#rictus grim

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Today is Mikey Mortis' (from Rictus Grim) Birthday

If you're facebook friends with him/the band, wish him a good one :D

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Rictus Grim performing their cover of "Pumpkin Patch Murders" by Blitzkid live at Lucky's Pub in Wilmington, NC. Video taken from youtube. 

Rictus Grim has played this song every time I have seen them, and it always gets the crowd going. In October 2009, I saw them perform in Fayetteville, North Carolina for an event called "HorrorFest" which, as the name indicates, was a bunch of horror punk bands playing in a little shack, complete with costume contests, and horror themed give-a-ways. They started to play this song, and mid ways into the first chorus, TB Monstrosity from Blitzkid came on stage and took the microphone from Mikey, and started to sing his band's song. Some people hadn't realized who TB was, and made comments about how rude it was, but Mikey stood there with his band, singing, smiling, and sharing the stage with someone he looks up to. Everyone in the crowd who know that it was TB started cheering, excited to see him perform a Blitzkid song, especially since a lot of people didn't even see him wandering around the venue prior to coming on stage.

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Mikey X. Mortis, the singer and guitarist for Rictus Grim, performing at the annual Myrtle Beach Zombie Walk in 2009.

Rictus Grim is a horror punk band from Wilmington, North Carolina. Originally started under the name of "Eerie Night", the band has gone through several line up changes prior to their current arrangement as a three man group with members Mikey X. Mortis (vocals and guitar), Xander Skullion (bass), and Gein Green (drums). 

You can find their myspace here, and their facebook here.

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An Interview with Mikey X. Mortis, the singer and guitarist for Rictus Grim

Q: What would you say defines horror punk?

Mikey: See, that's a tough one. A lot of it is the style. Skeleton gloves, corpse paint, leather jackets, black clothing and all that stuff. Though, I would say that the Misfits/Samhain/Danzig influence is a must and of course a love of horror movies if very important. It is a genre that is hard to pin down though, as the values of various bands are not always very consistent with each other.

Q: How would you classify your band? (Overall, lyrically, instrumentally, etc.)

Mikey: Well, as far as our sound goes, we're quite a bit heavier than some other horror bands. We tune lower and play faster. Also, I try not to write super cheesy lyrics. I like to keep things real and personal. They might have horror themes, but they're all about real life underneath. Also, despite the power of our music my vocals are almost always clean. Which I think lends a power in and of itself.

Q: Who and what influences you the most? (Other bands, places, friends, movies, etc.) Also, why did your band decide to go in the direction of horror punk?

Mikey: Wow, we're influenced by a lot of different bands. Of course the "Danzig bands" are a big influence, but we listen to a lot of varied music. Everything from Thrash Metal, Punk Rock, Psychobilly, Black Metal, Japanese Hardcore, to Folk and Classical type stuff.

We’re also very fond of disturbing Japanese horror films. Much more so than the standard American slasher films that most bands look to for inspiration. Movies like Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Tokyo Gore Police, and Audition are some of my favorites. Also, horror literature is a big influence. Specifically HP Lovecraft, and Edgar Allen Poe.

But we never made a conscious decision to be Horrorpunk. When Xander and I first started the band we didn't even know that Horrorpunk was a thing. We just really liked psychobilly at the time, but we didn’t have a stand-up bass and I sucked at guitar. So we wrote some simple Misfits inspired songs and ran with it.

Q: What are your favorite and least favorite parts of being a part of an “underground” scene?

Mikey: Well, of course we never really make very much money, but this is the music that I love and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I would love to be able to play music for a living, but sometimes that’s just not an option. That’s just the way it is. Horrorpunk is especially tough since it’s sort of a sub-culture of a sub-culture. It can be a very narrow market. I hope that one day I can use my music as real source of income… We’ll see.

Q: What is your musical history? (How did you get started playing/performing, Have you been involved in other genres of music, How long have you been playing/performing, etc.)

