Five Favourites: Zombina and the Skeletones

Having initially blasted onto the Liverpool scene back in 1998, local ‘horror-rockers’ Zombina and the Skeletones have previously wowed audiences with their eccentric energy and intoxicating fusion of sounds supporting the likes of Shonen Knife, The Damned and Misfits. Now, having officially come out of retirement last year, the band have just released their first full-length album in ten years, The Call Of Zombina. Interweaving an eclectic array of sounds, from uptempo garage-punk and girl group pop leanings, to haunting baroque-inspired goth-rock and a swirling punk energy, the album offers a fierce return to form from the Merseryside legends; an exquisite, immersive cacophony that’s not for the faint-hearted. 

We think one of the best ways to get to know a band is by asking what music inspires them. So, following the album’s release, we spoke to Zombina and Dr Horror from ZATS about some of the albums that have influenced them the most. Have a read, and then watch the video for immense new single ‘Don’t Kick My Coffin‘ below, before listening to the full new album in all its glory. 

Zombina’s Picks:

Cocteau Twins – Heaven Or Las Vegas
This is a weird one for me, because I’m not a huge album listener. I’ve always been into bands and artists, and songs in a standalone sense, but poverty and ADHD impatience have always had me flitting around mixtapes and ‘Best Of’ compilations. I’d never have described Cocteau Twins sound as my main kind of thing, but yet I’ve returned to this record again and again and again over the years. It’s been the soundtrack for more scenes in my life’s journey than I can believe: it’s been playing whilst I’m de-cluttering, breastfeeding through the night, working out, reading my bestie’s tarot, shopping, grieving a loss, fucking OR making love (two very different things, and it works for both for me, which is no mean feat!), walking to job interviews, hungover in the tour bus, the list goes on… I genuinely listen to it several times a week. I’m Neurodivergent and I recognise this is one of my top comfort albums. The two times I have managed to write and record music as a solo project, I have only been able to eschew writer’s block by taking a “Cocteau Twins approach” to lyrics, and just letting word sounds tumble out ad-hoc. As someone who has spent a lifetime singing lyrics I rate super highly, written by my best friend, I really think was the only way I could have got past the inner critic to explore the musicality I was trying to access, and I credit this album for that.

Roky Erikson – The Evil One
I don’t remember how soon into our BFF-ship Doc Horror and I started listening to this… Oh shit, wait, yes I do – it must have been almost right away aged fifteen and sixteen, because we recorded a cover of ‘I Walked With A Zombie’ from this album on our home 4-track for the very first Zombina and the Skeletones demo! I’ve still never watched the film about Roky. I think it would upset me too much. I’m a real sucker for the under-dog, people that have struggled and suffered injustices, especially surrounding mental health. I was already floundering my way into the mental healthcare system myself by fifteen. I remember hearing about Roky’s story, and it was never extricable from how I felt listening to his music. I heard the deepest pain and the most jubilant perseverance in his voice; I held on to the thought that he had come out the other side of a dark and brutal life chapter, and still had this creative passion bursting out of him, and sounding so fucking GOOD! He was also someone who had paved the way before us. We were teenage horror movie fanatics, trying to form a band around that shared passion, and then we discover this guy and the genre he named himself – Horror Rock! I was planning to choose my top five tracks from the album, but it’s too hard. Just listen to it. Many times. Let it permeate you like it has me. I implore you!!!

Doc Horror’s Picks:

The B-52’s – The B-52’s
Zombina introduced me to the B-52’s via Cosmic Thing back when we were in school, and that was revelatory enough, but their self-titled debut turned out to really be where it’s at for me. For our generation B-52’s meant ‘Love Shack’ and ‘Rocko’s Modern Life’ and, like, ‘The Flintstones Theme’, not that there’s nothing wrong with that, obviously – but this album is something else entirely. We found it on cassette in a charity shop sometime in the late ’90s and I couldn’t believe how punk-rock this thing is. It’s got this sort of proto-Riot Rrrrl quality to it, but somehow also sounds like flying saucers coming over the horizon. They’ve somehow got way more depth than they get credited for, but are also exactly as silly as they seem. Cindy Wilson’s vocal on ‘Hero Worship’ is possibly the best vocal on anything ever! We caught them live in Manchester years later when they did Funplex and they were still phenomenal. Experiences like that are great training for staving off the I’M GETTING TOO OLD FOR THIS SHIT feeling that can come twenty odd years into being a band. Fun is fun, no matter who you are. Everybody goes to parties!

