Zombina and the Skeletones: Interview!

Interview by Aneequa

Band interviews: Female-fronted bands are often still given a rough ride, but fresh out of the graveyard, the fiendish B-Movie obsessed Zombina and the Skeletones give us the lowdown on music, touring and of course, all things horror...

Female-fronted bands are often still given a rough ride, but fresh out of the graveyard, the fiendish B-Movie obsessed Zombina and the Skeletones have been tearing up stages all over for over a decade. I was lucky enough to catch the lovely Miss Zombina on a rare bit of down time, and quizzed her on music, touring and of course, all things horror...

First of all, I know how busy you must be so thanks for taking the time to chat to Mookychick!

That's fine! I'm actually in Holland on my own right now, staying at the Morlock Gallery in Den Haag with a guy called Fast Mike who put on our show here in 2006, and DJ-ing on the weekends. Our Italy tour starts next month, with a show here to kick-start it off!

So how long have you been doing the band, and how did it all come about?

I stalked Doc Horror for two years in school and used to sneak out to go and see his band play! We got talking, and got together on Halloween night 1998. I hadn't been in a band yet, but had been singing forever. At the time I was a total Metal head, but Doc played me a lot of punk music and we bonded over our love of geeky fifties music and quirky 80's pop. We formed a band within a month- I played Bass, Doc on Guitar, and his bassist on Drums. We played one show as 'The Deformed', shuffled the line up and changed the name. We've been Zombina And The Skeletones ever since. So yeah, we're now in our twelfth year!

Your music seems to fit into many genres. How would you describe the Skeletones sound?

People always get it wrong when they try to describe Zombina and the Skeletones in one genre. We've been U.K Ska, Punk, Rockabilly, Psychobilly, Goth, and we have elements of all of those, but you can't really describe us without a lot of in-betweeny dashes! I'd say we are a Punkrock-Deathpop-Horrorbilly band!

Which bands have influenced your music?

Our original influences were Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and Horror Movies! Along the way people have said we sounded like The Cramps, Misfits, Ramones, Damned, Devo, B52's, The Muffs, Fuzztones and many others and we got into them too!

It's not always easy being an 'alternative' kid when you're younger. What was it like growing up in Liverpool?

School was hard, because being 'alternative' was considered uncool then, and gigs were hard to find as there only seemed to be metal or Oi shows. I think today's tortured teens are a bit cheated of the stigma of it all, now that it's so widely accepted!

So you're off on tour soon. What's it like being the only girl on tour with a load of boys?

I'm totally used to it! I hardly notice the gender thing. Ten years of touring makes you pretty laid back about everything on the road, and the boys treat me like 'one of the lads' whether I like it or not!

And what kind of reaction do you get from Zombina fans abroad?

Generally a great reaction, lots of smiles, dancing and requests! I have this thing about trying to say a few things in their language, so we get a lot of laughs too!

Any personal favourites amongst the bands that you've played alongside?

We've played with some amazing bands, and made some life-long friends. The Damned will always be special to us because we played with them when we were 18 and loved them. They watched our show and spent time talking to us, which was a dream come true. Recently, we've toured and played shows with U.S. Horror-punks Blitzkid, and struck up a beautiful friendship. We love those guys to death, and them us!

And have you got any memories of the worst place you've played?

I know the answer instantly, but I won't name names! There were no posters for the show, the promoter never arrived, the support band wrecked the stage and the back line, the audience were kicked out, and we played to ten wasted arseholes who were let in free and shouted and parted their arse-cheeks at us for the whole gig. NOT a pretty sight!

Sounds like a total horror show! Talking of which, what's your favourite horror film?

I blatantly can't settle on one! For film quality, atmosphere and paranoid realism it's Rosemary's Baby, and for baddie value and amazing imaginativeness it's A Nightmare On Elm Street. Also Suspiria for set design!

Apart from indulging in the odd horror film-fest, what do you like to do when you have some time to yourself?

I go to gigs, play guitar, photography, make the odd video (search 'Wolf Hands Zombina' on YouTube), and I've just got an Art Studio so am planning to get back into that and do some shows. I also have my own jewellery business called BUG POP, it's still early days, but I want to push it this year!

Wolf Hands Zombina

You always look awesome on stage. What did you dress up as last Halloween?

We had a big show on the 30th at Whitby Goth Festival, where I dressed up as ScaryMary Poppins, and the boys were Chimney Sweeps. Then on Halloween itself, we put on a huge show in an old abandoned cinema as part of a collective for which I made a Little Red Riding Hood costume, and the boys were Werewolves!

As well as being a talented singer, you're a smart chick with a Master's Degree. What would you be doing if you weren't in the band?

Yikes! I ask myself that a lot! I wanted to be an Actor, Art Therapist, or College Lecturer. I've always been too dedicated to the band to get into anything career-wise though. It's a miracle I got through my Masters! I guess I will never know. Being in a cult underground band just doesn't pay, so I'm broke a lot of the time, but a thousand times over I'd rather be sat here saying "what if I hadn't stuck with this band?" than "what if I had?".

Finally, what's in the pipeline for Zombina and the Skeletones this year?

It should be a busy year for touring, Check our Myspace for dates! We should be making some more videos and recording, and hopefully releasing our next album too. We're itching to get started! Oh, and watch this space for a Zombina/Argyle Goolsby (from Blitzkid) duet... Shhhhh!

Zombina Links


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Mookychick believes that climbing trees and riding giant turtles is more fun and girly than worrying about make-up. But if you want to worry about make-up instead of turtles? Fine by us. Be you feminist, kitten, punk, emo, indie, goth, witch, vegan, horror junky, intellectual, christian goth, corset queen, geek, unicorn, sea monkey... be you into alternative style, alternative health, spirituality, comics, manga, j-pop, harajuku or jock culture... we will always love you.

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