Formed in 1989 by Danish submarine operator and tattooist Kim Nekroman, The Nekromantix survived at least two waves of psychobilly going on to release successful records on Epitaph’s Hellcat imprint. Commandeering a handmade coffin-shaped upright bass, Nekroman has written dozens of songs featuring the creatures of the night and tons and tons of ghouls. But one of his biggest accomplishments was taking his spooky writing and translating it into psycho- bubble-gum- pop punk with is latest band The Horrorpops. Formed with his wife Patricia, The Horrorpops have traveled the world supporting two hit records and Nekroman doesn’t seem ready to rest just yet. Life In A Bungalo chatted with Nekroman in the bowels of Maxwell’s just after their gig on March 18.

Looking at the Horrorpops on stage, I realized that the band consists of three bassists. Is it interesting writing music… Is your drummer a bassist?

No. He’s a drummer-drummer. He’s a sound engineer though. That was the whole thing when me and Patricia started this band. We swapped instruments on purpose just to get a different angle on writing music, so when I’m with the Horrorpops I’m a guitarist.

As far as writing, were you always a guitarist?

No, no, no. Not until we started the Horrorpops. Patricia had played guitar before. So we just said lets fucking swap [instruments] and make it interesting.

So you taught each other how to play?

Yeah.

The Horrorpops are a lot different than The Nekromantix—you’re both fun bands but they sound completely different. You’ve been doing [psychobilly music] since the late ’80s, was this something you just wanted to try?

Well, me an Patricia met and we were talking about all this different types of music that we both liked—she comes from the punk rock environment and I come from psychobilly, and it was annoying that you couldn’t do anything without people saying that’s not whatever, whatever. Since our influences are everything from Dolly Parton to Motorhead we wanted to have a band where if we want to play a rock song, we play a rock song; if we want to play a new wave song, we could play a new wave song; if we want to play pop, we play pop. That was the whole idea with Horrorpops.

Have you accomplished that?

I think so. Yeah.

When the first album came out, you guys really tried to stay away from the whole psychobilly sound, but with the new album you have added some country flavor. You are expanding a little more into the different styles.

We try everything. If it’s an arena song—we want to be allowed to do it without people saying we can’t because we are a such and such type of band. We are basically fooling around with all the different genres.

How about the fans? Psychobilly is huge in Europe. Was there a negative reception to the Horrorpops.

Not at all. It has been very positive from the start. At the start we saw a lot of greasers, punks and psychobilly kids at the shows, but now we see a crossover of all kinds of types. I didn’t want to have a band with the same fans as Nekromantix.

Both bands have had a rotating cast of members. Do you even have a band for The Nekromantix yet (the drummer and guitarist left last year)?

We switched it up and we had a tour last year and we are gonna tour in June again.

Possibly for a new album?

Yes. We are writing songs right now actually.

Last year, you also added Geoff Kresge as bassist of The Horrorpops (formerly of AFI and Tiger Army), how has that been?

Geoff has always been a friend of the band so it was natural.

Many modern psychobilly bands cite you as an influence. There are bands like the Koffin Kats who have borrowed some of your stylings. How does it feel coming to America and seeing so many bands paying a homage to you?

It’s very flattering. That’s like the ultimate thing to have people not copy you, but that are heavily influenced. That’s a compliment to me.

Your bass is legendary. Are you still making them yourself, and have you ever been propositioned by say King Double Bass to have them make one for you?

Yes. I don’t want to do it. I talked to Jason from King Double Bass and he said that it wouldn’t be cool because I should be the only one to play that thing. Because I don’t have much time any more, I’ve been thinking that it would be cool to have someone else make them for me, but on the other hand it isn’t the same thing.

Seeing someone else out there having your model…

It would be weird. I see a lot of kids that have made their own coffin basses, and I just think it’s such a unique trademark that I wouldn’t do it if I were them.

Would it be weird having a manufactured, fiberglass version of your bass? You do play Gretsch guitars, which have Brian Setzer artist models.

That’s true. I’ve been giving it a lot of thought. It would be weird to turn that thing into an ordinary thing, but on the other hand why not?

Is Patricia’s bass a King Double Bass?

No. That’s a Nekroman bass too.

I remember Hot Topics advertising a …

That was a contest with a King Double Bass painted white with a Horrorpops logo, but the one she’s playing is one I built.

Do you build basses for a living at all?

People ask me all the time, but I just don’t have the time?

Do you still tattoo?

I just don’t have the time. I haven’t done a lot of tattoos in the last three years.

Do you practice on your band mates?

Not really. I did some on Henry and some on Geoff, but I don’t have the time. People think you can just do it on the road, but we drive forever, arrive and everything is bam, bam, bam, and then you have to leave again. I don’t want to have to tattoo someone on the bus while it’s moving.

As a tattooist, what do you think of all these tattoo shows like Miami Ink or Inked? Do you watch them?

I don’t really watch TV, but I am aware of them and have watched a few episodes. It’s whatever… it’s a TV show. I don’t know. It’s just entertainment. I can’t really say anything because to me tattoos are very different. When you hear people say that tattoos are a life thing and blah, blah, blah—to me tattoos remind me of a certain time of life. I’m not saying its not art, but the way I get tattooed is very different from other people. I’m pretty open-minded when it comes to everything. People can do what they want with there bodies and that’s my philosophy when it comes to tattooing.

What do you think of psychobilly today? You’ve been through the last few rebirths of psychobilly. There seems to be a lot of it in the States.

I’m very grateful for its growth, but I don’t see enough new bands being original. A lot of new bands try to sound like something that came out 10 or 20 years ago out of the UK. They need to do their own thing. It’s the same thing as rockabilly. Why try to play something that’s been done a fucking thousand times before?

So you would prefer something like the metalbilly that doesn’t sound like anything else?

Rather than try to copy whatever…yeah. It could be metal—it could be anything. I like what Tiger Army did, because they went their own way. That’s what the Nekromantix did. We tried to do something new or different.

You have been on Hellcat for a while now. You were one of the first few psychobilly bands on the label—one of the first few bands on the label. How has it been being on Epitaph? Especially since the label has branched out to adult alternative type music.

The label has been great. I’ve been on tons of small labels that didn’t have any means or anything to promote the albums. This is still far from a major label but there is so much support economically and morally. I plan on sticking around for a while.

Any chance “Curse of the Coffin” is going to get re-released?

No and it’s actually still being produced, but the record company that owns the rights to that album aren’t interested in selling it to me.

Do you want it?

Of course I want it—Just the fact that the re-release of “Brought Back to Life” already outsold the original of that album, because of Hellcats better distribution and exposure. Maybe one day.

How did you meet your wife? She’s also from Denmark.

We met over there when her band was supporting Nekromantix in Germany. After the show we talked about how cool it would be to do a band, and that was the start of the Horrorpops.

What does the future hold for both bands?

I’m just trying to juggle everything. We have a lot of touring with the Horrorpops with two weeks off here and there where I do Horrorpops. It’s not a problem for me because I like to be busy, and I like to have deadlines. That’s the best way for me to write music.

And neither band is a side project?

No. To me it’s like having two kids you know?
Listen to the full interview and some songs:

Nekromantix–Rockin’ Reptile
Nekromantix–Dead Bodies
The Horrorpops–Where They Wonder
Nekromantix–Back From The Grave
Nekromantix–Who Killed The Cheerleader?