote Scottish island whose inhabitants still live according to pagan tradition. The otherworldly folk music soundtrack for this film has always been a huge inspiration for our music, and especially so for ‘Footprints,’ our contribution to the wonderful Chilling, Thrilling compilation album.
Graham Parker: “Alien. This film rewrote the book on horror/sci-fi. Like Ash the robot, I was rooting for the alien.”
Rick Hromadka (solo artist and leader of Maple Mars): “The Exorcist probably had the most impact on me as a child.”
Rex Broome of the Armories: “Somehow it wasn’t until last year that I finally saw The Haunting (the 1963 Robert Wise version) despite it being recommended to me many times over the years. Incredible vibes to that film, which suits me because I go for evocative and ambiguous creepiness over jump scares every time. While working on Chilling, Thrilling Hooks Aand Haunted Harmonies, I ended up reading a lot about Disney’s Haunted Mansion and I was surprised to learn that The Haunting was a real touchstone in the ride’s development – but I can see it now.”
Ian Wright of the Jack Rubies: “The Wicker Man (original), Don’t Look Now, The Shining and Let the Right One In (the Swedish original).”
Steve Stoeckel of the Spongetones (and a solo artist): “My favorite horror film is Dracula, gorgeous in black and white, a classic.”
Susan West of sparkle*jets u.k.: “I love scary movies. I love them now. I loved them growing up. My brother and I had a special bond with my mother, because she would take up to the Compton Drive-In over on Rosecrans Avenue [in L.A.] to see every scary movie that played there, but we could never really tell my grandmother or friends because these movies were really scary and highly inappropriate for an 8- and 9-year-old to be seeing.
“I remember a double-feature that in particular scared the shit out of me. It was Who Slew Auntie Roo starring a mean, old Shelley Winters who took in orphans to show them a nice time away from the orphanage. And the other movie that night was The Corpse Grinder, [in which] this guy worked at a plant that made dog food. He killed a guy who accidentally fell into the meat grinder at the plant. This new dog food recipe was a hit with all the dogs. So the guy had to keep killing people and putting them in the dog food. And the dogs start killing and eating people, yada-yada-yada!
“I love this part the best about going to the movies with my mom … She would bring two large paper grocery bags that she would give to myself and my brother to put over our heads when the scary got too scary. The bag was over my brother’s head a great deal during this double-header. I thought everybody’s mom did this for their kids …”
What is your greatest fear?
Graham Parker: “That the movie Idiocracy will become a reality. Oh, right – it has.”
Rex Broome of the Armories: “Basically anything involving eyeballs being penetrated. Kinda grosses me out even writing it. I’ve gotten over being too weirded out by depictions of it. (Thanks, Luis Buñuel, I guess.) But the real-life possibility puts me on edge to the point where I’ll just never be OK with the idea of wearing contact lenses.”
Ian Wright of the Jack Rubies: “Claustrophobia, acrophobia, snakes.”
Lori Franklin, a.k.a. Lady Darkevyl: “Spiders.”
Michael Simmons of sparkle*jets u.k.: “Creepy-crawly, stinging things. Murder hornets. Assassin bugs. Basically anything small that flies and comes at me … if I’m at a thing and there’s a bee or whatever I don’t swat it away, I bail and get indoors.”
Scoop up your spoooky copy of Chilling, Thrilling Hooks and Haunted Harmonies: The Big Stir Records Halloween Grimoire on Big Stir’s Bandcamp page.
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