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Heathen Apostles’ Bank Robber Music Video Anniversary

Heathen Apostles' bank robber music video

Today marks the eighth anniversary of the Heathen Apostles’ bank robber music video for their song “Fool’s Gold.” Released in 2015, this dark and cinematic video transports us back to the Depression era, where bank robbers are seeking refuge in a fortune teller’s lair after a heist. “Fool’s Gold” is undoubtedly one of their most popular songs, and the music video took it to another level. The video was directed by the band and the song was produced by Chopper Franklin. The video follows a gang of bank robbers as they seek refuge in a mysterious and otherworldly lair. The fate of these robbers is determined by Mather Louth’s fortune teller character, who has a magical connection to the spirits of the underworld.

The use of shadows, light, and symbolism further adds to the video’s atmospheric and eerie ambiance. The video shows us the consequences of greed and violence, as the robbers who seek to escape with their loot end up trapped in a cycle of fear. Louth’s fortune teller character represents a higher power that has the power to judge and punish, much like the spirits of the afterlife.

Heathen Apostles' bank robber music video

It’s a testament to the talent and creativity of the Heathen Apostles and their collaborators who brought it to life. The band continues to release new and exciting music that pushes the boundaries with their Gothic Americana style, so hold tight to see what they have in store in the future.

Directed by The Heathen Apostles.
Director of Photography, Still Photography: Lawrence Drayton
Band footage shot by Daniel DeLeon
Makeup: Alexia Petre
Wardrobe: Nicole Loretta of Paper Moon Vintage
Henna: Kelly Jurado
Locations: Marsak Manor (thanks Nathan & Nicole) and South Bay Customs
Fool’s Gold written by Louth/Franklin, produced & mixed by Chopper Franklin at the Devil’s Doghouse, Echo Park, Ca.

© 2015 Ratchet Blade Records

June 16, 2023 | Categories: Uncategorized | Comments Off on Heathen Apostles’ Bank Robber Music Video Anniversary

The Rustic Stomp Festival – Gothic Western Festival

Rustic Roots - Gothic Western HoedownThe Rustic Stomp, Dorset’s finest Roots Festival is bringing together a plethora of local, national and international artists to give you the finest bluegrass, hoedown, blues, swamp stomp, country-based festival, with tractors, that money can buy. Three days of music and merriment are all wrapped within the Rustic aesthetic. This year’s Rustic Stomp will also include historic vehicles and a Well Bean hub within the festival arena. This year’s gothic western festival brings together three of the Crawdaddy festival brands under one roof, as it were. The Wonky Donk stage will feature the best of hoedown, country and hillbilly music. The Dark Holler stage takes a slightly, well, darker comedic look at life and the Organford stage is a more accessible, easy listening venue.

Heathen Apostles - Gothic Western HoedownThe event opens up on a ticketed event headlined by local foot-stompers The Jimmy Hillbillies throwing down their Dorset Hoedown for the masses. Friday night features the mighty Frank from Blue Velvet from Hastings and taking the Roots scene by storm, local skiffle kings Quinn’s Quinney, as well as Burg and the Vagabond Choir and festival favourites The Curst Sons. Saturday has a real heavy weight feel to it with international superstars the Heathen Apostles featuring ex-Cramps member Chopper Franklin, headlining the event. Texas Swing outfit the Bootheel Playboys, Dead Horse Bay, a plethora of local artists on the Dungaville Stage and London’s finest banjo player and builder Flatfoot Johnny. Sunday takes a stronger turn towards the genre of Country with the amazing Sarah Vista headlining.

Gothic Western hoedown The history of the Rustic Stomp goes back over 10 years, when Hawkeye Houlihan and some friends put on a little festival at the Donkey Sanctuary at Home Farm, Lytchet. The aim then was to help rescue donkeys by putting on some great rustic music that people would love. Well, the donkeys are rescued now and the festival is growing, its aim to put the Dorset ‘roots’ scene on the map. The festival is also looking to grow and has moved to a new, more accessible site at Pike’s Farm, Organford. “Each year we are aiming to increase the accessibility of this type of music to a wider audience and promote the local artists that provide the backbone to the scene, as well as bring in some top-ranking national and international stars” says Hawkeye.

