Interview: The MEMPHIS MORTICIANs

July 2006

The 1st time I saw the MEMPHIS MORTICIANS on stage, I found they really kick ass! These 4 morticians seem to be to the Garage-RnR-a-Billy what viagra is to the 3rd age people... And, as they've just released their 1st full lenght CD, that was worth to meet them.
If you like stories about Primitive trashmen from outer-space, these guys are for you!

1/ Who does what, in the band?

• Crypt-O-Fur-gutter guitar
• Peter von Erickson-(b)ass slapping
• Trash Only-howling and bleeding
• Howeird-is a bongo beatin' beatnik he can't stand that rock n roll

2/ How long does the band exist for? How many funeral ceremonies.... hum, I mean, How many shows?

Actually the band played it's first gig in 1997 then broke up for 4 years.
This line up has been together about 3 years, another couple of years and it'll be time to start learning our instruments.

3/ What is your best experience on stage?

Playing Heavy Rebel Weekend was a blast. The only thing that was almost as good is playing Montreal with the GutterDemons. Vive les psychos!!!!

4/ ... And the worst?

Hard to say as long as there's a couple of people there and we can hear each other we're pretty happy.

5/ Your 1st full lenght CD has been released a few days ago. Could you introduce it?

It is 14 songs of unremitting fuzzabilly horror retardation. If you've seen us live, it's a pretty good representation of our live sets, only sober and in tune.

6/ One can feel some big Garage and Rockabilly influences in your music. What are your main inspirations?

We listen to all kindsa stuff between the four of us, all the usual garage and rockabilly and punk stuff plus lotsa blues and country and 50's RnB. We also have a fondness for alot of those mid-eighties psycho gone garage groups like the Vibes and the Stingrays.

7/ Some people compares you with the early MONSTERS recordings. How do you feel about that?

We love Beat Man and everything he does so we take it as a compliment that anyone feels we come close to his level of demented trash. Personally though we don't think we sound like anybody but us. Everybody else's songs have more notes in them.

8/ You've got a (very good) 3-tracks EP out a few weeks ago. Where people can get it?

Sorry we're being lazy about selling stuff through our website but we will get that hooked up soon. For now Spindrift records is the most reliable source for the seven inch or you can get in touch with us through memphismorticians.net. In case you're wondering the seven inch has different recordings and songs you can't get on the cd.

9/ Talkin about the NYC scene. How is the rockin' and Psychobilly scene there?

There is no scene here in NYC and that is the best thing about the scene.
Its all wide open no pressure to sound or look a certain way. None of bands sound like each other and the good
shows (like the ones Mike Decay puts on) are more like big beer parties than some kind of fashion show. The people I hang with regularly are more into music than anything else('cept alcohol). A band like us were able to develop our own sound without much hassle.

10/ Why people should go to see the Memphis Morticians on stage?

We have no shame and we love making jackasses of ourselves. We are also much much louder.

11/ Last Words...

Buy our CD the Memphis Morticians Play Primitive Trashman and 13 Other Love Songs from Kaiser Records, we're trying to send Howie to beautician's school.