Horrorpops

Kim: My name is Kim Nekroman and I play guitar in the Horrorpops

Dwayne: How is the tour going so far?

Kim: It’s going good. Especially the Canadian shows and I’m not just saying that because we are in Canada. They’re being attended very well. I guess it’s because its been awhile since we have been here. We are freezing our asses off which is a bummer. It kind of reminds us of back home in Scandanavia. We’re used to sunny-old California now. Tours been really good. Vancouver and Victoria were both sold out.

(At this point the bass player from one of the other bands on tour decided to emerge from the dressing room toilet)

Kim: How are you doing with your ahhhh pooping?

Dwayne: This tour has been dubbed the All Hallows Eve Tour any reasoning behind that besides it October?

Kim: No I think that’s reason enough. We are going to end it on Halloween evening in LA.

Dwayne: Are you guys going to get all dressed up for that show?

Kim: I don’t know. I mean we’re pretty much dressed up every single day. Doing what we do. So I don’t think so. I hope that people that come out to the show are going to dress up though.

Dwayne: You started as a three piece, expanded and went to a four piece and now you are three piece again. Is it any easier being a three piece as opposed to a four piece?

Kim: Well let me explain why we became a four piece. When we started out Patricia and I swapped instruments, in order to approach writing music in a different way. At that time we didn’t feel that confident on our instruments. I’ve always been active on stage jumping around and I didn’t want to be just a fucking tree or a rock just standing there. So we just added a second guitarist to make sure I didn’t fuck up too much. It just became a habit because I never felt a need for a second guitarist. All the songs I’ve written for a three piece with one guitar and it was actually more of a hassle to make sure the second guitarist had something to do that wasn’t too boring. To the whole band it’s just easier. We started the whole band speaking in Danish and its nice to be able to speak you native language especially in a stressed situation or a excited situation or whatever. The chemistry between Niedermeier, Patricia and I is really good. So me personally I think it’s for the better. Musically, to be honest, at points when we had a second guitarist I think it messed up the sound a bit. Where with just one guitar it sounds more clean and just how I think it should be.

Dwayne: This tour you don’t have your dancers with you. How come?

Kim: Several reasons. One of our dancers hurt her back on the tour we did before Warped Tour. She just had to stay home. This tour we had enough problems with Canadian immigration because they say well it’s just a dancer so you can hire Canadians to do that. Well it really doesn’t make sense but that’s the way they see it. It’s like when you bring your merch people they say you can employ a Canadian to do that. So imigration was the biggest problem. We’ve been in Canada many times and we’ve heard horror stories but its just more time consuming. We didn’t want to risk sending someone home on the greyhound, or stranding them there in the middle of nowhere. So we choose to do this as a three piece.

Dwayne: The cover of the new album is very oldschool Hollywood or a B Horror movie type of cover. Why did you guys decide incorporate this into the new cover?

Kim: Ummm. I am huge B horror or just horror movie fan. It’s more like in the film noir category. When we relocated to LA we live like two minutes from Hollywood and its like being in the middle of one of those movies back then. In a more updated version. Everyone who works there in bars and stuff are all aspiring actors or actresses and stuff like that so the whole mentality of the town is very inspiring. Even though its 2008 we still kinda see how it was back then. I just love the art work of back then. I do the artwork on all our albums and it was just very inspiring. Patricia had this idea that we should do not a horror thing but more like a fim noir thing and then we added inside the cd booklet a more horror themed.

Dwayne: What is one of your favorite horror movies?

Kim: My all time favorite is the old time silent movie Nosforatu. I mean I love all genres from silent movies to the 50’s, 60’s where they’re more like comic. To the 70’s were they are so long and the monologue takes forever. I even like the new ones. I’m just a sucker for horror in general. Nosforatu …. Thing is when it was made back then theres no speaking but to me it’s so gothic and super scarey at the same time. That was one of the first movies I saw when I was a little kid maybe 3 or 4 years. It just made a huge impression on me. I was maybe 5 when I saw the old black and white Frakenstein and King Kong. Back then they were able to get the message thru in different ways. Now movies are bam bam bam, splat blood everywhere. I love those movies too, you just have to think a little less.

Dwayne: I recently saw an article/picture layout in Punk Rock Confidential. It sounds like you two are avid cars collectors. What kind of cars and bikes do you have and what got you interested in that?

Kim: I’ve always been a car freak and been into old vintage American cars. Patricia is into old British cars. Where we are from its like super expensive to own a car over there. They take you like crazy. They have a good social security system but that means you have to pay 50-60% in taxes. Living in Copenhagen you don’t really need a car and really it’s impossible to park a car anywhere. Insurance they just charge so much. So when we moved over to LA it was just perfect in southern California that is were a lot of old cars and car collectors. Patricia has her MG GD from 1951 that’s actually the red one on the cover shes sitting in. I have 1959 Cadalliac Hearse that she is sitting in front of. I have an old model T Ford from 1925 that I’m building on. When I bought it, it was a pick up truck but im kind of turning it into a Goth Rod. Not a hot rod but a Goth Rod.

Dwayne: So you do most of the work on the vehicles yourself?

Kim. Well that one. I just don’t have enough time. But that one im creating myself. We also have a 1957 Chevy truck.

Dwayne: You designed your own personal stand up bass as well as your wife’s. How did you get into designing musical instruments?

Kim: When I started my other band Nekromantics in ‘89 we played out first show and I had a normal upright bass. Somebody videotaped it and I was like man that looks like all the other bands I need something different and thought hey it would be cool if there was a coffin bass. I just started. I got a real child’s coffin from a friend of mine … it was unused. I just slammed a neck and strings on it. It was kinda cool but very heavy. After that I just started to make my own from scratch.

Dwayne: So the new album, which I guess isn’t that new as of right now, has been out for awhile; do you guys plan on writing anything new or releasing anything soon?

Kim: This is going to be the last tour before we go into the writing mode again. My other band, Nekromantics, are due for another album so that’s in my head right now.

Dwayne: Is it tough to try to write for two different bands?

Kim: No, not really. The tough thing is to have enough time. I think I manage to juggle between the two bands well. It’s hard whenever one band is on the road the other band goes on the road. I’m never off. I don’t have off days. I can never just sit still. Its cool but can be hard at times.

Dwayne: Since you tour with your wife. Does it ever get hard doing that? I mean a lot of couples don’t see each other all day while there at work but you guys tour and are with each other all the time. How do you make that work?

Kim: It works fine. It’s cool because when I’m on tour with my other band we miss each other and never see each other. It’s a different way , we’re a normal couple like I say that don’t see each other all day or maybe not at all because when the guy comes home and the wifes asleep already. So we kind of see each other enough that way. It works fine.

Dwayne: So you guys are going to start writing for the Horrorpops soon and then you mentioned the Nekromantics might be releasing soon as well?

Kim: Well hopefully we’re gonna make the Warped Tour next year. The plan is to release the album around then. So a new Horrorpops album won’t be out till later 2009.

Dwayne: Ok so let’s finish this off by saying something to me just rude in Danish. Then you have to give me the English translation.

Kim: The dirtiest thing. I can say something that sounds dirty in Danish but then it could be weak. Its not so much what you say but the way you say it. Ummmmm Kneppe De Mor which means Fuck your Mom.

Dwayne: Any final words?

Kim: Yea. I just want to say that we as a band we appreciate that people come to our shows. We do albums but for us the real thing here is to be on the road and to play live. We can’t do that without people showing up so we are very appreciative to the people that show up. Thanks.