Happy Hunching Day

Yes that's right. Ole Hasil died just a few days before his 69th(?) birthday. I put the question mark because some sources says that the year of his birth is unknown, some say it was 1937, but on the funeral service announcement they stated his year of birth as 1936. Not that it really matters but I'm a nerd sometimes. So today probably would have been the Haze's 74th birthday. Happy hunching in heaven Hasil! What better way to celebrate but with some hunching tunes:

It's Hammer Time

Jeroen Haamers, frontman of Batmobile, recently uploaded a bunch of clips he recorded with a web-cam to his YouTube acount. No, not those kind of clips you like to watch when you are alone in the room and the door is locked. It's Jeroen playing an acoustic guitar and singing some of his favourite songs. And yours. At least mine. Like Del Shannon's 'Runaway' or Elvis' 'I Just Can't Help Believing'. Here's the link to his account. Enjoy! 

HAMMER TIME 

Hunch That Thing

Five years ago, tuesday the 26th of April 2005 was a sad day. It was the day Hasil Adkins was found dead at his West-Virginian home. One and a half weeks earlier he had been run down by a teenager he had never seen before on an Atv. Hasil survived the attack but most likely suffered internal injuries that caused his death 10 days later.

Announcement for Hasil's funeral service. Notice the misspelling of his name.

Ever since I listened to the Haze's savage Rock'n'Roll for the first time I was hooked. It was the mid 80s and the only Hasil Adkins LPs available were the 'Chicken Walk' and 'Rock'n'Roll Tonight' albums put out by Hamburg based label Dee Jay Jamboree Records. A short time later Big Beat Records would release their Adkins LP 'He Said' and the following year Norton Records, USA put another reissue album on the market, 'Out To Hunch'. But until 1985 Hasil Adkins was as obscure as it could get. The only re-release available was the 'She's Mine/Chicken Walk' 45 on swedish Jan label from 1980 and less than a handful compilation LPs featured songs by the Appalachian wild man.

Hasil's first 45 for Florida based Air Records, July 1961. 300 copies were pressed.

When I saw Hasil's P.O. address in an american magazine one day I was exicted like a kid at christmas and sent him a letter, not really expecting any reply. I didn't believe that this one-man-wonder of minimalistic Rock'n'Roll could be reached so easily. I thought that the P.O.box was probably not used anymore anyway. I was wrong. Hasil wrote back.

At that time I was doing a fanzine called 'Something Wild' and asked Hasil if he'd be willing to do an interview by mail. He was. When I got it back I was partly disappointed and partly excited. It must have been the shortest interview by mail in the history of fanzine making but he had included a batch of private pictures to publish along with the interview. That was cool. So I wrote a rather long introduction, printed the extremely short interview and filled the pages up with the pictures he had send, no matter if Hasil was on them or not.

One of the pictures I got from Hasil.

At that time I was playing in a band(The Percolators) and we published our version of 'Chicken Walk' on an EP-compilation given away with the 'Demon Love' fanzine. I send the record to Hasil and he replied that he liked it. Needless to say that we were thrilled!

Besides the fanzine I was also running a small label(Jungle Noise) so I asked Hasil if there was any chance to release a record by him. Being a huge fan for years it would mean the world to me. As I was competing with Norton Records who seemed to have the monopole of releasing Hasil Adkins in the 90s I was sure it wouldn't be possible but I was wrong again. The Haze made it happen! One day a cheap looking cassette tape with 6 songs on it arrived and his message was 'Do with the songs what you want'. Wow... The result was the 'Slow Hunch' EP on red vinyl.

I never met Hasil but I was real close to do so. 2002 I was travelling the South and while in Kentucky I stayed at Jesse Todd Dockery's house in Lexington. Todd is one of the nicest and coolest people I have ever met and he definitely deserves an own article here at Satanic Hillbilly. Todd knew Hasil pretty well. He would drive all the way to Boone County, WV, to pick him up when he was booked to play a show in Kentucky. The plan was to visit Hasil so that I would finally get to meet him and to drop off another 100 copies of the EP for him to sell at shows. Unfortunately Hasil was down with pneumonia when Todd called to tell him that we'd be coming by, so we had to cancel the trip. I still got to talk to him on the phone which was nice. And challenging. If you've  ever heard Hasil talk you will  know that from 5 words he says you understand one or two. It was just like that for me being on the phone with him. 

