Rue
Morgue Magazine
Halloween
issue 2004
________________________________________________________________
Phil Dirt's review of Murder on Beaver Street
"Route
66 Killers play a unique brand of cautiously optimistic music
that occasionally verges on depressing, yet always fascinates
and entertains. They write very good instrumentals with solid
melodies. They have learned their three R's, playing with
restraint, resignation and reverb. Both bands are highly original."
"Ballade
Of The Headless Horseman" ****
This
is a fine instro with a bit of a European flair, or maybe
spaghetti western. Pure surf sound wise, "Ballade Of
The Headless Horseman" is an interesting mid tempo tune
with a catchy if slightly gloomy melody. A bit cowboy, rhythmic
and delicate, with glissandoes and ringing chords. The melody
is a bit Spanish, surf rich, and very effective out front.
Slightly sad, cool and restrained. A very nice track.
Horror Surf Instrumental Stereo
"Dia de
Los Muertos" ****
Some
Spanish influences, some classic surfisms, a bit of drama,
and a sense of adventure come together in this instro. Double
picked flurries and castanets. Very cool. "Dia De Los
Muertos" ("Day Of The Dead") has been used
for three very different intros, the other two being from
the Civil Tones and the Magnetic IV.
Horror Surf Instrumental Stereo
"Murder
On Beaver Street" ****(click
to listen)
This
mid tempo track is catchy like Dick Dale's "The Victor"
is, but it's also more melodic and less intense. "Murder
On Beaver Street" is an amazing piece of work, original
and intriguing.
Horror Surf Instrumental Stereo
"The
Jabervock" ****(click
to listen)
Verging
on optimistic, "The Jabervock" is cautious like
a rider on an uncertain swell. Some drama, some guitar interplay
(twin leads in essence), and lots of double picked reverbed
coolness. A fine original track.
Horror Surf Instrumental Stereo
"Monsterbation"
**** (click
to listen)
A
little like a Mark Brodie song, "Monsterbation"
sports an interesting melody structure and similar restrained
optimism. Tribal, a little dangerous, and rhythmic. Rhythmic
and optimistic, delicate and 'verby. Tribal drums and long
shallow whammy chords in the break.
Horror Surf Instrumental Stereo
"El Conquistador"
****
A
slowly evolving melody line and dramatic ringing Spanish chords
eventually give way to faster track with a circular riff and
dual guitar lines. Rich double picking against chords and
a thumping beat. This is not the Chantays' song.
Horror Surf Instrumental Stereo
"Baba
Yaga" ****(click
to listen)
A
mid tempo song with some chunk and some Spanish adventure.
Moody yet a little forward looking, "Baba Yaga"
has a fine melody line and interesting arrangement. Nice track!
Horror Surf Instrumental Stereo
"The Mummy's
Curse" ****
Slow
shimmering vibrato sadly brings the wrapped one back from
dust. A fine Middle eastern melody is double picked delicately
in this moody song. Ringing chords, misty nights, a few Spanish
riffs, and we're back to the oasis. A very cool song!
Horror Surf Instrumental Stereo
"Ghoul
Tango" ****
"Ghoul
Tango" is on the sad side, but also has a the sense of
pressing on that so many Eastern European folk melodies have.
Resignation to that inevitable killer wave that's appearing
on the horizon outside. Excellent!
Horror Surf Instrumental Stereo
"Shallow
Grave" ****(click
to listen)
Moody
and swimming in long whammy chords, "Shallow Grave"
also seems to have a get through it underbelly. The melody
line is really quite good.
Horror Surf Instrumental Stereo
"Masque
Of The Red Death" ****
"Masque
Of The Red Death" is like looking a mayhem on the screen
- it's detached from the real horror it portrays. This is
a mysterious and rich surf song with lots of low down notes
and unfounded optimism.
Horror Surf Instrumental Stereo
"Tale
Of The Drunken Prosecutor" ****(click
to listen)
the
introduction to "Tale Of The Drunken Prospector"
is artful feeling with a moody sadness. The song itself sports
a cowboy galloping rhythm and sadly playful melody. While
it's catchy, it's not uplifting, yet it's not depressing either.
