Cheap Chills - On Art and Monsters – Details, episodes & analysis

Welcome to the Cheap Chills podcast, where artists and creators who love spooky, weird stuff can get together and talk spooky weird art ….talk.
A few months ago, I was alone in bed watching The Cup Head show. It’s something I had tried to put on for our son when it came out but it was too creepy for him and he went back to watching something about trains with eyes.
Anyway, I was blown away by just how good this cartoon was! It’s very very inspired by animation from the  1930s but looks better than studios like Fliescher could manage back then. The animation, the jokes, holy craps the backgrounds. The second episode came on and I paid more attention to the credits. Created by Dave Wasson.
It was one of those moments where I thought, man if I can get back into podcasting, maybe I could talk to people like this. A few months and a few Instagram DMs later and here we are.
You’ve seen his work on the Mickey Mouse shorts on Disney+, Time Squad, Star vs the Forces of Evil, oh Yeah cartoons and The Cuphead Show. Here it is, my conversation with animation Writer and Director, Dave Wasson.

We discuss the Cuphead game developed by Chad and Jared Moldenhauer, advice for indie animators, The most inspiring music for making 1930s-style animation (Check out the playlist below!), jazz album covers of the 50s, Popeye, Betty Boop, Roger Ramjet, Rocky and Bulwinkle, and those amazing 3-dimensional backgrounds they incorporated into Fleischer brothers cartoons.

Plus a new segment! Join Roman Candelabrä for Roman Candelabrä's Mystery Moment as he explores the strange connection between Betty Boop and The Smiths. 

Follow Dave Wasson on Instagram: @arkansassugarpants

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You may notice the Cheap Chills podcast is has no commercials. If you dig the show and want to support us, please leave a review wherever you get podcasts. If you'd like to "Buy me a Coffee" that would be amazing too! I literally have no money. Is anyone reading this? 
buymeacoffee.com/cheapchills

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Music and editing for the Cheap Chills Podcast by Ben Walker-Storey.

This week Ben is busy with something very frightening if common among us these days, bills! So we've dug up (get it? GET IT??) a spooky gem from the early days of this podcast, Monsters in Turtlenecks has Ben and his wife (who is her own person) Amanda getting into what is likely THE biggest influence on how Ben became the monster-loving weirdo he is today, The Monster Club starring Vincent Price, John Carradine and Donald Pleasence.
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You may notice the Cheap Chills podcast is has no commercials. If you dig the show and want to support us, please leave a review wherever you get podcasts. If you'd like to "Buy me a Coffee" that would be amazing too! I literally have no money. Is anyone reading this? 
buymeacoffee.com/cheapchills

Affiliate Links below (commissions may be earned):
Get the Monster Club on Amazon

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Music and editing for the Cheap Chills Podcast by Ben Walker-Storey.

Ben Walker-Storey is back for a new kind of Cheap Chills Podcast!

This is a quick check-in to let you know what we'll be doing here each week. 

For me, there’s nothing better than wrapping myself into a blanket-burrito and checking out something spooky and weird. Whether its a reclusive creep inviting lone travelers into his castle or there are monsters battling it out over Tokyo, I want more!
(just no blood, OK?)

I’m also an illustrator, graphic artist and animator and for the last seven years I’ve been creating for my own spooky, weird brand called Cheap Chills. 

But more and more lately, I’ve been wondering about other creators. What are their stories? What drives them to paint monsters or make latex masks, little dioramas of VHS rental stores, synth-wave soundtracks or even their own genre films? 

So for this series I’m going to be talking with other artists and creators about our memories of all things spooky and weird and how they influence what we do now.

Plus as often as humanly possible I’ll be delving into some deep-dive histories from monster-kid pop culture.
 
Subscribe now and join me every week for the Cheap Chills Podcast!

Cheap Chills on Instagram

Cheapchillsfanclub.com

They said it wouldn't happen. But the stars aligned and Cheap Chills lives on! This time Ben and Amanda talk about fate and destiny, delving into some personal stories after delving into other personal stories for their popular "Hometown Horrors" segment.

Check out Rin Tanaka's series of street fashion books, My Freedamn!

Pick up a copy of Ben's new book, Monster Funk, in adult coloring book form or as a full-color picture book (paperback or ebook), all on Amazon.com. THIS JUST IN! Ben just released one more version, this one for kids (no words, just fun monsters). "A Coloring Book of Gross Monsters" will be available on Amazon July 20th.

Amanda's new Etsy store is called Irreverent Finery. Follow the Instagram too, @Irreverent-Finery.

Thanks for your support!

Live at STAB Comedy Theater in Sacramento, California! Ben & Amanda talk about the Hometown Horrors of the fun-zone in Grass Valley and fighting old ladies at estate sales. Then it's on to the cults! What is a cult? What is a sex-cult? Aren't they all sex-cults, really? Ben & Amanda discuss their favorite movies about cults and recount that time they went to a party thrown by pyramid-scheming, life-coaching, sex-cultists.

Then it's questions from the audience (and Instagram) for our super-computer, iDuddits!

Thank you Sacpodfest.

We're back! This time, Ben reads selections from his new self-published, Adult coloring book, Monster Funk. Friendship, rejection, career lows, embarrassment: Ben tells the incredibly personal stories that are behind the poo and fart jokes. Amanda recalls coloring with scented markers and rates all the smells. Plus Amanda and Ben share a Hometown Horror story and compare some of the grossest things about parenthood verses living in San Francisco.

In this return to greatness, Ben and Amanda unpack everything they know, think and feel about those sexy, blood-sucking fiends: Vampires. Ben starts the show with a brief rant about the age-old conflict between grumpy curmudgeons and you meddling, sardine-like teenagers. Then it's full-tilt into all the movie vampires: Bram Stoker's Dracula, Lost Boys, True Blood, Hammer films, Nosferatu, Ed Wood (it counts), Shadow of the Vampire, Blade. Ben even re-enacts a scene from a Twilight movie. Plus a few seedy personal vampire stories!

This episode is brought to you by our upcoming grown-up coloring book, Monster Funk.

Ben and Amanda talk Satan, Satanism and their experiences growing up Christian, going to church getting spooked by Devil-talk. Half-way through, the couple takes a break to have a crazy-mom-off.
Then it's back to the Beast, discussing the alleged former Satanic High Priest turned "Christian Comedian" of the 1980s, Mike Warnke. Plus, what are the best loved Satans in pop culture? And what are the "Satanic bands" of the 80s?

This episode is brought to you by Devil Dogs.

Ben and Amanda introduce a new segment, Conspiracy Something, Say Something and talk about a strange pattern emerging in children's programing. They give more thought and tips on going "Full Addams" (living like the Addams Family), then launch into the main topic: Time Travel. What would you do if you went back to High School? Can you convince a stranger to do something just because you are from the future? Would a vapor trail help?

Amanda is Back! We're back!
Ben and Amanda talk about what happens when you are awake during surgery. They take a big step toward living "Full Addams" (Family). Then they explore the idea of "smudging" and bad vibes in a home. Plus a few personal ghost stories!