45 Grave – Sleep In Safety
I remember coming across this LP when Zombina and the Skeletones was very new, and seeing that amazing band photo on the back cover and immediately finding new role models in 45 Grave before I even heard their music. I purchased it at the next opportunity and found myself utterly baffled by the music on first listen. From what I’ve heard, it seems like I’m not alone in that. A lot of people find Sleep In Safety quite difficult to get into, but you have to stick with it!  Once you get past the tonal whiplash of the whole “oh it’s a sort of dark prog record… no wait it’s hardcore punk… oh what’s this surf instrumental doing here?” experience, it’s actually incredibly rewarding – and very much ended up as a template for what we do, in a lot of ways. It was like suddenly being given a license to disregard the constraints of genre. And then you get to the chorus in ‘Partytime’ and realise that this was the song that seemed to be coming out of that skeleton’s mouth in that one scene in The Return Of The Living Dead – the movie that you and Zombina watched alongside The Rocky Horror Picture Show a few months back and that’s what inspired you to start a spooky band in the first place -, and it’s all come full circle… But you never would have guessed that it was the same band because the chorus from ‘Partytime’ sounds like some AC/DC pastiche. Again… baffling. A couple of years later, one of our first European shows was opening for Dinah Cancer’s post-45 Grave band Penis Flytrap. She turned out to be really nice. Not nearly as scary as you’d think. Whenever I put on Sleep In Safety, I find myself transported to ZATS year one and I’m filled with the excitement of future possibilities. It’s still a weird listen even now. Our track ‘Dead Birds’ on The Call Of Zombina is a bit of a love letter to this sound.

Girls At Our Best – Pleasure
I don’t really ever discover new current music. Instead, my version of that seems to be stumbling across things from the eighties that are at least new to me – often from bands like Girls At Our Best, who split up around the time I was born. I have no clue how Pleasure even ended up on my radar. It seemed to just appear in my life a couple of years ago without me really noticing and I just kept finding the various tracks stuck in my head and before long I was just binging it daily and playing it to people, like “check this out…”. I’m not sure if I’ve successfully converted any fans yet. I ended up listening to it constantly while writing The Call Of Zombina but if you were to play to our record side by side with this one you probably wouldn’t make any connection between the two. Pleasure is all major key sunshine and The Call Of Zombina is more like a night in Dracula’s castle… But it was very subtly informed by Pleasure on some subliminal level. It’s just great. Every song has about 20 legitimate hooks apiece, loads of inventiveness, earworms and strange instrumental choices. You have to wonder who they were and what happened to them. They made this one excellent album then fucked off.

Huge thanks to Zombina and Doc Horror for sharing their Five Favourites with us! Watch the new video for ‘Don’t Kick My Coffin’ below:

The Call Of Zombina, the brand new album from Zombina and the Skeletones, is out now via 9×9 Records. Buy it now.

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Five Favourites: Brennan Wedl

Following 2019 album Holy Water Branch, New York artist Brennan Wedl has now signed with legendary label Kill Rock Stars and has recently shared a series of glistening new singles, including latest offering ‘Fake Cowboy’. A heartfelt ode to the infamous Nashville Honky Tonk bar, the track showcases the raw emotion of Wedl’s luscious vocals as Americana-tinged stripped-back strumming builds to a gritty, fuzz-filled anthem. I’m quite late to the Brennan Wedl party, but this track prompted me to delve deeper into their rich lyrical storytelling and silky smooth alternative country musicality. A new favourite for sure, I can’t wait to hear more from this exquisite raconteur.

We think one of the best ways to get to know an artist is by asking what music inspires them. So, to celebrate the release of ‘Fake Cowboy’, I caught up with Brennan to find out about the music that inspires her the most. Read about her five favourite albums and watch the beautiful video for ‘Fake Cowboy‘ below! 

Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto – Getz/Gilberto
This album is delightful drama – it is romance, it is night-time, and it is what falling in love sounds like to me. So straight-ahead but has layers, twists and turns of red and orange. I love to play this album on vinyl while making romantic dinners, and it still hits through phone speakers. This album makes me think long-term. It makes me feel domestic bliss. It makes me want to get married. I hope to have the first dance at my wedding to ‘Para Machuchar Meu Coracao’, so hopefully my future spouse will be down. This song is pure love, hope, joy, delight. Favourite album of all time. 

