Cat’s in Zero Gravity: Scabby Ghouls Back At It Again!
Boy it has been a while. I won’t go too far into it but let's just say the corporate environment is not conducive to not wanting to bash my head with a rock over and over and over again. Luckily, I’m back, feeling refreshed, and ready to resume my regularly scheduled under bed creep fest. What better way to get back in the saddle than to float down to the Reverb to cover one of my all-time favorite horror bands The Scabby Ghouls?
Before we get to the creeping and crawling main act, we can’t sit idly by in silence waiting for the little Billy to come home, plotting his upcoming heart attack, devising the most devious of icky sticky spooks, we have to talk about the fantastic talent backup up the Ghouls.
First up is Valley Street. This is maybe the third time I’ve seen Valley Street and every time these guys bring an infectious energy to their performance that can’t be matched. They brew lots of elements from a variety of genres into their boiling punk stew including elements of shoegaze, thrash, grunge, and sludge metal, and manage to keep everything fun while still being aggressive. One of their songs opened with a riff that was a clever play on Nirvana’s, Come as You Are, which was followed by the band slamming headfirst into one of the heaviest riffs of the night. These boys are out for blood. Keep an eye out for these kids. They will blow up!
Drive on down to Valley Street following their linktree.
Up next was The Shidiots, a classic Omaha punk band with a shiddy sense of humor, like in a good way though, in the vein of NOFX. I’m certain if you frequent the punk shows around town, you have seen these dudes on the bill at some point. Honestly since Slime & Grime’s inception I’ve been meaning to catch one of their sets, but for whatever reason the stars have yet to align.
It’s obvious that this band’s longevity in the scene, some 15 years now, has crafted some of the tightest musicians in the local punk scene. The synergy between musicians was a 10 and the band played one of the tightest sets I’ve seen from a local punk band in a long while. And I got to mention Doug Decker on drums, because man that guy can beat the shit out of some drums. Watching him play was like watching a demonic possession out of The Exorcist, which in hindsight with Bassist/Vocalist Blick Jagger cracking jokes, was more like a deadite possession from Army of Darkness.
With such hits as Wal-Mart Fucking Sucks, Alcoholic on the weekend, and Puked in the Van Again, you can’t avoid checking out these dingleberries. Head on over to http://www.TheShidiots.com/ to check them out.
Following The Shidiots was another classic Omaha band, Stronghold. Stronghold burst forth with the heaviest set of the night, crushing skulls with their special brand of Hardcore. The band attracted the biggest crowd of the opening acts, and almost immediately a mosh pit formed with fists flying and heads bobbing, and this continued throughout the set, which was pretty impressive considering they were the only metal band on this punk heavy lineup.
One of the more memorable moments of their set was when they brought out guest vocalist Jayke Leach, who has the craziest set of pipes on him. They should call him Jayke Screech, because his highs paired super well with vocalist Aaaron’s lows.
Check out Stronghold on bandcamp at https://strongholdnehc.bandcamp.com/.
Oh good, little Billy just got home! Time to go to work. The Scabby Ghouls itched and picked their way onto the music scene back in 2017, with dynamic duo Dallas and Louie Hazard and the forefront, with Dallas on Vocals and Rhythm guitar, and Louie helming the executive shredder position on lead guitar. The ghoulies have been one of my favorite punk acts in town since their release of their self-titled Album released in 2019, which had classics like Knife fight, Dreaddy Krueger, and Body Surfin’, which remain stuck in my head at all times. Serious Classics!
This time the band came prepared with a brand-new album, Cats in Zero Gravity, which is the best name for an album. I’ve only had the album for a short time as this was the album release show for it, but I can say there are already tracks that belong on repeat such as Skeleton Skatepark, Mr. Kitty’s Pizza Party, and my personal favorite Reefer Sadness.
One of the things that always blows my mind, and is especially prevalent during their live shows, is Louie Hazards incredible talent for melting faces with his solos. Like, Scabby Ghouls is classic horror punk, but then you have these insane technical death metal level solos that just help to separate Scabby from other horror punk bands, and it shows. Louie was an absolute beast on stage running around like Angus Young on crack, shredding it up nonchalantly making the solos look easy.
The band played all their catchy classics, new and old, with everyone performing at a
10, leaving the crowd chanting their name in between songs hungry for more. I especially loved their cover of “Bloodstains”, a classic Agent Orange skate punk track, which suits them well with the skeletons busting Tre flips and all on stage. I’m honestly grateful for every chance I get to cover these guys. They always put on a hell of a show and are a ton of fun to cover.
Help us scare little Billy to death by checking out Cats in Zero Gravity on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/artist/2667NMKeLNn8ZWulaT1YdW?si=H9o2QygtQlKsKD6b2GyqYQ, or at any one of the Ghouls’ insane shows.