Happy Halloween! Check out ‘Wake The Dead’ the latest single from for ska-goth (skath?) collective Grave Danger!

The band says, “With ‘Wake The Dead’ we wanted a big, menacing sound, worthy of the Lovecraftian horror that inspired it, to balance out the fun, bouncy horn parts that we love to write. We had a great time working to get the vibe just right for this monstrous love letter to coffee.”

As high school students in Chicago’s suburbs, David Schwantes and Dane Erbach spent the bulk of their gym class brainstorming fake bands with their friends in an attempt to avoid whatever physical despair their PE teachers had in store for them that day. These bands—which included a death metal band called Throbbing Reaper and a ‘80s hair metal rockers Live Wire—never truly coalesced outside of their imaginations despite complete lineups and exhaustive discographies. The idea of a “skath” band didn’t occur to Schwantes and Erbach until fifteen years later, but it stems from the same strange place: What would a goth ska band sound like, one combined the Misfits’s aesthetic with Reel Big Fish’s goofball schtick? The idea died quickly, another quirky idea that could have fun if there were enough hours in the day. Neither Schwantes nor Erbach were strangers to ska and punk music—both were in a ska band in college and worked together on an online database for midwest ska bands in the early 2000s. Both also played pop-punk together until Erbach turned toward other creative endeavors and Schwantes moved to San Francisco. That’s when the whole skath idea crawled out of its tomb and stumbled zombie-like back into their imaginations. Schwantes started writing songs while Erbach put together a team of family and friends to fill in vocals, horns, and organs. They sent recordings and ideas back and forth halfway across the continental United States, intent on seeing this idea through.

Grave Danger Is:

Dave Schwantes – guitars, bass, keyboards, tenor sax, bari sax, backing vocals

Dane Erbach – drums

Chris Marcanti – vocals

Margaret Miller – trombone

Andy Miller – trumpet

Emily Erbach – theremin