We know you’ve heard of “Dasher and Dancer, and Prancer and Vixen,” but have you heard of Psychostick? Psychostick is a band originating from the land of Phoenix, Ariz., and plays a genre unique to them, humorcore.
“There’s not really a genre for us, so we had to make one up,” said co-founding member Rob “Rawrb” Kersey.
“Humorcore,” as defined by the band, is “hilarious lyrics, heavy riffs, notorious stage antics and a high energy performance,” a quirky combination of heavy metal and something that sounds like a little less “PG” version of “Weird Al” Yankovic. Other band members include Josh “The J” Key, Alex “Shmalex” Dontre and Matt J “Moose.”
“Well it’s just one of those things that happens when a bunch of pizza guys get together,” Kersey said.
Making a completely new genre isn’t something one sees every day, but for Psychostick it just made sense.
“We’ve got a lot of ideas, we’re a bunch of goofy guys,” Kersey said. “We love the heavier, more aggressive music.”
The band launched into the mainstream music stream with their hit single, “BEER!” in 2003 and since has made five studio albums, the most recent being “Space Vampires VS Zombie Dinosaurs in 3D,” which released in the fall of 2011.
Their discography also includes a holiday album released in 2007 titled “The Flesh Eating Roller Skate Holiday Joyride,” which is currently receiving a lot of press during this busy holiday season.
“It’s still pretty new to a lot of people,” Kersey said. “They don’t really know about our other stuff.”
Other hit songs they have are “Because Boobs,” “We Ran Out of CD Space” and “This is Not a Song, it’s a Sandwich!”
Psychostick will be in Des Moines on Dec. 8 at the House of Bricks for an early show, with doors opening at 5 p.m., (tickets are $10 in advance, $12 day of show) which could make for a perfect study break amidst the hectic finals schedule. Psychostick has other tour dates in the Midwest as well to check out throughout winter break. On Dec. 14, they will be rocking in Sioux Falls, S.D., and Dec. 15 in St. Joseph, Mo.
Whether you’re looking to rock out during the final stretch of the semester or just looking for a good laugh, before you know it, you too will be shouting out the absurd lyrics to “Do You Want a Taco?”
