J. R. Taylor
It's another Saturday night at the Chiller Theatre Expo in New Jersey. Horror conventions aren't usually where you find musicians whose careers are starting, but tonight I'm seeing Lourds in the same hotel ballroom where-mere hours before-P.J. Soles had cashed in on her Rock 'N' Roll High School stardom with a massive line of admiring fans waiting for her autograph. The former Parker Lewis could only look on in envy.
Others can only envy Lourds for coming up with the grandly moronic idea of combining the sounds of Kate Bush and The Misfits. Their proper self-titled debut is an impressive display of catchy art-punk. It's also easily packaged-via frontwoman Lourds Lane-as the best album this year to feature a violin-playing vocalist who also strums a mean mandolin.
The downside is that the frontman turns into Chatty Cathy between songs. Lourds is sweetly effusive, but that comes across as cheerfully deranged from a gal in that get-up. Also, bands of every genre should give up plugging their MySpace page from the stage. They end up sounding like John Kerry invoking his Web site during the presidential debates.
The rest of the band looks great, too. Gene Blank's hairline is in a deathmatch with his Jerry Only hairstyle, but that'll be resolved by the time Lourds goes solo. The act's real star is Sarah Vasil, whose B-movie dyke look remains a timeless punk affectation. No drummer's worked it this good since Nick Knox of The Cramps.
Chiller Theatre isn't bad as a venue. It's not ideal, either. The band's now professional enough to play through a few sound glitches. At one point, however, the entire audience turns its back on Lourds to marvel at a group that's come in dressed as the complete cast of monster-themed breakfast cereals. Not just Count Chocula and Frankenberry, but also Boo Berry, and even Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy. Not even KISS could compete with that kind of display.
It's a short set, anyway, and Lourds still gets off the stage feeling like they've been playing to their kind of crowd. I don't bother hanging around for the Dead Elvi. Steven Seagal had to cancel his planned appearance with the band, and that would've been the high point. As it is, the Elvi have to settle for the distinction of playing to an audience that includes the dad from Family Ties. Wait, I mean the survivalist from Tremors, with the giant worms. That one.