King Woman – Celestial Blues
I was first introduced to King Woman by someone posting a story on Instagram from their show and tagging them. We see hundreds of these clips, but I’m pretty sure King Woman is the only band that has stopped me in my mindless story scroll enough to listen to their records. Celestial Blues quickly became an album that defined a season of my life. I am a sucker for religious references and imagery, and this album has it. It’s got scary hell, it’s got sexy hell; it’s got original sin, it’s got flames. Favourite track from this album is ‘Boghz’.

Rufus Wainwright – Wants Two
A super dreamy, dripping, cinematic album. It’s horny, it’s tragic and it is gay af. My favourite track is ‘The Art Teacher’, which inspired my song ‘Fake Cowboy’. So many juicy details in this album; it has a comedic edge, on the edge of being a bit bratty. The longing is there. “Here I am in this uniform-ish pantsuit sorta thing” – I can see this character he’s describing so vividly, which is something I strive for in my own lyrics. I want the visuals to be undeniable. 

Bruce Springsteen – Nebraska
You can tell a lot about someone by their favourite Boss record. I am a die-hard Nebraska-head and I am NOT ALONE. This album makes me hold my hand over my heart. Not in a patriotic way, maybe though? I feel like I have a cock when I listen to this album. When I meet another Nebraska-head in the wild, they often agree that it’s The Boss’ best. Having to pick my favourite song from this record feels like damnation, but like the true masochist, manic-depressive freak that I am, I choose ‘My Father’s House’. Listening makes me shake my head back and forth laughing because it is so effed up. Exceptional use of the tambourine.

Tom Waits – Real Gone
Whenever something really inconvenient happens on tour, it is required according to BW law that we play ‘Hoist That Rag’ to shake off the bad energy and move on. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of anyone having a neutral opinion to Tom Waits. Either you worship him, or you despise him. His range inspires me, we don’t need to stick to one sound. Also, he’s got the craziest song titles in the game – ‘Don’t Go into That Barn’, ‘The Earth Died Screaming’, ‘Chick A Boom’ to name a few. Real Gone is an album that’s kind of like being on a haunted hayride. You see the terrors, but they legally can’t touch you.

Huge thanks to Brennan for sharing her five favourites with us! Watch the beautiful video for ‘Fake Cowboy’ here:

‘Scorpio’, the upcoming new single from Brennan Wedl, is set for release on 9th May via Kill Rock Stars.

Photo Credit: Blaire Beamer

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Five Favourites: pink suits

Having released their blazing debut, Political Child, back in 2021, Margate duo pink suits have now just released their second album. Inspired by the relentless over saturation of bleak news cycles, Dystopian Hellscape may be a little more self-reflective, silly and sexy than its predecessor, but loses none of the band’s politically aggressive, anti-Tory, anti-Fascist, Feminist Queer Energy. Inspired by a newspaper article entitled The News Comes So Often, It Makes You Sick, Dystopian Hellscape explores the effects of modern society and neoliberal politics on our mental health with pinks suits’ trademark tenacious spirit and raw musicality. Reflecting on the sense of confusion and frustration that comes with the over-saturation of scandal and disaster within mainstream media, the album also discusses themes of self-care, grief, gender identity, sexuality, queer joy and – of course – coffee. From the riotous power of searing rallying cry ‘Refuse The Rules’, and the fiercely uncompromising reclamation of being confident in who you are, ‘Are You Gay Yet?’, the album showcases pink suits’ ability to channel frustration into a perfect raging catharsis. 

We think one of the best ways to get to know a band is by asking what music inspires them. So, to celebrate the release of the Dystopian Hellscape, I caught up with Ray and Lennie to find out about the music that inspires them the most. Read about their five favourite albums, watch the video for recent single ‘C.O.F.F.E.E‘ and make sure you check out the full album on bandcamp now!

The Runaways – The Runaways
The Runaways’ debut album, which was released in 1976, is one of my fave albums of all time, as well as being a huge influence on the kind of music I (Ray) wanted to make when we started pink suits. I think I discovered The Runaways when I was about 14 and got completely obsessed with them. I think the fact that they were so young on this record, and when I found them I was also so young, it gave me a radical feeling of possibility. Which when you’re 14 feels pretty wild! I think I immediately assembled a band of misfits and people I thought could kick-off pretty well given the chance, which we were all extremely excited about and equally I think all knew it was never actually gonna happen. I loved the uninhibited energy they had, and I’m still waiting for my front-man moment – out from behind the drums! I wanna be front and centre, swinging the mic around and working the crowd.

