(click for plain text)
Puerto Muerto - "Songs Of Muerto County" Album Released: 10 Jan 2006
They don't make movies like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre anymore. For all its chain-saw wounds and people hanging on meat hooks, the movie is mostly a triumph of atmosphere. As creepy as Leatherface was, the Sawyer house -- filled with odd taxidermy, bone chairs and a grandpa who couldn't move but could drink blood -- was the real shocker in the film.
But something was missing from that atmosphere: music. Now that's changed, sort of, thanks to Puerto Muerto. The band, whose anachronistic sound and anarchic tales have inspired the label "punk folk," just completed recording Songs of Muerto County, a "lost" soundtrack to the classic film. Puerto Muerto is made up of St. Louisans Tim Kelley (guitarist/vocalist) and Christa Meyer (drummer/vocalist). With albums titled Your Bloated Corpse Has Washed Ashore and See You in Hell, it isn't surprising that their take on American tradition is a little creepy.
Fire Records, Puerto Muerto's record label, suggested the duo re-record the score to the '70s British horror classic The Wicker Man. "But it didn't make a lot of sense," says Kelley, "because we're American, and it's got kind of a Scottish/English/fairies kind of bent. We thought about it and realized that the Texas Chain Saw Massacre didn't have much of a score. The director originally had just added a bunch of percussion to it. So we thought: Why don't we try that?"
The result doesn't sound like one might expect: no screeching strings or ominous rumbles. The songs are gorgeous and spare, including one beautiful waltz-time ballad -- perhaps some of the unlikeliest words to be attached to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The soundtrack portrays the mood of the old spaghetti westerns, which was Puerto Muerto's intent.
"We wanted it to be an album on its own," Kelley says. "We wanted to be able to bring out some of the more romantic aspects of the movie. If you watch some of the cinematography, it's sort of epic, with lots of beautiful landscapes. We wanted to take it away from being thought of as a slasher and bring up some of the aspects that don't get noticed."
The problem with Songs is that is does work as a stand-alone album, so much so that it would be difficult to match the songs to the movie at home. But Kelley hopes to be able to show people how the soundtrack measures up in the future.
"We made a DVD with the music on it," Kelley says. "If we're going to be able to get that to people, that would be great. As it is, you really can't line [the album] up with the movie."
There's another way to hear the music with the film. The duo will be hitting English theaters later this summer to play their soundtrack as the movie screens above them.
And this time there'll be something new for fans in addition to the new songs: a fuller percussion section. "Christa is going to be playing a few more drums than she usually does," Kelley says. "She used to just bang on one, but she's actually got a little kit now."
But something was missing from that atmosphere: music. Now that's changed, sort of, thanks to Puerto Muerto. The band, whose anachronistic sound and anarchic tales have inspired the label "punk folk," just completed recording Songs of Muerto County, a "lost" soundtrack to the classic film. Puerto Muerto is made up of St. Louisans Tim Kelley (guitarist/vocalist) and Christa Meyer (drummer/vocalist). With albums titled Your Bloated Corpse Has Washed Ashore and See You in Hell, it isn't surprising that their take on American tradition is a little creepy.
Fire Records, Puerto Muerto's record label, suggested the duo re-record the score to the '70s British horror classic The Wicker Man. "But it didn't make a lot of sense," says Kelley, "because we're American, and it's got kind of a Scottish/English/fairies kind of bent. We thought about it and realized that the Texas Chain Saw Massacre didn't have much of a score. The director originally had just added a bunch of percussion to it. So we thought: Why don't we try that?"
The result doesn't sound like one might expect: no screeching strings or ominous rumbles. The songs are gorgeous and spare, including one beautiful waltz-time ballad -- perhaps some of the unlikeliest words to be attached to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The soundtrack portrays the mood of the old spaghetti westerns, which was Puerto Muerto's intent.
"We wanted it to be an album on its own," Kelley says. "We wanted to be able to bring out some of the more romantic aspects of the movie. If you watch some of the cinematography, it's sort of epic, with lots of beautiful landscapes. We wanted to take it away from being thought of as a slasher and bring up some of the aspects that don't get noticed."
The problem with Songs is that is does work as a stand-alone album, so much so that it would be difficult to match the songs to the movie at home. But Kelley hopes to be able to show people how the soundtrack measures up in the future.
"We made a DVD with the music on it," Kelley says. "If we're going to be able to get that to people, that would be great. As it is, you really can't line [the album] up with the movie."
There's another way to hear the music with the film. The duo will be hitting English theaters later this summer to play their soundtrack as the movie screens above them.
And this time there'll be something new for fans in addition to the new songs: a fuller percussion section. "Christa is going to be playing a few more drums than she usually does," Kelley says. "She used to just bang on one, but she's actually got a little kit now."