Horror Surf Instrumental Stereo
"The Bandito"
*****
Spanish
Dick Dale runs, a splashy melody, and some heavy double picking
- perhaps the harshest track here. Energy and power, with
a fine melody. "The Bandito" borders on spectacular.
Horror Surf Instrumental Stereo
"Death,
Death, Death" ****
This
slow moving surf dirge verges on depressing through long slow
stereo notes in the intro. the song itself is more Spanish
and almost bouncy. A great beat and rhythm runs under a moody
and moving melody.
Horror Surf Instrumental Stereo
"The
Devil's Martini" **** (click to listen)
"The
Devil's Martini" has a great rhythm and melody. It's
delicate and pretty, yet powerful. Spanish influences, reverb,
double picking, splash chords, and moody tone.
Horror Surf Instrumental Stereo
Phil
Dirt - Reverb Central
________________________________________________________________
The
band bio / onesheet says it all, and pretty well on the nose
too. Not many other ways to describe this other than dark,
instrumental surf inspired by the likes of The Ventures, Dick
Dale and other instrosurf bands of the late 1960s. I do have
to say that The Route 66 Killers add a little to the sound
via horror movie soundtrack elements and even touch of country
music and Spanish flamenco. With the new wave of greased-back
hair and rolled up sleeves this will win big, maybe even with
the vintage car rallies or surf movie conventions. They kind
of have a built-in market, but I think much of this is well
enough to stand on its own outside of a specific fad of the
times. The album title has got to go. "Slit Street",
or "T & A Avenue" would have even sounded more
mature.
Feast
of Hate and Fear July 2005
________________________________________________________________
The
Route 66 Killers are a quartet of wodka slurpin’ Russkies
who escaped from a Gulag in Siberia by furiously burrowing
due south with wooden spoons. Somehow, they managed to end
up in the Arizona desert, which must have come as quite a
culture shock for ‘em. Probably for the locals, too.
As you can imagine, when you mix Russians with the great southwest,
it’s only a matter of time before they form a surf band,
and here are the creepy-crawly results. The R66 Killahs eschew
the endless Count Yorga soundbites and werewolf howls usually
littered throughout gimmicky modern horror-surf records, and
just let the riffs roll like big, black waves of summertime
gloom until you’re half-drowned in the spooky, blood-soaked
super-fuzz. Even with the shock-show titles (“Monsturbation”,
“Death, Death, Death”, “Ghoul Tango”),
there’s a remarkable restraint in these vintage-sounding
instrumentals, with just subtle hints of Flamenco guitar or
hopped-up ‘billy rhythms to spice the stew. They are
also infused with this very strange sort of melancholy, which
is entirely the point, but it’s still pretty funny that
a buncha phony Russians reusing 40 year old Ventures riffs
can evoke more of a somber mood than half those corpse-painted
goons in Norway who, after all, have actually KILLED people.
The Route 66 Killers may not be the sickest surfers of ‘em
all, but they’d sound awesome playing at Davey Allan’s
funeral.
Sleazegrinder
July 2005
________________________________________________________________
Hmmm...
horror and sci-fi inspired instrumental 60s Surf music...
there seems to be quite a bit of it floating around these
days. However, if it was all this much fun, I wouldn't mind
if the upswing in this genre's output lasted for a long, long
time. This is the debut offering from this Arizona band of
murderous ghouls, and it's pretty damn catchy! It's sort of
like the audio answer to the question, "what would happen
if you mashed every cool 60s b-movie into one entity"?
Can't get your head around that? Well, think of it this way...
If you were to take Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Westerns, Romero's
"Night of The Living Dead", James Coburn's "Flint"
films, Dean Martin's "Matt Helm" flicks, and Bruce
Brown"s "The Endless Summer" and then throw
them all in a blender with a dash of Flamenco and a pinch
o' Country, you'd have the sound of The Route 66 Killers.
Ok, that all might sound a little convoluted, but what we
have here are fifteen (plus one hidden) fun, yet dark Surf
ditties that sway between speedy and mid-paced rhythms. The
whole thing just seems to scream "summer soundtrack"
for all you hipster, martini-drinking zombies out there that
like to hang out at the beach, and maybe catch the occasional
wave or two. This is the sort of sound that would probably
give Quentin Tarantino a 2-day long boner. Cool stuff!