Joe Coleman painting of the Haze.

Now it's five years since his death and there are more one-man-bands around than ever. Hasil's legacy lives on in various forms. What started in a little shack in the middle of nowhere over 50 years ago is now a worldwide phenomenon.

'I didn't try to be primitive. I just had bad microphones.'

(The Boone County Wild Man)

Spin That 45 - Part 10: Nazi Death Camp

And now to something completly different: The debut 7" of my favourite Finnish Punk-band Nazi Death Camp. In the early 80s Finland was famous for its extreme looking and sounding Punk-bands like Rattus, Appendix or Teervet Kädet. I never liked that stuff. Thank god the Death Camp Boyz  have only the nationality in common with these guys and are closer to the Dead Boys then Exploited. Less hairspray more Rock'n'Roll!  Or let me put it this way: If you like the Rip-Offs, Supercharger, New Bomb Turks and the mighty Nimrods you will also like NDC.

This 4-track EP came out late 2007 on Oulu based Psychedelica Records. There are two pressings available. The 1st one, limited to 500 copies and numbered, and the 2nd one, again around 500 copies, but this time in red vinyl. Since the release of this  7" the band put out tons of other 45s (and even a CD compilation of all those releases) but this one features their best song, the incredible catchy 'Baby, I'm An Alcoholic'.

TEDS!!!

There is a new Teddyboy super group in town: Backdraft! Members of well established bands Lou Cifer and the Hellions, Foggy Mountain Rockers and Ronnie Nightingale and the Haydocks joined forces to deliver some decent, no-bullshit, Teddyboy Rock'n'Roll. They have already done some recordings you can listen to at their MySpace site and the first gigs start rolling in, too, despite the fact that the band members are spread all over Europe(Germany, Holland and Finland). 

BACKDRAFT

Liverpool Teds 'Furious' have finally finished recording their debut album and boy it's about time. The band is around since 2003 and their one and only release, a CD single on Nervous Records, came out 2007. And there you have it, their complete catalouge. Have you ever heard about such a lazy band!?! But they make up for it announcing the release of the album on 180gr vinyl. Wunderbar!

FURIOUS

Köfte De Ville, singer of Mad Sin, announced his new project, a British Rockabilly band, some weeks ago. As British Rockabilly was how we called bands like Matchbox, Whirlwind or Cavan in Germany in the early 80s I hope that's what we will get. Decent ass-kicking Teddyboy Rock'n'Roll. Like so many Psychos +/- 40 years these days also Köfte has his roots in Rockabilly and said the first band he ever saw live was Crazy Cavan and the Rhythm Rockers. Just recently when he played the Satanic Stomp in Germany with Mad Sin under the name of 'Wild KDV and the Mad Kings' they had some Cavan songs in the set. I'm curious and I bet the traditionalists will hate it.

Fin-A-Billy Part 7: Barnshakers

The other Finnish 'institution' when it comes to authentic Rockabilly and Hillbilly besides the Hal Peters Trio are the Barnshakers and I don't believe that there is a single (post 50s)Rockabilly collector who hasn't at least one of their records at home.

Founded in 1992 by request of Goofin' Records head Pete Hakonen who needed a backing band for Johnny Carroll the 4 friends who had gained experience in Whistle Bait, Dr. Snout and his Hogs Of Rhythm and Hal Peters and his String Dusters got together to play some of the most authentic Rockabilly the world had heard since the 50s. Just 10 months after their founding they already recorded their debut album for Goofin' Records, the 'Cool Enough' 10". The rest, as they say, is history. The band played every major Rockabilly festival on earth, released tons of records, were one of the very few European bands that had a release on Willie Lewis' Denver based label 'Rock-A-Billy Records'(the great 'Big Sandy' 45) and became a popular backing band. The list of artist they worked with truly is impressive:
Hank Thompson, Narvel Felts, Hayden Thompson, Alvis Wayne, Johnny Carroll, Sanford Clark, Huelyn Duvall, Sid and Billy King, Martí Brom, Shaun Young, Johnny Carroll, Darrel Higham, Kim Lenz and Mack Stevens.

