Nekromantix Archives - the rockabilly chronicle

Duck and Cover – The Pasadena Recordings

Heptown Records HTR045 [2009]
Pick Up My Heart – The Way You Look At Me – Funnel of Love – You Sound So Angry – Lovestruck – One Tear Away – Time Has Forgot – Squarehead Boogie – I Can’t Stop Leavin’ You – Wall of Shame – Window Shopping – One Way Love – Fight or Flight – Lonesome Train

Duck and Cover is a Danish band consisting of Johanne Mortensen on vocals, Peter Knudsen on electric and steel guitar, Paolo Molinari (who was in the first lineup of Nekromantix) on double bass, and Lars Ole Nielsen on rhythm guitar. They traveled from Denmark to Pasadena to record the album under the guidance of Wally Hersom. Wally also played double bass on a couple of tracks, and Pappy Stuckey provided extra help on drums for five tunes.

The album includes eleven self-penned songs, mostly by Peter Knudsen, with two contributions from Paolo and one co-written by Johanne. Additionally, the album features three classic covers: Hank Williams’ “Window Shopping,” Wanda Jackson’s “Funnel Of Love,” and Johnny Burnette’s “Lonesome Train.” Their repertoire spans hillbilly boogie, hillbilly swing, rockabilly, country ballads, and Hank Williams-style music ( One Tear Away sounds very similar to Cold Cold Heart and Fight or Flight has the same haunting feeling, especially on the steel guitar, you can hear on Ramblin’ Man). Mortensen’s vocals are reminiscent of Brenda Lee, with a slightly less convincing performance on straight rock’n’roll numbers like “Lonesome Train.” Overall, it’s a good debut album presented in a well-designed digipack.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Nekromantix (the)

Published on 10 December 202310 December 2023

Reviews

Nekromantix (the) – Curse Of The Coffin

Nervous Records – NERCD 063 [1991]
Devil Smile – Curse Of The Coffin – S/M – Motorpsycho – Alice In Psycholand – Way Down To Hell – Howlin At The Moon – New Born Son Of Satan – Save My Grave – Survive Or Die – Part2 – Drugshock – Rockin’Reptile – Mama Don’t Allow

The Nekromantix formed in the late eighties. They quickly gained a considerable reputation with their psychobilly-meets metal with a touch of Goth. This reputation reached another level with the release of their debut album on Tombstone Records. The next step was signing with Roy Williams and Nervous Records. The result was one of those albums that changed the face of Psychobilly. Superbly produced by Micky Mutant, aka Pete Gage (who worked with the Meteors, Demented Are Go and Restless), Curse of the Coffin redefined the word Psychobilly (for better and for worse) at the dawn of the nineties.
With Kim Nekroman(real name Kim Gaarde) at the helm, slapping his coffin bass at a supersonic pace, Peter Sandorff playing a mean guitar that owed more to speed-metal shredders than Cliff Gallup or Paul Burlison, and Peek giving the beat, the Nekromantix unleashed a wild beast upon the Psychobilly world.Albeit fast, even ultra-fast, their brand of Psychobilly always remained tuneful and melodic. That aspect resides in the special treatment given to the vocals, with interactions in the form of questions and answers between Kim Nekroman and the band, the latter being an essential part of the singing. The songs are very well-written and don’t seem to have been heard trillions of times.
After the pioneers (Meteors, Ricochets, Sharks…) and the second wave of Psychobilly that still had its two feet firmly anchored in the Rockabilly idiom, the Nekromantix personified the new wave of bands that included more and more metal elements with only the slap bass to echo their Rockabilly roots.