PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Billy Bones and the rest of The Deathtones are rising straight to the top. In a world of guys trying to sound like Elvis, The Deathtones have a stronger presence. Their music can come off as punk, metal, and more. Every song is different in all of their singles EPs, and full albums. There is even a Christmas album. Their new album is solely devoted to all the Universal Monsters. I had the chance to sit down with Billy to ask some questions.
PopHorror: When did you start to have a passion for music?
Billy Bones: I’ve always been musical in one way or the other. Whether that was doing church musicals or choir as a kid or playing in school band. But I feel that the fire was ignited when I received my first guitar, an Ibanez GAX, on Christmas, 2004. It just looked so cool, and I had just gotten into punk and pop punk for the first time around then. Before that I was a 90’s city boy, so I fell hard into the boy band craze of the late 1990’s.
Once I picked up that guitar and played the opening riff to Smoke On the Water with one finger just bopping around the fretboard, I knew this was something special and different. Being a natural singer also helped, because I didn’t start by playing covers, but by writing my songs. I still don’t like to play or learn covers. I want to play my stuff!
Evolution
PopHorror: The band recently switched their characters’ look, was it just to evolve?
Billy Bones: You know? To be completely honest a lot of it was breathing-associated. Our costumes and masks were too heavy for us to play our best. We also changed before, from the “big 4” slashers to the Voodoo witch doctor and skulls to the current gimmick. I’m sure we’ll change again. We like to stay fresh and get bored easily so we’re always trying to do something new, whether it’s releasing a new EP out of the blue or changing masks. We like to keep you on your toes!
Influences
PopHorror: Who or what inspires you the most?
Billy Bones: For me as “cringe” as it may sound (hate that word), my bandmates inspire me. I love sitting in the studio and receiving a track upload from one of the guys because I get to sit down, mix it in, and hear what it adds to the overall composition. Sometimes I’ll have an idea in my head for what direction I think the song is heading in and Mr. Grim’s drum recording will bust through my preconceived idea like the Kool-Aid Man through a brick wall. And it always makes the song better or deeper or more atmospheric, whoever is adding to it.
There is so much creative freedom in this group that I just love to hear these guys do what they do. Doing the audio production for this project and hearing it all come together is such a ridiculous high. You’re creating something from nothing, you know? Ten minutes ago this song didn’t exist, and now it does. That’s another inspiration I guess. Creating something fresh and new and something you’re proud of and releasing it into the wild for people to enjoy. Music and poetry can last for centuries after we’re all gone. So that’s a comforting thought.
Themes
PopHorror: The new EP Universal Monsters is a dedication to the legends, Have you put out a lot of themed albums?
Billy Bones: I was sitting down to answer this question and do a whole list of the themed things we’ve done, but then I realized, EVERYTHING we’ve done besides our album, “The American Invasion”, which is more of a “greatest hits” release has been on the theme. From serial killers to 80’s slashers to Public Domain to the works of Stephen King and even Christmas, almost everything has been themed.
PopHorror: With the distance between the band members, do you talk about touring at all?
Billy Bones: We’ve talked about it, for sure. But it’s always been a very far-fetched idea, as we’re all grown adults with responsibilities, families, jobs, pets, etc. I’m sure if someone plopped a massive tour budget in our laps, where we could make sure all those things were taken care of, we may discuss the matter again. But for right now, no tours
Inspiration
PopHorror: Who is your inspiration for your vocal style?
Billy Bones: To be honest my natural voice is a lot higher than what I do for The Deathtones, but I’ve always loved crooners. I grew up with a very old-school Italian family from New Jersey, so there was always some Sinatra, Dean Martin, Tony Bennett, Bobby Darin, and Bing Crosby on the radio. They had style and swagger and amazing, velvety smooth voices, but they could be extremely powerful when they needed to be.
I did punk and pop punk for a long time, so my natural singing voice is very akin to Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day, but I figured in a genre full of zombie Elvis Presley’s, why not be a Sinatra? Also, name-dropping here, but the first horror punk band I heard when we started The Deathtones was Grave Robber.
I thought (and still think) that Wretched’s voice is one of the absolute best and most unique in the horror genre. He was a big inspiration for me. He proved that you don’t need to scream your head off out of key or try to be Elvis to be a horror punk and I’ll still binge their albums often.
The Slow down
PopHorror:You had a point in time where you were producing several EPs or singles a month. Did you get burned out?
Billy Bones: Not burned out, per se, but the inspiration comes and goes. Sometimes we’ll write, record, and produce 2 EPs in 2-3 months. Sometimes we won’t do anything new for the same amount of time.
We strike while the iron is hot and sandbag as much as we can within that period. Then, when we hit writer’s block, we take a break until it comes around again. There’s nothing worse than forcing something creative or artistic. It needs to be organic, and we let that happen.
Oh The Horror
PopHorror: What got you into the horror genre in the first place?
Billy Bones: When I was 5 years old I watched The Exorcist and couldn’t sleep for two weeks. After that, I swore off anything and everything horror-related until I watched the ’04 Dawn Of The Dead remake, which I enjoyed. But even then, I wasn’t a horror fan. I’ve always been far more of a fantasy geek than a horror guy. More J.R.R. Tolkien than Wes Craven. Pretty much gives me elves, orcs, epic battles, and all that jazz as opposed to a slow-moving suspenseful film, or worse, something so inundated with jump scares that it defeats the point of making a good horror film.
So to be honest, this band got me into horror. I will say, that I’ve always been very interested in the more morbid and gross parts of history. fiction, and such. So maybe that was a building block that my newfound horror interests rested on. Also, another thing that helped me get into the genre was Bruce Campbell. I love comedy mixed with horror because it takes itself less seriously, and Bruce is a master of the craft.
The Future
PopHorror: Do you plan to keep producing themed EPs in the future?
Billy Bones: No need for a long answer on this. Yes. 100%.
The End Is Near
PopHorror: What does the future look like for the band as a whole?
Billy Bones: As mentioned above, we won’t be touring, and with how far-spaced out we are from each other, we probably won’t be playing too many shows as a full band at this point. We are, however, discussing the prospect of doing a shorter, slimmed-down acoustic version of the act without the pomp and circumstance so we can get out there and hang out with you all as much as possible. But that’s ultimately up to you.
Drop us a line. Leave us a comment. Subscribe to our YouTube and join us on all our socials. If we gauge a decent amount of interest, we will most definitely put that plan into action. But for now, we’re just happy writing, recording, and releasing more and more music all the time. We aim to (eventually) have one of the largest discographies the genre has ever seen, so we want to keep producing new material for you all.
You can listen to Universal Monsters and all their music on Bandcamp.com or Spotify and other streaming platforms.
https://www.youtube.com/@thedeathtonesband
