Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Ideas for a Horror-themed cover band called 'The Sleeping Bag Murders'

After scheduling Jason-related videos for the Friday the 13th in May 2016 on my Facebook music page, I was inspired by my oft-frustrated musical muse. Since so many of the videos are Hard Rock tributes, it gave me an idea for a themed cover band. I will be blogging about that idea today. (EDIT 14 May 2019: That page is now defunct since I don't like Facebook anymore.)

So, here's the idea...

Band name: The Sleeping Bag Murders

This is a Horror-themed cover band playing Rock and Pop songs from Horror movies, as well as famous horror movie themes. (Halloween, F13, ANOES, Psycho, et al.)

The name is taken from a particularly brutal murder performed by Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th Part 7: The New Blood. In that murder, Jason takes a female camper who thought she could hide (lol) by simply zipping herself up into her sleeping bag. He just grabbed the sleeping bag, slammed her into a tree and fractured her skull. Rumor has it that the kill was supposed to be incredibly bloody but, the MPAA nixed that idea. Damned Censorship Nazis...

Band line-up...

Each member of the group will be dressed up as a horror movie villain. If that seems extravagant or ridiculous to you, just remember that the 'Hottest Band in the World' features 4 guys in costumes and kabuki-style face paint. And they've been kicking the world's ass with their music since 1973.

BASS Player

Jason Voorhees as the Bass Player, complete with his weapon of Musical Mass Destruction being a Gene Simmons Axe. He can 'kill' a few dummies dressed up as teenagers in a sleeping bag just before his solo. We'll be sure to pack the dummies with a lot of squibs which will explode on impact, creating a bloody mess.

The Lead and Rhythm Guitar Players

Michael Myers for the rhythm guitar player. 'Nuff said.

Doctor Victor Frankenstein for the lead guitar player, in a lab coat and other traditional Mad Scientist garb.

Drummer

Frankenstein's Monster on the Drums. His solo is preceded by an onstage re-enactment of his 'birth' with Dr. Frankenstein using a lightning rod to re-energize the Monster behind the drum kit. I would prefer that he look like the Frankenstein Monster from the classic Universal Studios pictures with Boris Karloff playing the role. That version is easily the most recognizable.

Keyboard player

Since many of the Pop songs this band would cover come from 1980's horror movies, we are going to need a horror movie monster/villain playing an electronic keyboard. I tend to associate that instrument (and the 80's Pop songs made with them) as being something made by European weirdos because, well, it was usually made by European weirdos. So, what horror movie villain can fill that role? None other than the King of European weirdos: Count Dracula. And I mean one of the actually scary versions of the Count like Bela Lugosi or Christopher Lee. None of this Twilight inspired BULLSHIT about Vampires that sparkle. *shudders*

Dracula will also have to be the one playing the Halloween theme... at first. We can (and probably will) create a Metal version of the song. Naturally, the rhythm guitar player dressed up as The Shape will take prominence on center-stage during that one.

The Singer(s)...

As for the singer, we have several possibilities here...

1.) Captain Spaulding, Pennywise or some other EVIL clown...

2.) An Elvira/Vampira/Lily Munster/Morticia Addams clone in a really short, low cut black dress...

3.) A masked man that resembles the Phantom of the Opera. If Paul Stanley of KISS can play the role in an adaptation of the famous Andrew Lloyd Webber play circa 1999, then we can have a singer playing the Phantom in this band. However, I doubt it will ever be as awesome as Paul Stanley's performance of the character.

In fact, we should have 2 singers, one female like the one described above and one dressed as the Phantom. Then, we could do the Phantom of the Opera as part of the set list. And that leads us to...

Short list of Songs covered

213 - Nightmare (Used in the end credits of A Nightmare On Elm Street.)

Black Sabbath - Johnny Blade

Black Sabbath - Psycho Man

Black Sabbath - Selling My Soul

Blue Oyster Cult - Don't Fear the Reaper (Used in the first Halloween movie.)

Blue Öyster Cult - Godzilla

John Carpenter - Halloween Theme


John Carpenter - Theme from Halloween II

Crazy Lixx - XIII (Used in advertisements for Friday the 13th: The Game)

Crazy Lixx - Killer (Used in advertisements for Friday the 13th: The Game)

Alice Cooper - Hard Rock Summer (Used in the soundtrack for Friday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives.)

