Digging into madness with The Gravetones

Ever since Screamin' Jay Hawkins burst out of his coffin to howl "I Put a Spell on You," horror and rock have gone hand-in-claw. At the very dawn of rock 'n' roll - of youth culture itself - typical teens scared the pants off their dates with a drive-in creature feature. The exhilarating rush of fear has informed artists from Alice Cooper and the Misfits to Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson.

The Gravetones know this symbiotic history well. Since 1997, the locally based group has unearthed its own sonic scares, rooted in drive-in era styles such as rockabilly and surf rock but indebted to the harder edges of punk rock. Their songs are dark but not disturbing, tough but inviting, focused but increasingly diverse.

The Gravetones were originally founded as more of a surf rock act, but vocalist Scary Larry says the lyrical obsession with monsters and mayhem was always in place.

"I'm inspired by a lot of bad horror movies, spaghetti Westerns, ideas for stories that come into my head," says Larry, who currently resides in Park Forest and handles the group's lyrics. "I don't want to do anything tasteless. Granted, we do have a song about (porn star) Ron Jeremy, but it's kind of funny. It's cheesy and tacky, it's not anything that's meant to be downright offensive or shocking."

Guitarist Joey Gravetone of Elk Grove Village joined in 2001, and later, fellow Conant High School graduate Jimmy the Butcher and Schaumburg native Brad Keil stepped in on drums and bass, respectively. Keil says while they agree on certain bands (including The Cramps, The Damned, Motörhead and KISS), they each have different musical tastes that contribute to The Gravetones' sound.

"I think we can have diverse-sounding songs, but they all sound like us," says Keil, who's leery of being branded just another horror rock band. "I don't know what to call it, but it's a signature sound of some type."

The quartet's eclecticism and effort are apparent on their new album, "On the Edge of Madness," for Kentucky-based Little Heart Records. It's more confident and dynamic than their 2006 debut, "Dig It!" From the crisp recording (by Dan Precision, formerly of 88 Fingers Louie and Rise Against) to Larry's evocative package designs, The Gravetones have crafted a well-rounded disc that never forgets to have fun. The new material's bound to add dimension to their energetic live show.

The boogying likes of lead single "Still Screaming" and "Lay Your Money Down," as well as the brooding tones of "Tell Tale Heart" and "This House Ain't a Home," seethe with a straightforward punk 'n' roll spirit. An upbeat sock-hop rockabilly vibe informs both the libidinous "Shake It" and tongue-in-cheek necrophilia ode "Riverside." "Inferno" and "Unholy" creep with hypnotic Danzig-does-The Damned goth punk menace.

The longest track, "Demons Wear Spurs," which Keil calls "the Faust tale as told in the Old West," begins with spaghetti Western sounds (eerie wind, dusty acoustic twanging) before launching into its moody gallop. Considering that the main figure on the grindhouse poster-inspired album cover is a gunslinger with a vest sewn out of human faces, originally sketched by Larry while driving through Texas, it may be the disc's signature song.

Larry says "Get Off My Mountain," the surly tale of a redneck staking claim to his land, "was actually inspired by a wrestler from when I was a kid, Jerry Blackwell. He supposedly came out of retirement because he sold half of his mountain, and all these yuppies started moving in and building all this stuff that he couldn't handle. All this beautiful land he used to go hunting on, it was being taken over by corporations. In a sense, it was almost like he was being gentrified. There are a lot of similarities between the gentrification that's going on in Chicago and this guy. It wasn't intentional, but it could be considered social commentary."

Then there's the blues-soaked crawl of "The Ride," which aroused Larry's love for trashy cult horror flicks. "Joe brought that riff in," says the singer, "and the first thing I thought was that it's like biker rock. As a matter of fact, a movie came to mind, 'Werewolves on Wheels.' It's not a great movie, but I've got to tell you, the soundtrack is amazing."

"We like to joke that hopefully someday that music's used in a Harley commercial," Keil adds.

Fear not, surf lovers, for even though The Gravetones don't focus on the stuff full-time anymore, Keil says they haven't completely abandoned it. "We're planning our next recording project to be an EP called 'Board Stiff,'" notes the bassist. "We have a bunch of old surf songs that have not been recorded yet, and we wrote a brand new one."

"We have a lot of horror influence in what we do," Larry admits, "but we try to mix it up. We have a horror look, and there's the artwork and the logo itself. But we don't totally rely on it."

"We want to do things that people may not expect, or that at first glance might not fit with a band called The Gravetones," Keil says.

Thus, with "On the Edge of Madness," The Gravetones impart the lesson of any good horror film: Expect the unexpected.