Category Archives: Musical Musings

Dubstep DJ Leah Culver imagines big things in her future

Formerly known as MK Ultra, Leah Culver established herself in the Atlanta EDM scene before venturing out to Los Angeles to take her career to the next level. Known for dynamic performances that range from catchy pop hooks to aggressive breakbeats and low end, she now splits her time between the two cities. Following a massive performance at Imagine Festival last month, Culver returns to Atlanta for Iris Presents‘ Halloween party with Laidback Luke at Believe Music Hall. Wrestling with Pop Culture had a chance to talk to her about this show and other upcoming developments following her Imagine Festival set.

Leah Culver at this year’s Imagine Festival. Photo by DV Photo Video.

We last encountered each other at the 3Teeth show at The Masquerade last August. I take it you’re a fan.

I am absolutely a fan. Chase [Brawner, guitarist] worked at the production school I went to in L.A., so I met them out there. They’re just so insane to watch. I wouldn’t miss their show ever. It’s so raw and it makes you feel how you really feel.

You’ve played every Imagine Festival so far and you always bring a big production. In addition to having a full band and other performers on stage with you this year, you also had fellow Atlanta DJ SyLo helping you out. How did all that come together?

SyLo is so special and important in general to me because he started DJing a little bit before me, but I started in 2011 and he was a homie from the very beginning. I remember the day I met him, he just shook my hand and welcomed me in like one of the boys. Back then there weren’t a lot of girls, so it was nice to have a good friend like that. Over the years, we’ve played a million shows together. Then we did our Sex Sells duo for a while where we were performing together.

When I started singing on songs and decided I should be singing on my sets, at first I was running back and forth DJing and singing. It looked ridiculous because it was ridiculous. Then I was like, “I’m going to be smarter about this and section the songs. Who should I have do this with me? Of course, I want SyLo. He’s been so amazing!” Without him, that production this year wouldn’t have gone off the way it did.

Leah Culver at this year’s Imagine Festival. Photo by DV Photo Video.o

Jon Wilkes was my first roommate in L.A. and he used to be the drummer for Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. His energy level never changes. He is continuously nailing it and drumming with a lot of energy. We had violins, guitars, drums, an electronic percussionist, a choir that I pulled out of my butt the other day. We called that set Leah Culver & Friends and it really was. It’s a 69-person production and it just keeps getting bigger. It takes so many people to get this done. We rehearsed choreography for weeks and [our choreographer] was Eric from Jamaica Craft’s crew.

This year was just so next level from last year because of the amount of hands on and the amount of care we put into this one. Just doing choreography was kind of scary because I’d never done that, but it worked out. I knew it was going to go one of two ways: I either totally black out [from the adrenaline] and maybe it works or I totally black out and it definitely works.

For people who have only seen you at Imagine Festival and may not have been to one of your other shows, you don’t typically have such a large production in club settings, right?

It won’t be just at Imagine Festival for much longer. But, yeah. For club settings I can’t do as much a lot of times. A lot of things are changing right now in a really good way. There will be more bigger stages to fill with very talented musicians that I’m lucky to get to play with. I’m working with Mama Jan, who is home-based Atlanta – she’s a powerhouse, she’s incredible, she’s very inspiring. She’s a vocal coach, a vocal engineer and now she has formed a label with Brian Miller, who is my manager. They’re so much more connected than I’ve ever been and hopefully what it takes is being connected with the right people and having something to offer. I think we showed the right people last night [at Imagine Festival] what we can do. With that comes the good things that are going to happen with those people in the crowd that we impressed, hopefully.

What can you tell me about any new music you have coming out or other happenings in your world?

I made a song “It Ain’t Easy” that’s kind of like we flipped the Eagles’ song and made it a little harder. We’re going to release that soon. We’re going to be releasing a lot of new music. I say “we” all the time because I really do feel like it’s such a big team effort. I don’t feel alone in it.

Will that all be released digitally or will you be putting out vinyl or physical releases?

We did go to Kindercore Vinyl in Athens, Ga. and met them. We do plan on doing vinyl and CDs, if people want that. I’ve definitely always wanted to do real distribution through bigger outlets. Again, it’s not something that I did. That’s going to be with the help of these wonderful people that I’m grateful to have aligned with me.

What can you tell me about your Halloween performance Believe Music Hall?

That one’s going to be really important to me. Not to go too dark, but I lost somebody and he died right before his birthday, which is also Halloween. So, that time period is going to be kind of tough. But I’m going to be able to rely on the crowd to let me sing to them, so that’s nice.

When and why did you decide to start singing?