The next dates where you can catch the band live outside of Finland are May 28th when they play the Screamin' Festival in Spain and July 17th at the Riverside Jump in Ireland.

Coolville Losers

For a change some music to download here at Satanic Hillbilly n Sophisticated Boppin'. These are some recordings yours truly did ages ago with 2 friends. It's a mix of old-school Psychobilly(no Slap-Bass), Punk-Rock and Garage. All these songs were supposed to be released on various compilations but in the end none  was. Come on, they are not THAT bad...

Coolville Losers

I don't know about art but I know what I like...

...and I like Merinuk.

If you were buying Garage records and fanzines in the 90s you would automatically end up with a good collection of Merinuk artwork. He was doing it all. From french magazine 'Dig It' to the Basement Brats debut LP on Screamin' Apple Records, from his 'masterpiece' the Monsters 'Youth Against Nature' LP sleeve to tons of gig-posters. Of course he didn't stop in the 90s when every 2nd record I bought had his artwork, he's still alive and kicking.

To kill the waiting time between posts here at my blog I strongly recommend a visit to his great blog where he shows his work and talks about it. 

KING MERINUK'S PAD

Get On Your Knees - Reverend Beat Man in Helsinki - April 4th

Finland is a small country but it is no short of churches, priests and weird believes. Let alone in the small town where I live we have Mormons, Jehovah's witnesses, Scientology, other strange protestant churches I have never heard about, Muslims and sometimes you even get to meet a Hare-Krishna dude who wants to sell you self baked cookies. But no matter how hard they try, they can't trick me into their churches, temples and mosques. No matter how hard they try, they won't get my money. The only church I give my money to is the Church of Trash and the only reverend who's preaching I'm willing to listen to is Reverend Beat-Man.

April 4th 2010 was a double premier. It was the first time that Finns could see Beat-Man in their home country and it was the day I finally lost my Reverend Beat-Man virginity. I think I speak for both of us, Finland and me, when I say we don't regret it.

Been on stages around the world for over 20 years has turned Beat-Man into a pro. But not just yesterday, that happened already years ago. Everything that has his name on it means top entertainment: Something to tap your feet to, something to sing along to,  something to dance to, something that makes you wanna destroy, something that makes you laugh. Hell, even something that might makes you think. He is the ultimate anti-Las Vegas low-brow artist legends are made of. And he is real. 

I must admit, I loved Lightning Beat-Man, the records as much as the shows. Nothing I had seen before and have seen since comes even close to the experience of a LBM live gig, but the Reverend is a pretty good replacement. It's like seeing the older, wiser, not as crazy but still crazy brother of the King of Wrestling Rock'n'Roll.

 

As often as I got to see Lightning Beat-Man I never had the chance to see the Reverend before, which is a little bit strange. As soon as I heard that he was going to play Helsinki I got tickets as I expected the place to sell out in a heartbeat. Actually it didn't what surprised me. There was a decent sized crowd at Bar Loose, yes, but it wasn't the tight, sweaty sauna I was expecting. Maybe it's true what I secretly think: Finland is just not a Garage country. Yes, Pierced Arrows, Roky Erickson and the Sonics draw much bigger crowds here, but compared to Beat-Man they are mainstream anyway.

There was no support band but some local burlesque girls showed some flesh to warm up for Beat-Man. I guess they did well, it was crowded in front of the stage. I ran into the main act on the toilet, a quick hello (no handshake, I hadn't washed my hands yet) and just a few minutes later the gospel started.  Most of the hits were served: Jesus Christ Twist, Get On Your Knees, The Beat-Man Way, Blue Suede Shoes, I See The Light and even the LBM classic 'I Wanna Be Your Pussycat'. 

It was a good night!