Hey there! This blog is a dumping ground for all the pop culture nostalgia I’m into, the digital graveyard for a zine I used to publish, and a late-nite anxiety clearing-house.
The bio in the header gives you a good idea of what you’ll find here, but under the cut are some other things about me and this blog.
• VHS & Retro Media! In this house we celebrate all things physical media: 8mm, Super 8, 16mm, 35mm, VHS, Beta, CED, Laserdisc, DVD, Bluray and 4K UHD discs. There are too many film projectors and video playback machines. I especially never gave up on VHS, and one of my pandemic hobbies was compiling VHS mixtapes from my collection of rare horror, ‘80s animation & late-nite soft-core fare. 📼
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• Comics! I collect comics (mostly silver age), and scan a lot of comic covers & old comic book ads. You can find those using the #comic scans tag. Highlights of the collection include a ton of vintage Spider-Man comics.
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• Video Games! I also collect and play a lot of retro video games, which I post under the #retro games and #my gameplay tag. My preferred consoles are Atari 2600, Intellivision, Nintendo, Super Nintendo & Sega Genesis. And uh, since my favourite arcades closed at the onset of the pandemic, I sorta went down the Arcade 1Up rabbit hole. 🕹
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• The Rec Room! All of this fun stuff takes place in #The Rec Room, dubbed “the greatest room ever” by a certain Marvel Comics writer. It’s a combination hangout/retro paradise/office space/arcade I share with my wife, who is the reigning, undefeated Super Mario Kart champion in our house. 🏎
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• Music! You’ll see lots of vinyl posted here. My wife and I have an enormous collection of well nearly 1400 records and I like to show off what we’re listening to under the #ericvinyl tag. I’m mostly into ‘50s jazz, ‘60s R&B, punk rock, goth & death rock, and ‘70s & ‘80s horror soundtracks. My favourite albums are Ornette Coleman’s This Is Our Music, Mickey Baker’s Wildest Guitar, Bobby Womack’s My Prescription, Miles Davis’s In a Silent Way, Serge Gainsbourg’s Histoire de Melody Nelson, Tom Waits’s Nighthawks at the Diner, Television’s Marquee Moon, The Cure’s Seventeen Seconds & Pornography, The Sisters of Mercy’s First and Last and Always, The Jesus & Mary Chain’s Psychocandy, The The’s Soul Mining, Sonic Youth’s Daydream Nation, Coil’s Love’s Secret Domain, Download’s The Eyes of Stanley Pain, and the Pump Up the Volume soundtrack.
• My Music! A long time ago I was an opera singer and still play music. I have a fairly modest home recording studio and am constantly working on various projects. Here are some of my favourite tracks from the last while:
In 2024 I undertook Data Set Entry, a rather ambitious re-mix/re-imagining of an old album of mine under the name No Carrier. It’s a mixture of power-chord punk and goth.
Wanna hear what happens when a '90s kid who is really into punk rock goes through a goth phase? Angry, aggressive teenage ennui to brooding
Here are the musical tracks from this beast:
Otherwise keep an eye on my SoundCloud, as I’m always working on a few ideas.
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• Writing! Here are some longer-form posts of blog-original content and other stuff I’ve published elsewhere throughout the years. 📰
Film writing & criticism: The Birth of a Nation: How ugliness changed Toronto’s movie-going landscape / Revisiting Robin Wood’s “Hitchcock’s Films” / Michael Curtiz’s “The Walking Dead” /
Pop culture: Superman’s origins: Fighting for workers’ rights, safe city infrastructure & smashing down corruption / Fixing a TMNT GameBoy cartridge / Verne Langdon’s monster masks / Castle Films 8mm Universal Horror Digests
The Golden Age Project: Roger Watkins’ “Corruption” “Midnight Heat” and “The Pink Ladies” / Paul Vatelli’s “Stiff Competition” / Henri Pachard’s “Getting Personal” / more of this examination of the Golden Age of X under the #32em x reviews tag (which also features lots of gifs and scans of promotional material and interviews from Golden Age magazines).
There’s also interesting stuff in the #32em asks tag.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the ramblings, bits of ephemera accumulated over the years, and slice of life stuff this blog offers.
Horror Section is a punk rock band in the vein of the Misfits, Ramones, and Teenage Bottlerocket that sings about horror movies. Vocalist/guitarist Teflon Dave answered some questions about their debut self-titled album, which is out now on Eccentric Pop Records.
While you’re reading the interview, you can stream the album in its entirety below. Horror Section consists of 16 tracks of fast-yet-catchy punk music inspired by such ‘80s genre favorites as The Fog, The Thing, Hellraiser, From Beyond, Sleepaway Camp, The Changeling, Evilspeak, and more.
You've released a number of EPs, splits, and singles over the years. What made now the right time for your full-length debut?
We’ve been releasing material steadily, but in the meantime slowly writing and recording the full length. There was never a master plan for the order of our releases though; it just made sense to do projects as inspiration and timing worked out. I am stoked to finally have this see the light of day!
How would you say Horror Section differs from your earlier work?
We try not to stray too far from our formula and sound. Tommy [Boyer, lead guitarist] and I have taken a more collaborative approach to the songs this time around, however. The other main difference is thematically; it’s not as specific as our earlier releases.
After naming previous releases after Halloween III: Season of the Witch, The Omen, and The Prowler, why did you decide to self title this album?
I considered a few different subgenres for the album, but I wasn’t in love or super attached to any of them. With an EP, it’s easy to have a small, tight release that follows a specific movie. With a full-length though, the songs just weren’t there for the ideas I had, so decided to make it a broader, ‘80s themed, self-titled release. That actually turned out great, since it freed me up to be able to write songs about some of my favorite movies.
How did you get involved with Eccentric Pop Records, who also released several of your 7"s?
Our first release was The Prowler 7”, which I put out on my own imprint, Ghost Party Records. After sending Travis [Woods] at Eccentric Pop Records copies for his distro, we began talking and became friends. The band was supposed to be a one-off release and pressing, but Tommy and Travis talked me into doing more, and just kept it going from there. Without Eccentric Pop, we would have stopped a long time ago. [laughs]
Tell me a little bit about the horror films that inspired the songs on the new album. I caught references to The Fog, The Thing, Hellraiser, From Beyond, Sleepaway Camp, and more.
Yes to all of those! I looked at films from the early ‘80s and started narrowing from there. I’m especially psyched to have songs about Evilspeak and The Changeling. The album really does range from more well-known horror staples to maybe some lesser-known or -discussed. I try and take different approaches in the narrative and steer clear of “say the name of the movie over and over.” That’s something horror fans in particular appreciate about our songs.
Your name evokes nostalgia of scouring the video store for VHS tapes with the scariest cover art. What are some of your favorite films that you discovered in the horror section?
The main franchises stick out for sure: Friday [the 13th], Nightmare [on Elm Street], and Halloween. Pet Sematary and Shocker were the first horror movies I watched that weren’t on TV, courtesy of a Sunday school Halloween party. We had requested Leprechaun, but it was out of stock, so those were the alternate choices. [laughs] When I think back to the horror section of our small town store, the Faces of Death movie covers always come to mind. Not my favorite movies, but that art made a lasting impression.
What's one horror movie you haven't written a song about yet that you think deserves one?
Witchtrap.
If someone has never heard of Horror Section before, why would you say they should check out the new album?
I think we stand apart from other horror bands in approach, style, and sound. If you’re into stripped-down, Ramones-influenced punk rock about horror, then check it out.
