The
3-D Invisibles
This article originally appeared in NFH #16 in
the spring of 1989.
Don't worry about
calling the 3-D Invisibles a B grade band; to them that's the highest compliment you could
give. Says Chris Jude, the band's bass player since its start about 5 years ago:
"That's the way we think it should come across...it's a tribute rather than a
gimmick; a tribute to things that we love; horror movies, comic books, grade B trash
culture, and not just that, but horror literature as well. All combined into a B-type
thing".
Formed in Detroit
nearly five years ago now, the 3-D Invisibles have been gradually but steadily building a
following in much of the mid-west with their rollicking brand of ghoul rock. The band is a
trio; Rick Mills sings and plays guitar while Matt Giroux rounds out the rhythm section on
drums. Through their own Neurotic Bop label they've released a handful of singles and two
lps, pressing a few thousand of each. Their approach to music is to back their tales of
horror, alien beings and murder with basic, energetic rock and roll, a formula that works
to perfection on their most recent lp, Vampires A-Go-Go.
Where's the
uniqueness in that, you ask, when the Cramps and others have done that sort of thing many
times? "No one does it full time", Chris retorts, and Rick agrees:
"Exactly, everybody has one novelty horror song, but nobody's in it full stream like
us". And it doesn't seem to be getting stale for them either...despite over 30 songs
committed to vinyl already, the two estimate that they have at least as many waiting to be
recorded that they haven't got the money for. But the good news is that the band is
getting up to the point of being ready to release another lp late this summer...in fact
they're recording it now. Chris starts to explain the financial approach: "We do it
from the money we save from shows. Rick's really good at stashing..." and Rick cuts
in with "being CHEAP!". Everything from shows goes to the records.
Both Rick and Chris
agree that the production of Vampires A-Go-Go marked a definite improvement over
their earlier records. While the songs are still a lot of fun on Jump Off The Screen,
the overall production is a little flat, forcing the songs to stand mostly on their lyric
content. On Vampires you can ignore the words totally if you want and still have a
great time listening to the tunes. But it's better if you listen to both. The band do
their own production, which has been a big learning experience.
Live the band can be
seen most regularly in the Detroit area, but although they don't do full on tours, they
often make weekend forays out into the surrounding countryside and have played in New York
and Pennsylvania. On stage they appear in costumes and makeup; usually horror garb but
sometimes sci-fi outfits as well, and they use lots of props to spice up the proceedings.
They have a good core following in Detroit, and find that their fans really get into their
music. They've played long enough so that although there are good nights and bad as for
any band, they don't have the bad nights very often. I asked them if there was any one
favorite show they recalled, but nothing seemed to stand out in their memory. "Can't
think of any where there was a lot of blood", says Rick, almost wistfully. Sheesh!
Vampires is
getting on lots of college radio playlists, and although progress is slow, the band can
sense things gradually picking up. So what about label interest? "I think they think
we're too weird, I mean lyrically or something, because I see a lot of bands that
musically aren't as strong that have record contracts, but I think maybe that the labels
view it as too gimmicky", says Chris. "That must be it because musically it's as
strong as hundreds of other things they're putting out. They think it's a Halloween band
or they just don't think it's something people don't want to get interested in. We've
tried, and we're going to keep trying, but the best we get back is a form letter."
They've tried some of the bigger independents, but "if you get too small it's just
like doing it yourself".
"I'm not sure
what people think about the lyrics, but I think that a lot of the problem with a lot of
the music coming out now is that no one has any type of quirky originality to their
lyrics. Everybody's singing straight ahead; they're singing what they think people want to
hear, love songs or whatever. Or politics, you know. What's the point in that? We're not
against it, but we just avoid that kind of thing."
There should be room
in the world for both ends of the spectrum, and I dare anybody to listen to Vampires
A-Go-Go and not admit that it's a hellishly fun record with some great punk-flavored
rock and roll. 'Cos if you won't admit it, Rick will go get his ax.
