Zombina and the Skeletones are a horror rock

Horror Rock

Horror Rock is a rock lying 3.5 nautical miles west of South West Point, Annenkov Island, South Georgia. Named by United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee from the circumstances of the rock's discovery by HMS Owen on February 21, 1961. The ship avoided striking the rock in rough weather...

 band from Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, formed in 1998 around the nucleus of vocalist Zombina and songwriter Doc Horror. The majority of their tongue in cheek lyrical content deals with themes of horror

Horror fiction

Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...

 and science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

, yet their musical style is upbeat and pop oriented, with elements of garage punk

Garage punk

Garage punk is a fusion of garage rock and punk rock. It is fast-paced lo-fi music characterized by a dirty, choppy guitar sound—usually played by bands who are on independent record labels or who are unsigned...

, doo wop and hard rock

Hard rock

Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...

. Due to their apparent obsession with B Movies and black humour their fanbase extends to the gothic rock

Gothic rock

Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...

, deathrock

Deathrock

Deathrock is a term used to identify a sub-genre of punk rock incorporating horror elements and spooky atmospherics, that emerged on the West Coast of the United States in 1979.-Characteristics:...

 and psychobilly

Psychobilly

Psychobilly is a fusion genre of rock music that mixes elements of punk rock, rockabilly, and other genres. It is one of several subgenres of rockabilly which also include thrashabilly, trashabilly, punkabilly, surfabilly and gothabilly...

 scenes.

Formation

Zombina met Doc Horror in 1998, fast becoming friends and started a band called The Deformed, producing a demo tape; "No Sleep 'Til Transylvania", in early 1999. This tape featured songs that would later become Zombina and The Skeletones staples; "The Grave... And Beyond!", "Braindead" and "Leave My Brain Alone"; and established a strong B-Movie informed horror theme recalling the early efforts of The Misfits and The Cramps

The Cramps

The Cramps were an American rock band, formed in 1976 and active until 2009. The band split after the death of lead singer Lux Interior. Their line-up rotated much over their existence, with the husband and wife duo of Interior and lead guitarist Poison Ivy the only permanent members...

.

Their latest album Out of the Crypt and Into Your Heart, was released in October 2008.

Career

In 2005, Zombina and The Skeletones were a featured unsigned band on BBC Radio 2

BBC Radio 2

BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...

. They have also toured the UK with bands such as The Damned, The Misfits, and The Meteors

The Meteors

The Meteors are an English psychobilly band formed in 1980. Originally from London, England, they are often credited with giving the psychobilly subgenre—which fuses punk rock with rockabilly—its distinctive sound and style...

.

2006 saw the band headlining Lumous Gothic Festival

Lumous Gothic Festival

Lumous Gothic Festival is the largest festival dedicated to the goth subculture in Finland and the northernmost Gothic festival in the world. The four-day event is organised every summer in Tampere in late June or early July...

, Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

. Then in 2007, Wave-Gotik-Treffen (Wave-Gothic-Meeting) in Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.

They have been featured in the UK magazine, Bizarre

Bizarre (magazine)

Bizarre is a British alternative magazine published from 1997 to the present. It is currently published by Dennis Publishing; it is a sister publication to the Fortean Times.-Content:...

, and played live at the 2008 "Bizarre Ball" in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. They were scheduled to appear at Abertoir, the Welsh Horror Festival, and performed as part of the festival.

Reviews

The band has received much critique, including being referred to as "Fucking superb" by the UK based webzine, Drowned in Sound

Drowned in Sound

DrownedinSound.com or DiS is a UK based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway . The site is an editorially independent music website.-History:...

.

Current line-up

• Zombina Venus Hatchett - Vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  /Theremin
  Theremin
  The theremin , originally known as the aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device...
  
   (1999–present)
• Doc Horror - Guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  /Bass/Vocals (1999–present)
• Ben Digo - Drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  (2006–present) (ex-The Dangerfields
  The Dangerfields
  The Dangerfields is a punk rock/rock 'n' roll man based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, formed in March 2000. Led by drummer and lead vocalist Andrew Griswold, they have released one album and four EPs, and have played more than 850 live gigs...
  
  )
• Kyle K'Thulu - Bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  (2008–present)
• X-Ray Speck - Saxophone
  Saxophone
  The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
  
  (2008–present)

Past members

• Velma - Backing Vocals
• Tiddles - Backing Vocals
• Grim Outlook - Guitar (1999–2004)
• Taylor Woah - Guitar (2004) (now of The Bendal Interlude)
• Ratt-Lynn Bones
• Kit Shivers - Drums/Guitar (1999–2005)
• Louie Diablo - Guitar/Vocals/Handclaps (2004–2006) (now of The Stig Sound-System)
• Pete Martin - Drums (2006)
• Jonny Tokyo - Keyboard
  Keyboardist
  A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...
  
  /Bass/Vocals (1999–2008) (now of aPAtT
  APAtT
  a.P.A.t.T. is an experimental organizational form best known for avant-garde music and multimedia works. They are notable for compositional and organizational philosophies that value purposive change, bricolage, contradiction, détournement, dérive, deterritorialization, personal challenge and...
  
  )
• Jettison Dervish - Bass (2005-May 17, 2008) (now of Lovecraft)

Albums

• The Eerie Years (download album from www.mp3.com/zombina - comprises the Love Bites and Silver Bullet EPs)
• Taste the Blood of Zombina and The Skeletones (2002)
• Death Valley High (2006)
• Monsters On 45 (2006) reissued 2009 with extra track
• Out of the Crypt and Into Your Heart (2008)

Compilations

• Get Thee Behind Me Santa (Puppy Dog Records 2002) - includes 'Transylvanian Xmas'
• Tribute to The Misfits - includes 'Misfits Medley'

EPs

• Loves Bites (2000)
• Halloween Hollerin'! (2003)
• 7 Song Promo EP (2004)
• 3 Songs vs. Your Brain (2006)
• A Chainsaw For Christmas (download EP) (2006)
• Halloween Party Classics (download EP) (2007)

7" EP Trilogy

• I Was A Human Bomb For The F.B.I. (2004)
• Mondo Zombina! (2005)
• Staci Stasis (2005)

Singles

• Silver Bullet (2001)
• Frankenlady (2002)
• Nobody Likes You When You're Dead b/w Deflesh Mode remix (2002)
• Dracula Blood b/w Deep Vein Thrombosis remix download single (2007)

External links

• The Official Zombina and The Skeletones site
• Zombina and the Skeletones Vampirefreaks page