HorrorPops come from Copenhagen, Denmark, but the demon seed was planted in Cologne, Germany at the 1996 POPKOMM festival. Patricia Day, Peanut Pump Gun's singer-guitarist, met Nekromantix singer-bassist Kim Nekroman, and discovered mutual affection for the sounds of Blonde, Depeche Mode, Siouxsie and the Banshees, surf, punk, ska, and good ol' rock 'n' roll. They taught each to play the other's instrument and pledged to write songs that held no loyalty to any particular style.
It must have been with some degree of daffy glee that the popular Danish bands Peanut Pump Gun, Nekromantix and Strawberry Slaughterhouse were stirred together.
"We didn't want to be categorized," says Patricia. Where Peanut Pump Gun and Strawberry Slaughterhouse dwelled within the punk/alternative genre, and Nekromantix was psychobilly, HorrorPops was to be "basically, um…good old fashioned rock 'n' roll."
"We are geeks when we enter a studio," says Patricia. "We love nerding around just as much as we love partying." And somewhere in the midst of that, they write songs. "I don't ever think we are gonna be a band that can do songs in advance. Just like babies, usually they aren't planned."
"The most frequent comment," says Patricia, "from people watching the show is 'You guys are crazy, so much stuff goes on onstage that you never know where to look or what to expect.'"
Musically, she says, it's the same thing. In sound and vision, HorrorPops is "straight-up rock 'n' roll," completely unpredictable and as sweet as it is volatile. "You can hear a bit of Blondie, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Ramones, Cramps, Tiger Army, Rev. Horton Heat, Wanda Jackson, Billy Idol and Depeche Mode in it. I think everybody, no matter what kind of music they like, they will find something in HorrorPops that is for them."
So what's in it for the band? "We are just playing our butts off and try to have as much fun as possible," says Patricia. She says the band is rocking with new guitarist Geoff Kresge (former bassist with Tiger Army and A.F.I.) and new go-go dancer, No-No. "Geoff has turned out to be the best guitarist we've ever had, and No-No is our Texan hammer."
"We're going to break some rules and flip a finger to all the freaks in uniforms that put down laws to what subculture music is all about."
Band Site: www.myspace.com/thehorrorpops
Label Site: Hellcat Records