There exists in this world a handful of amazing bands that must be seen on Halloween night. San Diego native Deadbolt should be at the very top of that list. This Halloween, my wife and I (and a couple of friends we dragged along) traveled down to San Diego to see ‘The scariest band in the world’ perform at the Black Cat Bar. I actually had never seen Deadbolt preform live, and I wondered as I walked through the doors of this dark dive bar if I was finally taking a real step into a world that I had only seen in movies. My wife and I were in a dodgy bar in a bad part of town to watch a band get on stage to sing about serial killers, truck drivers, shallow graves… and clowns.
The show was everything I had expected and more. Deadbolt killed it and then brought it back to life with voodoo fucking magic. However nothing could have prepared me for after the show, when we got the chance to sit down and talk with them. I had the idea to just shamelessly walk up to them after the show and ask for an interview, and I almost didn’t do it because I can be a coward about this kind of stuff. I knew I would be a giant ball of regret and self loathing the next morning if I chickened out. So I simply asked them after the show and they were the coolest group of guys. I got to shoot the shit about everything from horror films and scary bands, to pyramid schemes and gluten free water.
The Interview
The interview started off with me apologizing for not being worthy, and then asking them about horror films. I figured they might be a bit tired of being asked the same ol questions or talking about their recent loss of Tank Johnson their former drummer. I wanted to know what the ‘scariest band in the world’ has to say about horror. They told me about their part in a film called ‘Left Hand Billy in the Second Solution’ which won the best scifi/Horror award at the British Horror Film Festival in 2013. The lead singer and guitarist, Harley Davidson, informed me that it won the award despite “the writer and director getting into a fight” over creative differences… You know “assholes with egos”.
I ask which classic horror film they would have liked to write the soundtrack to, they said that they would love to rewrite the soundtrack to the film D.O.A (1950) A film Noir about a man who gets poisoned and has 24 hours to find out who killed him before he dies.
I also asked what they think would be a great Halloween lineup for a concert that they would like to play. They told me that The Cramps and Screaming Jay Hawkins would be really cool along with Link Wray (without the heroin). They wanted to make the distinction that there are two kinds of scary bands; The devil worship scary bands and the cheesy scary (Deadbolt being the latter).They also like to write songs about the dark and creepy parts of America that are just beneath the surface of society. They like to write about hobos, carnies, clowns, ventriloquists, truckers and any other creepy subculture.
Eventually, our conversation derailed way off topic and I felt that was a sign it was getting late. I thanked the guys for their time and my wife and I stepped out onto the streets of San Diego and melted back into the night.
You can hear the whole interview below.
