Creature Feature Releases First New Music In Three Years
Whenever it’s time to whip out spooky music for Halloween, my first go-to has always been Creature Feature. I’ve covered Curtis Rx and his scary songs before, but it’s been three years since he’s dropped anything new. The last single he released was ‘The Worms Crawl In (Hearse Song),’ in 2020 and ‘Bury A Friend’ the year before that, but the last time he gave us a full album was ‘The Greatest Show Unearthed Returns’ five years ago. For fans of the master of the macabre, Halloween music hasn’t really been the same in his absence. It’s not like he hasn’t been busy: he composed for Elvira’s 40th Anniversary Special, helps with production and is an archivist at Severin Films, founded the October Country Club and more – it makes sense that he’s got his hands full in all sorts of ghoulish delights. For those of us who have been following the Creature Feature band since publishing its first iconic album in 2006, we’ve impatiently awaited signs that the project was still creeping the earth.
Dropping on an ideal waning crescent Friday the 13th, ‘Every Day Is Halloween,’ is the perfect dose of recognizable Creature Feature nostalgia that we’ve been begging for. With his customary organ-like synths, whimsical sing-song note progression and ripping guitar solos, Curtis Rx gave us an anthem we’ll be sure to play, well, everyday. There’s something charming about his ability to embody different characters throughout the song, from deep, resounding banter that seems to boom, to high-pitched, almost childlike quips that remind me of nursery rhymes, the range in his portrayal has always been impressive to me. Fearlessly authentic, Curtis Rx doesn’t balk away from being theatrical in his pieces, which is the charisma behind Creature Feature. It feels like you’re watching an old scary movie with a bowl of popcorn, as the wind howls past your window and ghosts lurk by. It’s magnetic, festive and truly one-of-a-kind.
Holidays are usually a difficult time for me, and for whatever reason unfortunate things seem to occur every year around this time. I have the worst of luck when the season changes, and it's already evident this may be a particularly hard one for me. I’ve already caught the first cold of the quarter, had family issues arise, got bit by a dog, I need to get new tires and my bank account is a scary movie in and of itself. But I try to keep the spirits afloat, in the small ways I can manage it, and spooky Halloween music is one of my tiny pleasures that maintain me as the leaves fall and the dread of snow sinks in. I light my scented candles, curl up with a spicy herbal tea and rewatch Vincent Price classics over and over, as many times as I need to.
Creature Feature rising from the grave was probably the best thing that could have happened this year. Not only is the timing impeccable, but the content of the track couldn’t have hit the nail on the head better. ‘Every Day Is Halloween,’ captures the essence of what a lot of us have felt for a long time – that while most people put the decorations away after October and wardrobes go back to being merry and bright, for some of us, the dark, eerie corners of life are where we remain. Our loved ones don’t have to understand it, and sometimes we don’t understand it completely either. But there’s something about the world of goth, horror and the macabre that strangely feels like home, in the way that deja vu feels familiar. Creature Feature has been giving us a space to embrace that for almost two decades, and this most recent single is such a wonderful nod to this notion and exactly what we all needed right now.
Thank you, Curtis Rx.
And to my mom reading this – sorry, it wasn’t a phase after all.
To listen to Creature Feature, visit their Spotify profile here.