As long as I can remember, I’ve been singing. There’s a girl named Jenny Helms who was my first friend in kindergarten. She’s an amazing singer, one of those little kids that are made to be a Disney Channel-type kid. I think because she was my best friend and she was always singing, my memories of that time period are we’d be playing, but we were always singing. One of us could be talking, and the other one would just be singing. But it was fine because it was respectful. I think that influence at such a young age really did this ultimately. I grew up in a very musical family. Everyone plays drums, DJs, produces. My mom played bagpipes and a big bass drum. She’s like five feet tall, so that was funny.

Are you back in Atlanta now or still based in L.A.?

I pay rent in L.A., but I stay [in Atlanta] with family. I might come back soon because there might be work to be done. My team, at one point, was like, “Let’s move you back for six months. We have work we need to do here.” Now, every two months or so I’m like, “Am I moving back to Atlanta?” Right now they’re saying they’re going to put me on the road.

Cancerslug slithers out more sleaze with “Sassy for Satan”

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Alex Story clearly has a general disdain for humanity, as evidenced for almost two decades with his horror-inspired punk band Cancerslug, as well as his work with Misfits‘ guitarist Doyle. Whether it’s serious or sarcastic is in the ear of the beholder, though it seems to lean more towards satire on the band’s latest release Sassy for Satan. Debauchery has been a driving force for Cancerslug since its inception and that’s still the case with what is rumored to be the band’s final album.

The opening tracks are a perfect example of the contrarian way Story prefers to get his ideas across. With a name like “Friends,” the listener likely expects an uplifting song about those in the inner circle of this wolfman’s pack. Instead, we get an angry blast of cynicism about those who are “here till all my money or drugs come to an end.” The next track, entitled “Enemies,” is, oddly enough, more about camaraderie with its refrain of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” (though the song’s only other lyrics involve forceful felatio and “fucking people up”). The next three songs, “Disappointment,” “Born to Lose” and “Alone,” are continued examples of Story’s nihilistic outlook.

The rest of the album, however, takes a turn for the hilariously horrific. “I’ll Be Your Butcher” has a nursery rhyme-like cadence that makes lines like “Pretty darling, why are you screaming? I haven’t even cut you yet” a little less objectionable. “Hung Like Jesus” is lyrically just as blasphemous as it sounds, with an almost Motown-like groove that makes it a bit more palatable for the easily offended. And “Just a Hooker Away” is pure sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, with an unhealthy dose of violence for good measure. As if the rest of Sassy for Satan isn’t repulsive enough, “Rape Baby” is a repulsively uproarious tune about a girl who was rejected by her mother “because you had your daddy’s eyes,” but finally gains acceptance from a partner who thinks “it’s cool you didn’t die.”

If Sassy for Satan truly is Story’s swan song, this hound of hell is howling louder than ever. And with 2016 reportedly the last year the band will be performing, catching a Cancerslug show is more crucial than ever. By the way, the band’s final performance at The Masquerade‘s original location is tonight at Culture Shock!

The Casket Creatures get “Deranged” with latest horror rock release

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It’s been a crazy time for The Casket Creatures in the three years it has taken them to finish their third full-length album Deranged. With guitarist Derek Obscura now moonlighting as a member of Davey Suicide‘s band, vocalist (and Wrestling with Pop Culture contributor) Ryan Cadaver, bassist Cliff Damage and Obscura remain the core Creatures, with a rotating cast of drummers keeping the beat. Just as the She Screams EP showed a monstrously more accomplished band than we’d previously heard, Deranged displays the Creatures’ diversity within the horror rock genre.

While the blood-spattered cover photography by Kevin Mayfield (who fills in on guitar in Obscura’s absence) is reminiscent of American Psycho, there is no direct reference to this movie on the album (though the title track does tell at tale of a proud Patrick Bateman-like misanthrope). Instead, we get metal songs like “Springwood Slasher,” clearly inspired by A Nightmare on Elm Street, and the more melodic punk of “Just Like Tucker and Dale,” based on the comedy horror film Tucker & Dale vs. Evil. Other songs, such as “Blood Junkies,” “Raise the Dead” and “The Man Who Cheated Death,” could very well be about some obscure vampire, zombie and slasher films. They’re more likely, however, the result of the band’s general obsession with scary movies and punk rock.

Stylistically, the band remains firmly entrenched in the horror rock coffin while incorporating a deadly mix of pop punk, heavy metal and a touch of rockabilly. The opening staccato of “Devils Trap” is reminiscent of Green Day’s “Brain Stew” while Cadaver channels Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine on “Death Comes For You”. Then there’s the ’50s doo-wop of “Gore on the Dancefloor 2,” the crooning sequel to the more aggressive song from the band’s 2011 debut Tales from the Unknown, which, despite being a departure, fits right in with the rest of Deranged.

