The undead sons of Appalachia have awakened and they are coming to get ya! The Big Bad is a pure horror rock band with an unequivocal sound that will convert the most chaste of music lovers into a fellow fanged hooligan, eager to sink their teeth into the raw nostalgic rockabilly punk sound that only The Big Bad can provide. Teaming up with HorrorHound records for the release of their latest self-titled LP, The Big Bad has unleashed an album oozing to the brim with ghoulish horror-inspired rock and roll.
We took our lives into our own hands when we sat down on a dark night to dig into the mastermind behind The Big Bad, frontman Zackula Von Nasty. We are lucky to have gotten out alive, but we were not unchanged! We walked out of that interview with a tear in our soul that is being nourished and satiated by our Indie Band of the Week’s homage to the macabre.
Tell me the story of Big Bad. You’ve been around for a little over 10 years. How did you all decide, “Hey! We are good together – let’s make a band!”?
We’ve been a band for over 11 years. We started around 2004. The Colonel has been with me the longest. We’ve been together since 2008. He plays bass in the band. We were at a show one night, and he was wearing a Nekromantix shirt, so I asked him, “Do you like horror rock?” He was like, “What are you talking about?” and he kind of blew me off. I thought he was a dickhead. I met him through a mutual friend at a party, and we hit it right off. He had a hat on that night. I was like, “You are that fucking dickhead from the show! You were a total asshole to me!” So, I let him listen to a couple of older albums, EPs that we did on our own. He was like, “Let’s fucking do this!” The next day we had practice. Our drummer, Necro Nate, has been with us for very long time. He was in a side project called The Mudbats. He’s been with us since 2010. Grave Flowers, our rhythm guitar player, has been with us since See You In The Shadows. Dee Kayed and Wolfman Jack are our two newest members. Wolfman Jack is my first cousin that I hadn’t seen for 24 years.
Oh wow! How does working with family affect the dynamic of the band?
One of the things that has definitely changed with the sound of this latest album, is him (Wolfman Jack) being a member, with the addition of saxophone and keyboard. Our previous guitar player got married, and our current lead, Dee Kayed, had been a friend of the band for years and years and years. It was just a natural thing for him to come in.
However, it hasn’t really changed a whole lot. I’m a terrible guitar player, but I write every day.
Your reverbnation site describes your style as horror punk, and your label describes you as “pure horror rock with callbacks to 1950s rockabilly”. Do you agree? Why or why not?
I think we were much more of a punk band when we first started out. I think we have progressed, and I wouldn’t even refer to us as a rockabilly type of band, as much as I would say we are more rock ‘n roll/doo-wop. When you say rockabilly, my mind automatically goes straight to Sun Records. When you talk about rock ‘n roll (Chuck Berry, Little Richard), a lot of people call it Americana, but that is just rock ‘n roll. We definitely channel a lot of rockabilly and that era, but there are different elements. I think we’re focused towards creating our own sound. All of us have various tastes in music. The Colonel plays upright; he loves rockabilly. He knows more about rockabilly than anybody I know. Dee Kayed knows more about hard-core screamo and classic rock. Necro Nate is pure 90s punk rock and hardcore. You have Grave Flowers who really just lives for punk rock and ska. Wolfman Jack comes from a classically trained background. He taught music and has performed with Wayne Newton. He’s going to be backing Aretha Franklin. He has like four degrees in music. He loves blues. He loves rock ‘n roll. Me, I love Roy Orbison, and my favorite front man of all time is Freddy Mercury .
Tell me about your song writing and song writing process.
I grew up in a funeral home. In southern Appalachia there are a lot of ghost stories that I’ve heard ever since I was kid. I grew up listening to a lot of punk rock (but I also really love the Velvet Underground), but I listened to a lot of Dead Kennedys, Anti-Flag, and a lot of politically based punk rock. I read an interview from one of these politically driven punk bands, and they would speak to everything that they thought was wrong and were against. They were asked what their political background was, but the never had a straight answer, a direct answer, like a standpoint. I realized that I knew that what I felt was morally right, for myself, but that people come to a rock show for a release. They are not thinking about their shitty jobs or depressing news. I then began to think about what I knew about, which was comic books, horror movies, spooky stuff, and living in a funeral home. It felt much more direct.
We have a song about “Fright Night” (like the movie) that is about trying to get laid as a teenager. That is what the whole song is about, and using those analogies. There are some more personal songs, like our song “May All Your Nightmares Come True”, which is about a nightmare of a person you love committing suicide, and coming home and finding them dead.
Zackula Von Nasty – VocalsDeep!
Some of our songs do have some sad topics, like a song off our new album called “Lost in the Night”, which is about my uncle who passed away when I was 10. He was my best friend. It’s a song about what he would say to his widow if he could still talk to her. Some people may think we only thing about ghosts and goblins, but to me there a lot of meaning and emotion and everything that we do.
How often and for how long do you practice? What do you practice – exercises, new tunes, hard tunes, etc.?
We usually practice about once a week. I live an hour commute from the other guys, so there is a lot of practicing on our own, working out parts, stuff like that. Dropbox is our best friend.
How do you go about promoting your band and shows? Do you have a strategy you feel works for you?
Of course we use social media like everyone else, but I’ve found that face-to-face works the best. If I’m out somewhere and see some young kid wearing a Misfits or Blitzkid t-shirt or whatever, I’ll just ask him, “Do you like horror punk?” If he does, I say, “You should check out our band. We’re called the Big Bad.” We’ve honestly gotten lots of fans that way. I may be the world’s last carnival barker. I’m a shameless self-promoter.
What’s your claim to fame?
That chapter hasn’t been written yet, but one time I was woken up from sleepwalking by eight cops in a hotel lobby, naked and covered in fake blood from a show the previous night. We have a song about it called “Luna Rage.” It’s the closest to real-life lycanthropy I’ve come across so far.
What has been the biggest obstacles for your band and how are you overcoming it?
Maintaining who we are and what we are as artists while trying to break through to the masses. We love horror punk, and we want to shine the signal as far as we can take it.
What are your immediate music career goals? (Next 1 to 3 years.)
We’d like to tour overseas and play for larger crowds all over the U.S. And of course, keep writing and producing good music.
What would make The Big Bad say, “Yes, we’ve made it!”?
When we change the way people see music and punk rock bands from West Virginia. And of course quit our square jobs so we can play rock and roll every night of our lives.