Alice Cooper - He's Back (The Man behind the Mask) (Used in the soundtrack for Friday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives.)

Alice Cooper - Teenage Frankenstein (Used in the soundtrack for Friday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives.)

Alice Cooper - Welcome to my Nightmare

Dokken - Dream Warriors (Used in A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.)

Dokken - Into the Fire (Used in A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.)

Theme from Friday the 13th Part 3 (Played by Dracula on his keyboard. Maybe a show-opener.)

Godsmack - Vampires (Why hasn't this one been used in a vampire movie yet?)

Iron Maiden - Fear of the Dark (The name says it all.)

Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast

Judas Priest - Love Bites (It's about Vampires.)

Judas Priest - Monsters of Rock (Could make a good show opener ortrack that plays when band takes the stage. If MetallicA can use The Ecstacy of Gold, then the Sleeping Bag Murders can use a Judas Priest track.)

KISS - Creatures of the Night

KISS - God of Thunder (And it should be performed the same way KISS did it...)

KISS - Unholy

KISS - War Machine (Because nothing is more frightening than war...)

MetallicA - Call of Ktulu (Hail Cthulhu!)

MetallicA - Enter Sandman (The song is about nightmares, after all...)

MetallicA - Sad But True

Nightwish - The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber cover)

Ozzy Osbourne - Bloodbath in Paradise (Song about the Manson murders.)

Ozzy Osbourne - Facing Hell

Ozzy Osbourne - Hellraiser (The Motörhead version used in Hellraiser III is awesome too.)

Ozzy Osbourne - Mr. Crowley (Song about real-life Sorcerer Aleister Crowley. Also has synthesizer opening that's played by Dracula.)

Paul Stanley & Desmond Child - Shocker

Pseudo Echo - His Eyes (SynthPop song from Friday the 13th Part 5: A New Beginning.)

The Rolling Stones - Paint It Black

The Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil

Skillet - Monster

Stone Temple Pilots - Sex Type Thing (It's a song about date rape. VERY scary stuff for anyone violated that way...)

ZZ Top - Sleeping Bag (Seems kinda obvious, considering this band's name. Could make the song tongue-in-cheek by changing the lyrics to reflect Jason's favorite murder method.)

There will be other songs added to this list over time. They'll all be songs that are either Horror-themed or were used in Horror movies and sound creepy as Hell.

Seem crazy? Well, it is crazy. I won't argue against you on that one. Hell, if we can have a McDonald's themed tribute/parody of Black Sabbath called Mac Sabbath (Yes, that is a real thing) then, we can definitely have a horror-themed band covering Rock/Pop tunes from horror movie soundtracks. As crazy as it is, I think this band could work. :)

- Publius

ADDENDUM 17 December 2016

I thought of another song that would be perfect for this group to cover: 'Psycho Man' by Black Sabbath. Not only do the lyrics fit with the group's theme/shtick, it also has a great fanmade music video on YouTube that uses scenes from the classic Alfred Hitchock film Psycho.

ADDENDUM 14 May 2017

Added a few more tracks to the list from Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne's illustrious solo career.

\m/O_O\m/

ADDENDUM 31 MAY 2017

Added 2 tracks by Crazy Lixx used to advertise Friday the 13th: The Game, now available on Steam, PS4 & XBOX One.

\m/O_O\m/

ADDENDUM 10 May 2020

Just added tracks from KISS, Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, MetallicA, Iron Maiden & The Rolling Stones . You're welcome.

\m/O_O\m/

ADDENDUM 31 Oct 2020

Just added tracks from KISS, MetallicA, Godsmack, Ozzy Osbourne, Motorhead, Stone Temple Pilots & Alice Cooper. Happy Halloween.

\m/O_O\m/

ADDENDUM 26 Apr 2021

Added 2 tracks from Judas Priest.

\m/O_O\m/

ADDENDUM 3 Dec 2023

Added a ZZ Top song that I can't believe I never before thought to add to the song list in the old post.

🤘

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