Rock N Horror Interview – Skeletons In My Closet

I discovered the most amazing horror-themed clothing company in December of 2015. This Night of the Living Dead shirt screamed out for my attention as I was doing my typical search on Etsy for creepy and unique horror items. My creepy yet vibrant heart could not put the shirt in my cart fast enough to make a purchase. Little did I know this was the start of my love affair with a clothing company called Rock N Horror.

While enjoying the first day of one of my favorite conventions in March of 2016, my friend was talking about this clothing company that had a booth there that she wanted to visit. She made it clear it was a must that we stop at this booth during our weekend of horror convention fun. As we walked to this booth we were greeted with infectious smiles from both Mark Hall and Janet Romano. Janet instantly remembered my friend from an Instagram post about items she had purchased from them. While they were talking, I was scanning their booth becoming infatuated with all of their clothing when I noticed the shirt I had purchased from Etsy. I was excited to tell Mark and Janet that I apparently had purchased a shirt from their Etsy shop and they were equally excited to hear that. It was hard to decide what shirts to buy that day, but I settled on three that I took home with me that weekend.

Mark puts the Rock and Janet puts the Horror in Rock N Horror!

 

As the years have gone by I have continued to see both Mark and Janet at cons, always greeting me with such warmth and smiles. I enjoy introducing my friends to them and showing off how awesome their clothes are because at this point I may own about every t-shirt and hoodie they make. Their clothes not only speak to my spooky heart, but the material and print hold up so well. Additionally, I have been able to get to know the creators of Rock N Horror and consider them to be part of my horror family and want to let the world know how great they truly are.

What inspired you to create Rock N Horror?

Janet: I always have liked horror and Mark has always liked rock, so when we started dating we were brainstorming one night about starting a clothing company, as we both love fashion.

Mark: I personally have always wanted to start a clothing company and doing something similar to what we are doing now and Janet did too, so when we met and it came up, we talked about it and Janet came up with the name. At first, I was like the name of the company is simple, but it makes sense, so we went with Rock N Horror

Janet: We wanted to create something with our company that we would want to wear personally.  That is a big thing for us. We want it to be soft, comfortable, and look cool.  We don’t want to just follow trends. If we make it we personally wear it.  It is nothing for Mark to go to the gym and wear one of our shirts with pentagrams on it. We just want to make cool clothes that we like.

 

How long has your company been in business?

Mark: We started about 4 ½ years ago.

Janet: We met and started dating in September of 2013 and by October we had started our company.

How has your company evolved?

Mark: When we first started we didn’t know what we were really doing, so we have kind of learned along the way. I think we could probably consider ourselves experts at this now.

Janet: When we first started we didn’t know anything about the material. We have learned about what works best with printing and what is most comfortable.

Mark: We have become so much better with the process, choosing the material, and the equipment we use.

What sets you apart from other horror-themed apparel companies?

Janet: It is a passion and an art for us. We also really enjoyed talking and getting to meet the people that buy our clothes. We are the ones representing our company and we are very humbled to hear from people that they love what we do. It has been an uplifting experience. It isn’t about making money for us. It is about making our customers comfortable with what they are wearing and feeling good in our clothes.

Mark: We never wanted to go out and make a “Michael Myers” shirt. We wanted to make something that was inspired by a movie or song and put our creative spin on it. We wanted to make something that was us.

 

Do you make custom clothes for customers?  Tell me more about that?

Mark: Right now, we are working on some customs clothing for a band to wear in their music video. They have given us what they want as far as a sci-fi theme and then we take the liberty to customize it and make it look how we feel it looks good.  We do distressing, studding, and sewing. We take what the customer wants and we interpret it to make it look how we think it will look cool.

What is your favorite horror movie?

Janet:  I would say, the original Halloween. I love the music and the shadowing. I love the nostalgia of fall and pumpkins. I like the era of the 70s with no cell phones and you left your door unlocked. I also really dig Rob Zombies’ style and love House of a 1000 Corpses, Devil’s Rejects, and 31.

Mark:  If I had to pick just one, it would probably have to be The Shining. I really love old creepy hotels. The movie makes me wish I could go visit the hotel. It is just a really cool movie.

