Toadies' Mark Reznicek on creepy-vibed alt-rock and grooving with the Goolies
BY GREGORY ADAMS
Horror, music, and animation — it’s a winning combination!
Dating all the way back to 1929’s The Skeleton Dance — a mock-macabre Silly Symphony that found a bunch of boney musicians rising from the grave to bang out Edvard Grieg’s “March of the Trolls” on each other’s vertebrae — film fans have been fascinated with animation that mixed fright with fun. Think of the everlasting appeal of The Nightmare Before Christmas, or the greatest and goriest of the Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror segments for extra proof. Fewer folks seem to remember the rock-and-rolling monsters that starred in Saturday Morning curio Groovie Goolies, though.
Produced by Filmation Studios, Groovie Goolies was a truly bizarre, variety show-styled cartoon that originally ran between 1970-72. It primarily starred a trio of musically-gifted monsters who spent their time hanging out in Horrible Hall, either crackin’ jokes or making rock music. There’s Drac, a pipe organ-playing vampire; an undead percussionist named Frankie; and a shaggy-haired hipped named Wolfie who strummed a lyre.
While it spun off from the Archie-verse, and tried to bank off the pseudo-scary success of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, Groovie Goolies was also modeled after the rapid-fire joke delivery of live action sketch show Laugh-In (even nabbing a few writers from the latter). It also integrated pop songs performed by the main cast’s Monster Trio and other ghostly acts. Honestly, it’s a bit scattered and frantic, but it has some charm to it. Though they managed to get looped into reruns a few times, the Goolies pretty much ghosted pop-culture consciousness 50 years ago.
That said, Texas alternative quartet Toadies attempted to revive the cartoon property in the mid ‘90s through the Saturday Morning: Cartoons’ Greatest Hits compilation, which included their party-punky remake of the show’s theme song, “Goolie Get-Together.”
Toadies had hit big in 1994 through the release of debut album Rubberneck, a hook-surged, if sometimes sinister-sounding record that include curiously ominous, possibly occult-ish lyricism (“Possum Kingdom,” “I Burn”) and grave-danger stalker tales (“Tyler”). While certainly darker than anything the Goolies jangled through, Toadies felt like a good fit for hitting the children’s horror tune.
To celebrate Halloween, Gut Feeling reached out to Toadies drummer Mark Reznicek for more details on how they got together with the Goolies, where the cover sits in Toadies’ creepy discography, and more.
This interview has been edited and condensed for flow and clarity.
Were you at all familiar with the cartoon show Groovie Goolies before Toadies ended up recording this song?
REZNICEK: I might’ve been the only one in the band who actually remembered the cartoon. It was a spinoff of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, which was kind of a spin-off of the Archie cartoon. I was and still am a fan of those monsters — Dracula, Frankenstein and so on — so Groovie Goolies was right up my alley when I was a kid, even if the jokes were incredibly corny.
Part of the appeal of this show is that it presents these classic, archetypal monsters, but they’re all goofin’ around. Were you a legit horror kid, on top of being a cartoon kid?
REZNICEK: Yeah, both. I tried to stay up ‘til 10:30 to watch creature features that would show all those old black and white horror movies. And then on Saturday morning I’d be there with a bowl of cereal watching cartoons.
Did you have a go-to bowl? Maybe one of the monster cereals?
REZNICEK: I loved those — Count Chocula; Frankenberry, especially. I think Cap’n Crunch’s Peanut Butter Crunch was my favorite. When I was a kid, I was known as the guy who ate cereal any time a day.
We live in different times now, where you can bring up Groovie Goolies with the click of a finger, because someone has ripped it onto YouTube. This is still a pretty obscure show, though. How did you folks prepare for this back in the ‘90s? Did they send you a VHS, or maybe the vinyl soundtrack from the early ‘70s?
REZNICEK: Well, I think that we were assigned the song. We had suggested a couple of others ones — like “Stop the Pigeon” from Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines, but the Reverend Horton Heat had already claimed that one. [Producer] Ralph [Sall] said, “Why don’t you do this Groovie Goolies song?” And we said OK. It wasn’t like any of us were super passionate about the song, or anything, but I think the vibe fit what the Toadies were known for at the time. He might’ve sent us a cassette recording of the song first, and we worked up an arrangement off that.
