• Audio - Sugar Skulls

    ‘Sugar Skulls’ is Draax’ take on New Orleans funk. It plays with lessons learned from Bo Diddley, The Dixie Cups, Betty Harris but it adds flavours of 60’s and ‘70s punk to it. The lyric is funny yet thought provoking as it says something about our need to judge others. I felt extra inspired to make this song after seeing Penny Lane’s documentary on The Satanic Temple… A must-see, by the way!

    lead vox: Nikki Marina
    Drums and tambourine: Danielle Pijpers
    Bas: Peter Hordijk
    Trompet: Ruud ‘Trompie’ Kleiss
    Tuba and Trombone: Simon Glas
    Orgel and Piano: Jan Jaap Snellen
    Guitars: Martin Draax
    Backing Vocals: Flora Dolores & Ruud Kleiss
    Handclaps: Martin and Danielle

    Music written Martin Draax and Jan Jaap Snellen
    Lyrics by Martin Draax
    Horns Arrangement by Ruud Kleiss
    Produced by Martin Draax
    Mixed by Lars Blakenburg
    Mastered by Kramer
    Artwork by Martin Draax

  • Audio - Sugar Skulls

    ‘Sugar Skulls’ is Draax’ take on New Orleans funk. It plays with lessons learned from Bo Diddley, The Dixie Cups, Betty Harris but it adds flavours of 60’s and ‘70s punk to it. The lyric is funny yet thought provoking as it says something about our need to judge others.
    lyrics
    Black-eyed Suze and Marigold
    Sugar Skulled angelic souls
    Black-eyed Suze and Marigold
    Still dancing but the bell has tolled.Beat the drums and stamp your feet
    Blow and strum onto the beat
    Beat the drums and stamp your feet
    Ain’t gonna save your doggone soul

    Feast with the beast
    the deceased will be unleashed
    Tonight goes up what should be down
    (cause) one day it is you under the ground
    (sugar skulled Marie, sugar skulled Suzie)

    Move your ass while having it
    Raise your hands expressing it
    Move your ass while having it
    jump and hop until you loose control

    Shake your frame and rattle it
    Embrace life but don’t strangle it
    Shake your frame and rattle it
    You and us we’re gonna have a ball

    Praise be the sun
    But we’ll dance ‘till Kingdome come
    In the end it’s safe to say
    saint and sinner end up the same way
    (sugar skulled Marie, sugar skulled Suzie)

    Marigold loves Black-eyed Suze
    In life there was no way they could
    Marigold loves Black-eyed Suze
    See their razzling-dazzling bodies stroll

    Feast with the beast
    the deceased will be unleashed
    In the end it’s safe to say
    all are equal in decay
    Let’s bring up what should be down
    (cause) one day it is you under the ground

    credits
    released October 22, 2021
    lead vox: Nikki Marina
    Drums and tambourine: Danielle Pijpers
    Bass: Peter Hordijk
    Trompet: Ruud ‘Trompie’ Kleiss
    Tuba and Trombone: Simon Glas
    Orgel and Piano: Jan Jaap Snellen
    Guitars: Martin Draax
    Backing Vocals: Flora Dolores & Ruud Kleiss
    Handclaps: Martin and DanielleMusic written Martin Draax and Jan Jaap Snellen
    Lyrics by Martin Draax
    Horns Arrangement by Ruud Kleiss
    Produced by Martin Draax

    Mixed by Lars Blakenburg
    Mastered by Kramer

    Artwork by Martin Draax

  • Lyric - Sugar Skulls

    ‘Sugar Skulls’ was a song i wrote with keyboard player Jan Jaap Snellen. It was originally meant as a song for a children;’s programme but the director did not want it. So i rewrote the lyric to be a Halloween party song and recorded it with friends.

  • Record sleeve - Sugar Skulls cover

    Cover for ‘Sugar Skulls’. These are one ‘Black Eyed Suze’ and one ‘Marigold’ who were not allowed to marry and consume their love in life. But, after death, nobody can say anything anymore: they marry on a halloween party.

  • editorial - artwork for Sugar Skulls

    For the videoclip for ‘Sugar Skulls’ i made a lot of drawings of people visiting the wedding party of one ‘Black Eyed Suze’ and one ‘Marigold’. The lyric is about our tendency to be prejudiced towards ‘other groups’ and to make life worse than needed for minorities.

    So i thought it would be great if the guests at the party all were types other people ‘have an opinion about’. Of course, the song is related to Halloween and the Day Of The Dead, hence the Mardi Grass rhythm and the types we see. But in the end, the song is about how death makes us all equal and that no one is or knows really better than another.

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