Zombie Boyfriend

Live Forever

QUEEN BEE

When you combine a homemade mixture of vintage horror flicks and punk rock roots, Ladies and Gents, be prepared to meet Cemetery Lights.

Cemetery Lights, hailing from Minneapolis, formed in the winter of 2012 in Jerry Zahorski’s basement.

“[The name] Cemetery Lights came from the spirit orbs that people see when they visit Cemeteries at night, they call them ‘Cemetery Lights.’” Says drummer Kyle Zahorski, “I thought it sounded like cool name for a band.”

Kyle Zahorski, formerly of the hardcore group Heart Like a Hero, published an ad looking for a pop/punk band on the popular website Craigslist. Zahorski found a guitarist (Shawn Pederson) interested in turning Kyle’s project into a horror punk band and weeks later Joshua “Jables” Barse, a bassist from South Dakota responded.

“After like maybe a second of awkwardness, everything fell immediately into place.” Says Barse on the group’s first jam session.

The three began writing songs immediately, but knew they were a person short. Cemetery Lights needed a singer. It wasn’t long until Jenna Enemy, once a candidate for Billy Corgan’s vacant bassist role in The Smashing Pumpkins, responded to the call.

“We auditioned a lot of people and even hired a guy singer for a while, but it just didn’t work out. Jenna was the right fit.” adds Barse.

“I remember looking everywhere for a new project and trying to go through other musicians to see what was available because there was NO WAY I was going to join another band through Craigslist-- for some reason they never seem to work out.” Reflects Jenna Enemy, “I don’t know what motivated me, but I just thought ‘why not’ and looked on craigslist in the musicians section. When I saw an ad for ‘Cemetery Lights’ the name instantly hooked me.”

Enemy wrote the vocals and lyrics to the band’s three-song demo overnight, the first song being the single “Zombie Boyfriend.”

“I got the idea because my boyfriend is obsessed with zombies.” Enemy says and laughs “I wondered what I would do if he actually became one.”

Cemetery Lights immediately hit the studio within one week of Enemy joining the group.

“Josh Stoll is an amazing producer who was really dedicated to helping us sound the best that we could sound.” Says Zahorski on the group’s studio time, “Liquid Studios was a great place for us to work- it’s isolated on a ranch where there are like horses and goats and stuff and we’re singing about monsters and creepy stuff.” He laughs.

The band then invested in a 24 hour/ seven days a week practice studio in downtown Minneapolis and were making headway when turmoil struck. There was a difference in opinion between guitarist Shawn Pederson and the rest of the group that lead to a messy split.

Feeling slightly defeated paired with a long string of bad luck, the remaining members of Cemetery Lights decided they needed a vacation to clear their heads so on an impulse they flew to Los Angeles, California.

“One night we just decided on a whim to hang out around the Sunset Strip, I think because it was a dream of Jables and his late friend Wade to walk the strip one day, and just by chance we walked by Johnny Depp’s Viper Room.” Enemy remembers, “I found out the Dollyrots were playing and I knew them from when I worked at the Triple Rock in Minneapolis. I don’t think we would have gone in if they hadn’t been playing. The cover was $12 bucks and we were broke!”

Barse, Zahorski and Enemy were outside talking to the Dollyrots when they were introduced to the infamous mayor of the Sunset Strip: Rodney Bingenheimer. Kelly Ogden of the Dollyrots gave Rodney her copy of Cemetery Light’s demo, which only had one track on it: “Zombie Boyfriend.” Three days later, Bingenheimer played “Zombie Boyfriend” on his K-Roq radio show: Rodney on the Roq.

“[When I found out] I screamed so loud that my mom thought my dog had bit me.” Enemy says. “I never had a song on the radio before, let alone LA’s biggest rock station.”

Jables interjects: “It felt surreal, like I was in 'That Thing You Do' minus being a one hit wonder…I hope.”

Soon after Cemetery Lights returned to Minneapolis, they met guitarist Bobby Peterson and got right back to work.

“Bobby really impressed us because he’s not bound to one particular style of music” Says Kyle, “he combines all of our influences.”

And what are those influences?

“Many hear hints of The Misfits, traces of No Doubt, some Alkaline Trio and old school tsunami bomb” Adds Barse, “We also like to experiment with ska and Latin music.”

Enemy even writes some lyrics in Spanish.

“They just sounded better in Spanish, they fit better and my favorite chef at school is fluent. He’s kind of my critic,” Enemy laughs, “Every time I write something new I run it by him while he cooks my lunch. I love a man that cooks, you can trust a good cook”

So what’s next for Cemetery Lights?

“Definitely getting the EP released and writing some new songs” says Zahorski, “After that, a Cosby show marathon.”


cemeterylights