Satanic Hillbilly & Sophisticated Boppin'

Winter Wonderland

2010-11-18T16:04:00.000+02:00

Winter finally has arrived. It has been constantly snowing since last night and the weather forecast for the next 5 days promises minus temperatures day and night. And that is what it will be like, more or less, until April 2011. I won't complain, yet, as that is what you get when living in Finland I suppose. So suddenly this sleepy smalltown where I live looks much prettier. Everything is covered in fluffy white snow: the streets, the roofs, the trees. But tomorrow evening things will get ugly again. There is a Psychobilly and Punk-Rock showcase at Torvi(the oldest still running club in Finland):

I'd say 'See you in the pit' but as this is Finland we all know there are no 'Wreckin' Pits'.

A Rockin' Good Read...Or Not? Part 8

2010-11-05T13:17:00.000+02:00

Wow, this book had A LOT of words. And not a single picture. So now wonder it took me all summer and parts of autumn to read it. But it was worse it. It was my first book on Buddy Holly and I must say, I know definitely much more now than I knew before. Even stuff I wish I wouldn't know because the image it creates in my head is just wrong. But more about that later.

Author Spencer Leigh is English and that might be a good thing, because there is the typical British humour to be found within the pages here and there which is refreshing. On the other hand he focuses a lot on Holly's influence and acceptance on the British music scene(mostly of the 60s), which I personally don't care much about. But as the book was published in Britain and probably aimed at the UK market...fair enough.

The concept behind 'Everyday: Getting Closer To Buddy Holly' is interviews, interviews and more interviews. Instead of transferring information given in interviews to text Leigh quotes A LOT. But that turns out to be a clever move as it makes even the uninteresting, unimportant bits quite readable. I mean hey, I really don't care what was so-and-so-called-english-musician-of-a band-I-never-liked-in-the-first-place's age when he heard Buddy Holly for the first time. But somehow this way it's bearable. So yes, he interviewed many, many English musicians for the book but also for example the living Crickets, Holly's widow, Big Bopper's son AND Bob Montgomery(!). Holly recorded his great Rockabilly songs together with him, in case you didn't know.

The book does not only cover Holly's complete musical career(the sessions, the quarrel with Norman Petty etc.) but also tells what the Crickets did after his death, talks about the movie, the musical, cover-versions(mostly by artist I had never heard of, and crap like Leo Sayer. The 50s Rock'n'Roll scene is not present in the book anyway, except a short mentioning of Darrel Higham for doing an - quote- excellent version of 'Down The Line'.) and other sub-subjects.

And there is the spicy info that Buddy Holly was involved in a group-fuck together with Larry Willams(read more on him here - really interesting: Heebee Jeebees) with Little Richard standing in the corner, wanking. Not the picture you want to have about the man who sang 'Heartbeat', right? Well, have sweet dreams tonight y'all!

Psychobilly - Fashionbilly - Restabilly - Whocaresabilly NEWS

2010-10-30T11:27:00.000+03:00

Demented Are Go are not gone anymore. The new line-up consists of Sparky(vocals), Grisha(bass), Holger(guitar) and Chris Damage(drums). Holger is, like Grisha, from the Pitmen and played a couple of DAG shows already in late summer and autumn. Chris Damage is, of course, the ex-DAG drummer that replaced Ant once already and now he does so again. Today the band plays a Halloween show in London with guest-guitarist Lex Luther.

Sparky's Rotterdam band '69 Demented' has a My Space site now and the first songs have been recorded, just not published yet. Gigging is planed to start early 2011.

http://www.myspace.com/69demented

The Mad Dog Cole band now are Phil Nowak from the Lucky Devils on guitar, Mark Palmer on bass(Radiacs and many other bands) and original Psychobilly-Krewmen drummer Dominic Parr on, well, drums. Just when the new album 'Son Of Satan' will see the light of day remains a mystery. A promo-video put on You Tube by Mag Dog Cole was taken down after a short time. If negative comments about the sound/recording of the new album made on a popular Psychobilly forum were the reason is unclear. Rumours are that even the record company refused to publish the album the way it was.