Like many horror rock acts before them, there’s always a comedic element to The Casket Creatures that keeps their morbid topics fun. “Planet Wolftron” and “Zombie Werewolves From Outer Space” were the sillier standouts from She Screams and have become fan favorites. The Deranged bonus track “VIG” is poised to become the band’s next crowd pleaser, with it’s satirical look at very important ghosts looking to live it up on the opposite side of the velvet rope in the afterlife.

Deranged offers a little bit of everything fans have come to love about The Casket Creatures, with a few new surprises, all in a cohesive collection of new singalongs. As has been the case with each previous release, the band continues to grow with each new album. That’s not to say the band has matured, though. These guys need to maintain their immaturity in order to keep cranking out music like this.

Krampus Parade provides a Christmas soundtrack for black metal fans

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If you thought the Krampus craze had reached it’s climax last Christmas, you clearly couldn’t have predicted what this cloven-hooved foil to Santa Claus had in store for all the bad kids this year. With his most notable appearance being in the big screen holiday horror film Krampus, this demonic Christmas creature has also been immortalized in music thanks to the black metal project known as Krampus Parade. Conceived by extreme metal musician Thomas vom Krampus, the album Alpine Nightmares and Holiday Horrors is influenced more by Cradle of Filth than the cradle of Christ. Joined by his wife Francesca vom Krampus, Thomas has created a screeching sinister and cynical take on the holidays backed by ornate orchestrations of guitars, cellos, Irish whistles and drum machines.

“I started working on these songs in August of 2014,” he says. “I had no idea anybody was going to even know what a Krampus was, aside from people maybe thinking it was some sort of bowel disease. It was good timing because, aside from people saying, ‘Are you doing a band about that movie?,’ it has brought a little more exposure to the myth and legend of Krampus in general. It’s cool that it just exploded in pop culture in the U.S. all of a sudden. It was completely unexpected.”

When vom Krampus first happened upon footage of a European Krampus parade a few years ago, he was immediately swallowed up by this monster’s mystique. As a fan of both Christmas and Halloween, he saw it as the ultimate marriage of two of his favorite holidays.

“I thought, ‘Wow. Where has this been all of my life?’,” he recalls. “I’ve always liked anything that was dark and spooky. I couldn’t believe I’d never heard of this before and kind of became obsessed with the fun of it all and the idea that there could be such a thing as a monster that follows Santa Claus around and punishes the bad kids. I thought this dark side of Christmas was totally enchanting.”

Having been a musician since he was 12, and always gravitating to darker and more extreme genres of heavy metal, vom Krampus obviously identifies with his namesake Christmas demon on a musical level, as well.

“Krampus is about as metal as it gets,” he says. “The first song on the album ‘Season’s Beatings’ is very heavily inspired by some of my influences like Morbid Angel, Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir. I just wanted to blend some of my favorite styles of music together and put my own spin on it all, then throw in ridiculous Krampus Christmas-y lyrics. It came about out of ridiculousness. I’m a ridiculous person, so it’s a reflection of my sense of humor and the craziness that goes on in my head.”

Having released some of that craziness this holiday season, vom Krampus is currently working on a EP that will further expand his musical and mythological methodologies.

“It’s a little bit more technical, a little bit more melodic,” he says of Krampus Parade’s next release. “The music’s more challenging and the lyrical concept is more along the lines of dark fairy tales, some Halloween influence and, of course, there’s going to be some more Krampus stuff.”

Win tickets to Chambers of Horror’s Slaytanic XXXmas party

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Christmas parties can often get out of control, but when the depraved denizens of Chambers of Horror hold a holiday hootenanny expect even more debauchery than usual. Before the TORTUREco building is demolished, sending its employees and captives even deeper underground, Chambers hosts the Slaytanic XXXmas party! Festivities include performances by metal bands Harvester, Degradations and Fiend without a Face (featuring members of Mastodon). Wrestling-themed costumes are encouraged and the Chambers employees are making special arrangements for the ensuing blood wrestling matches that will take place throughout the night. You can bet Wrestling with Pop Culture will be there, and we’re giving away two pairs of tickets to our loyal readers. To enter, simply share this link on Facebook or Twitter with #SlaytanicWPC. Winners will be chosen by noon EST on Dec. 20.

Escape the Fate garners adoration, not hate, on Hate Me Tour

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Guitarist Kevin “Thrasher” Gruft and front man Craig Mabbitt captivate a Masquerade audience. Photo by Kevin Mayfield.

