Southern Culture on the Skids’ “Zombified” (Kudzu Records) should be at the top of your list this Halloween –

By ‘Rebel’ Rod Ames


I have been an outright fan of Southern Culture on the Skids since, well I can’t remember how long. I know it has been a very long time though. Perhaps not since their infancy circa 1983, but certainly since the early to mid 90’s, this remarkable trio has been emitting their unique brand of rock-a-billy from my speakers.

They have graced their fans with many incredible albums – “Ditch Diggin’” (1992), “Dirt Track Date” (1995), and “Plastic Seat Sweat” (1997) to name a few. In 1998, “Zombified” was released as a five song EP in Australia!

Fast forward to today and they have added another eight songs to the EP making it a ghoul’s dozen and something special for my favorite holiday, Halloween.

What Southern Culture on the Skids has done, is take the sometimes extremely exploitive and always gratuitously violent movies we here in the South, used to pay $.99 per carload to get into the drive-in to see. If we didn’t have the $.99, you crawled into the massive trunk of the (in my case) 1967 Plymouth Fury III convertible, and snuck in. Ahh, the times we had!

For all you youngsters out there, a drive-in was an outdoor theater with movie screens the size of a football field. I’m exaggerating, but they were quite huge. Bigger than the average IMAX screen for sure!

You could drink beer, smoke weed (not condoning, merely stating a fact), eat hot dogs and popcorn, that you brought in yourself, or if you prefer, you could purchase the dogs and the popcorn from the cockroach and rodent feces tainted concession stand! These were grand old times and I’m starting to sound like a crotchety old man now, so I will get back to the music.

Southern Culture on the Skids has put together a fantastic, and what some may consider to be a seasonal album. I, on the other hand consider most of the tunes on this album as something I would listen to year round. Of course, I should also explain, I watch horror and sci-fi year round as well.

Seriously, Credence Clearwater Revival’s “Sinister Purpose” if not for the daunting title would simply be considered a fantastic instrumental. It most definitely will be heard frequently on my show, as will The “The Creeper” and several other tunes on this record. These two tunes are spectacularly performed instrumentals. In fact, I used “The Creeper” to open my show this past Saturday evening.

The point is that the trio consisting of original members, Dave Hartman, Mary Huff, and Rick Miller are as much fun to listen today, as they were when they first emerged from Chapel Hill, North Carolina back in 1983.

The album was released on September 27, but I wanted to wait until my favorite time of the year to put it on my blog, and is there a better day than the day before Halloween? Their publicist or promoter would probably have disagreed, but I’m not a publicist. However, if I was, I would have released this collection of ‘13’ (you gotta love it) Halloween treats for the ears, on the Friday before Halloween! That’s just me though.

If you’re looking for an entertaining record for the Halloween party, or if you just love good fun rock ‘n roll music, Southern Culture on the Skids’ “Zombified” should be at the top of your list.

‘Rebel’ Rod says to check out “Zombified” or be damned to hell!