You want Old-School Psychobilly with BILLY written in capitol letters? Check out the Magnetix from Russia, the new band from Stressor guitar player Taras. But now things get a bit confusing. The recordings you hear on that site are new Stressor recordings. But as Taras left the band some months ago and he wrote these songs he took them with him. So what you hear is actually Stressor, not Magnetix. I think...Anyway, nice old Batmobile style!

http://www.myspace.com/psychobillymagnetix

The Sharks are back together, recording a new album, right now as I'm typing this. Gigs are very unlikely to happen as Alan Wilson keeps on repeating for years that he is not interested in playing life again. Fair enough. I just hope this album will have more 'Take A Razor' than 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' moments. I mean, come on, fuckin U2?!

Scum Rats guitar-player Serge Baxley's Neo-Rockabilly band '56 Alley Chaps' has just released their debut CD 'Ticket To The End' on Crazy Love Records. The band started already in 2002 but obviously was not in a hurry to put a record out, like many other bands. Check out the result here: Alley Chaps

Demented Are Gone

2010-09-20T11:10:00.000+03:00

Picture by Jeffrey Slangen

Some months ago, while on tour in Spain, Demented Are Go as we knew them broke up once again. For some very few shows in England and Germany(last saturday) a 'very special' line-up was put together with Grischa and Holger(both from the Pitmen) and Mad Sin's Köfte on drums, but most summer shows got cancelled. At the moment the band's booking agency Destiny has 3 DAG shows announced for October and November. I'm curious to see what happens, as Sparky himself just said in an interview he gave to psycho.rockabilly-online.com that the band doesn't exist at the moment. But the big news is that Sparky has a new band: 69 DEMENTED.

Living in Rotterdam for 3 years already he teamed up with local boys 69 Beavershot and together they will deliver a mix, as he said in above mentioned interview, of old-school Rockabilly, old-school Demented and new songs he wrote as well as Beavershot's bassist Mars. Sounds like a party to me!

Saturday Night At The Bus Station

2010-09-19T17:48:00.000+03:00

Cast Iron Arms

The Lo-Lites

A Music World Full Of Assholes

2010-09-18T11:09:00.000+03:00

Not only record-collectors are assholes, bands and record-labels are assholes, too. Not that it's a new discovery, I just got reminded again. I stumbled across the official Mummies news from last August that they would release a new 45 but sell it ONLY at their show in Portland the same month. Now how uncool is that?! Did they ever give a thought about their fans who don't live within travelling distance to Portland? Did it ever occur to them there might be people living overseas who would like to buy that 45 as well? Obviously not, otherwise I don't know why they came up with this stupid idea. Unless they don't give a fuck about their fans.

But they are not alone. More than once I read bands' announcements saying something like 'We recorded 4 new songs which we will release on an EP, but it will be available on our Japan tour only!' or 'There will be a special Japan release with 2 songs not on the European version'. Well, fuck you very much!

Remember the times when CDs were released with bonus-tracks(or is it still a common practise? I don't know. I don't buy CDs if there is a LP version. In fact I bought only 1 CD this year but tons of vinyl - just for the record)? Why do you get a bonus when buying a crappy little disc? Because the label makes much, much more profit than when you buy the LP version, as CD production costs are a joke compared to LP production costs. Still they (used to) cost around 50% more than a vinyl album. Nowadays things seem to have changed. Often LPs are released with bonus songs or new versions/mixes.

But worse than that are those labels(usually very small one-man indies, run by record-collector assholes) who put out releases on formats the average record-player is not able to play(fekkin' 5" or even smaller singles - records which play on 78 rpm - both incredible stupid ideas). But they don't stop there, they get their kicks out of releasing records in very, very small quantities, somewhere between 10 and 150 copies. It's okay if it's a record of some 3rd rate Blues-Rock band's rehearsal room recordings and only family members would buy it anyway, but often these releases would appeal to a much larger audience. So my question is: What the fuck is this about? Is it done so they are able to jerk off over the fact that they are part of a very small, exclusive group of people who own these extremely rare records? Could be. What ever sick reason they have, it doesn't change the fact that it is an artificial market and that makes the ownership of these records insignificant.

