Jeano Roid Coffinberry
What is your favorite memory of Halloween as a child?
We moved a lot when I was a kid and my memories of “true” neighborhood style trick or treating are when a I was a wee monster kid in Ohio, when I was simply too young to appreciate it all. When I was 9 we moved to South Florida, which is no place to allow a kid to go out in the dark begging for candy. You’d come home with a real knife in your neck with your candy hijacked. So I guess my fondest memory was when my mother bought me the Dekker Toys “Horror Makeup Kit”, which enabled me to show up at school around Halloween with all kinds of horrible wounds etc. It freaked some of the other kids out and I got sent home. Haha! I do recall the very first “haunt” I ever went to which was down on Broadway in West Palm Beach at some huge church. I was maybe 10 years old, alone, on my bike and had no idea what I was in for. In those days they didn’t have the “no touching” policies that they have today. It scared the living shit out of me! I was definitely crying by the time I made it out. It was true horror!
What is your favorite adult memory of Halloween?
My wife Tanya and I were married on Halloween so that’s a no-brainer! It was totally done up evil with pumpkins, spiders and a killer Rockabilly and Surf cover band that was louder than Black Sabbath. Now every year we set up a killer driveway haunt, similar to a small-time version of PumpkinRot. It’s the greatest night of the year. Look forward to it for 364 days. This is of course preceded by two months of classic horror movies and all kinds of horror fun. November 1st is the saddest day of the year.
What is your idea of the perfect Halloween?
59 degrees, wind blowing just enough to stir up some leaves but not blow out the jack o' lanterns, preferably a Friday/Saturday and not a weekday Halloween. Setting up the haunt and going deep into the night scaring kids, watching old horror flicks and basically soaking it in. Late Halloween night is special as well. After everything is done and put away. The original Halloween II captures this perfectly. Jack o' lanterns burning out, the last groups of kids off in the distance etc. A perfect open-windows night makes all the difference.
What was your favorite Halloween costume?
I always did it up as The Wolfman as a kid. He was the most coveted monster in the day, hands down. Nowadays everyone is into vampires and zombies but when I was a kid werewolves were it. Larry Talbot was the shit. Even Frankenstein didn’t compete.
What is your favorite Halloween candy?
Those orange pumpkins that taste just like the last bit of the candy corn heal. And apples with razor blades of course. They taste “reddish”
What are some of your favorite Halloween attractions?
Though we haven’t done it in a few years, the Haunted Mansion/Nightmare Before Christmas event in Anaheim is special. They do a great job. Locally, Slaughterhouse is pretty mind blowing! The first year we did Slaughterhouse Tanya and I went with Jimmy Psycho and all three of us got the horror treatment. We were running and falling down, freaked out completely!
What are some songs and bands that really get you into the Halloween spirit?
I like all the old traditional Halloween songs and bands of yore and some of the modern stuff. Pigors sent me a killer CD mix of Halloween oldies that I listen to all year long. Favorites are "I want my baby back" by Jimmy Cross, I'm The Wolfman by The Fuzztones and all those Monster Mash type tunes of the day. There's also a cool Night of the Living Dead themed record by 400 Lonely Things that I listen to fairly often. I have a couple of John Carpenter soundtracks that do the trick every time.
I have been doing similar mixes that we play between bands at The Horror Hootenanny every year. Includes old audio trailers of terror and all kinds of horror music.
What are some movies that get you into the Halloween spirit?
The entire Universal Horror catalog, Trick r Treat, Halloween, Blacula, Night of The Living Dead. The usual suspects of Halloween horror! I especially love The Son of Frankenstein, which is in my book the best of all The Universal Horror flicks. Igor gets it done!
What are some of your favorite Halloween TV specials?
I suppose The Great Pumpkin? I pretty much go straight to the flicks..
Who are some of your favorite musicians out there doing Spooky, Creepy, Cool, type music?
Jackson Phibes (Forbidden Dimension) in my book is tops. He is the anti-Misfits (yes The Misfits are great, but just so absolutely played out). For my money “Vinegar” Tom Bagley aka Jackson is the strongest, smartest song writer in the realm of Horror-ish Rock. Dude can really play some guitar as well. He’s been around almost as long as The Misfits and has a plethora of records that have varied in style and sound over the years, if you can find the stuff. New record coming out this year called “Tor Johnson Mask” on a Tor Johnson Mask pic disc. Cool stuff! Tom is doing a vocal track for me on my upcoming solo release. DJ Bonebrake from X plays drums on the same track, so needless to say it’s going to be a real lifetime music highlight for me! Locally I’m a big Dr. Gangrene/Spookhand fan and I’ve just discovered Dead Dick Hammer and can’t wait for his new stuff to come out. There are a shitload of slick Misfits clones out there and it just becomes tiresome hearing the “same ol’” touted as some groundbreaking shit, when it’s anything but. Horror Rock is a challenge because the many of the kids tend to only know the same three or four tired, generic Misfits clones.
Who are some of your favorite artists out there doing Spooky, Creepy, Cool, type artwork?
Basil Gogos, Stephen Blickenstaff, Eric Pigors, Tom Bagley, Gaither, Pooch Island, XNO, Ghoulish Gary, PumpkinRot
What are some of your musical inspirations?
Should be pretty obvious but it all starts with The Ramones and AC/DC. I love me some Turbonegro, Classic Supersuckers, Poison Idea, old Alice Cooper, old Aerosmith, Cramps, Judas Priest, Pistols, Man or Astroman, most of the old SST and L.A. punk of the day. I’m digging OFF! a lot as well as the horror bands previously mentioned.
Do you have anything you are working on currently that we can all look forward to?
A new Creeping Cruds record is starting to look like it could happen next year. At any moment I could be called in to play guitar for Psychocharger. That always seems to happen when I least expect it! I have a solo “Jeano Roid Experience” record I’ve been working on for about three years that may be wrapped up soon. I kinda leaked a track "Calling Dr. Gangrene" Lotsa special guests! A Creeping Cruds comic book (part of a series of Horror Bands) has already started coming together. I just released the CD version of one of my earliest bands called Death Turd and it’s a lot of fun – dating back to the 80s. It also features Boomer from The Cruds and is available thru Stikman Records. My very first band, the one that kinda put Boomer and I on the map – The Roidz, has been rehearsing up the old tunes and we will eventually go and rerecord all the hits for a brand new Greatest Hits deal. Purely for fun. I also had a hand in putting out a very cool comp of all the heavy underground Palm Beach County bands from the first three decades of that scene called The South Florida Thrashback. It’s a benefit comp for an old friend who was hurt pretty bad in a car accident. This is a special record to me as it features just about all of our contemporaries from the day. It was a rocking scene and to my knowledge hasn’t been properly documented until now. I should mention that the dude that did the cover art is a pretty cool guy!
Where can we learn more about what you are currently working on, upcoming shows, and where to pick up you music?
It’s pretty spread out. There’s always CreepingCruds.com, which barely gets updated (d’oh!). At this point it would be best to friend me (Jeano Roid Coffinberry) or The Creeping Cruds. I post most updates there immediately.
Any Spooky, Creepy, Cool parting words?
Stay Tombed! More Cruddy stuff to come – real soon!
