The Suicide Ghouls Spookylicious Creepy Interview

The Suicide Ghouls are a Horror Punk act out of Columbus Ohio and are making a name for themselves quickly. Originally formed in 2009. they have played with great acts including The Misfits, Calabrese, Blitzkid, Aaron Omen, Graveyard Boulevard, The Cobra Skulls, The Koffin Kats, and Juicehead.

Their high energy shows are one of a kind, and they always leave their fans wanting more. As of right now the band is hard at work getting things together for their all new album. Tyler Toxic (bass, vocals), Jimmy (guitar, vocals), and Mike (drums, vocals, guitar), took some time to discuss their past, present, and future activities for their all new album and what's in store for now into the next year!

1.  How did you come together?

Tyler- I'll try to keep this short. Hahaha. I was working on recording some acoustic songs for a solo project I was trying to start. After recording the acoustic stuff, Aaron (Arcade 86, the guy who filmed our video for "I was a Teenage Frankenstein") asked if I had anything else I wanted to record. I decided to try some horror punk stuff I was working on, but didn't know if I'd like the way it turned out. After recording the first versions of "Zombie Midget Stripper", "She Bytes", "My Great Pumpkin", and "Bite Marks", I decided it wasn't just for fun. I had to do this. I got ahold of Skankula to play guitar, and Derek to play drums.  We then did some shows and recorded some demos. Derek had to leave due to be stretched too thin, which is totally understandable. My brother hooked me up with Mike's phone number, and he's been with us ever since.  I approached Jim while recording "The Fun in Funeral" for additional guitar and vocals.  After we finished recording the album, Skankula had to leave for similar reasons to Derek's (Skankula had a new baby, and he lived 1.5 hrs away from the rest of us, and it was hard for him to make shows and practice twice a week). It's just been Me, Mike and Jim since then.

2.  What’s the origin of the band’s name?

Tyler: When we first got started, me and skankula spent a lot of time trying to think of something that felt right. we wanted a name that was recognizable, but also a play on itself. Originally, we were thinking "the Koopa Kids", "Gummy Scares", or the "Scummy Bears".  The Suicide Ghouls just seemed to fit the best.

3. You have a video for the song "I Was A Teenage Frankenstein" can you tell me about it? Does the song title have any reference to Wednesday 13's song with a similar title of "I Walked With A Teenage Zombie"?

Band: Hahaha... no connection.  Just a song about being a reject in high school.  as far as the video, we wanted to pay homage to goofy b movies. Hahaha.

4. Why did you pick I Was A Teenage Frankenstein as your single?

Band: It felt like that song fit well into a campy b movie vibe, so we chose to use it simply for video purposes.

5. Who's clever idea was it to call your album "We Put The Fun In Funeral"?

Tyler: Mine, but only with the consent of the rest of the band.

6. In 2011 you released an EP and your debut release you were just determined to get the spooky grooves out weren't you?

Band: Hahahaha.  Well, we released the album in May 2011.  After we released the album, we started working on some other songs. The sound and style we had with Me, Mike, and Jim was just so energetic and aggressive, we felt  we had to release the "Rock'n'Roll Halloween E.P." .  So we hit the studio again in the fall, and released the EP  that Halloween.

7.You guys are of course a horror punk act having your songs cover a variety of horror based content but is there something within that environment that you haven't covered but would like to?

Band: We've pretty much covered all the main topics, so we've been writing more real life topics and situations, and putting a horror twist on it. And space ghosts of course hahahaha.

8. Do you write your own songs? Can you discuss the songwriting process in detail.

Band: We do write our own songs. Hahaha. Basically, one of us says, "hey guys, I got this thing I did, and we should work with it". Then we all put our own spin on it, until we like it.

9.  You've played showcases with the likes of  Calabrese, Aaron Omen, Blitzkid, Graveyard Boulevard, The Cobra Skulls, The Koffin Kats, Juicehead, and The Misfits would you day that these guys are your musical influences or are there others?

Band: Any band we play with, is an influence on us. We can always learn from every show we play and everyone we play with. As far as musical influences,  Tyler's  daughter's first word, was "misfits". Hahahaha. We take influence from any band we listen to.  We want to make sure we're not barred by a pre-conceived notion of horror-punk. If someone who's never heard us before, listened to all of our stuff, they'd be able to tell that we're obviously fans of punk, metal, ska, rockabilly, jazz, and ton of other things.

10. Do you have a favorite horror movie if so which one and why?

Tyler:  Halloween the original. Fuck Rob Zombie's remake. It was the first horror movie I ever watched uncut, and it holds a special place in my heart.

Mike: Army of Darkness it's so campy.

Jim: I don't watch horror movies, because they're too scary.

11. What was the inspiration for the album name We Put the Fun in Funeral?

Tyler: I can't remember where exactly I heard it, but I heard someone say you can't spell funeral without fun... and I loved it. We felt it represented us perfectly, being that we are the Bruce Cambell of horror-punk. Hahaha.

12. Since horror is your persona do you got BIG plans for Halloween?

Band: We're playing a show with our friends Phantom 13 and Robots' Revenge the Saturday after Halloween.

13.What are your plans for touring?

Band: We're planning to release our 2nd full length album this spring, and we'll be doing an East Coast/Midwest tour throughout the spring and early summer to support it.

14.What is your favorite song to perform live?

Jim: Fear The Ripper

Mike: Lenore

Tyler:  Rock'n'Roll Halloween.

15. What’s the best and worst shows you’ve ever played?

Band: The best was The Misfits in 2010 the crowd was really responsive. The worst  oh god...  was when the band first started, we played a show at a mall... it was awful, they kept cutting the volume on us so we couldn't hear what was going on, nobody knew us, and we weren't allowed to drink.  It was definitely the worst. but, I learned a very valuable lesson. Hahahaha.

16.Do you guys have any new music in the works?

Band: Oh yeah!  We're working on a new album with 17 gory tracks! It's set for release in Spring 2013.

17. What else do you have lined up for the remainder of this year?

Band: We'll just be recording, playing some shows,  and a whole lotta drinkin!

18. Anything else you want to add for your fans?

Band: Hi mom!