And it doesn't stop there. Some labels run vinyl clubs you have to join to be able to buy limited and overprized releases. But even sadder than this 'idea' is the fact that many bands/artists work together with these labels and support the idea that only a small circle of wanna-be elitists is able to get and listen to their new releases Bravo!

Thee Cave Comes Alive - Garage News

2010-09-17T22:15:00.000+03:00

Not only the -billy world has festivals happening all year round all over the world, the same is going on in the 60s/Garage scene. Some upcoming events you don't wanna miss are:

24th and 25th of September: The Turbo Rock Festival - Santanader/Valencia, Spain
http://turborock.es/

9th - 11th of October: The Funtastic Dracula Carnival - Benidorm, Spain
http://www.funtasticdraculacarnival.com/

22nd and 23rd of October: The Soundflat Ballroom Bash - Leipzig, Germany
http://www.myspace.com/soundflat_ballroom_bash

20th of November: The Dirty Water Garage-Rock All-Day Festival - London, UK
http://www.dirtywaterrecords.co.uk/gigsListing

29th of January 2011: Crypt-Style Hop Winter-Dance - Oberhausen, Germany
http://www.myspace.com/cryptstylehop

THE NOW SOUND

Two vinyl releases from the Garage side of Rock'n'Roll you might want to add to your collection are both Hi-Risers LPs that Soundflat Records just put out. It's the band's 3rd and 4th album 'Lost Weekend' and 'That Rock'n'Roll Beat' who were so far available on CD only. Both albums are limited to 500 copies.

Talking bout Germany, as that's where Soundflat is from, I just came accross some nice 60s bands from thee Fatherland. First from thee Hauptstadt there is The Magnificent Brotherhood who will release their 3rd album next month. They play some great 60s tunes, not 'just' snotty 60s Teen-Punk, they have much more to offer. I can hear Doors, Love, and Music Machine influences and that sure ain't a bad thing! Give them a listen here Brotherhood.

Thee former Hauptstadt Bonn is where the X-Ray Harpoons dwell in cellars and on graveyards. That must be the reason why they play straight 60s Punk with B-Movie lyrics. They have it all, tight black turtlenecks, striped shirts, fuzz-guitars and organ. Their debut 45 came out in April on Hamburg based label CopaseDisques, right now they are on tour in France. Check out the dates above. And their sounds here: CHICKEN BONES

Finally, for today, there is a band worth checking out that's based in the Harpoon's neighbourhood, in Köln. The name: Beat Revolver. This 60s 4-piece is around since 2003 already and plays Garage AND Mod tunes. You don't believe me, check out the boys:

Their debut album needs to be released still, but it's recorded and judging by the songs on their myspace, it will be ace! WE ARE THE MODS

Garage from the edge of the world: Davila 666

2010-09-15T07:27:00.000+03:00

I'm still amazed when I hear about Rock'n'Roll bands - Rockabilly, Garage, Punk-Rock, what ever - from places in the world which were considered 3rd world countries when I grew up(in those dark pre-internet times). All we knew about them was from TV, documentaries or on the news, and it was hardly ever good news. Nowadays we know that there are Psychobilly bands in South-Africa, Punk-Rock bands influenced by Finnish 80s Hardcore-Punk in Brasil, Skinhead bands in Indonesia and Garage-Rock bands in Puerto Rico. At least one: Davila 666. And they are doing their job well. Their debut album was released 2008 by In The Red Records, USA, and they seem to be constantly gigging. They will do so in October and November all over Europe with gigs from Italy to Poland, from Spain to Germany, from Sweden to Finland. Check out their tunes and dates HERE.

