12 Step Rebels have scared, shook up and maybe even seduced their way into the hearts and undead souls of Albuquerque music fans for decades. This weekend they’re revving up your engine with new music and a monster party at The Launchpad with fellow fiends Kats of Horror, Straight From the Grave and Shit Outta Luck. They’ve decided to combine their record vinyl release show with a 25th anniversary concert and “make a big much ado about it.” Singer and guitarist Jacob Insane says the band put a lot of work and effort into the new album, which they recorded locally at Folklore Recording Studios in Albuquerque. He had the time of his life recording this one, and the spine-chilling cover art was created by someone very dear to him: his daughter Ada Zoe Zgela. He says he gave her the title of the record to work with, and she surprised him with a Christmas painting depicting her interpretation of the grim reaper.
“In the late ’90s and early 2000s, records were starting to phase out because they were getting too expensive to produce, and CDs are so cheap,” he says. “Our first full length came out in 2004, and we never released another one. We had splits and seven inches and singles, but we never put out another full length for various reasons. And so finally, 21 years later, we got to put out another full-length album, and we wanted to make sure we put it on vinyl.”
The new music will satiate the appetites of ravenous punks, rockabilly revivalists and horror-heads alike, but Jakob Insane says The Darkness Calls Us All addresses gloomy themes – death, loss, longing and overcoming darkness – in a more serious nature than you might expect from a typical horror punk record. Upright bassist Nate Hancock also sings and writes lyrics, so he adds a couple of intense poetic contributions to their latest creative endeavor. Drummer Mad Dog Chad lays down rhythms that will get people dancing as if they’re atop the tomb of an ex lover, and that can be a good thing – depending on your attitude regarding the living. Jacob Insane says you’ll hear some “true stories about the darker side of life.”
“When I write lyrics, I try to make something a little bit more meaningful,” Jacob Insane says. “If the song’s about Frankenstein, it’s about his being an outcast. Or if it’s about a Vampire or a werewolf, it’s about dealing with the curse one might face and trying to overcome it.”
Jakob Insane got his nickname when he played in a high school punk band in Hawaii. He moved to Albuquerque in 1999 and hit the ground running, starting a band that doesn’t exactly fit the traditional psychobilly mold, but rather, succeeds in synergizing elements of punk, old-school rock ’n’ roll, Americana and a touch of hot rod culture.
“I was into punk rock and rockabilly in Hawaii and greaser music. I moved here and fell in with a local rockabilly swing crowd. But I was still a punk rocker, so I wanted to play in a revved-up rockabilly band,” he says. “Psychobilly is obviously a mix of punk rock and rockabilly, and we’re taking kind of a creepy factor and the attitude and a little edge, and throwing it all together in a blender. [Psychobilly] can be something like The Cramps or The Meteors, or it can be something like Tiger Army. Everyone has a different sound, kind of like in metal, where there’s all kinds of different bands within the cycle of genres.”
You’re likely wondering why a story about a band who have hit the scene as hard as these guys have for decades doesn’t include a reference or two about hitting the bottle. The band is called 12 Step Rebels, so presumably there’s a recovery program aphorism in here somewhere – and there is – but it seems the rebellious nature of these psychobillies reaches a bit beyond the anti-establishment attitude of a young punk rocker from an island paradise finding his niche with some rowdy Burque musicians. In 25 years of performing, they’ve rebelled against many of the clichés that define the scene itself.
“We were around [age] 19, so we were rebelling against being told what to do, like, ‘Do what you want, if you want to have fun and drink or do what you want, go for that.’ And the weird thing is, I never drank at the time,” Jakob Insane says. “And the ironic part is now both of the other members are entirely sober, and like I said, I’ve never been a drinker, so it’s kind of come full circle.”
Don’t worry, ghouls. The show’s gonna have a full bar, wicked music, creepy vibes and a beautiful record for sale. Hopefully you’ll see some dope cars parked outside and meet some sharp-looking people dressed to kill and ready to rock. It’s a perfect night to murder those inner demons, and it’s only about 12 steps from Central Avenue to the door.
Visit the band at 12steprebels.com.
The Darkness
The fires burn, The flames burn bright
The pills escape, Into eternal night
The headlights scream, The metal sighs
The body wilts, The heart it dies
The waters thick, It’s Too damn thick too breathe
The air so cold, The warmth forever leaves
The lungs they fill up, With one last final breath
The scythe it flies, It brings death
This can’t be it this can’t be everything
There’s so much more that I wanted to do
This can’t be it this can’t be everything
There’s so much more that I wanted to tell you
I see it all, It’s all so clear
The faces pure, Memories disappear
My parents love, My families smiles
it comes undone, was it a waste of life?
The darkness calls, pulls me forever in
the light it fades, towards the end
I try to hold, onto what I love
but in despair
I give up
I can’t give up
12 Step Rebels Vinyl Release and 25th Anniversary Party
Sep. 13, 8 p.m.
Launchpad
618 Central SW
$10
21+