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GHOULTOWN FAQ We received an interesting email from a fan recently. It was basically a very thorough list of questions about various Ghoultown releases, songs, and related bands. I often get these same questions from other fans, but never has someone asked them all at once and in such a knowledgeable way. So I felt that it would be a good idea to not only take the time to answer his questions, but to also post these here as sort of an FAQ so that all interested fans could find answers to questions regarding Ghoultown’s history. So here’s that list. Thanks to Justin! - Count Lyle Are you planning on re-releasing Boots Of Hell, Tales From The Dead West and The Killcreeps Destroy Earth. Or would you consider it, maybe on Contra Light Records especially for your European fans? COUNT LYLE: I would like to re-release Boots of Hell, but there are no definite plans at the moment. If I ever do, it will be as a new extended release with additional songs. There were other songs from those sessions, such as “Ten Seconds to Blood” and the original version of “Death of Jonah Hex,” so really those belong together. I will never re-release Tales From the Dead West. It never sold very well, so it doesn’t make sense to repress it in CD form. Of course, it will always be available digitally on iTunes, Amazon, etc. for fans that want it. I just released a remastered version of Destroy Earth as a digital-only release. Get it here. I have no plans to release it again in CD format, however. (For those that don’t know, The Killcreeps was my previous band before Ghoultown.) COUNT LYLE: Remastering will not completely fix this issue. The main problem is with the original recording itself. The engineer/producer that did it sucked, and as well, it was recorded in a very short time because we didn’t have enough money to do it right back then. So while I love the songs on that album, the recording does not do them justice. This is another reason I will not repress it. If anything, we may re-record some of those songs on future releases. With each release the production sound has improved. Thanks to Zoviet Records we have a better budget so we have more time in the studio. This really helps when you have such a complex mix of instruments like trumpet, acoustic guitar, etc. It gives us more time to concentrate on mixing these properly to get a better sound. As well, our new producer Chris Telkes has done an amazing job on the last three releases, which is very evident in the production. In the old days we just didn’t have the budget or a producer like Telkes, so those releases simply don’t have the same production we have now. COUNT LYLE: I have been thinking about this for awhile, and agree that it would be nice for our fans to be able to get all the older and rare tracks that we’ve done. I’m still considering whether to release on CD or just do a digital-only release for this. COUNT LYLE: Yes, all of these plus several more would be included on the “rare and unreleased” album if we do it. There’s other interesting demos and alternative versions of songs that have never been available to our fans. Most of the songs we did for movies, such as "Killin's a Bitch,” "The Ballad of Drinky Crow,” and “Legend of Everett Sykes” were never released on a soundtrack because the movies never released one. It then falls to us to release them if they are ever going to be available. Do you have plans to release recordings in Europe? The German label, Contra-Light, carries our U.S. releases on their website, but at the moment there are no plans to do any special European releases. We have talked about this with various European labels, but so far nothing has come of it. I got a very bad sounding mp3 of The Killcreeps track "45-3D,” maybe as legal download sometime around 2001/2002. This leads to another question: Was it ever released on CD or vinyl and where could it be found? COUNT LYLE: “45-3D” was from a 4-song Killcreeps demo recorded after Destroy Earth in 1997. I don’t know how it got on the internet. There were three Killcreeps demos in all, containing about 10 songs not found on Destroy Earth. They were never released in any format, and at this time I don’t plan to release them - unless for some reason the new Killcreeps digital-only release does well. I tried many times in the past to get another label to pick up The Killcreeps (such as Fiendforce), but no one was ever interested in re-releasing Destroy Earth or doing a CD of new material. So I just let it die for the most part, except for this new digital re-release. Many fans continue to ask about it, so I thought at least I could do this since Destroy Earth is so hard to find on CD. In fact, there were very few CD copies sold in the first place. I think about 100 total. COUNT LYLE: We did one Killcreeps show at that time and we attempted to spark some interest in perhaps doing a new release. We recorded a demo during that period, consisting of 4-songs. We shopped this around to some labels, but never got any interest in funding a new CD. I was so busy as the frontman for Ghoultown and running the label for Ghoultown, that I just couldn’t do The Killcreeps at the same time unless I had some help from another label or something. Funny thing is that Destroy Earth sounds almost as if it were recorded yesterday, so it has held up very well all these years. It’s a shame that all the horrorpunks out there never got much of a chance to hear it. Are there finished Maltoro songs that weren't used for Ghoultown? COUNT LYLE: We recorded a 9-song Maltoro demo that still contains a few songs that have never been released as Ghoultown. We have no plans to ever release the Maltoro demo, but eventually these will all be redone as Ghoultown. Here’s a list of the songs that were on that demo. All of these were written as Ghoultown songs, prior to Maltoro, except for “Live Like Dogs” and “Stronger,” which are the two we haven’t redone yet: 1. Werewolves on Wheels – redone on Life After Sundown COUNT LYLE: It was pretty much the Ghoultown line-up with the exception of one: Lyle – vocals Who was in Maltoro? COUNT LYLE: It was the same as the Ghoultown line-up at the time, with the exception of one: Lyle – vocals I know The Killcreeps lineup that recorded Destroy Earth, but I'm not sure about who is behind the pseudonym Dr. D. Evilwood. Has he played in other known bands or is it maybe Jake? COUNT LYLE: Evilwood is indeed a different player, not Jake. That line-up was: Lyle – vocals, guitar On the actual CD, I played my guitar parts, but also most of the bass tracks as well. Evilwood is a fantastic guitarist and he plays his own guitar lines, of course. He was the guy who wrote the original music for “Wicked Man.” He has only been in one other notable band from the Dallas, Texas area called Punching Judy. COUNT LYLE: Those are the only bands that have recorded my songs so far.
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