Time for my traditional shoe-horning of a Halloween-themed bunch of Namesakes. I wasn't surprised to learn that there was more than one band to have used the name Vampires... but I didn't quite expect this many!
Groovy British instrumental band who released a song about Swinging Ghosts, daddy-o, in 1959...
The Vampires - Swinging Ghosts
THE VAMPIRES #2
Memphis-based lords of the undead from 1962. They'd later change their name to The Bentleys, presumably after the car as none of them were called Bentley.
The Vampires - Why Didn't I Listen To Mother?
THE VAMPIRES #3
Norwegian sax-heavy instrumental cover of the Little Eva / Kylie Minogue classic... from 1962.
(BARON DAEMON &) THE VAMPIRES #4
More Halloween-appropriate nonsense from 1963 when, of course, all self-respecting blood suckers did the twist.
Baron Daemon & The Vampires – The Transylvania Twist
THE VAMPIRES #5
One year later, these Vampires supported Milton Delugg, star of late night New York TV show Broadway Open House... it's all a bit Bobby Boris Pickett.
Milton Delugg & the Vampires - Don't Just Stand There
THE VAMPIRES #6
Det Ferring, Micky Kluge, Paul Waldhecker and Wolfgang Jünger were German Vampires back in the mid 60s. Apparently, after they lost the Hamburg Battle of the Bands contest two years running, they upped stakes to Spain in '65, releasing a bunch of garlic singles over the next couple of years.
LES VAMPIRES #7
I think the photo says it all really. 60s. Canada. I'm sure those costumes seemed like a good idea at the time.
THE VAMPIRES #8
New York vampires caught on tape... some time in the 60s, I'm guessing, though it may not have been released till much later. It's a Jimi Hendrix cover, but you'd have worked that out for yourself.
THE VAMPIRES #9
Mick Roche (of earlier Namesakes The Arrows) fronts a band of Vampires in '68 with a pretty standard version of the oft-covered Bobby Freeman song...
The Vampires - Do You Wanna Dance?
THE VAMPIRES #10
Singapore girl band, also from 1968... with a title that translates as Cold Rain Song, according to google.
THE VAMPIRES #11
Psychedelic funk (with added flute!) from 1971... South African and / or Indian of origin, apparently.
The Vampires - Memphis Underground
THE VAMPIRES #12
More German neck-biters, this time of the heavy metal persuasion in 1978. Sadly, I can only find their full album on the tube of you. Still, it's only 45 minutes... I'm sure George will manage it.
The Vampires - We're On The Road Again
THE VAMPIRES #13
The highlight for me this week - not that I'm supposed to pick favourites - comes from 1981. A classy slab of new wave power pop by a gang of vampires led by one Fletcher Christian, who had presumably finished his mutiny by this point. Fletch would go on to front the band Absolute Shower, which surely earns him extra points.
LES VAMPIRES #14
Parisian punks, drinking blood between '83 and '88, founded by Thierry Wolf, aka Comte Wolf, aka Titi Wolf. Lots of different names to keep Van Helsing from tracking him down.
THE VAMPIRES #15
Surf rock vampires (also from Deutschland) from 2001... (!?)
THE VAMPIRES #16
Italian Oi! punk from the dawn of the new millennium...
Vampires - Fight For The Flag Of My Bloody Nation
THE VAMPIRES #17
Aussie Vampires, active since 2005. I prefer to let them describe themselves...
"The Vampires have forged their sound from their travels and musical lives in jazz, improvisation free- diving and the vibrant cultural bleed. The compositions have always been postcards to other Vampires from wherever they were, but have gradually shifted from the early jazz soloing into longer stretches building texture and tone, buoyed on irresistible riffs."
The Vampires - Action Reaction
THE VAMPIRES #18
Here are some hard-rocking Canadian vampires who appear to prefer an empty toilet roll to a microphone. In 2014, Stylus Magazine said, "Catchy shoegaze elements and full on noise... captivating lyrics... at no point is the listener left idle."
The Vampires - There's No Kissing Anymore
THE VAMPYRES #19
Finally, try your ears on some "heavy psychedelic Kraut/Gothic Rock" from Linz, Upper Austria. This is from just last year...
Which Vampires would you invite into your home? And which ones would be left outside, knocking on the window, like this guy...?
From the descriptions alone George will award the winning prize to #11
ReplyDeleteSomething to listen to whilst I make a vegetable and tofu stew for tea. Firm tofu, not silken.
ReplyDeleteNo. 13 is right up my street. - Brian
ReplyDeleteGood pick, Brian!
DeleteI've had to leave the room at #3.
ReplyDelete#17 isn't good enough to be called a load of old bobbins. It's #11 for me, as Mr CC predicted
ReplyDeleteYou managed to resist the irresistible riffs and went for the flute? Big surprise.
DeleteHe has an impressive James Galway collection!
DeleteNot had time to listen to them all yet but #11 is definitely South Africa. Some of the reviews that I guess you may have looked at are labouring under the mistaken impression that anyone of Indian heritage in South Africa must be an expat which is not the case. There are about 1.5m people of Indian descent there, and Durban where #11 hailed from has one of the largest Indian ethnic communities outside India.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I'll pay a consultancy fee next time.
DeleteIf you can tell me whether there is a word that means the opposite of onomatopoeia as requested in my recent post about the music of Togo then I'll consider us all square.
DeleteHere is the context:
"Next we go back in time to meet Bella Bellow, a sweet-voiced songbird whose surname is the opposite of onomatopoeia (I don't know whether there is a word for that but Rol probably does). You will find absolutely no bellowing on this single from the late 1960s."