Zombina and the Skeletones

Horror in the same vain (or vein) as, say, The Munsters.

Zombina and the Skeletones, a horror-themed Pop Punk band from Liverpool, England, began in 1998 when Zombina and songwriter Doc Horror partnered up as teenagers to create a band called The Deformed. Legend has it that they changed their name at one of their first shows, coming up with their current moniker backstage as a reference to Josie and the Pussy Cats and allowing the audience to vote on the proposed change. They have since released five albums and numerous EPs and singles, with Zombina and Doc Horror being the only consistent members.

Their music typically takes inspiration from various B Movies, often from horror and science fiction. Their specific sound often blends pop elements from the 1950s and 1980s, giving them a following amongst fans of horror punk, gothic and psychobilly, among others.

Discography:

• Taste the Blood of Zombina and the Skeletones (2002)
• Death Valley High (2006)
  • Their one and only Concept Album.
• Monsters on 45 (2006)
  • This is a compilation of songs from earlier EPs and singles.
• Out of the Crypt and Into Your Heart (2008)
• Charnel House Rock (2011)

Zombina and the Skeletones provides examples of the following tropes:

• Anti-Love Song: "Counting on Your Suicide".
• Badass Boast: "King of the Ring" is sung from the point of view of a boxer.
• Concept Album: Death Valley High was originally meant to be a movie, but the band was unable to scrape together the funds to make it happen. It tells the story of high school outcast Janie Spencer, who is love-lorn for the popular kid (who is also a mad scientist) and is rejected, so she shoots up the school with a dissolvo ray.
• Creepy Doll: "That Doll Tried to Kill Me".
• Death by Mocking: Most of the students at Janie's high school in Death Valley High get their comeuppance:

Said that she was getting tired,
Of people laughing all the time.
And the local boys all pulled her hair,
And they sent her letter bombs.

• Hidden Track: "Something Weird", added to the tail end of the album Out of the Crypt.
• Humanoid Abomination: "Spring-Heeled Jack".
• Human Popsicle: "Staci Stasis" is a love song from the narrator to the title character, who is frozen in suspended animation somewhere in space.
• The Song Before the Storm: "The Waiting" from Death Valley High, coming just before Janie shoots up her school with the dissolvo ray.
• Stage Names: Zombina Venus Hatchett and Doc Horror are the constant members of the band. Other band members include X-Ray Speck, Ben Durr Digo, and Kal Kthulu.
• Teenage Death Songs: Or a teenage undeath song: "Nobody Likes You When You're Dead".
• Theremin: One of these is used in a few of their songs, notably "Staci Stasis".
• "The Villain Sucks" Song: From Death Valley High, the song "Villain" is a warning to the heroine to stay away from the school's resident mad scientist.