Mikey: Well, I’ve been playing music for about 7 years or so. I noodled around on guitar for a year or two before senior year of high school when I started my first band, Eerie Night. My bassist, Xander, and I made the band for senior project and I really never stopped playing since. We went through countless drummers and other musicians, but now I feel that this is our strongest lineup yet. Currently Rictus Grim is composed of me, Mikey X. Mortis, Xander Skullion, and Gein Greene.

Q: Where is your favorite place to play live shows and why?

Mikey: We really get the most enjoyment out of playing little dive bars in small towns. People seem to appreciate it more. Like there’s nothing else going on, so they really go wild at shows. But I think my favorite place would have to be the Cootie Hut in Florence SC. I’ve had some amazing times there even before I was in a band. It’s just a little building down in the swamp and kids come from miles around. Everything just feels so dirty, raw, and old school there. I love it.

Q: How large are the crowds your band tends to attract? (Feel free to give examples from different areas and unique circumstances)

Mikey: It really depends. Sometimes we get big crowd and other times we end up playing for the other bands and their girlfriends. Either way, we usually get free beer. So screw it. It’s fun.

Q: How would you describe your fan base? And what kind of reaction (physical or emotional) do you hope to evoke in your fans through your music (both lyrically and instrumentally)?

Mikey: Our fans are interesting. Mainly they’re punks and metal heads. But sometimes we meet some really interesting people at shows. As far as the reaction we like to see… We love a good circle pit especially in a small venue. It really keeps the energy flowing from us to the crowd and back again. That’s really what it’s all about.

Q: Where did your band name come from?

Mikey: Basically, a “rictus grin” with an “N” is a Joker smile from Dark Knight. I got the idea from a web comic known as Questionable Content when they referenced the term. Of course, there’s already a band called Rictus Grin, so I was like “Hey, Grim is cool too.” Essentially, it represents a sort of duality in our music. It’s like the concept of a smile, yet distorted. Just as many of our songs may be somewhat poppy they are quite heavy and thematically dark.

Q: What is one of your favorite memories from touring with your band?

Mikey: I would have to say that The Myrtle Beach Zombie Walk has always been my favorite. There have been so many amazing memories made down there, mainly involving alcohol, and zombies.

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This is me. I figured this would be a good introduction to my blog. The shirt that I'm wearing is for the band Blitzkid. They are one of my favorite bands, and I'm sure I will be posting quite a bit about them. I got this shirt on September 6, 2010-the second time I saw them perform. 

This was a great night. It was our day off from school for labor day, and my boyfriend and I drove to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to see them. Having met and became friends with their guitarist (TB Monstrosity) prior to this show (which I will write about in another post-as it is its own story), I had promised him I would bake them brownies. Which I did. So we drove ~3 hours with two batches of brownies and went to this show. A local horror punk band I am friends with, The Body Bags, played with them, and a couple other horror punk bands that I am friends with-Rictus Grim, Insides Out, and The Independents (who are more of a mix of horror punk, ska, and rockabilly/psychobilly)- were there as well, as Blitzkid is a pretty big band as far as horror punk goes. 

As the night progressed, a lot of people got pretty drunk-including my friend Mikey (the singer for Rictus Grim). During the Blitzkid song "Love Like Blood", Mikey got shoved into me. I was standing right in front of the stage, taking pictures, and the impact of Mikey caused me to fall into the stage-and into Arygle Goolsby's (the singer for Blitzkid) microphone, which fell into his face....and chipped his tooth. Being only the second time I met him, and them being my one of my favorite bands, obviously this was horribly embarrassing. Luckily, he was cool about it (I think the brownies helped). 

I will never forget this night. I could probably keep going and recount pretty much every detail, but I think the rest is far less interesting. 

Note: All of the bands mentioned and linked will be discussed in an upcoming post, I'm doing my best to stay on topic. Also, I know no one uses myspace, but I think it is a good place to link to as it has the music players.