** Sadly and disappointedly, it turns out Cherie Currie is a massive terf! But Joan Jett is still an icon, so we can breathe easy for that! Although this album and The Runaways will always be a big influence on us as a band we cannot support anyone with transphobic views. We have played ‘Cherry Bomb’ for the last time…

Amyl and The Sniffers – Big Attraction and Giddy Up
This album was one of the biggest references of sound for Dystopian Hellscape. Everyone went mad for Comfort To Me, which is a great album, but we think Big Attraction and Giddy Up is the most exciting LP. It is 2 EPs – Giddy Up was written and released all in a 12 hour time span, and then Big Attraction was written later that year. You can get the LP of both of these EPs together (though it has just disappeared from Spotify?). We love this LP, it feels so rough and ready. Amy is such a force as a front person and we love the energy they bring every time; you can feel it through the record just as much as you do live, which is definitely something we strive for as well. We find recording hard because of the challenge of getting the live feel and energy across. Not that many bands manage it, but we think Big Attraction and Giddy Up really feels like the live band.

Allison Russell – Outside Child
This debut album from Allison Russell came out in 2021, and is probably our most listened to album of all time. I think we listened to it a few times a day everyday for over a year – the best thing that we did during lockdown! It’s just incredible. It is a very personal and heart wrenching album about trauma, childhood, love, loss, growth, and her voice is just amazing. We have had the chance to see her live a couple times and wept throughout the whole show; honestly one of the most stunning humans to see. The content of the music is often quite heavy, but she is able to bring a joy and lightness to it. We love her so much!

Orville Peck – Pony
As some of you probably know, when we aren’t being a punk band we are full country babes – we run a night called Queer Cuntry, and we owe a lot of that to Orville Peck. We got immediately obsessed with him as soon as we heard this debut album of his, he really brought back a sort of old country sound which is the style of country music we love. He is also just very camp and queer and theatrical, which we relate to in a lot of ways. This album and the music videos and performances we saw from him were pretty incredible; he combines a sort of cinematic storytelling with camp aesthetics in a way that just works. There’s no fighting it! He also used to be in a punk band and trained in ballet, so really we are kindred spirits in so many ways. We saw him four times in 2019, and the live shows are so much fun. Queer Cuntry has taken off in a big way for us (we are bringing it to Chaka Khan’s Meltdown Festival in June!), and Pony was the album that gave us a kick up the ass and made us start doing country.
(You can catch pink suits in their country guise supporting Dolly Parton tribute band The Dumb Blondes on 19th July at Sebright Arms – tickets are already moving quick, so don’t miss out!)

Bob Vylan – We Live Here
This is another album that we absolutely rinsed when it came out. As soon as we heard the title track we were obsessed, and then we got the whole album and every song is fucking killer. This was such an inspiring album as we were putting together our debut album political child and were thinking about how aggressively violent and political it was; we were not worried about saying what we wanted to say, but we were curious how it would land as we were not hearing that much new music that was so full of rage. Then we heard We Live Here and we were like YES! Let’s fucking go with this angry and violent protest album! I used to go running and listen to political child straight into We Live Here to see if our album stood up next to the Bobbys… We think it does, and we got to support Bob Vylan in Ramsgate a year later, and the live show is just so so good! These guys give it absolutely everything and deserve all the success they are having.

We just realised we have a kink for debut albums! I guess that makes sense, it is so exciting to see how a new artist chooses to burst into the world. All of the subsequent material from these artists is amazing too, but clearly we love that first fresh taste. 

Massive thanks to pink suits for sharing their Five Favourites with us! Make sure you check out their full new album, Dystopian Hellscape, now. And catch them live across the country over the next few months, including at Cro Cro Land in South London this Saturday, 13th April.



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Five Favourites: Jess Ribeiro

Having shared stages with the likes of Angel Olsen and Nick Cave, Australian artist Jess Ribeiro is now set to release her new album, Summer Of Love, next month. Written during a time of instability and reflecting on themes of isolation and loss, the emotion rich splendour of her vocals shine throughout, offering a glimmer of hope during uncertain times. As her poignant lyricism ripples alongside a glistening yet gritty musicality, the album showcases Ribero’s ability to create stirring heartfelt anthems with a captivating grace.

