Voodoo Screw Machine
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Voodoo Screw Machine

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"Bringing the Show"

“Theatrical and visually over-the-top, the songs are well-written, the lyrics
disturbing and funny…This is sheer entertainment, folks.
Add VSM to your “must see” list.” - The Noise Boston


"Bowie on Steroids"

“The stage show is par excellence, Thermos’ voice is like Bowie on ste-roids,
and the musicianship/songwriting is just excellent.” - Wormtown.org


"Metal"

“They are so metal, the CD actually weighs more.” - New England Performer


"Tour De Force"

“Voodoo Screw Machine brings the spectacle back into the rock arena.
A rock ‘n’ roll tour de force.” - The Noise Boston


"Autopsy"

Well I'd love to see these guys perform. With more than a slight homage to Alice, this band seems to revel in pure visual entertainment to help the already excellent music along. With a full length CD on the way, Voodoo Screw Machine are: Thermos X. Pimpington - vocals, Stony Curtis - guitar, Baron Von Hellmut - drums and T. Balls - bass. Colourful names for a very colourful band. - The Autopsy Report


"Apocalypse"

Headliners Voodoo Screw Machine frighten me. The fog machine starts up before the curtain even opens, and when it does open it reveals a stageful of mangled mannequins and a band fronted by a partially mummified skinhead in heavy horror makeup. They launch into a fairly hilarious set of Satan-worshipping, fake-blood-spewing camp-metal. The line "Suck the big black dick of Satan!" gets my attention, but I don't think there's anything I can add to that. The band are really tight, especially the string players, and the guitarist is capable of endless, highly technically proficient metal wankery. This REALLY isn't my thing, so I'm probably missing a lot of the jokes, and the frontman's throat-shredding growl most of the time on most of the songs gets pretty monotonous. But it's all sort of campy and fun and over the top, and the audience is loving it. Oh, and there's a Beatles cover!

- The Noise Boston


"Suburban Blood"

It had been a while since I'd staggered out of Bill's Bar covered with blood, but it was well worth waiting for the unholy spectacle that is Voodoo Screw Machine. Billed as "Schizophrenia Unleashed" or somesuch tantalizing title, VSM kicked today's scrappy Nu Metal hordes squarely in the ass and sent them tumbling back to the suburbs. - Boston Noise Magazine


"THE GRUESOMELY CHARMING THERMOS X. PIMPINGTON"

THE GRUESOMELY CHARMING THERMOS X. PIMPINGTON OF

VOODOO SCREW MACHINE

by Leah Callahan

From Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ stage entrance in a closed coffin to the proto-riot grrrl, used-tampon-wielding group The Slits, shock in rock has long been a form of rebellion against the complacency of individuals going about their everyday lives in a state of chronic, somnambulistic dullness. The demonic Thermos X. Pimpington, vocalist for the band Voodoo Screw Machine, is a recent addition to this tradition of shock rockers. I spoke to him and his human vessel, Neil Graham. Although we tried to maintain a definite separation, there were times when Neil turned into Pimpington and when Pimpington kind of lost his ferociousness…

“We the undersigned, give permission for Voodoo Screw Machine to escort me/ us away from the central interview area to a pace more conducive to ‘really connecting’ at the discretion of Mr. Thermos X. Pimpington.” This is one of many of the disclaimers in the document I receive a week before the interview and I have to admit, although not much scares me, the Catholic background kicks in, as well as basic fear for my life and I get a bit worried. Will I be kidnapped and put in a dark basement? I wonder what will happen. “By signing this line you also agree to conditionally forfeit your immortal soul to Thermos X. Pimpington and Voodoo Screw Machine.” Signing this thing about giving Pimpington my immortal soul... well, maybe not. So luckily my cat Fluff lifts his extra toed paw and volunteers to sign, he says: “I am a black cat, I’m in league with the Devil anyway so this won’t matter much.” Excellent. “Fluff,” I say, “You’re the best.”

An evening with Thermos X. Pimpington is not an evening with your typical Boston rock musician. He is a guy who seems sure of where he is and where he’s going. He’s had all the sex and drugs he could ever want, now he just wants your soul and possibly your baby (although if you’re a man, he may want your ass). I kept a close eye on him the whole time. Not sure if Pimpington thought the interactive experience (5W!TS Tomb in the Fenway area of Boston where he took me for the interview) would loosen me up, if anything it made me very clear headed and I was wary of his obvious mind control capacities. He is a charming, albeit bloody and gore covered chap, and I wouldn’t want to be caught in a dark alley with him. A dark tomb was scary enough.

Noise: Are you a typical Boston rock musician?

Neil: I couldn’t say what a “typical” Boston rock musician really is, since there are so many talented and diverse ones around. This is not to say there is not a huge herd of them that royally suck as well, but you get the idea. That said however, I wouldn’t put myself in with the majority simply because what VSM is doing is hardly typical. We are not reinventing the wheel, but we aren’t following any trends either.

Noise: Why not do the straight rock band thing?

Neil: Why? Because 6,456,782 packs of white dudes can’t be wrong? I have always lived on the outside of conformity (regardless of how small the sub-culture was), and looking in, I think I’m much happier from where I stand.

