Famous Monsters

After separating from their more conventional rock bands (White Zombie and New York Loose respectively) in the mid-'90s, bassist Sean Yseult and guitarist/vocalist Brijette West dawned dual surf guitars and glittery horror outfits, and formed the unlikely joke-band Famous Monsters. After varying degrees of success (much for Yseult, much less for West), the two friends invaded New Orleans -- perhaps in order to get away from Coastal showbiz life -- to enjoy themselves in the Big Easy. Having worked so long with Rob Zombie, it could hardly be a surprise that Yseult would want to dive headfirst into campy garage-surf degeneration, but West's grittier musical past had nothing whatsoever to do with the goofy theatrics of Famous Monsters. To get things started, the two musicians worked up rudimentary surf tracks and new monster names for themselves. Yseult became Devil Doll (or the red one), while West dawned the equally original moniker Vampire Girl (or the black one), and the pair were off and running. The first recording of the duo (plus one-off drummer Frankie Stein) was a 7" on Estrus Records, and then the "ghoul-band" hooked up with She-Zilla (Carol Cutshall) and Bong Load Records.

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