Tag: ghoul

More Maniacal Layouts

Doktor Ross Sewage2 Comments

While I’m sure some of it had to do with the fervent fan base and maybe even partially the music, it’s nice a record I did the design and layout for was voted Pirate’s Press “Record of the Year” by Facebook voters. Ghoul’s Maniaxe LP won the prize, but let’s be honest…. it was mostly ’cause of the layout, right?

Screen shot 2014-01-28 at 9.10.32 AM
Doing the layouts on a 10 year old record is no joke. A lot of people were waiting for Ghoul’s second full-length to be on vinyl for a long time and expectations were high. I didn’t want the packaging to disappoint. It wasn’t easy because 10 years ago no one bothered to make sure everything was prepped for this big-assed release.

Continue reading “More Maniacal Layouts” →

From Creepsylvania to Cascadia

Doktor Ross SewageLeave a comment

Or, from the Great White North to the Great Black Circle.

I’d been clamoring for some time to take another trip up North. It’d been a good god damned YEAR since we’d been there for the Revelations of Death fest back in 2012. I missed the amazing coffee. I missed the greasy spoons. I missed Fred Meyer. Ah, Fred Meyer… if God opened a Wal-Mart, it would be called Fred Meyer. But I digress. We were headed to play a show in Vancouver, British Columbia on the Friday, August 9th and the Black Circle Fest in Portland the next day.

IMG_0166
A beaut from our own Scott Bryan

People had work, so Thursday night we loaded up the van and made a run for the border… for Poutine Bell. I really, really hate making this drive at night. The I-5 through the Oregon mountains is no joke for some sleepy headed band in a big van. I always try my damnedest to avoid night drives, let alone one on a road that has taken actual musicians’ lives.

Continue reading “From Creepsylvania to Cascadia” →

Ghoulunatics and Bako Bits

Doktor Ross Sewage2 Comments

When people think of California, they think of something like SNL’s The Californians… a bunch of woven patio furniture lounging, iced-tea-drinking, bottled blonde, surfer types. And of course lots of gay orgies, vegetarians, and PETA protesters forcing tourists to smoke pot and listen to lectures by Noam Chomsky. Then, there’s Bakersfield. This is the real California. It’s a large agricultural town with an infrastructure not updated since the ’60s and maybe a rolling meth lab or three. This is the side of California that passed Proposition 8. This is the bulk of the Golden State. It was about time we played a show outside our Occupy Oakland and Hollyweird bubbles.

IMG_0094

We rolled into Bakersfield after a five hour drive at about four o’clock. The temperature outside was above 100° and climbing, well above some Bay Area pussies’ comfort zone. On our way in, what few people were in downtown were evidence of the city’s lack of support for the homeless, drug addicted and schizophrenic. Hey, maybe this place is more like the Bay Area than I thought!

Continue reading “Ghoulunatics and Bako Bits” →

From the Ashes… B.C. Rich Ironbird

Doktor Ross Sewage5 Comments

Musical instruments, good ones, are often compared to one’s children. Well, how many children are thrown in a case, plucked, hammered on, plugged into, or hanged? Don’t answer that. (Please, really, don’t.) Without these precious musical items, though, it’s hard to call oneself a musician. That is, lest ye fortunate to have the talent of Susan Boyle (hopefully not the face). My favorite, my child, my baby, my fifth limb… my B.C. Rich Ironbird. This thing is a mother fucker.

Wolves in the Throne Room (1D029315)
photo of moi © http://www.nandoonline.com/

It’s an American made (or at least assembled, I dunno) classic, with the big “R” inlay on the headstock indicating its origin in the land of the free. Birthed sometime around THIRTY FUCKING YEARS AGO, it’s got neck-through construction, a rosewood fretboard, and a simple one-knob configuration. Because metal don’t need a fucking tone knob. I scored it over a decade ago at a used-music shop in San Jose for a meager $300, during a period where “metal” was a dirty word and Prodigy was the band of the future (where are they know?). It’s been with me on countless tours and tons of recordings.

