Local Spins Halloween Playlist No. 2: Murder Party’s Rob Bruce kills it with ‘Blood on the Wall,’ ‘Chainsaw Massacre’ and more

There’s no party like a Murder Party Halloween party. And this Grand Rapids rock band’s frontman has come up with a menacingly maniacal Top 10 party soundtrack that even boasts a local flavor.

 

EDITOR’S NOTE: With Halloween spawning terror-ific gatherings all week, Local Spins asked Rob Bruce, aka Tommy Gun, frontman for Grand Rapids punk faves Murder Party, to unearth a Top 10 list of favorite creepy rock tracks as a soundtrack for the occasion. It’s only apropos, considering the band “fuses a love for horror and heist films, rock ‘n’ roll and a punk rock bite.”

Indeed, Bruce took a big bite of Michigan punk rock for his Local Spins Guest Playlist, with everything from Antilogical to Bet on Rats to Koffin Kats making the roster. By the way, Murder Party is a Halloween mainstay around Grand Rapids, and will once again unleash its rock attack for a special Devil’s Night show at 8 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 30, at The Pyramid Scheme, with I Believe in Julio, Bet on Rats and Joe & The Westside Orchestra. Admission is $6, get tickets online here.

ROB BRUCE: THE LOCAL SPINS HALLOWEEN PLAYLIST

1. “Ghoul,” Dead Eye Zack — Zack is a local to Grand Rapids. This trash bandit will steal your spooky heart with this tear jerker.

2. “Blood on the Wall,” Antilogical – This song rips. That bass line. That up stroke. Antilogical is also native to the Grand Rapids area. Murder Party did a split with them a few years back. The best dudes. Crazy jams.

3. “Gimme, Gimme Your Heart,” The Cryptkeeper Five – These dudes are like a real like Eddie & the Cruisers. They’re authentically from New Jersey. This is from their first album. Played a few shows with them almost a decade ago in Detroit. Some parts spooky. Some parts gnarly rock n roll.

4. “Whistlin’ Past the Graveyard,” Screamin’ Jay Hawkins – The King Of Spooky. Everything about this guy is nuts. These lyrics are chaos.

5. “Braille,” Bet on Rats – These locals are one of the best bands to listen to ANYTIME. But they really put a jingle in your jangle this time of year. “Braille” is off of their new album which is coming out Oct. 10 at the Pyramid Scheme (with Murder Party, also releasing a new album, I Believe in Julio and JOE).

6. “Flying Saucer Attack,” The Rezillos – That first Rezillos album is everything. Some parts love songs, some parts out of this world. That bassist.

7. “A Dead Man’s Jig,” The Sailor Kicks – Part swing, part ska, part garage rock ‘n’ roll. The Grand Rapids band has done a couple of the Murder Party Halloween shows with us and were one of the first bands we played with when we first formed. I love every one of those dudes.

8. “Chainsaw Massacre,” Koffin Kats – Psychobilly from Detroit. Always on tour. Always high energy. Vic literally kick-flips his upright bass like a skateboard while they do a Hall & Oates cover or something. It’s amazing.

9. “Vampire’s First Date,” Nuke and The Living Dead – Detroit horror punk boo wop. I joined the band during the making of this album and song around 2005. I knew nothing about playing doo wop or rock ‘n’ roll. Nuke and the guys taught me the ropes. This song changed everything with how I play guitar. Nuke still plays with a back-up band called The Hellriders now. Check them out.

10. “It’s Only the End of the World,” Harley Poe – Folk horror from Indiana. They’ve played through Grand Rapids quite a few times. We’ve had the pleasure of playing a few times with them. Every single show, they literally kill it.

ROB BRUCE’S HALLOWEEN TOP 10: The Local Spins Guest Playlist on Spotify

Note: The Antilogical, Bet on Rats and Nuke and the Living Dead tracks aren’t available on Spotify.

Copyright 2016, Spins on Music LLC