Halloween Treat #3: Montreal’s Condition

Here’s a band that is so fantastically creepy, they made one of my high school girlfriends cry tears of horror when I played it for her one dark and stormy night. Back to her safety net of Richard Marx, she went, but not before telling everyone I was a Satan worshipper.

The band in question was Condition, Montreal masters of ghoulish psychobilly, horror hops and creepy dance jives. Montreal in the 90s and especially the 80s was well known for its garage and psychobilly scenes, and for some reason Condition never really stood out, at least not to my knowledge, something I fail to understand given their amazing material and, of course, singer. To this day, I have rarely met anyone in Montreal who has heard of them. They recorded three albums throughout their career, all very hard to find, and the album featured here is “Swamp Walk”, their 3rd and last one.

There is no doubt that Julia Gilmore, lead singer, was the main force behind the band. Her voice was unique and her vocal techniques hinted towards Jazz more than pop. She moved to Montreal in the 80s from New Hampshire to study art at Concordia University, and today is an accomplished painter. Other band members were Slim Lanthier and Vinny Vezina.

I first saw Condition on television at the age of 15 or 16, when I lived with my parents in St-Clin-Clin des Moeux-Moeux, PQ. My very impressionable young self was suddenly glued to my television set as I saw a creepy but beautiful Julia Gilmore sing the dramatic and, let’s face it, scary as fuck Beat my Daddy to the Grave on primetime Quebec TV, a surreal moment if there ever was one. If I remember correctly, she wore a thorned vintage dress and had fake blood dripping from her mouth as she sang.

Condition were my first taste of Montreal’s bubbling underground scene and later when I got my first radio show on CISM, I played the living daylights out of this record (which I’m sure you can tell from the very used record cover in the above photo). The album even appealed to my mother, who enjoyed their covers of “Runaway” and “Caravan”. Despite the dark undertones, some of these tracks are simply gorgeous, such as Ghost Train or the title track Swamp Walk. The album was recorded at Beat Studio, in Berlin.

For those of you who would like to discover more forgotten Montréal/Québec underground music, I would urge you to visit my friend Sébastien’s wonderful blog “Patrimoine PQ” for his series on forgotten Québec underground music.

Happy Halloween, kiddies!

Condition – Beat my Daddy to the Grave
Condition – Ghost Train
Condition – Swamp Walk
Condition – Bop or Drop

Halloween Treat #2: Spooky Sounds & Scary Tales from Winchell’s Donuts

I was going to post something completely different for today’s 2nd Halloween audio freebie, but then I spotted *this* little gem lying around in our music room and decided this would be a lot more fun! I love all the screaming, novelty goofball Halloween 60s tracks as much as anyone else, but product music oddities such as this one also entertain me to no end. I can’t say I’m very familiar with Winchell’s Donuts as I don’t think they ever crossed the border to Canada, but I’m sure I haven’t missed out on much.

This record, I should point out, is brought to you today by the man with whom I share, among many other things, a record collection: Mr. Otis Fodder. Even the more special, Otis still remembers going to Winchell’s Donuts as a child around Halloween time with his mom, getting the record with a box of donuts, bringing it home and listening to it. Which is quite amazing, because all the records I had as a child have certainly not been subject to the same, attentive care as this one!

Otis also included the track in his infamous 2 volume Halloween CD-series called “Ghouls With Attitude“, a compilation that has travelled all over the Internet since its release in 2004. Shockingly, Otis never kept a copy, and while trying to find a copy online today we came across a blogger who recently posted both volumes, which I’m happy to report you can download here and here).

The record, in a nutshell, has a Vincent Price-like voice actor telling a “scary” story to children (who don’t seem the least bit scared or impressed). Mr Creepy voice actor makes it very difficult not to cringe or laugh at his not-so-subtle product placement at the end of the story, when he tells the children that “Winchell’s Donuts does magic things to your mouth”.
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Note to self: start using words like “flame retardant” more in conversations.

Waaaaatch oooout for ghooooooosts!!

Winchell’s Donuts Spooky Sounds & Scary Tales MP3

Halloween treat #1: Wilfrid Du Pont de la Carpe

In an effort to be original, I decided to offer a few Halloween treats to the world, every day until this Saturday! Cue applause!

I love every freak singer that Halloween has ever produced! From John Zacherley to everyone’s hero Screaming Lord Sutch, it seems that putting on a cape and causing hilarious mayhem has become a lost art.

Our first weirdo du jour hails from France. I bet you didn’t know France had it’s very own caped freak, huh? Fear not, neither did anyone else!

My many efforts to find out who this Wilfrid Du Pont de la Carpe is have been fruitless. The only hint the record gives us is that both songs have been written and adapted by Frank Gérald, who famously wrote songs with Pierre Delanoë, including a lot of stuff from Les Parisiennes, Françoise Hardy (Le premier bonheur du jour) and countless French classics. Could it be that Wilfrid is Frank, and vice-versa? Is life really that simple?

Another enigma that I hope someone will be able to help with concerns the song I am featuring today: “L’arrière petit-fils de Frankenstein” (Frankenstein’s great grandson). The record suggests that this is a French adaptation. Does anyone know what the original is and who sang it? The single is from 1975.

As someone who grew up watching French TV and cartoons, Wilfrid’s voice sounds very familiar, and I wouldn’t be surprised to learn he was a voice actor, like Monique Thubert.

Wilfrid’s ultimate tactics to scare the beejeezus out of you, besides the fact that he’s Frankenstein’s great grandson, are exagerated, outlandish uses of “Moooaaa-aaa-aaa-aaa” and “Eee-eee-haaa-aaaaaa”.

Sleep tight!

Wilfrid Du Pont de la Carpe – L’arrière petit-fils de Frankenstein