Bones Brigade

In 2005, a strange little record with a drawing of a bus full of monsters on the cover was easily the most listened-to platter around City Paper's offices. The CD, #1 by Maryland's Eyeball Skeleton, was full of cartoony pop-punk horror songs about some "Bouncing Apes," a "Cyclops Girl" and a bedeviling "Smokey Turtle"; it was the sound of pure joy. It's probably because #1 was the brainchild of a precocious couple of kids: Charlie Brown (11, bass and vocals) and his brother JJ Brown ("10 next month," guitar and vocals), with help from dad, Bill Brown (31, of D.C.'s The Spoils). The songs all start with drawings by one of the kids and mutate from there. We caught up with the band to find out what makes a turtle smokey.

City Paper: Around the offices, we're big fans of Eyeball Skeleton, particularly "The Smokey Turtle." Can you explain just what exactly is making the turtle smokey?

JJ: He was smokey because of the very very very very hot desert sun beaming on his shell.

Charlie: It's as hot as a grill.

CP: Is he being hurt?

JJ: No!

CP: Or is it maybe exhaust smoke?

JJ: No, he doesn't have an exhaust system.

CP: I particularly like the names of the dances the turtle does in the song. Can one of you describe the Chihuahua Tornado?

Charlie: You jump up in the air and keep spinning. And twirl your whole head and body around. And keep spinning and jumping.

JJ: And clap, too.

CP: Doing a "shell spin on a pyramid tip" is like the coolest image. Had you been thinking about that for a long time?

JJ: It popped into my head.

Charlie: And my head.

JJ: No, you didn't think of that. He was in Egypt breakdancing, so he decided to do a shell spin.

CP: There's lots of references to old-school horror movies in your music. Why do you like to write about this stuff?

Charlie: There's so many things you can say about monsters. Normal people don't do that many fascinating things.

CP: What's your experience with monsters? Scooby Doo? Movies? Books?

JJ: Scary classics like The Blob, Dracula and Frankenstein.

CP: Do you guys ever worry about your songs when you're writing them?

JJ: What does he mean by worry?

Charlie: Like not getting it done …

JJ: No, not really.

Charlie: Yeah, no. My teacher always says Rome wasn't built in one day. That's what she always says.

CP: Will there be a #2?

Dad: Not sure when or how, but there will be a #2. We're also working on some stuff with my sister's kids, Jane and Emma Dyba (Charlie and JJ's cousins). That project's called Lizard Lips.

CP: You guys drink coffee and eat doughnuts when you're writing songs. Aren't you a little young for coffee?

Charlie: No one is too young for coffee—it tastes like progress.

JJ: It helps us think. It just keeps us thinking straight.

CP: How do you take your coffee?

Dad: Black.

Charlie: Straight.

JJ: Seriously.

CP: JJ and Charlie, now that you're in a famous band, do the girls like you more?

Charlie: I guess. Some of 'em. A lot of girls at my school like our band because my music teacher played our CD for the whole school.

JJ: Online they do. Like on MySpace.

CP: Do people treat you differently?

JJ: Yeah, a little bit. Some people do. Like one time when we went to Chick-Fil-A, the lady was like, aren't you guys in Eyeball Skeleton?

CP: Will you be rocking out any new tunes for the show in Philadelphia?

Dad: Yes. We'll debut the song "Loss Cat." It's something we've been working on in collaboration with Hotlanta artist R Land. We're doing a split single with him that's based on his flier art character that is set to make an appearance in the upcoming Aqua Teens big-screen debut. A couple of other newish ones: "Sharks on Fire," "Stop and Watch It Glow" and "Hairy Alien."

Eyeball Skeleton will play a showcase hosted by WPRB and Local Support's Jon Solomon, Sat., April 29, 9 p.m., $8, with The Yah Mos Def, Artanker Convoy and Late Night Television at The Manhattan Room, 15 W. Girard Ave., 215-739-5577, www.themanhattanroom.com.