A Band That Should Be Much More Interesting Than They Are

Have you guys heard of Ghost BC yet? I swear they’re gonna be a next big thing. Combining a singer with the best face paint ever and backup musicians with no names (just Nameless Ghoul number whatever) is pretty cool. Apologies to you older guys, but I still get caught up in my childhood KISS fixation with bands like this. Believe it or not, KISS was once scary and menacing (my younger brother, who is now an elementary school principal – way too much principaling in my background – was frightened by the first KISS album cover when I bought it way back in ’73) even though they’ve been family-friendly for as long as most anyone can remember. Believe me, I’m put off as you are, knowing now that Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley were only out to rape me of the little money I made as a 15-year-old back in the day.

Then there was The Misfits, the KISS of punk, whom I adored. Saw them at the legendary 4th Street Saloon in Bethlehem, PA back when they were small-time. The guitarist, Bobby Steele, chucked his guitar into my friend’s leg (and it hurt!). We – as a bunch of little under-age kids (under-age kids could get into bars back then) – “hung out” with them backstage in a cramped little room where they pretty much ignored us. Saw them later at Northampton County Community College with Reagan Youth (if you want to read a f’d up story, read about their singer Dave Insurgent/Rubinstein on Wiki).

Anyway, I wanted real bad to discover something new with Ghost BC. A friend of mine introduced me to them months ago and, now since they’re getting more attention, I checked them out again. But the music is just too damn poppy. I’m the last guy for death metal and cookie monster vocals, but the music should be more menacing than this.

Oh well, the new Queens album is out now and I can’t wait to DRIVE TO THE RECORD STORE AND BUY THE CD. More on that later.

What do you think?

7 thoughts on “A Band That Should Be Much More Interesting Than They Are

  1. Those robes look like something out of a cheesy Italian horror movie from the late 60s. In which context, cool! In this context, blech! I went and reminded myself about Slipknot’s masks. Much better.

  2. i thought this was pretty lame.

    song dull. i don’t get the costumes. i think they are a distraction so we don’t notice the band and song are not very good.

    but, i was too old for Kiss, too (sorry, i just don’t think they are any better than Journey, although I saw them once and got some great pictures th0ugh).

    but, the only band i ever saw effectively use costumes were The Tubes.

  3. I was listening to the Tubes the other day. White Punks on Dope is a great classic, but Don’t Touch Me There isn’t on their greatest hits package and the only version on YouTube is from 2010. 45 year olds don’t give off the same vibe 20 year olds do.

    • You know Don’t Touch Me There was co-written by Ron Nagle, and produced by Jack Nietzche? If you listen you can totally hear the Phil Spector influence (Nietzche, along with Sonny Bono and Herb Alpert) were Spector’s protoges. Amazing, no?

  4. Was raised on the Southside (one word). Been there underage in the late 70’s to see many punk bands of the day. Xtc, radiators, 999. That’s one thing Lehigh brought to Bethlehem. Better yet, was getting on 22 and heading to nyc and CBGB’s.

  5. Geez, Joseph. You must’ve frequented the legendary 4th Street Saloon then, whose crowd was likely 70 percent underage, back when bars still did that kind of thing and mostly got away with it.

    I saw The Misfits, Johnny Thunders & Wayne Kramer, etc. along with lesser known bands like The Mumps, The Victims, The Fast/Miki Zone Zoo and English bands like UK Subs and 999.

    Sounds like you have a bigger list than I do.

    Motley’s record store in Allentown and Whitehall Records in the Whitehall Mall, perhaps?

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