35 Years Bear Family Records

2010-09-14T09:29:00.000+03:00

Who doesn't know, who doesn't own a couple of Bear Family Records records! This year the German collectors label is celebrating its 35 year and to do so they released a 3-CD set with all exclusive songs that center around bears or the label itself. It's a total of 68 songs and 2 of them are from Finland. New rising stars at the international Rockabilly-sky Mike Bell and the Belltones contributed the 'Crazy Bear Rock' and the singer's Surf/Instro band The Atomic Blast the track 'The Amazing Hypno-Bear'.

Send More Cops - The Art Of Antoine Bernhart

2010-09-13T13:38:00.000+03:00

French artist Antoine Bernhart will be best known within the Rock'n'Roll scene for his legendary Tall Boys skull and other pieces of art he designed, such as the Rattlers' rattlesnake, the sleeve for Nervous Record's 'Zorch Factor 3' LP, the Elvis on Ace Record's 'Rockabilly Shakeout' LP or the gig-posters he did for the Vibes to name a few. I found one of his pieces also used for a Cramps LP-bootleg in the 90s. It actually, but not surprisingly, fitted very well.

But like every artist Bernhart's output is much larger and versatile than these examples might suggest. Berlin bases gallery and publishing company Bongout released a collection of his art in 2008. It's the 224 pages book 'Skull Skool Royal". It includes small prints of his record-cover and poster works and tons and tons of unseen pieces where Sex, Death, Monsters, Nazis and Rockers rule the world. Partly disturbing, partly weird, partly brilliant. Definitely unique. Get your copy: SICK SICK SICK

Psycho-Rama Helsinki: Old Men Do It Best

2010-09-11T18:02:00.001+03:00

Polecats

It's safe to say that what is true for wine is also true for Rock'n'Roll these days. The older the better. By far the best band of yesterday's Psycho-Rama Festival's first day in Helsinki were the Polecats. All in their late 40s(I guess) they played with so much energy and fun, it was easy to see that they were enjoying what they did a lot. And the audience loved it and loved the band. They played a great set, much more 'old' songs than when I saw them last autumn. They even did my 'are Go' favourite 'All Night Long' AND - drum roll - 'Make A Circuit With Me'. It will sound emo but that made me very happy! I was then hoping for the even better 'Juvenile Delinquent From A Planet Near Mars', but it wasn't in the set this time. After encores they closed with a song by one of the best bands in the world, Crazy Cavan and the Rhythm Rockers' 'My Little Sister's Got A Motorbike'. What a perfect way to end a great night.

Two Patsy Walkers

And it sure was a great night. Organized just for the second time I have the feeling this will be a regular and popular event in Finland. It was well attended, a good mix of styles was presented and the place was great: Good sound and easy to access with public transportation(which means you don't need a car to get to the festival and get a hotel room because the event takes place in a hotel in a small town in the middle of nowhere, like so many other -billy events in this country).

The Arkhams

First band were the Verticals, a Surf/Instro band from Lappeernranta, followed by Helsinki 6-piece all-female Garage band the Patsy Walkers who were all dressed as the 'Bride of Frankenstein'. Both bands were okay, but no really impressive or memorable in their styles of music. The festival's first Psychobilly band to play were the Arkhams from New York who put on a great show, bursting with energy. One of the hardest working bands of the scene was next, the Peacocks. As always they delivered value for money with a show full of energy, sweat, catchy tunes and rebellion: Singer Hasu smoked on stage and smoking inside buildings is forbidden in Finland! Closing the evening were the Polecats and as I just mentioned, they ROCKED the house!

Peacocks

Polecats

Fin-A-Billy Part 10: Flatbroke Trio

2010-09-10T11:34:00.000+03:00

Now this is one fine Rockabilly 3-piece from Finland. The boys hail from the beautiful town of Turku, right on the West-coast and are around for over a decade already. A decade of Sun-Rockabilly(you know, don't you? That drumless Rockabilly sound the Memphis flash made so popular in 1954) and 50s Country. But live you will also hear them play the Neo-Rockabilly classic 'Live Fast, Die Young' from the Blue Cats. The Trio definitely knows what's good. Gigs of the band are rather rare it seems. In 2009 they just played one time, but in 2010 they are doing a few more gigs.

