Grim rappers

The Deadites insist they're not as gloomy as you think

by Joe Longone

At Theo's, on Highland Street recently, I spoke to Deadites members Mike Mars, Shawn MacNamara, and Jesse Smith, and we ventured into the mortal world of shadows and gloom. Although this local electronic-rock band perform "Executioner's Lullabye," "Tall Dark and Dead," and "Covered in Blood," they tried to convince me that they weren't as gruesome as they appear.

"Most of our songs are a bit tongue in cheek," MacNamara says.

"We have our share of breakup songs; we've just included chainsaws in the mix," Mars adds.

The gory humor of the Deadites can be traced back to the teenage days of Mars and MacNamara -- the two were best friends in, what they refer to as, "the world's most boring spot" . . . Leicester. When Mars wasn't drawing his own comic books and MacNamara wasn't playing around with his keyboard, they would rent and watch horror movies. They became devotees of the genre that would later influence their musical careers. The name Deadites comes from the names of the monsters in Evil Dead and Evil Dead II.

After they graduated from high school in 1992, they combined Mars's storytelling talent with MacNamara's writing ability. The Deadites were born. "Shawn has a knack for creating ingenious groupings of loops that don't particularly sound like songs until I put lyrics to them," Mars says.

The two worked together as a musical team until last fall when guitarist Jesse Smith came aboard. Smith was a natural choice, he worked at Starship Video (on Park Ave.). He was the guy behind the counter when his future bandmates came in to rent tapes.

"When we first got together, and I saw their song titles, I was a little concerned, but since then I've had nothing but fun," Smith says.

Since the trio's debut at the Espresso Bar last Halloween, word has hit the street that this band might have a spooky attitude. But the Deadites still keep you dancing. Mars's vocals are always dark and haunting whether he raps or he moans his lyrics. MacNamara dutifully keeps the main body of music swirling as Smith adds bits of guitar and horror-movie samples into the goulash.

Catch their next carnival of carnage when the Deadites pop up at Ralph's (July 9) and at the Espresso Bar (July 13).

Locobazooka!

Let me be the first to kick off the confusion. The fall concert formerly known as Localpalooza has been renamed Locobazooka. And I bet you can figure out why. This year's event will be held September 21 at Green Hill Park. For more information call 797-3305.

Let's hope the folks at the Bazooka Joe Bubblegum Company don't catch on.

Movie move

Sunday nights at the Cove have been featuring some way-out Japanese animation. And the club has recently added another film night on Wednesday evenings.

Here are some of Wednesday's coming attractions: Bad Taste and Perry Farrel's The Gift (July 9), The Sick and Twisted Animation Film Festival (July 16), Tetsuo and the New York Underground Film Festival (July 23), and My Father Is Coming and Crumb (July 30).

In the park

The Worcester Artist Group will present a free (donations encouraged) summer concert series on Wednesday nights at the Green Hill Park amphitheater starting July 16. Concerts begin at 6:30 p.m. Capture France's Speakeasy Jazz Band (July 16), Workmen Ahead and Michael Hurley (July 23), Bret Hart and Chandler Travis Philharmonic (August 6), and Glenn Phillips and the Free Radicals (August 13).

Who's next

Hey, aren't those guys the Cream Team? No, they're the Bell Bottom Skeletons -- Cream Team's summer replacements. It seems like ages ago when the group once called themselves First and Last. Catch the latest incarnation of this band next Thursday at the Cove.