By Jorel Spain.
Horror Business is a long-standing local band that began in the basement of an Albany tattoo parlor in 2002. Over the past 24 years, they have performed at nearly every rock club in Albany and beyond and were named “Best Tribute Band” by Metroland two years in a row (2008-2009). They have performed as headliners and in support of other local bands such as Blase Debris, The Erotics, and Society High. Their high-energy performances have become a Halloween season staple at Albany area clubs, performing masterful renditions of classic-era Misfits songs and other Danzig-related material. I had the privilege of sitting down with two of the founding members, Billy Beer (guitar) and Nick Esposito (vocals) (Bassist Rob Marcello also contributed comments via text), to hear the story of how “The World’s Greatest Misfits Tribute” came to be.
RRX: Guys, thanks for meeting up with me here! I really appreciate you taking the time to come and sit down with me. So first off, tell me – how did Horror Business come together?
BB: So basically, it started with me just bringing my guitar amp over to my buddy’s tattoo shop [Slingin’ Ink] just so I could jam and not piss off any neighbors. I just started playing some Misfits songs in his basement, and then Nick came over and started singing some songs. Then the tattoo artist, Jim Hardy, was like, “Show me the bass lines on this. I’ll get a bass and play!” and the other artist, Christian, was a drummer and brought his drum set up, and it just happened. We never said, “Hey, let’s be a Misfits tribute band.” Yeah, that is how it started, you know, downstairs at the tattoo shop.
RRX: How did the first Horror Business show happen?
BB: Our first show was at Shaughnessy Hall. Paulie from Society High came over and brought some flyers over and was like, “Hey, would you guys like to open up for us sometime?” And I never really thought about it, but I was like, yeah, cool, that would be awesome.
NE: That was the catalyst.
BB: That’s what started it all, and the cool thing about that is Danzig’s brother was in the audience! He and my brother worked at the state together, so it was a pretty cool thing.
NE: Oh, it was great! I also worked with him at the state. I didn’t realize who he was at first, so I asked him, and he said yeah! So I gave him the flyer.
RRX: What other bands and artists do you cover?
NE: Samhain, of course, and Stooges occasionally. And a couple Danzig solo songs.
RRX: What are some of your favorite songs to play?
NE: I’d say “Teenagers from Mars” is my favorite one to play, and “Where Eagles Dare,” too. Oh, and “All Murder All Guts All Fun.”
BB: …which we don’t do very much!
NE: And “Death Comes Ripping” because it’s more of a hardcore feel, you know. I always wanted to sing in a hardcore band, but the opportunity never happened really.
BB: “Mommy” into “London Dungeon” is great too!
NE: LOL We like them all!. We’re going to say every one of them, aren’t we?
RRX: What’s the hardest song to play?
RM: Hardest song is the one someone requests live, and we give in and play it, having not practiced it (LOL)!
RRX: Do you have a favorite show or standout performance?
BB: I think we both agree on the CBGB’s show just for the status of it. And the Atlantic City Jersey show I liked a lot.
NE: Yeah, same with me. Yeah. You know, it was the last week that CBGB’s was even open.
BB: So that was a special time, sad time.
RRX: What’s the best thing about performing in a tribute band?
NE: Everybody knows the songs already. It’s music they love.
BB: We ask people to come up and sing all the time. People do whatever they want. It’s built-in fun because they already know all the lyrics. That’s the best part. We get to have fun with it too. We’re having fun. Everybody’s having fun.
NE: We also got the Metroland “Best Tribute Band” two years in a row. It’s nice to be acknowledged like that, especially when there’s a lot harder-working cover bands. We were playing steady a lot of shows then, not like now when we’re doing maybe 1, 2, or 3 shows a year. Society High was doing a lot of shows at the time, and they asked us to be in just about every show they did.
RRX: Why do you like performing this music in particular?
NE: We’ve loved it forever, together.
BB: We’ve been friends for 40 years, we’ve always loved the Misfits, and we actually both bought the first Danzig album together!
NE: It just fell into place that way
RRX: What other bands have you played in?
BB: Other bands I’ve been in. The Erotics, Blase Debris, Murderer’s Row, Bomb, and then Horror Business is the one that started it all.
NE: I’m doing a side project, doing Elvis and random songs with Ike from Ike’s Wasted World. We did the thing for the Humpy’s Benefit, and we got a couple more lined up in the next couple months.
RRX: Great, so you guys had a pretty long hiatus from your 2019 show at Pauly’s up until last year’s Dark Echoes Expo at Empire Underground. What was it like coming back after that long, and how did that show come together?
BB: I mean, it felt like a breath of fresh air. I mean, it’s like you don’t do something for so long. You know, you don’t even realize you miss it … I just love playing live, ya know? I don’t sit in my room and noodle. I don’t write, you know; I just love to do something, be physical with it. It’s not a sport, but you sweat, and you get it all out of you, and it’s cathartic.
RRX: The energy and the enthusiasm are clear to me when I see you guys perform.
BB: 100%. Half the time my eyes are just closed. It doesn’t matter if there’s four people out there
NE: Not at all. I’d rather have 20 people singing along than 400 people just staring at us. And that’s how it was last year, because we feed off the crowd, they feed off us, and people are coming there to have a good time. It’s just fun, you know?
And that’s the other thing because the misfits were like that; so if we f@#k up, it’s just part of the show, like it was for them!
RRX: Thanks again for taking the time to sit down and share your stories. I’m really looking forward to the Halloween Show at Underground later this month!
Horror Business will perform this October 24 at Empire Underground supporting The Erotics. Keep a lookout for upcoming acts The Del-Martians, featuring current Horror Business bassist Rob Marcello and drummer Jim Kaufman; and vocalist Nick Esposito performing with Ike’s Wasted World later this year.