Noise: Tell me a few things you have done on stage that have been really gross.

Neil: The baby decapitations could be construed as gross I suppose, but I don’t really go for the gross-out a-la GG Allin. It almost seems too easy.

Noise: As a kid did you collect roadkill or anything?

Neil: Aside from a brief brush with fame as a local jello snorting champion, I don’t think I was ever really all that disgusting, although tales of my childhood are best told by my team of caregivers, and are thus semi-protected under my doctor/ patient confidentiality relationship.

Neil Graham is a nice guy.

Thermos X. Pimpington is another matter entirely. I would move away from him in a crowd and would not be able to take some of the things he says even with a grain of salt. However I like the fact that he makes people uncomfortable and so does he. In fact he prefers a bad review to a bland review. He doesn’t want people to say: “Oh, that was nice.” So as far as he says he is no social revolutionary or political proselytizer, he does seem to want people to “wake up” if only to a somewhat familiar nightmare.

Pimpington uses violence against women on stage as “entertainment.” A lot of people would not be too happy with that, although it is no different than the violence we see daily in films and on television. Perhaps it is more unsettling because there is someone right there you can yell at, not some huge corporate conglomerate you have to write a letter to or stand in a picket line no one will see. He actually allows you to hit back, if you don’t like something he’s doing on stage, ladies, you can go up there and beat him up with numerous torture devices. I asked him if he threw racism and ableism, heck ageism to his disgusting stage routine, but he said it didn’t quite “work.” He does kill babies though...

So good and evil... What’s that anyway? The born-again right-wing Christians think the liberals are evil and the left thinks that all war is killing, not convenience, and really, one could get confused. There appears to be the shared idea that abuse of women and children is wrong... but the statistics certainly say differently. So there is evil out there, and it is in all of us, not somewhere else. Pimpington reflects this, and well it’s kind of ugly. And it’s kind of attractive too. He certainly has lots of scantily clad young women leaving him erotic comments on his myspace page.

Noise: You said you used to perform in Rocky Horror in Harvard Square and that have some acting background. Is this your first rock band?

Pimpington: I was in the bands Sinister Minister, Elmer Bludd, Iconoclasm, Monster Zero, Drawing Flies, and Bound 4 Venus. I am currently playing with The Bentmen as their bassist. Rumor has it that there is a Larry Banilow connection as well, but that’s simply not the case.

Noise: Do you want to bring this band to a bigger level, tour and shop to labels?

Pimpington: A far as touring/ major label deal goes, I’m hardly so naïve to think (or heaven forbid, count on) that a major label would pick up and seriously back something as off-center as VSM, but on the off-chance some twist of fate (or bloody signature) made such an excursion possible, You would likely find me lounging in a pink “Hello Kitty” Tour Bus watching old Night Gallery episodes, and milking the proverbial “fifteen minutes” for at least 45 to an hour... Perhaps longer if the pilot gets picked up.

Noise: What’s your obsession with babies... and why did the one you gave me feel kind of gooey and have hair sticking to it, kind of like the bottom of the floor in a girl’s college dorm room?

Pimpington: Ah yes... the babies. Funny how you neatly avoided even a mention of them before now. They are simply my childhood friends no longer imagined. They tend to take a bit of punishment since they often join me during performances, but oh how they scream when it’s time to wash up. I just can’t always bring myself to see them get so very sad. They whisper tales of madness and woe when the music stops. Sorry if your new pal was a bit grubby, but I trust he will find happiness, love and even cleanliness in his new home.

Noise: Why would people enjoy your show?

Pimpington: For most of the same reasons that people like going to see a horror film or the circus even. It gives them a chance to let go of whatever else is happening in their lives for a short time, all the while knowing they will make it home alive.

Noise: Why do you want to make people laugh with gore/ macabre stuff? Why not be a comedian instead?

Pimpington: Have you ever spent any time talking with comedians offstage? Even I am not that much of an asshole. There are of course a few exceptions, but in all honesty, having performed in theatre without the added musical dynamic does not seem to reward me quite as well when the curtain goes down.

Noise: Tell me a bit more about your bandmates.

Pimpington: First off, I am lucky as hell to have managed to find a group of musicians who do this stuff as well as they do. Without them the show very simply wouldn’t work. And for that dedication I owe them more than just a thank you. Without a solid band behind the schtick/ schlock simply can’t be as effective. Excellent players, and excellent humans. Stony Curtis is phenomenal guitar player and without his input the creation of the musical aspect of the show would be a much slower process. Bass player T. Balls acts as the crazy glue. In a word, indispensable. The drummer that played on the CD has since moved on to worship Jesus, and teach children to cooperate. We love him, but I think the VSM demons were beginning to warp his thinking a bit.

Noise: What about sexuality? What’s the weirdest kink you’ve seen in the various scenes you’ve been involved in?

Pimpington: It always comes down to sex. Not that that is a bad thing at all... I think what you would really like to know is what is the strangest thing I have actually taken part in, since to simply “see” it, all you really need is web browser and a fast connection these days. But to avoid turning the sordid history of my loins into a series of quotes I will have to be explaining forever, let’s just say the bar continues to rise. You’re married right?

