Dav’s Ultimate Halloween Mix’s 17th Edition: Halloween 2018

Click Here for Halloween Mix #17

I tried something different this year.  Each track starts with a sample from a horror movie trailer, hence the name of the movie before the song in the track listing.

All songs by Professor D are by me. Hope you enjoy and let me know what you think. Feel free to share and pass on the link.  If you want more, check out the previous year’s mixes links at the bottom of this post.

I’ve also just uploaded a bunch of music I made on old mixes under The Best of Professor D.

I’m going to post information about each track all month, so check back in and scroll down to see new entries.

Track List:

1. Something Is Out There/Beast – Blitzkriegbliss
2. Tarantula/Tarantula – The Tarantulas
3. Terror Eyes/Terror Eyes (Dead Neighbours cover) – Professor D
4. Halloween/Halloween – The Coffinshakers
5. Death Spa/Scary Us – Flatlinerz
6. Maniac/Beast – K.M.F.D.M.
7. Graveyard Shift/Graveyard Boogie – Buster Doss & His Arkansas Playboys
8. To The Devil A Daughter/Land Of The Dead – Voltaire
9. Halloween 2018 – Professor D
10. They Live/They Live – Schoolyard Heroes
11. Night of the Blood Beast/The Beast of Sunset Strip – Teddy Durant
12. Jaws 2/Mrs. Jaws – Goodman & Buchanan
13. The Boogeyman/Boogeyman – Bluejay
14. Nightmare On Elm Street/Never Sleep Again – One Life
15. Carnival Of Souls/Dear Ghoul – Wumpscut
16. The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll/Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde – The Who
17. Superbeast/Beast Infection – The Formaldibrides
18. Dracula Vs Frankenstein/Monster Rapping – Laylaw
19. Frankenstein Conquers the World/At the House of Frankenstein – Big Bee Kornegay

Previous Years’ Mixes:

Halloween Mix 2017

Halloween Mix 2016

Halloween Mix 2015

Halloween Mix 2014

 

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Song #1: Something Is Out There/Beast – Blitzkriegbliss

What? Something Is Out There was a made for TV movie? I had no idea where I got the radio ad this sample came from. It is a story about a human police officer played by Joseph Cortese and a telepathic alien with super human strength played by Mayam d’Abo (from The Living Daylights). The police officer is investigating murders where the victims are missing organs and teams up with the alien to try to stop a shape shifting monster. It sounds so much more lurid and exciting than something that had to conform to 1988 special effects and TV standards.

Sophia Cacciola is the guitar player and singer for Blitzkriegbliss. Her deep voice transforms to a high pitched scream so easily. She is joined by Mike on bass and Earl on drums. “Beast” is from the album Every Day is Marked, and contains many more great sludgy rock songs. Given the addition to my long title for this year, this was the perfect song to lead off the mix.

Song #2: Tarantula/Tarantula – The Tarantulas

This movie is considered one of the best of the 1950s giant monster movies. While it looks pretty bad in clips and stills, for the time, it was considered a true horror experience. What starts as a mystery, when the body of a deformed biological scientist is discovered in the desert, turns into a cattle mutilation investigation, which is all related to the giant spider that was created out of the biological scientist’s experiments in trying to solve world hunger. Of course, the tarantula terrorizes the town and is unstoppable. After guns and a large amount of dynamite have no effect, a jet fighter comes in and kills the tarantula with napalm. A crazy detail is that Clint Eastwood plays the fighter pilot.

This is the biggest hit from the band that started as the Spyders and changed their name after a change in their lineup. This version of the band didn’t last but a few years, because when the lead of the Bill Black Combo died, The Tarantulas merged with the remainder of that band. There are as many instrumental Halloween songs as with a singer, especially from the late 50s, early 60s era, but this one really stands out as one of the best.

Song #3: Terror Eyes/Terror Eyes (Dead Neighbours cover) – Professor D

The only reason I looked up this trailer was because of the name. A movie so good you can watch the entire thing on Youtube here.  Apparently, every kill happens off screen; what a bore.   Although, it was banned in the UK (a Video Nasty?) and was apparently influenced by Italian Giallo, which makes me want to watch it.  That poster doesn’t do anything to encourage a watch.  What is the answer?   Seriously.  Any of you dedicated readers, have you seen this and what did you think?