The Rustic Stomp is on from the evening of Thursday 13th July until Sunday 16th July and takes place at Pikes Farm, Organford, Dorset. Weekend tickets are £86.40, day tickets from £27.50.

April 12, 2023 | Categories: Live Dates | Comments Off on The Rustic Stomp Festival – Gothic Western Festival

“The Reckoning” Heavy Western Music Video Anniversary

Heathen Apostles - Heavy Western music10 years ago today the Heathen Apostles put out their first music video, The Reckoning. The band filmed the Heavy Western music video before they played their first show, when the Heathen Apostles were just the OG trio of Mather Louth, Chopper Franklin and Thomas Lorioux. It’s the first thing they put out so this is pretty much the 10th anniversary of the band, they’ve really been hard at it non-stop. Violinist Luis Mascaro joined just after this, they’ve put out 6 albums, several EPs and singles, toured Europe several times and are heading to the UK in July. While Corporate Music has been conglomerating (and cannibalizing) itself, they’ve managed to fly under the radar, doin’ their thing (which the band admits ain’t for everybody). Thanks to all past band members, and all that have supported us; whether it’s one download, or buying every release and piece of merch the Heathen Apostles have had for sale. Click HERE to watch The Reckoning video.

Heathen Apostles - Heavy Western music

Click HERE to purchase the CD, to purchase it on iTunes click HERE, for Amazon click HERE.
Directed by the Heathen Apostles
Featuring Edward Colver as the Demonic Preacher.
Production assistance by Monica Blair and Thai Knight. Special thanks to Karin Swinney.

The Reckoning written by Louth/Franklin
Produced & mixed by Chopper Franklin at the Devil’s Doghouse, Echo Park, Ca.
© 2013 Ratchet Blade Records

March 31, 2023 | Categories: Video | Tags: | Comments Off on “The Reckoning” Heavy Western Music Video Anniversary

Heathen Apostles CDs With Discount International Shipping

The Heathen Apostles and Ratchet Blade Records are aware of the insane International shipping charges and and have worked with their on-demand supplier to bring a cost efficient CD to international fans. They are offering a jewel case edition of all Heathen Apostles CDs, complete with a full color 2 panel insert, back cover and disc with discount International shipping. These are shipping straight from the manufacturer so they ship separately from any other items in your order, but if you want these albums with just $6 shipping (as opposed to $17+ shipping for the digipak editions) this is the way to go. The CD orders also include a full digital download of the album. The albums that are a part of this deal are (click HERE to order):

Heathen Apostles Discount International ShippingBOOT HILL HYMNAL – “The Heathen Apostles’ debut release, Boot Hill Hymnal, seeks to answer a question posed long ago by Blind Willie Johnson- just what is the soul of a man? (…Or, as the case may be here, a woman with a thousand-yard stare.) The resulting collection of songs is complex, catchy, and wholly cohesive to the Apostles’ ghost town.”

Heathen Apostles Discount International ShippingFIRE TO THE FUSE – “The Roots of Heathen Apostles has a dark current that roars through dense gothic tales surround by mountain music, back alley Jazz, murderous Americana, and bone-chilling Folk. The latest release from Heathen Apostles, Fire to the Fuse, lights the primeval blackness of the tales.”

Heathen Apostles CD ordersREQUIEM FOR A REMIX – “Heathen Apostles remix album Requiem For A Remix features remixes by Chopper Franklin, Almighty Watching and the Phantom of the Black Hills, also a cover of the Echo & the Bunnymen classic The Killing Moon, as well as a Mather Louth demo of Boot Hill Hymnal‘s The Dark Pines.”

