November 7, 2010

If you ever have the chance to chat with writer/director Adam Gierasch, it becomes almost immediately evident that his love of the horror genre is only rivaled by his love of punk rock music. Just have a peek at the track listing of songs that make up the NIGHT OF THE DEMONS soundtrack and his affinity for this particular sub-genre of music is obvious.

Last month, when Massive Hysteria discussed with Gierasch the making of the DEMONS remake along with his writing partner/wife Jace Anderson, the conversation eventually veered towards music. We thought it’d be fun to find out exactly what were some of the most influential punk records that helped shape the artist that Gierasch has become. Below in his own words are his all time favorite punk rock albums! -Robg.

“In junior high school, I was friends with this guy Mike Hoffman who was a bass player and he was really into pre-punk stuff like The Stooges and The New York Dolls. And so I would always go to his house, smoke pot and listen to Iggy and The Stooges. When I got into high school, I slipped back into listening to your typical high school music, which at the time was what would now be considered classic rock. The Who, Pink Floyd, stuff like that. One day, this kid Eric from my Social Studies class brought in a cassette tape of The Dead Kennedys’ “Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables” and I listened to it and my life was changed completely. Just hearing the sarcastic, but catchy early Dead Kennedys stuff just wowed me. So “Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables”, even though it’s not one of my favorite albums now, it was the definitely the catalyst for me getting into the kind of music that I would later start playing myself in a band.”

“The first punk show I ever went to was for a band called 7 Seconds, who had an album called “The Crew” and another one called “Walk Together Rock Together.” Those were 2 great records; even though 7 Seconds technically weren’t straight edge, they introduced me to straight edge kind of punk rock stuff like Youth Of Today, which also leads me to Minor Threat.”

“Minor Threat isn’t just one of those seminal bands, you still listen to them today and think “man, can that band play. Man, Ian can sing.” It was so interesting to hear these guys talk about such an uncool message, which I think really plays into the way we all thought. None of us were cool in school, but we always felt like we wanted to be one of the cool people. Even though other people may have looked at you and thought “there’s a cool person into punk rock”, I don’t think I was very cool. But certainly Minor Threat’s Out Of Step was very important to me.”

“The other album that shaped the music I listen to even to this day was “Walk Among Us” by The Misfits. What an album! The songwriting on that record is amazing. The Misfits and The Ramones are just 2 bands that you think “how could you guys have written so many catchy songs?” For The Misfits “Walk Among Us”, to combine horror movies with punk rock music, it was like a dream come true listening to that. Every single song on that record is so well written and so well sung, it’s almost a perfect album.”

“The Meatmen “War Of The Superbikes” – Not many people know of The Meatmen, but Tesco Vee is probably the best lyricist that ever existed in punk rock. Your readers should check out some of their tracks. The thing I liked about The Meatmen was their sense of humor, which was just ridiculous. They could make me laugh so hard, and it’s so dirty and so indescribably perverse, as well as snotty and rebellious. And rebelling not just against society, but also the underground culture at the time, so it was sort of rebelling against all of these things and being mean and nasty with a “fuck you” attitude. I mean, songs like Lesbian Death Dirge; like I said, the best lyricist. I can sit here and quote all the lines from that album, “War Of The Superbikes.” Listen to the song Pillar Of Sodom. It has to be heard to be believed. Anybody that writes lyrics like that I gotta give it up to. That’s an underappreciated album.”

“Certainly, one of the greatest albums of all-time is “Master Of Puppets” by Metallica. That record showed me that you could do cool, fast, aggressive music and still be very instrumentally complicated then I thought was possible, and yet still maintain a sense of catchiness about it. Obviously, it’s a speed metal album, not a punk rock album, but it’s one of the best albums ever made. James Hetfield is one of the greatest singers of all time and I still think that to this day he’s only gotten better. Listening to him cover Nick Cave’s “Lover Man”, I think his voice just gets better. I wish I could sing like that, but I can’t!”

“Listening to Bad Religion will increase your vocabulary. It truly will. It’s taught me so many big words, I can’t even tell you. (Laughs) And yet, it’s catchy and totally socially relevant stuff. I’m a real left wing political guy, so they fit right into my sensibilities. Once more, great singer, great songs.”

“Zero Boys, and their album called “Vicious Circle”. If you haven’t heard this record, it’s weird because it sounds like California punk rock from the 80’s but it was recorded in Indiana. I don’t even know if the band ever got to California! But once more, amazing, snotty, great punk rock songs with really good guitar playing. I can’t believe that singer didn’t come from California. He sounds so much like the singer from The Adolescents. Another great album is The Blue Album. The proto-typical California punk rock sound that I still listen to probably more than anything else. I love that snotty “fuck you” attitude set to guitar solos that sound like Chuck Berry and voices that sound like some pissed off kid on the beach screaming at his mom at the top of his lungs. (Laughs)”

“I love Rich Kids On LSD and their album “Lifestyles Of Rich Kids On LSD.” That album is some of the most sophisticated punk rock ever recorded. Just the insane bass lines, insane drumming and again those snotty lyrics, but it’s so frantic and so complex that it takes you like 7 or 8 times to listen to it before you can fully absorb what they’re doing. It doesn’t just sound noisy, unlike other bands that try to sound noisy, it’s just really complicated. I remember my band used to play a lot with NOFX, who were good friends with RKL so I used to see RKL a lot, and I’ve never seen a live show like them. They’re also one of the most tragic bands I can think of because they’ve had I think about 3 people in their band die. I advice everyone to sit back, put on headphones, listen to that album and let it wash over you. It’s so hard to fully take in what all the instruments are doing because it’s complicated and punk isn’t supposed to complicated. In punk, everybody’s supposed to be able to pick up a guitar and play! In order to enrich myself, I taught myself a Ramones song everyday and that’s the level of my guitar playing. I can barely play guitar! (Laughs)”

“There’s so many seminal punk rock albums that really influenced. Punk rock in a lot of ways made me who I am more than anything else. It was a community that taught me a set a values that I still instill today. I’m no different than anybody else. There’s no difference between us and there’s no difference between artist and audience. We need each other and we have a symbiotic relationship. And we’re no better and no worse than each other. Also, there’s something in punk that’s odd is that people could be kind. It’s such a tight knit community and it’s so important for everybody to show unity and stand together. It’s hard for it to be encapsulated in words, but it was mind-blowingly important to me that that kind of music has made me who I am. I’d like to think that us people making horror films nowadays are similar in that respect. I like that ideal of this community of artists all rooting for each other because we’re all on the same side.”

NIGHT OF THE DEMONS is available now on DVD and Blu-Ray.