Freight Train Rabbit Killer marks 10 years of haunting Kansas City with 'doom blues'

Ten years ago on a cold dark night of the soul, Freight Train Rabbit Killer began its life as a scary band/opera/near-death experience for Kansas City music fans. This Halloween season, there's a flurry of live shows to celebrate their new record.
One great thing about being Freight Train Rabbit Killer: No worries about what to do for Halloween.

“I mean, my suits are covered in four words, most of them: ‘rage, anger, pain and hurt,’” said Kris Bruders, quoting Lou Reed. “Which are the four things that get passed down from generation to generation, for sure.”

Bruders is Freight Train in the band Freight Train Rabbit Killer, so-called because of his affinity for train songs. The other guy is Mark Smeltzer, who picked up the nickname Rabbit Killer up after running out of money for food. He was down to $5 for the month.

“So I bought bullets,” said Smeltzer. “I learned to shoot rabbits with a nine-shot Colt pistol, basically a snake gun.”

Just before Halloween 10 years ago, Bruders and Smeltzer forged Freight Train Rabbit Killer around a love of hardscrabble American music. The stuff they play is crashing, heavy blues, swirled with dark opera and the devil.