in 1973, keyboardist/songwriter Sean Delaney told record producer Bill Aucoin to see a local New York band. This band wore makeup and had choreography (which Delaney taught them!) and a slew of songs that could be hits. This band was KISS. How did Delaney convince Bill to see KISS and sign them? Easy! He was his lover.

Delaney wrote a whole bunch of songs with Paul Stanley (of KISS), both well known and unknown. In 1979, he was persuaded to form his own band, The Skatt Brothers. This band had apparently one rule – out-gay the Village People. In the late 70s, this could only mean one thing – more mustaches!! While the Village People were singing about hanging at the YMCA, these guys were talking about the adventures that the night can bring.

Their debut album Strange Spirits didn’t set the world on fire, but it’s legend has grown over time, mainly because every 10 years or so, lead single “Walk the Night” pops back into pop culture.
The song starts with an ominous bass line, then some handclaps and guitar – it immediately sounds like it’s 2am and you’re in the city somewhere, preferably strutting. The band commands you to “WALK THE NIGHT” and you do! Then Tony the Tiger comes in with the verse:
Creeper gonna reaper gonna creep and walk the night
All right, all right, look out, night
Creeper got mad and angry eyes
One look from him can paralyze
Resist at any time or place
Creeper done slap right ‘cross your face
Right at “cross your FACE”, you get a huge guitar and drum stab, hammering home what the Creeper hath wrought. The next verse gets way more graphic, you can look that one up yourself. There may be children reading.
Either way the song is great. It fees like night, it’s about some Creeper, and has connections to horror. It first saw second life in 2010 when it soundtracked Grand Theft Auto IV.
It’s latest resurgence came from the movie Megan (erm, M3GAN, argh), in which the titular doll has some fancy creepy dance moves. The movie is great.
The Skatt Brothers never had another hit and disbanded in the early 80s. Sean Delaney died in 2003.