The bands' debut record was a 5-track CD called 'Beggin' For More' released 2003 and their first full album came out the following year on Jungle Records, entitled 'Dust & Diesel'. 2007/2008 Jungle released the bands' next record a 4-track EP, available on vinyl and CD, and their latest release so far is the 10"/CD 'Still Searchin' from last year.

I had the chance to catch them live at this years Ruuhijärvi Rockabilly Festival, Nastola, Finland(see picture above), and to me they were the winners of the night.

The Spits Beat You Up

2010-09-09T14:11:00.000+03:00

Considered Punk veterans in their hometown Seattle, the city once known, as we all will remember with an expression of pure Horror on our faces, as home of Grunge, I had never heard of the Spits when I went to see them at the famous Crypt-Style-Hop in Oberhausen, Ruhrgebiet, Germany, where they played during their 2006 European Tour. Just one word can describe the experience: Awesome! The band played the most melodic Punk-Rock since the Ramones and early Misfits mixed with synthesizer sounds and early Electronic coolness. In some review about them I read the term 'Electro Punk'. That's fine with me as the keyboard definitely doesn't sound like an organ, much more like a synthesizer and is the main ingredient that makes the Spits' sound so unique. In addition to that on record they always sound low-fi, like 4-track demo-recordings and that's another nice feature.

4th 'official' album

The Spits were formed 1994 in Seattle, as I said, by brothers Sean and Erin Woods who are originally from Michigan, but didn't release their debut album(CD) untill the year 2000. Since then 3 more official albums followed, the latest 2009 on their own Thriftstore label(LP version, CD got licensed). Official because other albums - two Live-LPs, one of them released under two different names and one compilation of old material - are never mentioned or counted as regular output, not even by the band. Each 'official' Spits album is called 'The Spits' and they are unofficially numbered from 1 to 4. Confused? Well I am. A bit.
In their self-image they are no Punk band, they are a Rock'n'Roll band. Sean White: We’re labeled punk rock, but I consider us rock and roll. If you take most of our songs and slow them down, you’re going to hear rock. It’s intense rock. Punk, Garage, Rock - what ever it is, what ever you fancy, in the end it's all about the same thing, having a good time and that's what the Spits are about. Or as Sean White puts it: We’re entertainers and we like to party.
If you want to check them out, here's their My Space site: THE SPITS.

New Fix For Vinyl Junkies

2010-09-08T07:46:00.000+03:00

The Surf Rats are working on the vinyl release of their 3rd album 'Welcome To Killafornya' which they self-released last year. It's gonna be a 10" with all new mixes, again released by the band. Some new versions can be heard on their My Space site now. My feelings about the album are mixed. The band's debut LP 'Trouble' is without a doubt a genre classic and 'must have'. That's something I couldn't say already about the follow up 'Straight Between The Eyes', which was rather mediocre but already showed the direction the band would take on later releases they did under the name of 'Love Cowboys'. Now with the third 'real' Surf Rats album the band got stranded somewhere between the first one, and the Love Cowboys stuff. There are some great old-school Psychobilly songs on it but also quite a few Reverend Horton Heat alike Rock-billy songs I don't care much for.

The complete 80s recordings of legendary german Western-Rockabilly band The Roughnecks have been re-released as 2-LP set by Mad Drunken Monkey Records, a small label from Germany. The bands' original releases on Korea Records(7",12", LP) have been sold on Ebay for a lot of Euros in the last years but if you didn't want the CD re-release on Crazy Love that was what you had to pay. Well, these days are over. Now you can have the songs on vinyl again. For a short time, as the release is limited to 500 copies.

Speaking about Crazy Love Records. Guido just released the latest Quakes album 'Negative Charge' on vinyl, 110 of them in blue. At this point blue copies are still available but you never know for how much longer so better order right NOW!