We went and recorded it at this place called Planet Dallas, and Ralph was there. He produced the session. I think we played through it and showed him what we had, and he made some other suggestions and whatnot.
He also had a VHS tape with one or two episodes on it, and while they were miking up the amps and drums, we sat out in the other room and watched some Groovie Goolies cartoons just to refamiliarize ourselves with it. But even though I remembered the cartoon, I did not remember that song at all. It didn’t spark any memories in me.
The original theme has this kind of southern rock-by-way-of-bubblegum feel to it, which makes some sense, given the Archies connection. Toadies slow it down, but also supercharge it with energy. What do you remember about taking the cover in this direction?
REZNICEK: We didn’t change it much. Like, it’s still pretty much in 4/4 all the way through. We just updated it. The thing I remember the most is there’s a section where we go to a halftime beat. That was our main contribution, in terms of changing it up some.
I do remember all of us standing around one mic and shouting out the backing vocals. That was fun! I think I’m the one that did the weirdo Wolfie howl that happens in there. [laughs]
You made a concert-style video for “Goolie Get-Together,” with the live footage later comped together with cartoon clips. Going by what I can find online, you did end up playing this cover a handful of times, the first performance being at Trees in Dallas just a couple of months before this album comes out. Was that where you recorded the video?
REZNICEK: I do not remember the video shoot…but like you said, we did only play it a few times. We were really busy back then, so [making music videos] was par for the course.
This comp comes out as things are really ramping up for the band — it’s about a year after Rubberneck and “Possum Kingdom.” How do you recall this song fitting into that busy period. Was there excitement around doing something goofy like this?
REZNICEK: It was pretty much a whirlwind. The week after Rubberneck came out, we hit the road and were basically on tour for the next two years.
But this was the age of the alternative rock compilation, so whenever we would have a day or two off there were things we’d record for movie soundtracks, and other stuff like that. This just seemed like another way to get our name out there. And once we saw the lineup of the artists that were going to be on it — the Ramones, Butthole Surfers, Reverend Horton Heat, Helmet — we were like, “Seems pretty cool!” And to one degree or another, we were all fans of cartoons. A lot times we’d watch old Looney Tunes on the tour bus.
People seem to really have fond memories of this album. When they reissued it a couple of years ago for Record Store Day it seemed like people were excited about it. It didn’t really impact me a whole lot as, like, “Wow, this is one the greatest things that we’ve ever recorded.” It was just a fun, goofy little lark.
Since it’s Halloween, have Toadies covered anything else that hits this same kind of creepy, monster-y mark?
REZNICEK: I guess on our last studio album [2017’s The Lower Side of Uptown] we recorded a cover of “I Put a Spell on You” by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. We also had a reputation based on “Possum Kingdom” and Rubberneck songs like “Tyler,” which were going for that creepy vibe. But specifically themed for Halloween season? “Goolie Get-Together” seems the most fitting for this time of year.
Do you remember that there was a comic book released in conjunction with the album?
I know that one exists, because I came across an ad for it in another old comic book, but I’ve never seen it. I would love to find that.
REZNICEK: It’s pretty weird! I have two copies of it. Pretty much every band that’s on the compilation has at least one panel in the comic that depicts them. So, that was kind of cool, seeing ourselves in a comic
You were caricatured?
REZNICEK: Yes!
How did they present you? Was it like a normal-looking portrait of the band, or did they try to ghoul you up a bit?
REZNICEK: They kind of ghouled it up. The lighting is from below, and we have sinister looks on our faces. There’s a haunted house in the background. I think Ralph Sall came up with the idea for the comic as well, so he prominently features himself throughout the comic…as well as on the cover. [laughs] I don’t remember much about him. I only met him that one day when we were recording the song, but he seemed like kind of a character.
Would Toadies ever groove to the Goolies theme onstage again? It is, after all, the 30th anniversary of this comp next year….
REZNICEK: People have asked us about it. I don’t think we’ve ever given it serious thought, but given how the album seems to have a staying power to it, it’s definitely worth considering. Hopefully we’ll be on tour this time next year, so that would be a good time to bring it back.
You’ll need to brush up on your Wolfie howl…
REZNICEK: That’s right! I need to see if I’ve still got it.
Further reading: please peep Gut Feeling's other Saturday Morning talks with Matthew Sweet on Scooby Doo, Helmet’s Page Hamilton on Gigantor, and face to face's Trever Keith on Popeye.