On Saturday, May 17, Italian composer Fabio Frizzi brings his Zombie: Composer’s Cut live score to The Garden Club at Wild Heaven West End—a rare and visceral encounter with the music of one of horror cinema’s most revered partnerships.
Known for his haunting melodies and baroque-tinged arrangements, Frizzi’s work with director Lucio Fulci defined the aesthetic of Italian giallo films throughout the late ’70s and ’80s, most famously in The Beyond, City of the Living Dead, and Zombie.
This performance pairs Fulci’s 1979 film—a grim, gore-soaked masterpiece of undead terror—with a live rendition of Frizzi’s reimagined score. Originally composed with collaborators Franco Bixio and Vince Tempera, Zombie’s music blends prog, synth, and eerie atmospherics into something that feels both grandiose and uncomfortably intimate. With the Composer’s Cut, Frizzi revisits and reworks the material, building a dynamic new soundtrack performed live by his band.
Frizzi’s legacy spans decades of cinema and television, but it’s his work with Fulci that cemented his cult status. The Frizzi 2 Fulci project has taken his soundtracks to stages around the world. Now in its third iteration, the show brings Zombie to life in ways that are both faithful and revelatory.
Presented with a 4K restoration of the film, this immersive experience folds sight and sound into a ritual of dread and beauty. Whether you’re a horror fan or simply looking to be unnerved in the best way possible, Zombie: Composer’s Cut delivers pure, pulpy magic—and the most epic showdown between a shark and a zombie ever committed to film.
Zombie vs. Shark: A Scene from Lucio Fulci’s ‘Zombie’
Patrick Ferguson recalls the instant when a life-affirming revelation hit him while he was lost in his thoughts recently.
The moment struck him while he and his fellow bandmates in Athens’ post-grunge, post-punk, and indie rock outfit Five Eight were sitting around their house, fielding questions from filmmaker and decades-long fan Marc Pilvinsky.
“I remember looking around and thinking, ‘Wow, is it good to be here,” Ferguson says. “It’s great to get old with these guys beside me. It’s amazing to me that anyone cares, but I’m just so glad to be alive and to have these guys as friends. What a journey!”
Ferguson plays drums for Five Eight. The group formed circa 1988, and Ferguson joined shortly after, settling into a current lineup that includes singer, guitar player, and frontman Mike Mantione, guitarist Sean Dunn, and bass player Dan Horowitz. Since then, the group has turned out driving rhythms that punctuate aggressive and melodic songs bearing titles such as “Behead Myself,” “She’s Dropping the Bomb,” and “Weirdo.” Each number is guided by the band members’ personal struggles with mental health, coping with the complexities of human relationships, and overcoming the standards of a flawed music industry.
All of these elements combine in Five Eight, yielding tales of a band that has garnered an intense local following over the years, but mainstream success has remained frustratingly out of reach. Despite a seemingly insurmountable obstacle course that the band has navigated over its 36-year career, the group’s principal players remain disarmingly optimistic.
Pilvinsky lived in Athens between 1991 and 1997. At the time, R.E.M. had already broken worldwide. A new generation of bands were playing in Athens, ranging from the dark sludge and Southern depravity of Harvey Milk and the Martians to the atmospheric pop of Now It’s Overhead, and the rich Americana of Vigilantes of Love. Pilvinsky wrote about music for Athens’ arts and entertainment weekly Flagpole Magazine, and even served as the paper’s Music & Film Editor between 1995 and 1997.
He was immersed in the local music scene. “Over and over, I would see these life-changing shows happening on a Tuesday night at the 40 Watt Club, with 50 other people in the audience,” he says.
There were other clubs putting on shows as well, such as The Shoebox (later called The Atomic Music Hall), and The High Hat Club. Whenever Five Eight played they always sold out the club. Hundreds of people were blown away every time they played.
“The idea that a band could do that and then not go on to have a career as full-time musicians was surprising,” Pilvinsky says.
For him and many others, Five Eight was primed to ascend to the stadium-sized fame of ‘90s alternative rock stardom alongside the likes of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Wilco, and more.
But it hasn’t happened yet.
“Five Eight’s records are great,” Pilvinsky goes on to say. “Their songs are great. Everything about them is great, and they have an interesting story.”
After leaving Athens, Pilvinsky spent time living in Dallas, TX, and later in Los Angeles, building a career as a film editor. His IMDB page shows credits for his work on behind-the-scenes specials—bonus content accompanying films from Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland to Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes To Jail.
In 2013, he returned to Atlanta with his wife and kids, and was looking for a film project to peruse outside of his day job.
Earlier, back in 1994, while he was writing for Flagpole, Pilvinsky had interviewed Five Eight for a story when their album Weirdo was newly released.
“I went to their practice space and interviewed all four of them together, which was a huge mistake,” Pilvinsky says. “I was a pretty green journalist, but they just steamrolled over me. They were probably sick of doing interviews. I couldn’t get a straight answer out of anybody. They were just entertaining themselves with lies, essentially.”
But he never stopped being a fan of their songs. “They kept making better and better records,” Pilvinsky adds. “So I walked away from that thinking, ‘Okay, we’re not gonna be friends, but I love this band and I’ll just enjoy them from afar.”
At some point, Mike Mantione sent Pilvinsky a Facebook friend request. “I thought, there’s absolutely no way he remembers me,” he says. “I was the music editor of Flagpole for two years. This guy doesn’t know who I am.”
In 2014, Five Eight’s Weirdo album from 1994 was being remixed and remastered for a rerelease with five extra songs.
