Mix the Stray Cats with Marilyn Manson (or Alice Cooper, if you are as old as I am) and you'll end up with the strange hybrid Psychobilly. Musically speaking, it's rockabilly with a punk edge, but the culture is straight from Night of the Living Dead. In fact, the audience for the show I saw looked liked extras from Grease as directed by George A. Romero.

The Nekromantix are a three-piece band from Norway. Like many groups that survive with a limited selection of instruments, they manage to get very creative with the sounds they are able to produce. The first 20 minutes of their set at Old Ironsides was the tightest, best sounding live music that I've heard in many months. You would never guess it was all from just drums, guitar and a slap bass shaped like a casket.

Every song was introduced with something like, "this song is about decapitation" or "dead chicks are easy." I know, every music style has its hoaky factor that you either buy into or not. Punk is for angry people living in the 80's, classical is for people living in the 1800's, and psychobilly is for people that think it's cooler to pretend they aren't living at all.

A little of anything so specific and unusual goes a long way, and after 20 great minutes, I headed out of the show room and back to the bar to spread my attention between the band on a closed-circuit TV and ESPN on another TV. Rock, Jack Danials and basketball highlights. Now that's a strange hybrid I can get into.