What type of music do you like? 

Janet: I mean right now, I am listening to a lot of Liam Gallagher. We are like 90s babies, so we like the whole 90s grunge style music.

Mark: 1. I love Metallica. It was their music that I learned how to play growing up.  2. Marilyn Manson because of the shock rock and horror factor. When I was a freshman in high school I went as Marilyn Manson for Halloween because I just loved that shock rock style. 3. Oasis for the songwriting and the simplicity of their music.

What are your hobbies outside of running Rock N Horror?

Janet: One of the things we really like to do is collect vinyl. We like collecting and listening to vinyl on a record player. We don’t buy it online though. We enjoy finding it in music and antique stores. It is the thrill of the find. We also like to find offbeat places to stay when we travel, like the Clown Hotel.

Mark:  Since we travel as part of the job we just really like stopping at cool places along the way. The Clown hotel is one that really stands out. We also like to go to concerts to listen to live music. Since I am a musician I also like writing, playing, and recording my own music too.

 

Is there a favorite celebrity you have met while attending various conventions selling your clothing line?

Janet: We have met so many people, but the ones that stand out the most would be Bill Moseley, Sid Haig, and Jeff Daniel Phillips.

Mark:  I would say all those guys we have become friendly with. For me, I am not really star struck by anybody, but I just like to meet down to earth people. I would say Alex Vincent was very nice at the convention we were at this past weekend.

Janet: If you are down to earth and cool, we just gravitate to that, celebrity or not.  We see a lot of the same people every weekend at these conventions, and it is almost like you are on tour together and feel comfortable with friendly conversation with them and have fun experiences.

 

You travel across the country to sell Rock N Horror apparel at various cons.  Are there any places you have traveled that stand out for you that you have really enjoyed?

Janet:  You know the one place that stands out for me is Wheeling, WV. We love Wheeling, WV. Every time we tell people this they look at us like we are crazy because we go all over the country and they don’t understand.

Mark:  The reason being that we like Wheeling is we stay at this hotel that we just love. They have an aquatics center, a hot tub outside, buckets of fun, and all this crazy stuff. The staff there are just so friendly and they have got to know us because we kind of stand out with our blue hair and clothes. On top of that, we like going to downtown Wheeling to visit their antique stores to find records and just old cool stuff.

You both have a love for animals from what I can tell by your Animals Before Humans Shirt? 

Janet: I think there is just something about animals that makes them greater than humans because they are just so innocent. They just love you. There is nothing like coming home from a long day of working or just having a bad day or even if you are having a good day to have that pet to cuddle and love. They aren’t flawed like we are.

Mark: They just can’t talk back (laughs). When we are traveling sometimes we will just pull off the road and take a picture of a random animal. It is just calming and relaxing to see them and be around animals.

Janet: When we see someone walking a dog or holding a cat, we always stop to ask to pet it. There is just something so therapeutic and calming about animals. I will say if I am watching a horror movie and human dies, it is not big deal, but if you kill an animal, I am full blown crying.

 

What is the greatest aspect of running your company? 

Mark: Not having to set an alarm (laughs)

Janet: We don’t have to set alarm. There is more of an internal alarm when you run your own company. I like the freedom to be creative and being able to do the things we want to do.

What is the most challenging aspect of running your company?

Janet: Well when you run your own business it is 24 hours a day and 7 days a week obligation.  We can never disconnect as we are always handing orders or thinking about new ideas.

Is there anything else you would like people to know about Rock N Horror?

Janet: We are always going to be creating and will never be stale. We are just here to make cool clothes for people.  We just want to be that brand that always just keeps growing and creating, just never stopping with new ideas.

Mark: We don’t want to see one of our shirts worn by a million people. We would rather discontinue a print and put out something new before it gets too overdone and crazy. We don’t want to be corporate and generic. We just want to be unique with our clothing and live comfortably doing something we love.

Janet: Friends all the time ask us why we don’t hire people to do different aspects of the business for us and I tell them that is not something we want to do. I want people to know that Mark is Rock and I am Horror and our clothes are a blending of us. It is our heart, our soul, and our passion. It really means everything to us.