Provided by Bootzilla RecordsCincinnati native and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Bootsy Collins has teamed up with longtime collaborator and experimental guitar superhero Buckethead for a Funk Rock banger version of the Halloween classic “Monster Mash.” The duo turns the song into their own, with heavy riffs and funky grooves, plus Bootsy’s vocals, which are eerily similar to Bobby Boris Pickett’s on the original version.
Rolling Stone helped premiere the clip — directed by Collins’ son, Ouiwey Collins, who also plays drums on the song — this morning.
The track and video also feature Jazz singer Emmaline Campbell, who studied music at Cincinnati’s CCM and performed regularly on the local club scene during her time in the Queen City. Campbell is now based in Chicago and recently released her debut EP, All My Sweetest Dreams, which was funded by a Kickstarter campaign and her large social media following. Campbell is returning to Cincinnati on Nov. 13 for a show at The Redmoor in Mount Lookout. (Visit emmalineofficial.com for more on Campbell).
“I believe I was 11 years old and was a big Boris Karloff fan-junkie. In fact, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney and Vincent Price — all the big monsters — were my heroes,” Collins said in a statement to Rolling Stone. “When I heard ‘Monster Mash’ recorded by Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett in 1962, it became my all-time superhero theme song. I always wanted to record it, and do something special with it. Buckethead and I have been talking about it for over a decade, and I finally said we can’t wait any longer — let’s do the mash now! So I went to my lab late one night and funked some sheet up, and, boom!”
The song — released through Collins’ Bootzilla label — is available for streaming on most of the major platforms. And, yes, of course, it was instantly added to our “Weird/Funny/Crappy/Cool” Halloween playlist.
