I will admit that prior to seeing them live I was not familiar with Ghoultown.  I was kinda familiar with the two opening acts, having seen Zombie Dragstrip Hookers once before and having seen Gen with the Genitorturers a handful of times, but I knew zipola about Ghoultown.

We arrived near the end of ZDH’s set, as due to this being a weeknight show they started pretty darned early, and there weren’t a ton of people there yet.  They didn’t play like they were playing to a couple dozen people, though, with plenty of headbanging and strutting while they banged out Misfits influenced rock.

Next up was Gen-XX and a helluva stage show.  According to their MySpace, they are comprised of Gen on vocals, Angel (Genitorturers, PsyKill, Team Cybergeist) on drums, Scott Weisner (Jackal & Hyde) programming the electronic backdrop to the show, and five Go-Go dancers.  As Gen sang her heart out over driving techno beats and the metronomic Angel utterly abused his drums, different acts were happening stage right ranging from burlesque strip tease to a medical/murder performance complete with nipple tape and pulling out intestines.

Finally Ghoultown took the stage and made it well worth being half dead for work the next day.  I am no good at assigning genres to music, but the interwebs is calling them things like psychobilly and gothic punk, and who am I to argue with the internets?  With influences from the likes of The Cramps, Misfits, and Johnny Cash, these guys put on a great dark rock and roll show with plenty of guitar and a perfect dose of brass.  The song that sold me on them was “Killer In Texas”, which started with Dick Dale-esque guitar and ended with a blaring trumpet.

I got a hold of their most recent album, Life After Sundown, the next day and you can get your own copy via their website or on itunes

Zombie Dragstrip Hookers on myspace
Gen-XX on myspace
Ghoultown on myspace

Pix from the show, some nsfw

Ghoultown – Killer in Texas
Ghoultown – Ghost Riders In The Sky
Ghoultown – Gunslinger