Tangled Rope

I lived out a bit of a childhood dream by creating set lists for a music show on DS106 online radio station, as masterminded by Jim Groom, Grant Potter, et al. Frankly, I could run a different kind of set night after night, week after week, from industrial to electropop, from post-punk to classical, but decided to focus on a peculiar theme that I’ve enjoyed for a number of years, the exotic, bizarre, obscure, and often silly sci-fi/horror themed music put out by a small group of punk rock, surf rock, and rockabilly/psychobilly bands. And so we have the SciFiPunkRockabillySurfHorror Half-Hour.

Since the songs themselves tend to be highly narrative, it was easy to put them together in a way that created something approximating a narrative arc. I sometimes traded variety to showcase my favorite bands repeatedly, yet am proud to have been pretty stubborn about excluding songs/bands if they didn’t fit the plotline.

Here are the set lists for the first three episodes, along with a synopsis of the storyline I had in mind:

Episode 1: Young Zombie Vampires in Love

Synopsis: Young (vampire) love is threatened when an asteroid on a cataclysmic collision course with Earth is preceded by radioactivated zombies.

1. Me First and the Gimme Gimmes – Science Fiction Double Feature
2. Man or Astroman? – Planet Collision
3. The Epoxies – Radiation
4. Groovie Ghoulies – Deviltown
5. The Lillingtons – Zombies
6. The Soviettes – Paranoia Cha Cha Cha!
7. Koffin Kats – Graveyard Tree
8. Groovie Ghoulies – Vampire Girl
9. The Creep Show – Zombies Ate Her Brain
10. The Incredible Staggers – Zombies of Love
11. The Dead Milkmen – Lucky
12. – La Fin Absolue du Monde
13. The Riverdales – Countdown
14. The Phenomenauts – Infinite Frontier

Episode 2: Crossed in Space

Synopsis: The vampire-turned-zombie lovers escape a doomed Earth, but will romance survive capture by the alien cyborgs who are following in the asteroid’s path?

1. Shonen Knife – Riding on the Rocket
2. Batmobile – Rock This Planet
3. Man or Astroman? – Cyborg Control
4. Damon Alexander and the Ten Cent Rentals – Robot Monster
5. The Lillingtons – I Saw the Apeman on the Moon
6. Dr Who – You Will Become Like Us
7. Zombina and the Skeletones – Love Droid
8. Devil Girl from Mars – Johnny
9. The Phenomenauts – Cyborg
10. The Dollyrots – Because I’m Awesome
11. Docteur Legume et Les Surfwerks – La Femme Electrique
12. Teenage Bottlerocket – Lost in Space
13. Stereophonic Space Sound Unlimited – Birdman

Episode 3: Eternal Return

Synopsis: Our vampire-turned-zombie-turned-cyborg hero returns to a scorched Earth. Tormented by memories of his lost love, he flees to his homeland of Transylvania.

1. Teen Idols – Midnight Picture Show
2. The Lillingtons – Black Hole in my Mind
3. Ramones – Pet Sematary
4. Batmobile – Transylvanian Express
5. Frank Black – The Black Rider #1
6. Docteur Legume et Les Surfwerks – Bienvenue a la Maison Meduse
7. Teenage Bottlerocket – They Came from the Shadows
8. The Horrorpops – Hitchcock Starlet
9. The Sonics – The Witch
10. Groovie Ghoulies – Wolf Girl
11. The Phenomenauts – Make a Circuit with Me
12. Groovie Ghoulies – Til Death Do Us Party

Episodes 4 & 5 are both planned, and will showcase Nekromantix, Zombina and the Skeletones, Famous Monsters, Daikaiju, The Pixies, and more.