Ok, so chances are if you even remotely keep up with either the metal or horror communities you’ve heard something about the Housecore Horror Film Festival. If you haven’t I suggest you get out from under that slimy rock you’ve been living under for the last year and click that link. This is one of the crazier (but ingenious!) ideas for a festival I’ve seen in…well, pretty much ever. As luck  would have it, yours truly and Robin Goodfellow will be headed down to Texas come October to partake in what will surely be a one of a kind experience.  With such a stacked lineup, it was hard to limit myself to just 5 acts but after quite a bit of deliberation, editing and re-editing the list here are my (Scotty Floronic) 5 bands I’m looking forward to at this very unique, one of a kind festival.

Bloody Hammers

Admission of guilt here: I hadn’t heard of these guys before Housecore but now that I’ve given them a listen, I’m hooked. I’m a huge fan of Ghost and their particular brand of occult rock and I hear a lot of similarities in the Bloody Hammers. They have some good groovy guitar lines and vocals with a bluesy kind of feel to them that I can’t wait to see translated into a live environment as well as a solid interest in  Satan and his ilk. Here at Drunk in a Graveyard, we love a good song about Satan so Bloody Hammers seems to be right up our alley.

Gwar

Now this one shouldn’t come as a surprise. How can you go to a festival with Gwar on the bill and NOT see the original monsters of rock (sorry Lordi, you’re just a little late to the game). I’ve never had the opportunity to attend one of their legendary live shows so once the full lineup was announced and I saw they were on there I knew we’d be in for a goo drenched good time. Shit, even if you don’t like their music, there stage show alone is reason to go. Not quite sure what green slime soaked 3 foot dreadlocks are going to look like (my guess is disgusting), but I’m more than willing to find out!

Down

I’ve talked at length in the past about being a fanboy about certain comics(batman!) and movie directors (del Toro) and if fanboy-ism can indeed be translated over to metal, Down would be a Batman movie directed by del Toro. Say what you will about Phil Anselmo and all the shit that’s been dragged through the media over the past near decade, the man knows how to make good music and when he sets his mind to it can gather to him a mind meltingly talented group of musicians to produce albums that stand the test of time. I still listen to Down II at least every couple months and can still find new things about it to get off to. If that isn’t the sign of a  classic, I’m not really sure what is.

I was one of those people who was really really really hoping that Ghost would be on this bill (and I’m still holding out a ridiculous hope this will somehow manifest until the final band at HHFF has played) so I could see a ridiculous collaboration like this with my own eyes

A Band of Orcs

I read about these guys a few years ago in a issue of Rue Morgue and was tickled at the idea of orcs forming a band and singing about orc stuff. And then my rapidly changing attention span shifted gears and I forgot about them until they became attached to housecore. Like any responsible attendee, I decided now was the time to familiarize myself with there work. I wasn’t more than halfway through the Adding Heads to the Pile before I had decided they needed to be seen live. And now that “the cadaverous cat’s out of the bag” as the festivals facebook page so eloquently put it, I’ll be able to catch them AND Gwar during the same show. Now if that isn’t just more icing on an already delicious (but bloody!) cake I don’t know what is!

Eyehategod

Rounding out this list (but certainly not the least important by any means) is one of the most stonerific, heavy, bands I can think of. I’ve been rocking out to and turning people onto there sludgy, bluesy music going on near a decade now and the chance to see them live was one of the things that sealed the deal on our purchase of plane tickets to Texas. And with such a lineup of great, interconnected artists already present, who knows what craziness will bleed into their live show? I know I’ll be there in the middle dope smoke haze and distortion, beer in hand and head banging.

bonus band: Philip H. Anselmo and the Illegals

To prevent this list from being to Phil heavy (hard when it’s his festival I know, but I have to try to be fair right?) I didn’t put these guys on the main list but they more than deserve a mention(or a couple dozen!). Coming out with one of the least accessible, most enjoyable metal albums I’ve heard this year guaranteed that’s I’d want to see how Phil and his assembled crew pull off all the time changes, blast beats and other twists and turns there songs are built of live.

Anyone reading this going to be attending? What bands are you looking forward to seeing? Expect another list covering the films once those are all finalized sometime in September. See you all in the pit and in the theater!