HORRORPOPS PLAY THE OPERA HOUSE (735 QUEEN E) THU, OCT 16. $15.50 FROM HORSESHOE FRONT BAR, ROTATE THIS, SOUNDSCAPES, TICKETMASTER; $18 DOOR. ALL AGES. DOORS 8PM.
They say their name has nothing to do with scary movies — rather, that they believed they were initially quite horrible at playing pop music — but the HorrorPops have certainly captured the dark hearts of goths, psychobillies and other rock ’n’ rollers who wish every day were Halloween. Originally from Copenhagen but based in LA since signing to Tim Armstrong’s HellCat records, the unholy trinity of Patricia Day, Kim Nekroman and Henrik Niedermeier have crafted odes to the slightly-less-fiendish Thelma & Louise, Hitchcock starlets and assorted damsels in distress on their latest disc, Kiss Kiss Kill Kill. But for the current Hallow’s Eve Tour they’re unearthing their oldest and rarest monster mashes. Day, the band’s badass stand-up bassist and vocalist, talks about girls, girls, girls.
You’ve ditched your go-go ghoul dancers and are touring as a three-piece. How’s that going?
It’s awesome, to be quite honest. We’ve always battled with the assumption that we’re more a circus than a rock ’n’ roll band, so we’re getting a lot of respect from other musicians now that they’re not distracted by the dancing boobies and asses on stage. The downside is that there is a lot more work to do when we don’t have dancers to distract from our fucking up.
Your new album has a film noir theme and your band is rockabilly styled. What’s your interest in retro eras?
I actually don’t consider myself to be any style, retro or otherwise. I think of me as me. And if you’re referring to the way I dress, it’s because I’ve always believed, since I was a little kid, that the female figure should be allowed to be flaunted. I was depressed in the ’90s that there was all this unisex [fashion] going on. Let me wear dresses! But I definitely don’t identify with retro culture because I don’t believe in the ideology that existed about women in that period.
Growing up in Denmark, was it easier or different for you as a female musicians making rock ‘n’ roll?
It’s true, as a Danish person, you don’t consider gender as much. Women have had the voting rights in Denmark for 250 years; that’s pretty different. Fake boobs and the desire for a big diamond ring is a mystery to me. Anyways, when I pick up my instrument, I am not a gender.
In your song “Heading for the Disco” you sneer at Bret Michaels’ groupies and sing, “I don’t get why anyone would want to dress up AS an ‘80s whore.” Why the hate?
That’s a reaction to the fact that things that weren’t cool at that time are all of a sudden cool. Jon Bon Jovi was never freakin’ cool! I was taken for my birthday to Metal Skool hair-metal covers night and I thought, “This is supposed to make me feel young?” Jesus, I dated guys who looked like that and I’m trying to forget it!
What’s your ultimate Halloween fantasy?
It’s funny because every Halloween the HorrorPops play. And we don’t have that holiday in Denmark, so I would actually like to experience it the proper way — do up the whole front yard and scare the shit out of some kids. One thing I don’t get about Halloween here, though, is the grown-up costumes. It seems like the one time of year that religious Americans let go and dress up like sexy maids. I mean, c’mon, can’t you just do that every day instead and use Halloween to dress up spooky and disgusting? Halloween should be nasty, not sexy!