MUSIC :: JUNE 30, 2004

Lounge-punk is born — Sinatra rolls in his grave

By CALE SAUTER

The members of Mount Pleasant/Lansing band Skatey-Eight are living double lives. They possess dual identities so rich that it can only add to the comic book kitsch that the band’s music echoes — or the comic strip that de-scribes their antics.

Skatey-Eight (l to r) Michael Hovnanian, Anne Heathen and Dan Louisell. Skatey-Eight with Fightin' Hellfish and Selleck: Wednesday, July 7, at The Temple Club, 500 E. Grand River Ave. in Lansings Old Town. Doors open at 8pm. Cover is $5 for 21+ and $8 for 18+.

“I’m at the National Librarians Convention in Florida right now,” says guitarist/vocalist /librarian Anne Hea-then as I dial her up for an interview. A strange place to picture the woman who comes off like a sultry-voiced, black widow of a lounge singer when she performs live. I can only imagine the expressions of her fellow librarians when she comments “most of the songs I write are about sex … or horror movies … or both.”

For those of you who ever wondered what it might sound like if the Danzig-era Misfits and Johnny Cash somehow teamed up to impregnate lounge legend Peggy Lee (most famous for her rendition of the lounge classic “Fever”) and she gave birth to musically inclined offspring, Skatey-Eight is your answer.

Bassist Michael Hovnanian is the foil to Heathen’s depraved vocal and song-writing contributions. Hovnanian spends his days composing and playing orchestra pieces at Michigan State University. He unwinds by spending his nights performing his sci-fi/B-movie-inspired songs while howling and yelling like Glenn Danzig if he were being attacked by bees —with amphetamine-laced stingers.

Drummer Dan Louisell adds appropriately large-sounding drums, more sci-fi lyrical madness and a hilariously offensive comic strip starring the band (which can be viewed on the band’s Web site at www.skatey-eight.net).

I am hard pressed to think of a Michigan band more grossly underrated than Skatey-Eight. Unassuming as they may be, it is hard to deny how well they are able blend the elements of punk, twang and lounge music. Fans of any and all of the above genres should stand and take notice.

I first stumbled across Skatey-Eight a couple of years ago while at a dingy heavy metal club in Detroit. A previous band of mine was to share the stage with them. Initially passing them off as a tired skate act based on their name (although I was eventually informed that Skatey-Eight is a ‘50s slang term for a large, indeterminate number), I didn’t pay much attention. Skatey-Eight, however, had other ideas. They not only grabbed my attention very early into the set, but everyone else in attendance had turned their attention to the band as well. The punk was blazing, tight and dark, while the slower numbers felt like you were in some wanton, back door speakeasy straight out of the mind of David Lynch.

Skatey-Eight’s profile should rise significantly after the work they have put in lately. “We just recorded 13 songs at Thin Black Line in Williamston,” Heathen says as we discuss the band’s upcoming full length to be released on local label Jackknife Records. “We’re looking towards a fall release,” she says, adding that “a few people that have heard the new songs have said we are starting to sound a bit like X.” The famed ‘80s L.A. punk band is not a bad comparison for Skatey-Eight.

She also mentions that the band plans to release a DVD with some show footage and videos in the near future.

If you have a Cramps, Misfits, or even a Rosemary Clooney album in your collection, you owe it to yourself to head out to The Temple Club to check out Skatey-Eight as the members take on their secret identity as a depraved rock outfit. They will be supporting fellow punk-rockers, the Fightin’ Hellfish, while technical hardcore-punk up-and-comers Selleck will be on hand to kick off the show in a fast and pissed-off manner.

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