Ed Gein's 'The Wraith' Inspired by '80s Charlie Sheen Movie -- Song Premiere

Posted on Jun 14th 2011 11:00AM by Amy Sciarretto Comments

Nicholas Oliver

Ed Gein's new EP 'Bad Luck' comes out June 21st via Black Market Activities. Noisecreep is premiering 'The Wraith,' a song that's a bit crustier than the tech grind style that the band has become well known for. Get ready for lots of face-melting riffery and noisy, battering-ram percussion.

"'The Wraith' is one of the last songs we wrote for the album, and one of our favorites," bassist Aaron Jenkins told Noisecreep. "I think it's the most 'driving' song on the record. I usually write most of our lyrics. They're generally me complaining about things or about serious matters. [Vocalist/guitarist] Graham [Reynolds] wrote the lyrics to 'The Wraith' and they're about a relatively crappy movie of the same name from the '80s, featuring Charlie Sheen, Randy Quaid and Clint Howard, among others."

Listen to 'The Wraith'

In case you haven't seen the film, or simply don't remember it, here's a plot synopsis courtesy of Jenkins: "It's about a teenager who is killed by a gang of motorheads who force people to drag race them for pink slips. He comes back to life as 'The Wraith' to take revenge by racing them in his futuristic (and indestructible) car. He leaves them in the dust, then parks in the middle of the road around a bend where they will lose control, crash into him, and die in a ball of fire. It's kind of awesome!"

Fiery ends aside, Ed Gein's lyrics often address serious subjects. However, the band is not without a sense of humor. "One of the things I love about our band is we don't take ourselves too seriously, never have," Jenkins says. "We'll write a song about a cheesy, but awesome, '80s movie one minute and then the effects of television and mass marketing the next."

Jenkins continued, "Also, 'Go fast!' has always been sort of an Ed Gein motto, whether writing songs ('If it's not working, just go fast!') or driving the van. I snuck it into an old t-shirt design awhile back, but Graham finally found a way to put it in a song. We made a lot of changes to this song on the fly while recording it. It was fun to mess around with things in the studio and make them better."

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