Zombified (Extended Reissue)

Since 1983, Southern Culture on the Skids has specialized in drafting beguilingly earnest love letters to the trashier, kitschier side of ‘50s and ‘60s Americana. Where contemporaries like The Cramps approached southern musical culture as self-aware outsiders, the North Carolina–bred SCoS was steeped in it from birth. Zombified was originally a vinyl-only EP sold informally on the group’s 1998 tour of Australia. This reissue appends a handful of newly recorded bonus tracks. The original EP had five gleefully macabre originals that paid tribute to '60s grindhouse horror cinema, plus three covers of twisted rock 'n' roll classics. The title track's hopped-up garage stomp is memorable, but the real gem here is the group’s slow-burning take on Kip Tyler’s late-‘50s rockabilly classic “She’s My Witch.” The five newly recorded tracks are sleazy enough to blend seamlessly with the vintage material, particularly the Link Wray–derived snarl of “The Creeper” and “Primitive,” a spirited ode to teen degeneracy originally performed by New York garage rock delinquents The Groupies.