L-R: Henry, Heidi, Jason, Carla, Chase
A Heavy Metal band based in Los Angeles, Butcher Babies was founded by Carla Harvey and Heidi Shepherd in 2009. They made waves in the California metal scene due to their aggressive sound and a vicious stage appeal heavily influenced by Wendy O. Williams of The Plasmatics, whose song "Butcher Baby" also christened the band. They released their eponymous EP in 2012, followed by their debut Goliath in 2013 (and thankfully, more comfortable stage fashion for the two vocalists). Their sophomore effort Take It Like A Man followed up in 2015, and after extensive touring and the departure of drummer Chris Warner, the band took the following year to regroup and come up with a more refined sound for their third album Lilith, released in 2017.
Influences:
Members:
- Carla Harvey - vocals (2009-present)
- Heidi Shepherd - vocals (2009-present)
- Henry Flury - lead guitar (2009-present)
- Chase Brickenden - drums (2016-present)
- Ricky Bonazza - bass (2020-present)
Former members:
- Chris Warner - drums (2009-2016)
- Jason Klein - bass (2009-2019)
Discography:
- Butcher Babies EP (2012)
- Goliath (2013)
- Uncovered EP (2014)
- Take It Like a Man (2015)
- Lilith (2017)
- Eye for an Eye.../...'Til the World's Blind (2023)
#itropeuplikethis
- A God I Am Not: "Gravemaker".
- Album Title Drop: "Dead Man Walking" for Take It Like a Man. Goliath, Lilith and ...'Til the World's Blind instead each have their own Title Track.
- The song "...'TIL THE WORLD'S BLIND" is an interesting case, as it features a title drop for the first disc of the double album, Eye For An Eye..., which didn't feature one at all (and, in fact, the title drop combines both disc titles in one line).
- Blood Bath: "Lilith". Particularly the video.
- Blood Is the New Black: Part of their aesthetic in their early days.
- Caps Lock:
- "POMONA". Averted in its parenthetical title.
- The entirety of ...'Til the World's Blind.
- Careful with That Axe: Heidi's trademark Metal Scream.
- Cluster F-Bomb: "POMONA (Shit Happens)" has 52 mentions of "fuck" and 15 of "shit", not including the one on the title.
- Cover Version: Their Uncovered EP.
- Distinct Double Album: Eye for an Eye.../...'Til the World's Blind, with Eye... being more commercial, traditional metal fare, and ...Blind being a more experimental mix of heavier metal styles, with a couple of slower, ballad-y songs thrown in. They were even recorded in separate locations, Eye... in the Arizona desert, and ...Blind in Michigan during winter, Carla describing the two as representing "light and darkness, fire and ice".
- Foreign Language Title: "Korova" is Russian for "cow".
- Genre-Busting: The Other Wiki lists their genres as Alternative Metal, Groove Metal, Metalcore, and Thrash Metal.
- Horrible Hollywood: "Marquee".
- Intercourse with You: "Headspin".
- Last Note Nightmare: "Lilith". Wait for it.
- Lyrical Dissonance: "DARN THAT NIGHTMARE", a jaunty, 1950's-style swing/big band number with graphically violent lyrics that wouldn't be out of place on a Cannibal Corpse album.
- Male Band, Female Singer: Male band, two female singers. Ask them about the trope and tables will be flipped. Calmly.
- My Car Hates Me: "POMONA (Shit Happens)" features the line 'What do I even have a Corvette for?' which is inspired by Carla Harvey contemplating on what to do with that '75 Corvette she had that was always broken.
- Non-Appearing Title: "The Cleansing", "Oceana", "Lilith", "Igniter", "Marquee", "For the Fight", "Goliath", "Blonde Girls All Look The Same", "National Bloody Anthem", "Magnolia Blvd", "BEAVER CAGE".
- Non-Indicative Name: "Lilith" is more of an allusion to Elizabeth Báthory, the Russian story "Beautiful Vassilissa", and possibly Neon Genesis Evangelion. The band, however, states that Lilith plays a bigger role in the eponymous album.
