Today's song is from a band that came from my old home town of Lancaster. Dr And The Crippens formed in 1987 and were together for around 4 years during which time they gained plenty of attention for their live shows in which the killer hardcore tunes would be complimented by an array of flamboyant costumes and stage props (including an exploding head!).
Recording wise, they released the albums Fired From The Circus (1998) and Raphanadosis (1989), both on Manic Ears Records. There was also the 1992 Live Hearts album which compiled various live performances from the previous year's German tour. Amongst their other releases were the Live ep, the Avant Gardening 12", a Japanese split ep with Juntess and 1991's Turn To Gas 7" (this latter ep featured a great version of The Clash's I'm So Bored With The USA). They also recorded a couple of well received John Peel Sessions.
Earlier this year, Boss Tunage reissued Cabaret Style : Singles Unreleased Live, a lovingly compiled collection of both studio and live tracks. You can find out more here : http://bosstuneage.bigcartel.com/product/doctor-and-the-crippens-cabaret-style-singles-unreleased-live-cd
Members of the band included the splendidly named Max Von Reinheart (vocals), Tom Crippen (guitar/vocals), Wayne Crippenski (bass/vocals), Jesus Van Gogh (drums/vocals), BB Kablamo (drums) and Emily Danger (who guested as vocalist on today's song and who has a band named after her).
Nowadays, bassist Wayne Crippenski has reverted to plain old Wayne Elliott but he was kind enough to write a piece about the song you'll see posted below...
"Funny how Freezer became our most popular song as we only put it back in the set about 3 weeks before we recorded Fired From The Circus. The lyrics were written by me after a time when I'd got half way to the shop to buy some grub and remembered I hadn't looked in the freezer. It's loosely based on the horror movie Asylum where dismembered body parts are stored in a chest freezer. I was stockpiling Ramones style lyrics with the aim of putting something in that style together. The tune was written by our original guitarist/vocalist Andy Fox. He'd only heard a couple of da brudders tunes prior to joining so we lent him their first 3 albums, gave him some lyrics and off he went. He left the band around the time co-founder Ben and I discovered Poison Idea and went more HC.
The female vocalist on Freezer was a French girl called Geraldine that we met down the pub. She said that she was in a band so we asked her along to the studio not realising she was a bass player not a vocalist. Cracking job she did though! Live it became a sing a long fave and is almost a punk standard in the North West these days with several bands covering it in their sets. D Liberate are the latest and earned themselves a repeat gig recently when the promoter heard them soundcheck with it. Just need Green Day to do it now as the publishing cash would be handy!"
Coming soon will be a list of Wayne's 10 favourite songs but until then, this is probably his best known, Don't Look In The Freezer.....
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