The Scottish Band: Dead Neighbours has a member related to big time band Cockatoo Twins. Members: Craig Lorentson on vocals, David Steel on bass, Ronnie Buchanan on guitar, and Grant McDowall on drums were originally a Psychobilly band , but became more experimental on the their second album: Strangedays: Strangeways, where “Terror Eyes” comes from. There is a genuine lack of information about this song available, including the lyrics. I was able to transcribe most of it, but there were two bits from lines that were unrecognizable. My interpretation of the song is that there is a “mysterious stranger” who seduces the protagonist’s girlfriend. It is suggested that the girlfriend is turned into a vampire and seeks to be killed and released from her torment by the former boyfriend. I made it much more overt by replacing the hard to understand part with “vampire girl”. I am very proud of what I was able to accomplish with this song. Recorded in a back room of my house, I wasn’t able to do an original song this year, for the first time in a long time (Seriously, at least ten years). I just ran out of time, but this is a cover that I feel shows years and years of practice in self-recording that is pretty darn good for a DIY recording.

Song # 4: Halloween/Halloween – The Coffinshakers

I hope that this movie needs no introduction. John Carpenter wasn’t the first to make a horror movie about a slasher killer, but he made one of the most iconic.   Nothing quite measures up to the original, though I do like the second one and, despite the amount of hatred against them, the Rob Zombie movies are great. John Carpenter has a style and love for what he is doing that even the worst of his movies are still enjoyable on some level. The best of his films; The Thing, Escape from New York, Big Trouble in Little China; are masterpieces.

 

The Coffinshakers are from Karlstadt, Sweden, and sound like what if Johnny Cash had gone the same musical inspiration rout as The Misfits. Though they formed in 1995, they made their biggest impact in the 2000s, finding a following in Finland. The band is Rob Coffinshaker on vocals and guitar, Joe Undertaker on bass, Fang on electric guitar, and Andy Bones on drums.  This track from their second album is a good example of their style.

Song #5: Death Spa/Scary Us – Flatlinerz

How could this not be ridiculous. A number of residents of a gym/health spa start dying from random accidents with the equipment; showers, gym lockers, computerized workout equipment, pipes filled with acid for some reason, blenders, diving boards, and a plastic puppet fish all manage to kill people in this movie. Why would anyone return after the body count started rising? Everything ends up to be the result of supernatural influence by the ghost of the owner’s dead wife. Not exactly a classic, this movie has recently had a cult following of the so bad it’s good variety.

Flatlinerz’s first album from 1994 is considered the originator of the term “Horrocore”. I always thought that Gravediggaz was the first, but who cares, both groups are great. I remember MTV running stories about Flatlinerz and Horrorcore being so much more brutal than Gansta Rap, but I never saw it that way.   It didn’t rally take off in the nineties, (Flatlinerz 1994 U.S.A. – Under Satan’s Authority is the worst selling Def Jam album of all time) but there was a resurgence of interest in the 2000s, and Flatlinerz reformed and have been putting out new material since 2014.

Song #6: Maniac/Beast – K.M.F.D.M.

1980’s Maniac is an infamous movie about a New York serial killer who scalps his victims to make wigs for his mannequin collection. The film was banned in England during the “Video Nasty” panic of the early 80s. There is one memorable scene where horror effects legend Tom Savini is shot through his car window by the shotgun wielding serial killer at close range from the hood of the car. After his murders, he frequently breaks down and expresses his regret. Though often labeled obscene upon its initial release, the movie has a strong cult following these days.

KMFDM have been around since the mid 80s and produced twenty albums.  They were a German industrial group who brought industrial music to mainstream America. They were one of the most successful bands from Chicago’s Wax Trax Records, along with other industrial bands like Ministry, Front Line Assembly, and My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult. The label’s 3 CD compilation Black Box – Wax Trax! Records: The First 13 Years is highly recommended. KMFDM has been said to stand for many different things. Their name was an acronym: Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid, created on the day of their first performance by cutting up random words out of a newspaper. It very loosely translates into “no pity for the majority.” This one was another obvious choice given this year’s theme of “The Beast.”