Pilvinsky reached out to say hello, and to say: “Just so you know, I make music videos and short films. If you guys have any video needs, let’s talk!”
First, they created a short, 20-minute documentary about why the Weirdo LP had to be remixed and remastered. At the time of its release, Nirvana’s Nevermind was dominating the music world. Five Eight’s label, Sky Records wanted the album to sound more like Nirvana, so they took a recording that had already been mixed and mastered by Dave Barbe, and did a second remastering job on the finished product, which essentially blew a hole in the middle sound information.
Filming that project led to Pilvinsky working on other short pieces with the group’s members, including a video for the song “Thanksgiving 1915” by Mantione’s other band Bad Ends.
As the longer Weirdo documentary unfolds, the story of Five Eight emerges telling the story of the band’s long and tangled career.
The story begins with frontman Mantione suffering a nervous breakdown, believing that he was the anti-Christ incarnate. This landed him in an in a mental health facility. Despite the doctors’ urgings, Mantione’s mother took him out of the institution. Soon after, he started playing music, which became a means for coping with his situation.
From there, the band’s story is a roller-coaster ride of extreme highs, frustrating lows, missed opportunities, and a revolving lineup.
From there, the band’s story is a rollercoaster ride of extreme highs, frustrating lows, career near misses, and a revolving door for band members.
Drummer Mike Rizzi played played on the Good Nurse and the Black album, He also played drums when the group toured with R.E.M. in 1999.
When Rizzi left the group, Ferguson returned to his place behind the kit.
Guitar player Dunn left the group in ‘98, but rejoined Five Eight during the making of Your God Is Dead To Me Now in 2011.
“I have not been the easiest person to play with and somehow Marc seemed to find a way to make sense of why the band has stuck together,” Mantione says. “I would say we have grown closer in some ways having weathered the 1990 major label frenzy that surrounded the indie college rock scene that we grew up in. I think our optimism, our almost childlike naïveté in the power of music to transform lives is why we’re still at it and I know Marc understands that.”
The documentary is filled with friends and contemporary artists— Bill Berry of R.E.M., Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls, Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers, Kevn Kinney of Drivin ’N’ Cryin, Vanessa Briscoe-Hay of Pylon, and producer David Barbe of Mercyland—testifying to the group’s strengths.
There is also a striking sense of humor woven throughout the film.
Participating in the film has sparked more activity for the group, hinting at more to come. There is a new album recorded and ready to be released in 2025. There’s also talk of a best-of album materializing down the line, which would be apropos, as the film could introduce Five Eight to a new audience. It also has the potential to cast new light on a band that’s become a staple of Athens indie rock scene.
“During the insanity of the grunge explosion, Five Eight missed a lot of opportunities, and we talk about that in the film, but somehow all of that now feels like the hand of providence on our shoulder,” Ferguson says. “I am so grateful for the life I have now. I love going to band practice. I love these guys I play music with. We still get to make records and play shows, and yeah, it’s not to stadiums full of people or whatever, but we’re all still alive. None of us are on “Celebrity Rehab,” he adds. “Nobody cares if we’re a little thin on top and thick in the middle. The incredible freedom that’s allowed us is such a gift.”
The Garden Club at Wild Heaven West End is hosting a screening of Weirdo: The Story of Five Eight on Friday, February 14. The band is playing a live set following the film, and Mike Mantione’s mom is leading an audience Q&A.
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This story originally appeared on the September 2024 issue of Record Plug Magazine.
Guitar player and composer Jeff Parker is perhaps best known for his contributions to contemporary jazz, experimental music, and post-rock as a long-standing member of the group Tortoise. Parker has also flourished through countless solo outings and collaborations with acts including the Chicago Underground Quartet, Isotope 217, and the New Breed. His latest endeavor, the ETA IVtet, is a Los Angeles-based outfit featuring drummer Jay Bellerose, double bassist Anna Butterss, and alto saxophonist Josh Johnson.
In November, Parker and the ETA IVtet unveiled their second album, The Way Out of Easy, on International Anthem Recording Company. The record showcases Parker’s signature blend of adventurous improvisation, harmonic sophistication, and a deep groove, seamlessly bridging tradition and experimentation.
The group takes its name from the L.A. bar where they held a weekly residency from 2016 until it closed in December 2024.
With The Way Out of Easy, Parker and Co. reaffirm their place as formidable players at the forefront of contemporary music, pushing boundaries while remaining rooted in timeless expression via four improvised pieces bearing titles such as “Freakadelic,” “Late Autumn,” the album’s title track, and “Chrome Dome.” Press play below.
Pylon Reenactment Society is fronted by Vanessa Briscoe Hay, whose voice brought Pylon’s kinetic energy to a fine point in the early ‘80s. With PRS, she fronts a wholly new group rounded out by guitar player Jason NeSmith, bass player Kay Stanton (Supercluster, Casper & the Cookies), and drummer Gregory Sanders (Casper & the Cookies). With their recently released debut album, Magnet Factory, the group expands upon Pylon’s angular style with a more pastoral approach in songs like “Educate me, ” “3 x 3, ” and “Fix It.”
Maybe they’ll roll out the seasonal hit (?), “Christmas Daze,” which materialized around this time last year.
Is/Ought Gap embodies the wild side of the no-frills ethos that fueled Athens’ heyday. “Artsy Peace and Love,” “Lucky 7,” “He Said,” and so many other ramped up numbers are defined by singer Bryan Cook’s razor-tongued and fun-loving invectives.
This show is a victory lap for Is/Ought Gap, who’s playing songs from this year’s long overdue discography LP, SUA, released via Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records.
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