Mix Tape: Hot Rod Weekend

2010-09-07T08:47:00.001+03:00

Mix-Tape time again, it has been a while. This time with 79 minutes of the best 60s Rock'n'Roll you can ask for. No Surf, no Beat, no Teen Punk, for sure no Psychedelic or Kraut-Rock. Just plain simple grooving 60s Rock'n'Roll. While compiling the album I discovered quite a few outstanding tracks that I hadn't heard before. Stuff like 'Darktown Strutters Ball' from Joe Brown and the Bruuvers from 1960, the first version of Cliff Richard's 'Move It' that I actually can stand, done by a band called The Twitters or the 1964 Colin Cook and the Strangers recording 'Put Me Down'. Other gems are 60s recordings by Bill Haley, Chuck Berry, Freddie Cannon, Gene Vincent and my 3 favorites, Ronnie Self's 'Own Kick Going', the Super Stocks with 'Wide Track' and Eddie Fontaine's 'I'm Gonna Settle Down'. You haven't lived until you have heard that groovy little tune. Get your copy HERE!

Spin That 45 - Part 13: Mad Daddys

2010-09-06T15:11:00.001+03:00

The Mad Daddys were a New Jersey band, formed in the early 80s as 'Freddie and the Hubcaps', who used to have a strong Cramps-connection in their early years. Their debut Mini-LP 'Music For Men' from 1984 was produced by Lux and Ivy, the band released their version of the Cramps classic 'New Kind Of Kick' on the 1986 New Rose Records Double-LP 'Play New Rose For Me' and 'Flamejob' bassist Slim Chance was the Mad Daddys bass-man some years before and on the 45 I want to talk about today(he's the pretty fellow on the far right on the record-cover).
Despite the Cramps connections and the fact that the Mad Daddys probably took their name from the Cramps song 'Mad Daddy' the Daddys were far from being a Cramps clone. They had their own sound and style for sure. As on this teriffic 45 from 1991, released by Sympathy For The Record Industry. Side A is a cover of the 1977 Ted Nugent Hit 'Cat Scratch Fever', but where the original is just another boring Rock song with Glam-Rock edge, imo at least, the Daddys' version is a mid-tempo chainsaw-fuzz-massacre that has to be heard to be believed. The Flip 'Yeah', maybe an original, I don't know, is another mid-tempo stomper with heavy fuzz-bass, both typical Mad Daddys trademarks. No doubt, his is one of the best 45s of the 90s, what the hell, of all times!

Blowing Up A Storm - Again?

2010-09-05T12:26:00.000+03:00

Whirlwind, legendary Teddyboy band of the late 70s, is back! As you all will agree, their first album 'Blowin' Up A Storm', released early 1978, is a must-have for every true Teddyboy and every serious fan of Revival Rockabilly. Opposite to many Revival bands of the time Whirlwind played Rockabilly and not 50s Rock'n'Roll. And they did this with the same energy and drive the forefathers had in the mid-50s. The follow up and same time last album 'Midnight Blue' was a bit lame compared to 'Storm', but still had some arse-kicking songs on it. Whirlwind were able to gain fans not only amongst the Teddyboys and Rockabillies but also among popular Punk and Rock bands of the time, Blondie and the Clash for example. Singer Nigel Dixon later(1986) even moved to the States to form the band 'Havana 3:AM' together with Clash's bass-player Paul Simonon.

Whirlwind existed between 1976 and 1980. That year drummer Gary Hassett became ill while the band was on UK tour supporting Blondie. At the end of the tour the band decided to call it a day. Sources on the internet on this differ. Some say that at this point 'Midnight Blue' wasn't even released(Raucous Records web-page), some say that Hassett's health problems was the reason for the split(Ace Records web-page), others say 'Midnight Blue' had been released, the tour with Blondie was to support the album and that bad sales and the drummer's health problems together lead to the decision to split up(Mark Deming, All Music Guide).

Singer Nigel Dixon died April 1993 from cancer, some month later original drummer Phil Hardy did due to cancer, too.