Hate Me is the latest release from metalcore mainstay Escape the Fate, and it’s first with guitarists Kevin “Thrasher” Gruft and TJ Bell. When the band’s Hate Me Tour stopped at The Masquerade on Nov. 3, I expected to mostly hear material from the album for which the tour was named. Though the set started with the furiosity of album opener “Just a Memory,” it was followed by a set featuring an assortment of songs from the band’s previous three albums. The performance was dominated by material from 2008’s This War is Ours (including an encore concluding with that album’s title track), but also included a couple of songs from the band’s self-titled 2010 album and 2013’s Ungrateful. In between were some of Hate Me‘s more melodic tracks “Alive” and “Remember Every Scar”. This latest incarnation of Escape the Fate put on a passionate performance and everyone in the band looked and performed the post-hardcore part, with front man Craig Mabbitt receiving adoration rather than hate from the enthusiastic audience. With the North American portion of the tour recently concluding, the band heads to Europe in January and February.

MC Lars attacks once again with “The Zombie Dinosaur LP”

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If 2011’s Lars Attacks! was a departure from MC Lars‘ usual rhyming pop cultural references, The Zombie Dinosaur LP is a return to rapping form for the well-studied Stanford University graduate known for rocking a The Legend of Zelda video game cartridge on a gold chain. With a reputation for witty references to literature, film, video games and the like (he even quotes the late “Rowdy” Roddy Piper from They Live on the Lars Attacks! title track), Lars is back to spreading knowledge about Game of Thrones (“Dragon Blood”), Star Wars (“If I Were a Jedi (That Would be Hella Awesome)”), The Legend of Zelda (“Triforce”) and his own upcoming kids’ show project Yes Yes Y’all (“Where Ya Been Lars?”) on his latest album.

“The Zombie Dinosaur LP is kind of like the metaphor of the indie artist who just keeps going because he can’t help it,” says Lars. “My last record was kind of a spiritual, introspective, more authentic hip-hop album. This one is a return to pop culture stuff. I’m really proud of it. I got to work with Kool Keith, who I’ve always loved, Watsky, who’s an incredible young rapper, Roger [Lima] from Less Than Jake, and Brian [Mazzaferri] from I Fight Dragons. It’s more of a return to the vibe of my second record, This Gigantic Robot Kills.”

Photo by Lacy Bursick/Rage Kitty.

Nerd culture loves a good sequel, and The Zombie Dinosaur LP provides plenty of clever references to previous Lars jams. The most obvious one is “Hipster Mom,” which revisits an all-grown-up “Hipster Girl” from This Gigantic Robot Kills. But it’s not just pretentious parents that are the brunt of Lars’ jokes. From his hip-hop heroes Run-DMC to his own professional shortcomings, nothing is off limits here.

“Humor is fun because I rap about how Lars Attacks! didn’t get the best reaction, but my dad thought it was good,” he says. “It’s fun to take light of painful career things. Instead of talking about all the internal stuff I’m going through, I’m talking about pop culture stuff I can relate to and use as a means of expressing how I feel about something. That’s why I love doing the literature songs because you can take an Edgar Allan Poe song or a Shakespeare poem or a Herman Melville story and express how you feel through that character. That Game of Thrones song is identifying with this character who’s trying to hold it together despite all odds. That’s kind of how I felt making this record. I always try to put a piece of myself in every pop culture record and have an emotional reason for it, not just try to name everything about a show.”

Photo by Lacy Bursick/Rage Kitty.

The literary track on The Zombie Dinosaur LP is “Forgot About Jack,” an ode to Beat writer Jack Kerouac done to the tune of Eminem‘s “Forgot About Dre”. Though much of his Warped Tour fanbase may not recognize references to Kerouac, Run-DMC, Hans Moleman and some of his other influences, Lars hopes his raps will inspire listeners to seek out the artists that inspired him.

“I loved The Simpsons, Mad magazine and Weird Al because as a kid it was funny, but it made me want to go learn about what they were referencing in a digestible way,” says Lars. “I was really inspired by Kerouac because he lived in a lot of the same places I lived. Taking the concept of microblogging and the whole social media tip, he was always writing about everything. He was kind of a prototypical Twitter guy. I have a lot of love for Kerouac. He had a lot of darkness and was a really interesting figure.”

Though wrestling isn’t often the topic of his rhymes, Lars does acknowledge its importance in today’s pop cultural landscape. He says CM Punk is his favorite wrestler because “straight edge means he better than me. He’s very handsome.”

“I thought it was dope when ICP was wrestling as part of the Oddities in the late ’90s,” he recalls. “I want to give a shout out to wrestling. It’s the modern gladiators of our era. Shout out to the whole culture and everyone keeping it alive in an economy that is fading. Shout out to Andy Kaufman for holding it down in the ring.”

www.mclars.com