Michale Graves to Headline Zombie Walk and Undead Festival in Asbury Park

From: Toms River - by Phil Stilton

This weekend, zombies return to the Asbury Park Boardwalk for the annual Zombie Walk and Undead Festival. In 2010, the event broke the Guiness Book of Worlds Records for the “Largest Gathering of Zombies” as 4,093 zombies scoured the boardwalk in search of brains to consume.   This year, the event is billed as their biggest ever with a weekend long Undead Festival.

Festivities kick off at 5:00pm Friday night (Oct. 21st) with several stage sessions in and around the Asbury Park Convention Hall.  Friday night’s features are capped off with a performance by Toms River resident and former Misfits singer, Michale Graves.   Graves, when not performing as the lead singer for Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg, performs his solo acoustic act which features both Graves’ original songs and acoustic versions of songs he wrote or made popular while a member of the 1990′s Misfits revival, such as “Dig Up Her Bones” and “Saturday Night”.

For Graves, a native of Ocean County, it’s his first appearance at the Zombie Walk.   While you might think he was invited because of his connection with the Misfits, being a pioneer of the “Horror Punk” Graves says it was his 2009 role as Eric in the horror movie Perkins’ 14 and a 1995 appearance in the movie Animal Room, as himself.

Graves said  Craig Singer, Director of Perkins’ 14 put him in touch with Jason Meehan, organizer of the Zombie Walk.    Graves has also been an integral part in the revival of the Ramones.  He is the lead singer of the band “Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg”, a cover and tribute band, headed by former Ramones drummer Marky Ramone.   “The Ramones and Misfits toured together and that’s how Marky and I became friends.” Graves said “Then I was out promoting my acoustic tour and Marky contacted me about his band.  He was playing in a band called Marky Ramone and the Intruders, but everywhere they played, the crowd just wanted to hear Ramones songs.”

That led Graves to be the front man for Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg.  ”We just want to carry on the legacy of the Ramones.” Graves said.  Grave’s acoustic performance starts at 9:15 pm on the main stage Friday night.

The Zombie Walk takes place at 5pm Saturday Oct. 22nd, but the ghoulish fun goes on all weekend long. Visit http://www.njzombiewalk.com/ for more details and to purchase tickets.