But now Whirlwind is back! The line-up concists of original guitar-player Mike Lewis, on piano and vocals Rob Russell(who joined the original Whirlwind after 'Storm' was released and left again before 'Midnight Blue' was recorded) , Miss Jean Vincent on vocals, Nick Dadd(Roof Raiser) on vocals and guitar, on drums Matt Russell(nephew of Rob Russell) and on upright-bass Finley Malcom.

After listening to the Roof Raisers I can say that Dadd has a good Rockabilly voice, but I don't know what to make of Jean Vincent's involvement. It is questionable anyway to reform a legendary group after 30 years and not having the original singer. But it worked for other bands before, maybe it will work for the new Whirlwind as well. Time and their live gigs will tell. The band is currently rehearsing and they start gigging in November. The first international appearance booked so far is at Screamin' 2011 in Spain. For more info and updates surf to the band's webpage: WHIRLWIND

Polecats go BALD!!!

2010-09-04T19:59:00.000+03:00

One day, maybe. If they are lucky they won't. To increase tension in anticipation of the band's gig coming friday in Helsinki here is the Flexipop photo-story the band did in 1981. It was published in Flexipop No. 6, May 81, and with the Cats is The Damned singer Dave Vanian. Enjoy this little jewel of B-Movie Rockabilly Mayhem!

Wild Weekends Ahead

2010-09-03T15:02:00.000+03:00

If you happen to be in Finland this weekend and you've got no plans for the weekend yet - Crazy Cavan and the Rhythm Rockers are playing 2 shows as part of their 40-Years Anniversary Tour. Today they are in Lappeenranta and tomorrow they play in a town(?) called Loppi.

Coming weekend the Psycho-Rama Festival takes place in Helsinki and it offers something for everyone: Garage, Surf, Rockabilly, Country, Psychobilly, beer and tits. Doors open both days, Friday the 10th and Saturday the 11th, at 7 and the party is over at 4 in the night. Most likely many will have passed out hours earlier already. If tits and beer are not your thing on saturday you could go to the Rock'n'Roll ball instead, for beer and Rockabilly. It's in the sleepy town of Valkeakoski at Hotel Waltikka, the same place where the Real Gone Teddyboy Weekender takes place. Rockabilly legend Mac Curtis is playing, plus Hal Peters and his Trio and some other Finnish acts.

Have You Heard The News?

2010-09-02T13:31:00.000+03:00

Matt Voodoo, mastermind of Bamboula and for some time already 2nd guitarist in Mad Sin (and because of that living in Berlin) just published some demo recordings with his new project/band Killing Irie on the band's My Space site. Have a listen, it's not bad at all. They don't consider themselves a Psychobilly band but I guess you could label them 'Modern Psychobilly', probably because of the Slap-Bass. But anyway...go and decide for yourself.

The Bullet Biters, Psychobilly trio from Finland, self-released a 4-track EP some weeks ago. It's called 'Intergalactic Mental Alert' and you should be able to get it via Crazy Love Mailorder. Support vinyl - buy the hot platter!

The Arkhams, outstanding new(sorta) Psychobilly band from New York City - actually they were THEE surprise at the Pineda Psychobilly Meeting 2009 - will be playing three Euro dates very soon. Original drummer Seanzi won't be hitting the skins due to passport trouble, for these dates he will be replaced by Liam Crill, drummer of one of the best bands now and then, here and on any other planet, the Kings Of Nuthin'. In time for the gigs the band's 2nd CD 'Valley Of The Arkhams', recorded about 2 years ago, should be available finally. See them tomorrow, September 3rd at the Wild at Heart, Berlin, on saturday the 4th at Subway to Peter, Chemnitz. East-Germany, and next weekend, friday the 10th at the Psych-O-Rama Festival in Helsinki, Finland!

Fin-A-Billy Part 9: Jussi Raittinen

2010-09-01T17:53:00.000+03:00

Jussi Raittinen was born 1944 and despite being rather old, his involvement with Rockabilly within the last 66 years can be called little. But impressive. That's why he has to be mentioned here.