Heathen Apostles Discount International ShippingBLOODGRASS VOL. I & II –  “A full-length which combines the band’s Bloodgrass EPs, marks a significant point in the evolution of their sound. Call their sound what you will – gothic Americana, folk noir, doom country – but it cannot be denied that it successfully fuses the styles of bygone eras with those of today’s fringe music.”

Heathen Apostles CD ordersDUST TO DUST – “With their iconic blend of Gothic aesthetics and Americana influences, Heathen Apostles set out to create a sound that’s easy to describe as one-of-a-kind. The group’s music is as charismatic as the band’s lush dark aesthetics, bringing a cinematic edge to their sound.”

BLOODGRASS VOL. 3 & 4 – “This release fully respects the good tradition of Bloodgrass – as in the two previous numbered releases, it contains all the most colorful both in terms of genre and in terms of creativity by Heathen Apostles. The only thing that distinguishes the third part is a slight melancholy, sadness and thoughtfulness – but those are the times we are in.”

Heathen Apostles Discount International Shipping

March 21, 2023 | Categories: Releases | Tags: | Comments Off on Heathen Apostles CDs With Discount International Shipping

New Charley Horse Site – Cowpunk All-Star Band

A new website for the “cowpunk all-star band” Charley Horse has gone up, the band hasn’t played since the Nick Curran Fuck Cancer benefit show in 2011, so it is a great legacy site for them, you can visit charleyhorse.monster HERE. You can get the Charley Horse album Professional Sinners (on vinyl and digital) from Ratchet Blade Records HERE.

Charley Horse Site - Cowpunk All-Star Band

Charley Horse began in 1993 as an inventive and experimental rock n roll project featuring Sean Wheeler, Chopper Franklin and Mickey Petralia. The three locked themselves in their sonic laboratory and took old rockabilly & blues loops, added Hot Rod flick and Film Noir dialog clips & sound effects and topped it all off with gritty, dark lyrical ramblings that became 10 tales of life on the riled side, two of which (Back Down & We All Fall Down) ended up on a long out of print Hellnote Records 7” single. Unfortunately this Charley Horse band was called away from the project, Sean forming Throwrag, Chopper joining The Cramps and Mickey producing such hit makers as Beck, Rage Against the Machine and Peaches.

Charley Horse Site - Cowpunk All-Star BandFast forward 12 years to 2005 and these recordings are released as Unholy Roller on Acetate Records, featuring cover art by low brow artist Vince Ray. It was then that Sean & Chopper got together some friends to film the video for “Bad Ass Dad”, and Corey Parks (Nashville Pussy, Die Hunns), Rick Ballard and Dino Guerrero (The Hangmen) decided they had such a blast that they wanted to help unleash this fury upon an unsuspecting world. After a few American tours and a European jaunt the band entered into two recording studios (one with producer Cameron Webb of Motorhead and Social Distortion note) to slam away at their newly written material. In the end the band emerged with 10 more terrorizing titles ready for release, and booked another European tour. But this time the planets didn’t align for the gang, the tour was called off, and the Charley Horse members went off to wreak havoc in their own prospective ways.

In 2011 and Sean and Chopper decided that Charley Horse would bring forth a new record, and Professional Sinners came out as a Limited Edition, Screen Printed, Autographed & Numbered LP on Ratchet Blade Records.

Charley Horse Site - Cowpunk All-Star Band

January 13, 2023 | Categories: News | Tags: , | Comments Off on New Charley Horse Site – Cowpunk All-Star Band

“The Goodbye Family” Makes Best Animation Series List

Heathen Apostles Best Animation SeriesThe Goodbye Family has made the Vulture Magazine Top Ten list of the best animation series of 2022. The Gothic Western series was created by Lorin Morgan-Richards and features a theme song, as well as other music, from the Heathen Apostles. Heathen member Chopper Franklin also does the score and SFX, and he and vocalist Mather Louth are part of the show’s cast.

