Rosemary's Billygoat is an American heavy metal/hard rock band formed in Los Angeles South Bay in 1991, consisting of singer Mike Odd, guitarist Neal Gargantua, bassist Pat Trick and drummer Paul Bearer.
Influenced both musically and visually by the likes of Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie, Gwar, Kiss and Black Sabbath, Rosemary's Billygoat are best known for their theatrical horror-themed stage shows which incorporate many comically absurd props and stunts, including pyrotechnics, fire breathing, electric chairs, mock crucifixion, flaming pentagrams and various costumed monsters and creatures. Musically, the band has been described as "aggro and dark yet jovial", showcasing an "oozing brew of doom, stoner metal, dark psychedelic rock and hardcore punk".
Over the last two decades, Rosemary's Billygoat have attracted a strong cult following in the Los Angeles punk and metal underground, having shared stages with the likes of such cult bands as Gwar, W.A.S.P., The Dickies, Circle Jerks, 45 Grave, Haunted Garage and more; in 2013, the OC Weekly newspaper ranked Rosemary's Billygoat number 10 on their list of the ten greatest shock rock bands of all time.
Biography
20th century activities
The exact origins of Rosemary's Billygoat are vague and largely undocumented by both the band and the music press; website Sonic Eclectic once remarked "as far as incomplete biographies go, Rosemary’s Billygoat may have the most incomplete-est". According to several unverified accounts, the genesis of Rosemary's Billygoat began when singer Mike Odd met drummer Denis Fleps while working at a head shop together in Hermosa Beach. The two would regularly attend shows for such theatrical comedy bands as Haunted Garage, Celebrity Skin and the Imperial Butt Wizards, the latter of which Mike Odd became a performer for, and after recruiting bassist Lance Underpantz and former Nip Drivers guitarist Neal Gargantua, formed Rosemary's Billygoat in 1991. In a 2017 interview, Odd clarified that drummer Paul Bearer of the Imperial Butt Wizards and bassist Pat Trick of The Detonators joined roughly two or three years later, and the band has retained the same line-up ever since. In 1993, Rosemary's Billygoat made their recorded debut on the 7" split Songs for Gentlemen with the Imperial Butt Wizards, where Subterranean Records described their early sound as "militant witchcraft punk with a Motown edge", while Odd himself retrospectively described it as "drunk rock".
In 1994, Rosemary's Billygoat self-released their debut album Pizza of Darkness on picture disc, produced by noted punk rock producer Geza X. After signing with Los Angeles indie label Porterhouse Records in 1997, the band released their second album Cheeses of Nazareth, produced by Steve Kravac and Bad Religions Greg Hetson. Hetson, in addition to contributing lap steel guitar on the album, wrote its liner notes, fondly reminiscing about the first time he had seen the band play at Los Angeles' Club Lingerie and writing "if you enjoy the theatrics of Gwar and Marilyn Manson; if you can appreciate eclectic musical genius ranging from the Butthole Surfers to Black Sabbath, then get down on your knees and worship at the altar of Rosemary's Billygoat!".
21st century activities
Rosemary's Billygoat underwent a shift in their visual style in 2002, when the band recruited special effects artist Craig Macintyre to help design new props and outfits for the group including goat-exoskeleton structures and monster-type prop art, effectively creating their current over-the-top horror-themed imagery and stage show. This was followed by the release of Rosemary's Billygoat's third album Evilution, again produced by Steve Kravac. Though the band continued to be a popular live attraction, critical response towards the album was mixed: Allmusic, rating the album with three stars out of five, summarized that Rosemary's Billygoat were "sure to appeal to horror movie fans", drawing favorable comparisons to Gwar, Megadeth and Corrosion of Conformity and praising Neal Gargantua's "inviting riffs and wicked soloing", but criticizing Mike Odd's "grating" vocals and their "laughable" cover of Pat Benatars "Hell Is for Children".
In 2008, Rosemary's Billygoat embarked on a national tour with similarly theatrical Los Angeles horror rock bands on what was dubbed "The Hollywood Freak Show", a tour spanning nearly sixty shows in thirty states. A documentary film entitled The Hollywood Freak Show: Skatopia chronicling the tour and its stop at Skatopia in Rutland, Ohio was shot but ultimately unfinished.