What Halloween Means To Me '13 Day 28: Dead Richy Gein (Bloodsucking Zombies From Outer Space)

The final three days of the What Halloween Means To Me countdown will feature people who are personal favorites of mine and who have greatly influenced my love for horror in some way.  The Bloodsucking Zombies From Outer Space is one of the greatest bands of all time, so sayeth the Son of Celluloid.  They were also one of the bands responsible for my discovery of the modern horror punk and psychobilly that has become an obsession.  I LOVED The Misfits since I was a teenaager, but as a diehard metal guy at the time, I had never really given a listen to other “horror rock” bands.  Then, in 2006, I was searching for music to play at my (now legendary) Drunken Punkin’ Halloween Party.  I discovered three albums at the same time: Leaving the Tomb by The Crimson Ghosts, 1968 by American Werewolves, and A Night at Grand Guignol by BZFOS.  I was hooked, my life was forever changed, and the rest is history.  The Ghosts and The Werewolves are great, but BZFOS is the band I really latched onto.   I’ve loved everything they've ever put out, but Grand Guignol is still my favorite.  It’s part of my Halloween soundtrack each and every year.  One of these days the horrorbilly psychos from Austria (not Australia, right Maynard?) will storm The States.  Until then, I’ll keep rocking out and spreading the word.  It brings me great joy to welcome BZFOS drummer/singer Dead Richy Gein to the blog and the countdown.  So Mr. Gein, what does Halloween mean to you?

"Growing up during the 80's in the deep Austrian countryside, I gotta say that the word “Halloween” had no meaning to me. Halloween simply didn’t exist to me because it was not a part of Austrian culture at the time. Even if the original “Samhain” festival came out of Europe, we kids here first found out about “Halloween” after watching American movies. Of course we also loved the idea of playing “Trick or Treat” while wearing costumes, so slowly it found it's way into our society as well. It is still not as big as in the US, but in the beginning of October the shops are packed with “Halloween” stuff and the kids can’t wait to get into a costume on the 31st and scare the neighbors.

Being in a band like the “Bloodsucking Zombies From Outer Space” means

that around Halloween we are always on tour or at least we play the awaited Halloween show, which is always one of our annual show highlights.

Another thing that immediately comes to my mind when I hear the term

“Halloween” is, of course, John Carpenter’s classic horror movie. As a

horror film-nerd and collector, I truly love the whole series and Michael Meyers was, along Jason, Freddy, Pinhead, etc., one of my best buddies when I was a teenager. I have seen Halloween countless times and it is definitely very high up on my list of best films ever made!

So I will spend the 31st of October by watching at least 3 horror movies(in this particular order: “Something classic,” “Something really gory,” and “Something new”) during the day and play the gig and party with my band in the night. Hope you all have a good one too!"

2 more days ‘til Halloween, Halloween, Halloween.  2 more days ‘til Halloween, Silver Shamrock.