Willing to squash and stretch the television and streaming mediums to their limits, the best animated television of 2022 relishes in anticipation and payoff. Returning series such as Harley Quinn and The Owl House cater to their respective loyal fan bases by emphasizing strong character writing and earned emotional heft — even when it’s nestled in humor. A handful of new shows, including The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder and The Boys Presents: Diabolical, leverage the goodwill that came from titles that preceded them to craft stories and art that look radically different from what came before but still feel natural in context. A few debuts break new animated ground entirely, delivering to us the digital worlds of Pantheon and the fantasy realms of The Legend of Vox Machina for our eyeballs to feast on. Now that we’ve presented the year’s top animated films and (specifically, separately) its top anime series, here are the animated TV shows we couldn’t stop watching this year.

10. The Goodbye Family

Heathen Apostles Best Animation Series

The Goodbye Family is pretty different from every other show on this list. It’s a webtoon that looks as if it was made with MS Paint and centers a family of undertakers trying to eke out a living in a pen-scratched, gothic take on the Old West that’s fleshed out by rootsy Americana music and offbeat humor. Aside from the voices and music, it’s almost entirely made by creator Lorin Morgan-Richards, who based it off his “Weird West” comic of the same name. The Goodbye Family is extremely lo-fi but also unnervingly fun thanks to how it leans into the characters’ peculiarities and morbid humor. In one scene from the episode “The Seedy Snare,” matriarch Pyridine rattles off the Goodbyes’ list of payment options — “We take Gravepal, Renmo, and Coffin Bell wires, although crypt currency … I’m not sure about that one” — as another member of the family cheerily mops blood off the floor. The Goodbye Family is not for everyone, but it just might be for you, if you let it.

December 8, 2022 | Categories: News | Comments Off on “The Goodbye Family” Makes Best Animation Series List

New Mau Maus Website Launched

The new website for the notorious Los Angeles punk rock band the Mau Maus has launched, it’s new address is maumaus.monster. There you will be able to see photos, interviews and reviews going back to 1978, as well as links to deals on their music and merch. Check it all out HERE.

Mau Maus at Godzillas 1982

Mau Maus at Godzillas 1982

The Mau Maus official bio:

Everybody knows the Mau Maus. Whether it’s some story of a chaotic back-alley Hollywood show, or dark tales of crimes real or imagined, the Los Angeles punk rock scene wouldn’t have been the same without Rick Wilder and the nefarious group. Reveled and reviled, taking the raw energy of Iggy and the Stooges and infusing an unhealthy dose of James Brown jive, the original Mau Maus (Wilder, Greg Salva, Rod Donahue & Earl Washington) was forged at the original Los Angeles punk rock haven the Masque and sprang upon the emerging Hollywood scene in 1978. The 1981 line up was Wilder, Michael Livingston, Scott “Chopper” Franklin and Paul “Black” Mars, and the Mau Maus proceeded to record the incendiary Robby Krieger-produced Mad Dog Studio sessions and 2 songs for Hell Comes To Your House Vol. 2. A scene-stealing performance in the OJ Simpson detective movie “Cocaine and Blue Eyes” accented this “Joyride to the End of the World”…

The violence, the women, and yes, the drugs, might have seemed to get in the way of commercial success, but talent is talent and songs are songs, and upon listening to this record one realizes that with punk rock still in it’s infancy, here was a band that was already mixing a current fresh sound with elements of American roots music, something the Kinks, the Stones and the Animals managed to do in the 1960’s.

As the 20th century wound down, Wilder moved to New York City, Franklin joined The Cramps, Mars toured the world as a front man for LA Guns and Livingston formed… the Livingstons. Love ‘em or hate ‘em… they wouldn’t have it any other way.

Mau Maus

October 22, 2022 | Categories: News | Comments Off on New Mau Maus Website Launched

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