The notion of zombies could inspire many different feelings, thoughts and reactions. Maybe images of the brain-eating undead clawing at your boarded up windows-hungry for the flesh of the living-while your family huddles in some barracked backroom living off canned beets; everyday praying for some sort of salvation.
The three FAU students who comprise Zombies! Organize!! may redefine this image of the living dead as well as hip-hop as we know it. With influences like Biggie, NWA and Public Enemy, Zombies! Organize!! does not sound like any of them; their sound is a little bit harder to define.
“It’s like political zombie hip-hop,” Bobby Jividen, an economics undergrad, says.
The band features sisters Mary and Laura Sheffield rapping while playing a Wurlitzer piano and guitar (respectively), and Jividen switching between a children’s Casio keyboard, accordion and Omnichord.
Mary Sheffield is trying to get her Master of Fine Arts in poetry, but when she’s not busy studying or being a teaching assistant, she is playing in Zombies! Organize!! trying to incite a zombie riot. She explains some of the political messages of the band are against control, exploitation, the war and the president.
Not all the songs are political, however, as Sheffield explains: “Some of them are silly ‘we love Zombies’ songs.”
They were surprised when people liked the music at their first show a year ago. “I’m still surprised,” Jividen says.
The next Zombies! Organize!! show is Friday at the Poorhouse in Fort Lauderdale on SW 3rd Ave, just south of Broward Blvd; it will also feature Kruller and The Freakin Hott. The show is recommended for those who love zombies or are on the fence about zombies, but it is Kruller lead singer Timb’s birthday and free, so why not come out?
“Maybe one day zombies will rise up and overtake our human master,” Jividen hopes. “Until then we’ll joke about it.
To get a taste Zombies! Organize!! or sweet, sweet brains before the show, check out their myspace (www.myspace.com/zombiesorganize) or their website www.zombiesorganize.com (which will redirect you to their myspace).
