Melodic Mayhem: Stellar Corpses
You ask any horror fan about Santa Cruz, California and I can nearly guarantee you that they will immediately think of the 1987 vampire classic The Lost Boys. Though in the film it was called Santa Carla, everyone knows it was Santa Cruz. And while we all love David, the Frog Brothers and of course the epic sax man, horrorpunk fans may think of something else when thinking of the California city. Since forming in 2005, Stellar Corpses have become one of the biggest acts in our beloved music genre.
Mixing in a psychobilly influence with their horrorpunk, Stellar Corpses released their first EP, Respect The Dead in 2007. The band made an immediate impact with this release, assembling great songs such as “Cemetery Man” and “Leave A Stellar Corpse.” It would be a few more years before the band would release their first full-length album, but when Welcome To The Nightmare was unleashed upon the world in 2009, a statement was made that Stellar Corpses were a force to be reckoned with. The 13-track album hits all ends of the horrorpunk spectrum, with notable highlights being “Teenage Witchcraft” and “Can’t Keep A Good Corpse Down.”
The band would return in 2012 with Dead Stars Drive-In, their second full length album. Expanding on the sound they had built over their history, Dead Stars Drive-In would take all the best aspects of both Respect The Dead and Welcome To The Nightmare and takes them to another level. In a nod to their home base of Santa Cruz, the band filmed a Lost Boys inspired video for the albums single “Vampire Kiss” which can be found below. Other highlights on the album include the title track, which serves as a tribute to all of the beloved heroes we grew up watching, as well as “Be Still My Heart” and “Twisted Fantasy” which includes guest vocals from former Misfits front man Michale Graves.
The band has been working at readying a new EP which is set to be released sometime in the near future. While the EP does not have a solid release date or even a title, the band did reveal to me that it is being co-produced by Jimmy Calabrese, another big figure in the horrorpunk community. In addition to his producing duties, Jimmy is also lending some guest vocals to the EP. The band is still working on ensuring that the album is of the highest quality while also balancing their time with touring.
Unfortunately, shortly after I began work on this article, the band has faced a near catastrophic issue. While on tour with Argyle Goolsby And The Roving Midnight, the band had their trailer broken into and all of their gear stolen. While a lesser band may allow this to be a huge hindrance and call off the rest of the tour, the band has made the decision to soldier on and finish the tour using borrowed gear. This situation also led to the departure of guitarist Jacklyn Paulette from the band. While the band is doing their best to continue with the tour, they are still in a very rough situation. Fans of the band have started a GoFundMe campaign to help the band with the costs of replacing the gear that was stolen, which you can check out here. In a statement released by the band on their Facebook page the band has said “We’re getting an overwhelming amount of love and support from so many people with amazing and generous hearts and all we want to do is keep going. Some friends were nice enough to start a GoFundMe campaign for us, here is the link if you care to donate.”
You can keep up with Stellar Corpses by giving them a Like on their Facebook page, visit their Official Website as well and check out the video for “Vampire Kiss” below!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIhBqZ6fk7w
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