A Psycho Christmas with The Psycho Reptiles

This week saw one new 2018 Christmas single finding its way to my mailbox - all the way from South Africa!

The Psycho Reptiles: Psycho Christmas / Monster From The Bog
(One F Records, ONEF 1029, South Africa, 2018, 45 RPM, small hole, transparent or black lathe cut, limited to 70 copies)

In 1988, the South African psychobilly band The Psycho Reptiles released something quite unique, at least, for a South African band: a Christmas single. They were one of the first, if not the first, South African rock band that released a Christmas single – and still are one of the only. 1988 had been a good year for the band, that consisted of brothers Mike and Graham Seale (respectively guitar/vocals and bass), drummer Paul Toomer, keyboard player Adrian Hamilton and sax player Sarah Pontin. The Psycho Reptiles were signed to David Gresham Records, one of the bigger South African labels (a label that also released records by well-known international artists for the South African market), their singles 'Monster From The Bog' and ‘King Of The West’ had been a hits and they released their debut album, 'Have Beens Will Travel'. The Psycho Reptiles looked like coming straight from the 1950s with their leather jackets and greased quiffs. But musically they were less stuck in the fifties than their look might suggest, as the band also mixed psychobilly with punk, ska and rhythm & blues influences in their songs.

The band’s Christmas song was originally simply titled 'The Christmas Song', and the 45 had a vocal version on side A and an instrumental version on side B. Despite the title, the song was not a cover of Nat King Cole's hit, but a medley of several well known Christmas songs, played with such a speed that it seemed that band had to catch a plane. After church bells and an intro that sounded like an overture, the band raced through 'Jingle Bells', 'Twelve Days Of Christmas', 'Good King Wenceslas', 'Ding-Dong Ding-Dong', 'All I Want For Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)', 'Frosty The Snowman', 'We Wish You A Merry Christmas', 'Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer', 'It's The Season To Be Jolly', 'Santa Claus Is Coming To Town' and 'White Christmas', slightly changing the lyrics when they seemed fit. Five pairs of socks and a Psycho Reptiles album became part of the twelve gifts of Christmas, the two front teeth were needed to eat the turkey and Rudolph couldn't take it anymore, so Santa hired his cousin whose name was Theodore… The single came with a funny video that found the four other members of band (saxophone player Sarah Pontin was not in the video, so was probably not part of the band anymore when the single was recorded and the video was filmed) molesting Santa Claus and others on the sunny streets of their hometown Johannesburg.

‘The Christmas Song’ was definitely not your average psychobilly song, not only because of the subject matter – after all, psychobilly bands usually like to sing about monsters, creeps and other scary stuff – but also because of the music. The very English and somewhat snotty sounding vocals (lead singer Mike Seale had been born in the UK) gave it a punk feeling, but the song also had bombastic sythesizers and a double bass drum that sounded more at home in a metal song. And of course, as in any good (punk) medley, 'The Christmas Song' had lots of singalongs. The single did well, and became the third hit for the band. Unfortunately, not much later, The Psycho Reptiles disbanded, as some members went to live in the UK. With a new line-up, featuring Mike Seale and original drummer Paul Toomer, the band did record a EP in the UK, 1994’s ‘Pearls Before Swine’.

In 2002, Sovereign Entertainment and String Music released a CD with South African artists doing Christmas songs, '5fm Presents The Santa Sessions'. The Psycho Reptiles classic was also included, retitled to 'Psycho Christmas'. These days, the original single is impossible to track down (no copies are listed for sale on Discogs and even Popsike hasn’t registered the single being ever sold), while the song is still popular. This made South African label One F Music decide it was about time to re-release the song on a 45. The label put ‘Monster From The Bog’ on the other side of the 45, making it another single suited for both Halloween and Christmas. As the vinyl single market in South Africa is probably even smaller than it is here in Europe, the single was released as a limited lathe cut single – 40 transparent and 30 black copies. Both songs were remastered by Paul Riekert and the records were packed in a colourful sleeve, with a cartoon of the five members of the band (with Sarah back in place) running away from the monster from the bog, who is dressed up as Santa Claus. The sound quality of lathe cuts records is in general not as good as traditional vinyl, but the sound quality of this single is quite okay. There are still a few copies available, these are sold through Ebay for $ 18 (excluding postage). Don’t wait too long, as these will sell out pretty quickly!

You can listen to the song on Youtube:

And, if you want to see the original video – it is to be found as part of a video compilation with ‘King Of The West’ on Youtube:

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Since last week, a few more 45s have been added to the 2018 Christmas singles list. I'm most exited about the annual Nordpolen Musikklubb Christmas single - a vinyl release of Poly Styrene's great 2010 Christmas song Black Christmas! Another usual suspect, Jump Up! Records will release a second volume of Christmas songs by Roger Rivas. And Asthmatic Kitty Records will release a 2007 Christmas song by Sufjan Stevens, with a new version of the song on the B-side. The three 45s won't be out before the end of November, it seems. The Sufjan Stevens single is already sold out at the website of the label (although it seems you can buy it in your local record shop when it's out on December 7, when you're lucky, that is.