Imagine my heartbreak when the neck broke.

Continue reading “From the Ashes… B.C. Rich Ironbird” →

Ghoulection 2012: Transmission Fifteen

Doktor Ross SewageLeave a comment

It has been an amazing year for us, but ahead is Europe in early 2013 with our “buds” and Tankcrimes label mates, Cannabis Corpse. We ended our 2012 run of shows with a real bang of a weekend. The first show on Friday, November 16th, was with Tankcrimes label mates Vitamin X. The show itself was a Tankcrimes joint. Our own “fifth member” Scott Bryan was currently working with GWAR, so this weekend we drafted Mr. Tankcrimes himself, Scotty Karate. Tankcrimes, Tankcrimes, Tankcrimes!

Ghoul Metro flyer 2012

Some zipper heads might recognize this flyer as having been outside the Metro the same day they were paying twice as much to see the “Misfits all-star cover band featuring Jerry, only.” Ah, c’est la vie, how to compete with a legend? Well, you pack a smaller room with a bunch of numbskulls who beat the shit out of each other, that’s how.

Continue reading “Ghoulection 2012: Transmission Fifteen” →

Ghoulection 2012: Transmission Fourteen

Doktor Ross SewageLeave a comment

We were invited by our friend Shlak to play the New Jersey Death Fest 4 this past weekend. With friends like Shlak, who needs enemas? We met this crazy mother fucker some years back after we’d watched him wrap himself in barbed-wire and staple dollars to his head while bleeding everywhere during a set with his old band, Call the Paramedics. You never could imagine a sweeter, more cordial fellow caked in blood. We flew out for what was sure to be a night of steady blast beats and pinch harmonics. We wouldn’t fit in at all.

NJDFHARTSMALL

This was going to be an epic weekend. We would play the fest, stay in New Jersey, and then follow it up with a sweet show at St. Vitus in Brooklyn. It WAS going to be a sweet weekend. Some colossal shit dickery occurred between some members of our band, promoters, and bookers which led to a misunderstanding that wasn’t revealed until days before the event. We had to cancel the Brooklyn show. All I can say is, my dick remained free of any shit. As it stood, we had a lot of fun in New Jersey, despite, or maybe because of, the chaos.

Continue reading “Ghoulection 2012: Transmission Fourteen” →

Occupy 924 Gilman: Ghoul show report

Doktor Ross SewageLeave a comment

Last week I finished up a poster for the Ghoul show on January 8th (on sale now in my webstore). That was the easy part. As it turned out the show itself was the real ordeal.

15ghoulposter_gp

924 Gilman is a historic punk club situated in an industrial neighborhood of Berkeley. It’s helped give rise to (for better or for worse) bands such as Green Day, Primus, Mr. Bungle, Rancid, No Doubt, and the Offspring. Tankcrimes Records decided to put on a label showcase there featuring Ghoul, A.N.S., Kicker, and Fucktard.

Continue reading “Occupy 924 Gilman: Ghoul show report” →

Killing Kids in America 5: Killbot

Doktor Ross Sewage1 Comment

Creepsylvania ISP
Incoming RSS archive
Src_Transmission: z3r0
user: Grand_Basilisk

Hear your leader, cult minions! The salvaged homunculus dubbed “Killbot” by it’s brilliant, handsome, and departed inventor the Ghoul Hunter, is in need of an upgrade to continue it’s mission… kill Ghoul!

Yes, the mechanized cyborg was rebuilt from the remains found at the ruins of the Ghoul Hunter’s castle following it’s first battle with Ghoul. Our cult scientists added chain guns, pneumatic claw, titanium-steel armor, and the brain of the most power-hungry bastard and anti-Semitic jerk in history… Walt Disney! With this power, Killbot defeated Ghoul and their pig-faced pathetic piece of shit lackey. But Ghoul escaped back to their accursed catacombs.

Continue reading “Killing Kids in America 5: Killbot” →