The Greatest Show Unearthed
On Saturday baronmind and I drove up to the DC area to see Creature Feature. Live. Finally.
There were a couple of opening bands that were good, but not great, and two other headliners: Retard- o-Bot and Tub Ring. The unfortunately named Retard-O-Bot was surprisingly awesome. They had a really unique sound and were excellent showmen--especially the lead singer, Pepper. Definitely crass, and definitely not for everyone--but I really loved them. Tub Ring was also pretty good, but didn't really stand out for me. In fact, the most stand-out thing about their set was when they were saying good night and called Creature Feature "a couple of fucking homos." I'm not sure if this was a misplaced attempt at humor or some sort of passive-aggressive bull shit, but either way I was extremely unimpressed.
Creature Feature themselves were the final act, and kicked so much ass, I can't even begin to tell you. I'm not sure if it was where I was standing (right up front) or if it was the sound system/balance, or what, but I had problems hearing Curtis over the music. This in no way changed the fact that Curtis is unspeakably hot, mind you... and, in fact, Bound and Gagged is a really sexy song when you miss large chunks of lyrics and only get, "Don't Do Anything That You Think You'll Regret ... I'm Keeping Her Bound And Gagged ... Hands Tied Behind Her Back ... Listen Up Now I Won't Repeat Myself, This Is How Everything Is Gonna Go Down ... I'm Keeping Her Bound And Gagged ... Where No One Can Hear Her Scream." Now, in truth, this is a sort of nasty song about kidnapping a young girl... But even knowing that, catching Curtis sing some of those lines out of context was... Excuse me a moment.
...Ahem. Alright, don't worry. I've composed myself again.
They played a lot of songs off of The Greatest Show Unearthed (which is unsurprising, since it's their only album at the moment): Bound and Gagged, A Gorey Demise, Look to the Skies, Aim for the Head, The Greatest Show Unearthed, Such Horrible Things, and Buried Alive. Possibly one or two others, but I'm positive they played those. They also played a song off of the new album they're currently working on. I believe it was called Spook House, although I might be mistaken about that. Whatever it was called, it was really excellent. They also played a few covers, including Erik's arrangement of the Munsters' theme song. Curtis told the audience that we should forgive him if he messed it up horribly because he only sort of knew it, and afterward said, "Well, I sort of remembered that." I'm not sure what he thinks he did wrong, though, because it sounded fantastic!*
After their set, I did the fan-girl thing and waited around to talk to them. I'd brought the CD case from my copy of The Greatest Show Unearthed, and when I handed it to Curtis to sign, he said something along the lines of, Woah, a blast from the past--hey, Erik! He then handed it to Erik who said, Wow, I haven't seen one of these in... It was pretty awesome. You see, I bought my copy before they were with an actual label, and the artwork is entirely different. If you buy a copy today, you'll get something that looks like this The new art is pretty awesome, but having the (unintentionally) limited edition original album art is even better. After a small problem locating a functioning silver sharpie they both signed the front cover, and Curtis told me that they'd sold just enough of these early CDs to get them on the road the first time. He thanked me for my "early support" and gave me a hug. That's right, Curtis Rx hugged me! Okay, yes, he hugs freaking everyone, but I think you're missing the point here.
Sadly, I didn't have the presence of mind to bring (or ask baronmind to bring) a camera, so I don't have a picture of myself with the boys. However, during their set, Curtis said they'd probably be back on the East coast this fall, so next time. Long story short, it was a pretty awesome concert.
*I've never been a big Munsters fan, and (as should be no surprise to anyone who knows me) find The Addams Family to be vastly superior... but the Munsters did have an awesome theme song.
[edit, 12:55 pm: They also played How to Serve Man which, unless I'm mistaken, is only available on the Cannibal Flesh Riot dvd.]
There were a couple of opening bands that were good, but not great, and two other headliners: Retard- o-Bot and Tub Ring. The unfortunately named Retard-O-Bot was surprisingly awesome. They had a really unique sound and were excellent showmen--especially the lead singer, Pepper. Definitely crass, and definitely not for everyone--but I really loved them. Tub Ring was also pretty good, but didn't really stand out for me. In fact, the most stand-out thing about their set was when they were saying good night and called Creature Feature "a couple of fucking homos." I'm not sure if this was a misplaced attempt at humor or some sort of passive-aggressive bull shit, but either way I was extremely unimpressed.
Creature Feature themselves were the final act, and kicked so much ass, I can't even begin to tell you. I'm not sure if it was where I was standing (right up front) or if it was the sound system/balance, or what, but I had problems hearing Curtis over the music. This in no way changed the fact that Curtis is unspeakably hot, mind you... and, in fact, Bound and Gagged is a really sexy song when you miss large chunks of lyrics and only get, "Don't Do Anything That You Think You'll Regret ... I'm Keeping Her Bound And Gagged ... Hands Tied Behind Her Back ... Listen Up Now I Won't Repeat Myself, This Is How Everything Is Gonna Go Down ... I'm Keeping Her Bound And Gagged ... Where No One Can Hear Her Scream." Now, in truth, this is a sort of nasty song about kidnapping a young girl... But even knowing that, catching Curtis sing some of those lines out of context was... Excuse me a moment.
...Ahem. Alright, don't worry. I've composed myself again.
They played a lot of songs off of The Greatest Show Unearthed (which is unsurprising, since it's their only album at the moment): Bound and Gagged, A Gorey Demise, Look to the Skies, Aim for the Head, The Greatest Show Unearthed, Such Horrible Things, and Buried Alive. Possibly one or two others, but I'm positive they played those. They also played a song off of the new album they're currently working on. I believe it was called Spook House, although I might be mistaken about that. Whatever it was called, it was really excellent. They also played a few covers, including Erik's arrangement of the Munsters' theme song. Curtis told the audience that we should forgive him if he messed it up horribly because he only sort of knew it, and afterward said, "Well, I sort of remembered that." I'm not sure what he thinks he did wrong, though, because it sounded fantastic!*
After their set, I did the fan-girl thing and waited around to talk to them. I'd brought the CD case from my copy of The Greatest Show Unearthed, and when I handed it to Curtis to sign, he said something along the lines of, Woah, a blast from the past--hey, Erik! He then handed it to Erik who said, Wow, I haven't seen one of these in... It was pretty awesome. You see, I bought my copy before they were with an actual label, and the artwork is entirely different. If you buy a copy today, you'll get something that looks like this The new art is pretty awesome, but having the (unintentionally) limited edition original album art is even better. After a small problem locating a functioning silver sharpie they both signed the front cover, and Curtis told me that they'd sold just enough of these early CDs to get them on the road the first time. He thanked me for my "early support" and gave me a hug. That's right, Curtis Rx hugged me! Okay, yes, he hugs freaking everyone, but I think you're missing the point here.
Sadly, I didn't have the presence of mind to bring (or ask baronmind to bring) a camera, so I don't have a picture of myself with the boys. However, during their set, Curtis said they'd probably be back on the East coast this fall, so next time. Long story short, it was a pretty awesome concert.
*I've never been a big Munsters fan, and (as should be no surprise to anyone who knows me) find The Addams Family to be vastly superior... but the Munsters did have an awesome theme song.
[edit, 12:55 pm: They also played How to Serve Man which, unless I'm mistaken, is only available on the Cannibal Flesh Riot dvd.]