- Paint the Town Red: Said verbatim in "Lilith". Also, "National Bloody Anthem" literally screams this trope.THERE'S BLOOD EVERYWHERE!
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Many of their songs are this, but "Dead Man Walking" and "Dead Poet" take the cake.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: The two-headed figure in the Lilith album cover.
- Reign of Terror: "Burn the Straw Man".
- Self-Empowerment Anthem: "For rhe Fight".
- Titled After the Song: Named after The Plasmatics song "Butcher Baby". Wendy O. Williams was a big influence to the frontwomen as well.
- Waking Up at the Morgue: "#iwokeuplikethis".
- What Did I Do Last Night?: "POMONA (Shit Happens)", natch.Please tell me you remember something!
Tropes applying to their music videos:
- Color Wash: The Dress Rehearsal Video sections of "Headspin" are replete with green lighting.
- Deliberately Monochrome: "I Smell a Massacre".
- Dress Rehearsal Video: If their videos aren't concept videos or live cuts, they're most likely this.
- All the tracks from Take It Like A Man have this kind of video for their YouTube album stream.
- Honey Trap: The "Lilith" henchman plays this trope to catch beautiful young women so the old lady could regain her youth bathing in their blood.
- In the Hood: The stalker in "Magnolia Blvd." who later gives the protagonist a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown. When the hood comes off, turns out it was the protagonist all along.
- The abductor(s) in "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" who take the men first before the two women investigate the scene. Only in the end, after they've chained up Carla and Heidi, do we get to know that it's actually the same guys they drank with in the first place.
- Kiss Me, I'm Virtual: The gist of the music video for "Headspin".
- Le Film Artistique: "Mr. Slowdeath" looked like a slight venture into this trope.
- Literal Music Video: "Monster's Ball" is a Masquerade Ball In Da Club, complete with that one person in a whatever metal shirt and cutoff jeans trying to sneak away!
- Parents Walk In at the Worst Time: The ending of "Headspin".
- Performance Video: They do live performance videos once per album. So far we have "I Smell a Massacre", "Igniter", and "Look What We've Done".
- Most of the videos for their singles are essentially this.
- Rockumentary: The video for "Look What We've Done" (three and a half minutes in length) is basically a 9-minute mini-documentary of their latest tour.
- Scary Flashlight Face: Carla and Heidi initially in "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!"
- Slashed Throat: A poor young blonde's fate in "Lilith".
- Slasher Smile: The henchman in "Lilith" pulls off a disturbing one, complete with Kubrick Stare.
Tropes that apply to Carla and Heidi include:
- Domino Mask: Heidi used to invoke the look through makeup.
- Flipping the Bird: They love doing this in concerts.
- Friendship Song: "BEST FRIEND", which is basically a Platonic Declaration of Love between Heidi and Carla, and how much each one is all the other ever needs.
- Hair-Contrast Duo: Heidi is blonde, Carla is brunette. In the Take It Like a Man era, they literally mashed up this trope with Red Oni, Blue Oni.
- Light Feminine Dark Feminine: Promoting Lilith, the two decided to dress up according to their natural hair colors. Otherwise they would go for a downplayed Tomboy and Girly Girl dynamic.
- Metal Scream: Heidi sticks to a high-register type 1 and type 4, and can even reach type 3. Carla's is mostly an alto type 1 but she can veer into type 2.
- Motor Mouth: Carla, particularly at tracks like "For the Fight" and "Monster's Ball". Heidi also gets into this trope in the latter.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: By way of their Metal Scream, Heidi (red) and Carla (blue). The two mixed this trope with Hair-Contrast Duo while promoting their sophomore album. However, personality-wise, Carla is the more hot-tempered red while Heidi is the more sweet blue.
- Soprano and Gravel: Played with by the two, displaying a striking contrast in range when doing Harsh Vocals while alternating between that and clean singing.