Noise: Does Neil want to have kids?

Pimpington: Neil has been in a state of arrested development since age 17, so he is his own kid already. That should be fine for now, and my DNA has no expiration date that I’m aware of so should I feel the need to experiment…

Noise: You said you don’t care about money, that’s why you continue your art even though it doesn’t pay the bills? Does Pimpington care about money?

Neil: Pimpington doesn’t live in a place where cash is the most valuable currency, so while it is useful in a pinch, I think he’d be happier bartering in things of a more intangible nature...
- The Noise Boston


"VSM Does Beatles"

Finally, I figured I could count on Voodoo Screw Machine to return us to the drug-addled latter days stuff. They start with the Beatles cover that's a regular part of their set, an appropriately freaky version of "I Am the Walrus" with Dark Mark returning his upright bass to the fray. (He apparently guests on their album on this song.) Then (after a confusing excursion into Billy Idol, mercifully cut short) they surprise and delight me with "Glass Onion." They're pretty much playing it straight, so far, and the musicianship is stellar. Next they play "Sun King," only venturing to screw around here with the faux Italian parts. ("Domo arigato"?) It seems too much to hope for, but they segue smoothly into "Mean Mr. Mustard," and just keep going. This series of songs is one of my favorite compositions ever, and they do a beautiful job with it. At least half of the audience is singing along at any given moment, and there are some sections that offer Stony Curtis (who's been very good, never pushing it beyond what's appropriate to the material) an opportunity to step outside his cage and show us a hint of the guitar wizardry he's capable of. It ends with a silly, foot-stomping "Her Majesty," and I suppose it really ought to stop there, but enough people are psyched to keep going that most of Scamper climbs back onstage and they all bullshit their way through "All Together Now" and "Hey Jude." It's an appropritely silly, fun ending to the night.

- Steve Gisselbrecht


Discography

Voodoo Screw Machine - 5 Song Demon
Voodoo Screw Machine - A Kiss Before Drowning
Voodoo Screw Machine - Dragonomicon

More cuts available at the VSM Websites below:
http://www.voodooscrewmachine.com or http://www.myspace.com/voodooscrewmachine

Photos

Bio

In a decade overrun by cookie-cutter pop divas, American Idol worship and prefab punk
revival, VOODOO SCREW MACHINE is a restorative juggernaut of hard rock
spectacle. Led by bloodthirsty evildoer Thermos X. Pimpington, this Boston-based
band is an outlandish amalgam of metal guitar wizardry, accessibly meaty songs,
hilarious whimsy and maniacal theatrics. The live show (which has been banned and subsequently reinstated in at
least two Boston-area rock clubs) is a fabulously freaky and often funny piece of
theatrical rock, with deviant delights such as a coat made from dead babies, limbless
mannequins, diabolical nurses and a 7-foot syringe.

In October 2005 VOODOO SCREW MACHINE officially released their debut CD, A
Kiss Before Drowning, eleven tracks that hearken back to the days when the guitar
solo reigned supreme and Satan still had infernal dealings with rock musicians.

For all the unbridled theatrics of their live show, the VOODOO SCREW
MACHINE material does not fall short either in execution (the band is just fantastic)
or in theme. A relentless rhythm courtesy of bassist T. Balls and drummer Baron von
Hellmut forms the ideal backdrop for Pimpington's accomplished vocal dynamics. No
cookie-monster shredding here, just good strong singing. Perhaps the band's secret
weapon, though, is Stony Curtis, a classically trained musician whose deft and raging
guitar stylings would make Randy Rhoades weep with joy.

Thematically, A Kiss Before Drowning is a surprisingly unified exploration of drug
use, greed, sexual experimentation and that cerebral gloaming between sanity and
madness.

"Needles and Spoons" captures the seductive power of drug addiction. It
seems like a pro-drug anthem, but becomes allegorical when listeners learn that
Pimpington hasn't used anything stronger than aspirin since 1989.

"What's Your Pleasure?" borrows its title from the final scene of Clive Barker's
Hellraiser, and the song is essentially Pimpington's monument to the fearless depravity
of that film and its creator. It's a hard rocker wrought with bleak themes of nuclear
holocaust and the cold war.

Horror writers like Barker get our attention by tapping into
a dark place and asking us to suspend disbelief while they have their way with our
imagination. Imagination, where all the scary monsters live. And we love every
offensive minute of it. This kind of thrill seeking is a big part of the VOODOO
SCREW MACHINE rock aesthetic. In this way they win appreciation even from
those who despise the genre.
It also helps that they wear their influences proudly and regularly include spirited
covers of Blue Oyster Cult, Alice Cooper and The Beatles.

The man behind the Pimpington gore is Neil Graham, an area singer and actor.
Graham is a veteran ex-member of Harvard Square¹s notable Rocky Horror "Full Body
Cast," has played Van Helsing in community productions of Dracula, and was part of
The Deviant Theatre at ManRay in Central Square. Graham has also played bass in
Bound.4.Venus and Drawing Flies.