We think one of the best ways to get to know an artist is by asking what music inspires them. So, to celebrate the upcoming release of the new album, I caught up with Jess to find out about the music that inspires her the most. Read about her five favourite albums and watch the video for recent single ‘Everything Is Now‘ below!

George Rrurrambu and Birdwave – Baru
I first heard this record in the Northern Territory when I lived in Darwin, and spent lot of time touring remote and outback locations. My bass player at the time started this group with his brother as well as with the legend George Rrurrambu, a famous Indigenous musician who performed in the Warmupi Band in the ’70s/’80s. George was known for his rock music, singing in Yolngu Mate (his mother tongue), as well as English, but in this outfit it’s more reggae with his trance like singing in Yolngu Mate. I love when artists are open to experimenting with different genres and, as a songwriter, I really like writing songs in all styles. Sometimes it doesn’t work, but this combination works for sure. I hold this album in my heart as one of the greatest Australian albums of all time. It’s very hard to get a physical copy of it, but look it up on YouTube. 

PJ Harvey – Dry
When I was 13 I bought a black and white tv for $5.00 from a second hand store. I set it up in my bedroom and invited a friend over for a sleep over so we could watch RAGE, the weekend music program that started at midnight. Led Zeppelin came on which was cool, but then the music clip for the song ‘Dress’ by PJ Harvey came on and changed my world. The song blew my mind. It made me feel crazy. The strings at the end were a revelation as I was a very lazy learner (of the violin), and the song gave me hope that maybe I didn’t have to read the music and play nicely. There is a sexy guitar line in the instrumental section and still to this day I want to listen to that song on repeat. I lived in a small town where it was hard to access music, but I somehow managed to borrow Dry from an older girl at school and I taped it onto cassette. A friend’s older sister showed me how to play some chords on the guitar and eventually I taught myself how to play the song ‘Joe’. Soon after, I gave up violin and moved to writing songs and playing guitar.

Kate Bush – Hounds Of Love
I listened to a lot of my dad’s records growing up and was particularly drawn to his Kate Bush collection. An art teacher discovered I was a fan and gave me lots of videos, CDs and books on Kate Bush and Wilhelm Reich to study and read. Kate Bush wrote a song about Reich called ‘Cloudbusting’. The cloudbusting machine was created by Reich, who believed he could release orgasmic energy into the air which would dissolve pollution and stop war. He was jailed by the American government and his son wrote a book about it called ‘A Book of Dreams’. That’s what the song Cloudbusting is about. Each track on this record is a story condensed into a song; Kate Bush is a very good storyteller,songwriter, dancer and actor. I’d love to get better at bringing these elements into my writing.

Patti Smith – Horses
I was sitting in a circle with some girlfriends getting stoned one day after school, and someone put on the album Horses. I started tripping out to the lyrics; it made me feel rebellious and made me want to be a poet. The album was produced by John Cale, whose music I now deeply love, he is also part of the Lou Reed, Velvet Underground lineage. This album influenced me to be who I am and work with what I have, which is a short attention span and not much interest in premeditating production. I love vibing music with a group and being open to spontaneity in the studio. Patti  improvised the lyrics to the song ‘Birdland’ in the studio – they come from ‘A Book of Dreams’ by Peter Reich (she too wrote a song about Reich who made the cloud busting machine!). When I went to university I studied classical music and singing. In my final exam, the teachers told me I was a performance poet more than a technical musician – I took this as a compliment, as I never had any desire to become an opera singer or a classical musician.

Nirvana – MTV Unplugged In New York
I saw this on tv at about 2am in the morning and it became my favourite Nirvana record. Every song is fucking fabulous, including the cover songs by Bowie, Leadbelly, The Meat Puppets and more. I love it when rock artists present stripped back versions of their songs. The harmonies in this live recording are beautiful and there is a cello in there too! This album made me realise a good song is a good song, and I aspire to make a good song that can be performed with a whole band or solo.

Massive thanks to Jess Ribeiro for sharing her Five Favourites! Watch the video for her beautiful single ‘Everything Is Now’ here:

Summer Of Love, the new album from Jess Ribeiro, is set for release on 12th April via Labelman, pre-order here. And she’s coming over to the UK in May – info here.

Photo Credit: Nick Mckk

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