And some of the films were terrifying . But lives — he can see that tree from his window , and it ’ s also in an old graveyard . So

usually , you had to wait until the last five minutes of the movie to see the monster , and sometimes it wasn ’ t that good . But I

Kenny scouted that location , but that ’ s where I took those pictures . So I ’ m quite

happy with the cover . But hey — don ’ t grew up in that culture — I was immersed

buy it for the cover ! Buy it for the mask ! in it , total immersion . Some people

IE : Where did you get the outlandish learned languages . I learned B-movie

werewolf mask in the Face video ? monsters . And I ’ m a huge fan of the original Batman TV show . I don ’ t watch it any-

PZ : I don ’ t know . Keith found that . I was

hoping he was gonna get the typical Lon more , but for that first run , I was totally

Chaney , Jr . one , but then he turned up with addicted to it . It fit very well into my

this wild thing I think he got it in Spain . worldview at the time , and it actually saw

One day , we were playing a show , and I the future in a lot of ways — what a freak

think it was in Spain , and we were doing show . our Spanish version of “ The Monster Mash ” onstage , and all of a sudden , he

IE : And every major city had a local

started wearing that . It was his El Hombre Friday Night horror-film host . In

Lobo thing . Indianapolis , we had Sammy Terry , a guitar teacher by day and a total skeletal ,

IE : The Cramps used to be obsessive collectors . They ’ d meet some grandmother casket-entombed ghoul on Friday

who had a stack of obscure old 78s in her evenings .

Ohio basement and gasp in awe . Were PZ : An important question — and I ’ ve got

you guys like that ? to interrupt you here — did he cut any

PZ : I was never really a collector . Of rock and roll 45s ? With a lot of those guys , course , I was into novelty hits . But I generally liked what I heard on the radio , and

someone would say , “ Hey — let ’ s make a record !” And we had , of course , Zacherley

Keith was like that — it was just what we ( John Zacherle ), who originally was from

Philadelphia . Later , we had a guy named

03 • 2021

heard on the radio . And we heard a lot of

weird shit on the radio , make no mistake .

The Creep — he wasn ’ t a ghoul or any-

It ’ s not like now when nothing ’ s on the thing ; he was just this guy who wore sunglasses and was a creep . He was just a

radio . You literally turn it on , and there ’ s

nothing . Like “ Dinner With Drac ” — that creep . But I got to meet Zacherley , and he

was a hit , ya know ? And “ The Monster was great . He also had a hit record called

Mash .” So I didn ’ t have to be a cultist — “ Dinner With Drac ” — John was just a these things came to me , for whatever reason . Like being asked to do the theme song

great guy . So I grew up in Flushing , but before I knew it , I was living with my

for I Was a Teenage Zombie and meeting the friends in Manhattan and hanging out on

whole cast . There was a show called the scene . And I remember the first time

Forever Knight that was one of my favorite we came out to California as a band , the

shows in the early ‘ 90s , a Canadian show last thing I wanted to do was go to Los about a detective who was an 800-year-old

The Fleshtones

vampire — he was a good guy who was trying to make up for his centuries of evil , so he decided to become a detective , and he only worked at night . And we were playing in Toronto , and word got through to them , and through to us , and the entire cast — and I mean the ENTIRE cast — came to see us play . So that was great , our Forever Night night ! So I guess my point is that this stuff comes to me more than anything . And we loved The Cramps , but we didn ’ t have to work at it so much .

IE : What was your mission statement

The Fleshtones , circa 1990

then , and what is it today ? It seems like it hasn ’ t changed that much . PZ : No , it hasn ’ t . We wanted to play the type of rock and roll that we wanted to hear . And at that point , nobody was making it , really . We were listening to old records and stuff . I remember a friend of mine saying to me back then , “ Peter , what are we gonna do when we get sick of listening to our old Yardbirds records ?” And I might have thought , “ Well , maybe we can listen to some Kinks records .” But luckily , The Ramones came along and

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