Haunted House

Haunted House is a four or five piece band from Minneapolis inspired not only by Germs, Swell Maps and Can, but also by the lifestyle of the American suburbs. Started in 2002 in a house in South Minneapolis by keyboardist Mike Watton with the mission of restating Andrew WK as an Enya-inspired drunken blackout, the group has evolved greatly from that initial concept with the gradual edition of members. After moving into the Watton residence, multi-instrumentalist Jon Davis joined on bass. After moving from Kansas City, longtime collaborator Cole Claerhout became first the drummer and later the guitarist. After solo stints in the position, Adam Patterson and Karl Tabeest eventually became dual drummers. During that span, the band evolved from using an iPod and stand-up drums onstage to a more traditional set up. Today, the band straddles many musical planes, both in recording and live performance. The live show often earns comparisons to early punk acts like Germs, while simultaneously earning a "jam band" label from the same observers. The latest studio output shows a band that has a truly unique and forceful take on pop, without falling into the common trap of sounding self-concious while doing so. The lyrics might be the strangest aspect. They're a sort of abstract take on Leonard Cohen that instead of focusing on romantic visions of love and life takes a hallucinatory paranoid look at the beach, oceanside mansions and social anxiety, sung with an Ian Curtis-like penchant for being off key.
Haunted House recorded 3 albums in 2008: "Ravage Through The Bum's Hair," "Lesh Is More," and "Guess Who's Not Coming To Dinner." They will all be released at different times in 2009.



"Seeing a live set by Haunted House, the longtime solo-project-turned-band of Minneapolis musician Mike Watton, is frequently both befuddling and enthralling. The band plays with a sort of anti-chemistry that is weirdly, perfectly suited to the songs. During one performance, it occurred to me that the four members of Haunted House sounded like they were playing in unison by sheer coincidence. Recent performances have paradoxically become tighter as the song structures have become looser and improv-oriented. This band will never cease to confuse me (Tevs Zine)."