RATING = 7.5 Instrumental Surf (Released 2004)
Urotsukidoji's
Pad June 2005
________________________________________________________________
Normally
I dread checking the mail as it's usually bills and junk,
but once in a while something really cool shows up, and Monday
shall be remembered as one of those occasions.
From
the bio upon their website, "The music of the Route 66
Killers is dark instrumental surf. When listened to long enough,
the listener/victim slowly and painfully dies. However, there
have been reports of the deceased coming back from the dead
and craving human flesh.
It is assumed that this marauding gang of murderers currently
resides in Flagstaff Arizona, the focal point of an ongoing
manhunt since their arrival here. If you have any information
leading to the arrest of these madmen, please lock your doors
and contact the local authorities at once."
Well,
that sounds like a good fit with what we dig here at the crypt.
I popped in the cd, rolled down the windows, and tore ass
through town, It's that sort of joyous delinquency inducing
spook-surf that turns feet to lead when you've got a V8 in
front and a posi in the back.
I
can't really single out one track or another as being better
or worse. They've got the sound down tight, and it's consistent
from start to finish. It's great background while you're working,
and you can listen to it several times through easily before
remembering it's on repeat. Definitely recommend checking
this album out.
The
Fiendish Files of the Black Order June 2005
________________________________________________________________
~Route
66 Killers' Interview: February 2nd-8th 2006 The Lumberjack~
According to their
official biography, the Route 66 Killers, a local band, formed
in 2000 when its members all escaped from a Siberian maximum-security
prison for the criminally insane. When interview by The Lumberjack
about the secrets of their swaggering brand of dark instrumental
music, the band stood true to their story.
Sergei Fleminkov,
lead guitarist and vocalist, said the band members cannot
release their real names because they are trying to escape
the authorities' radar by laying low in Flagstaff. But using
their nicknames, the Route 66 Killers are comprised of Fleminkov,
Ivan Gryohznii on rhythm guitar, Katarina Molotova on bass
and background vocals and Sasha Varvarski on drums.
The Route 66 Killers
have played in various venues across Flagstaff and band members
said the local scene has its highs and its lows.
"Flagstaff
has a good music scene; however, we're not big fans of hippie
jam music, which seem to abound here," Fleminkov said.
"It's small enough that the Russian authorities can't
find us, which is a plus. It's also a hot spot for touring
bands, so many of them e-mail us, often trying to get gigs
here. This is good, seeing we can usually trade off when we
hit the road. It's bad because we can't always book shows
when we want."
In addition to
local gigs, these crazy Russian assassins have had many other
successes. Their debut release, Murder on Beaver Street, features
songs with titles such as "Monsterbation," "Baba
Yaga" and "The Mummy's Curse."
Even though Flagstaff
is a land of alternative music, Fleminkov said playing instrumental
music was completely normal. "Surf is a genre that already
has an evil undertone - we just thought we'd exploit it,"
Fleminkov said. "The Beach Boys made it so happy it was
scary; we just wanted to do the opposite."
This year, they
have many upcoming shows and a European world tour planned.
According to the band, their shows are usually an experience
not to be missed. "They're (the shows) are usually really
fun,but once in a blue moon somebody dies," the band
members said in a recent group e-mail. "We still haven't
figured out for sure why this happens, but some speculate
the murders are committed by a werewolf living in Flagstaff."
Fleminkov said
the assassins can get wild during their performances. "Sasha
usually climbs his drums, Katerina has been known to waste
hippies in the audience, Vanya can beat anyone in a staring
contest, and - I, why don't you just come to a show a see
for yourself?" Fleminkov said.
When The Lumberjack
staff asked the Route 66 Killers how they cam up with their
unbelievable biography and image, they all replied the same.
"We didn't come up with it," said the undercover
rebels. "We lived it."
Flagstaff music
lovers can check out this zany band online and at their many
local shows. For more information on The Route 66 Killers,
go to www.route66killers.com or check out their MySpace profile
at www.myspace.com/route66killers.
~Michelle Talisma
- The Lumberjack