Jussi 1959

Despite having had his first records out in 1960 Jussi Raittinen became really known to the public in 1964 when his band 'Eero ja Jussi and the Boys' recorded and released Beatles songs in Finnish, following that by also doing Finnish versions of hits by other popular artists of the day, like 'Satisfaction' from the Stones or Roy Orbison's 'Pretty Woman'. During the first years Jussi was the band's singer and guitar-player, but in 1967 he switched to bass and kept on playing it ever since. Him and Eero are brothers, and in 1965 when Jussi wasn't in the band for about a year(Army?) Eero would start doing vocals as well. In '68 Eero left the band but returned 1980 to stay for another 19 years. If you are intererested, see all line-ups here: The Boys.

50s Rock'n'Roll was always part of their set, for example they had Fats Domino and Ray Charles covers (Hello Josephine, I Got A Woman) on their first LP and for their 2nd LP, released 1966, they covered Bill Haley(Skinny Minny) and Little Richard(Rip It Up). On later releases this would continue with covers by Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry and Eddie Cochran. In the early 70s the band would have a 'Country' phase where they covered songs by Waylon Jennings, John Denver, Don Gibson and even Merle Haggard's 'Okie From Muskogee' was recorded with Finnish lyrics. I really would like to see those. This would lead to a solo album by Raittinen released 1975 entitled 'Kantri & Rock'. 'Kantri' is the Finnish way to write 'Country'. They write how they speak, so it makes sense, in all its weirdness.

Also 1975 Raittinen went to the States and recorded at the Glo-Lite Studio in Memphis 'Blue Moon of Kentucky 'and 'I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone' together with Marcus Van Story on bass, Bubba Feathers on lead and Charlie Feathers(!) on rhythm guitar. He had run into them in Memphis, Feather's invited him to his house, at one point they started jamming and Feather's suggested to book some studio time and record a bit. Great idea! Raittinen also cut two songs in New Orleans but those sessions musicians don't say anthing to me. The Memphis songs were released the same year as 45 on Rock & Country Records in Finland and later re-released together with the Orleans songs and other recordings on the Jussi and the Boys LP 'Mennään Melomaan'. 1976 he returned to the States and recorded a whole LP in Nashville, simply called 'Nashville', with the help of Scotty Moore, D.J. Fontana, Bob Moore and the Jordanaires. Not bad, not bad at all! An even bigger surprise than the musicians might be the fact that there wasn't a single cover-version on the album. All songs were written by Finnish songwriters! While in the USA Raittinen recorded in New Orleans again AND at Ronny Weiser's Rollin' Rock Studios! There he had Billy Zoom on lead-guitar. As result of the trip a LP came out in Finland in 1977, title 'Rollin' The Rock'. Side A consisted of the Orleans session, side B of the Rollin' Rock session and this time all songs were cover-versions.

In the years to come Jussi kept on recording Rock'n'Roll and Country songs but he would also play the very Finnish styles of 'Isekelmä' und 'Rautalanka'. When I saw him perform just some months ago the band's set actually was mainly those styles plus their 60s hits and 2 Rockabilly songs, 'My Baby Left Me' and 'Honey Don't'. Those they played with so much drive and power, it would have put many 'authentic' bands to shame. With a pretty decent Finnish authentic band Raittinen recorded in 1990, with Hal Peters and his Trio. They did 4 cover songs that were released the following year as 12"EP on Goofin' Records.

Jussi and the Boys - live in Lahti 2010

Jussi Raittinen has done much, much more than I could mention here. As I had never heard of him before I moved here I figured same would go for most non-Finns, so maybe some of you got curious now and want to discover his music, with or without the boys. Here he is with Charly Feathers and the others(Thanks to Markowee over at You Tube). Dig it!

One Man - Big Beat

2010-08-31T13:28:00.000+03:00

Homer 'Creepy' Henderson

Music lovers in Finland are in for a treat. For a change I should say, as hardly any foreign acts make it here and if they do they often play just one or two gigs in the two biggest cities of the country, Tampere and Helsinki. But this time things are gonna be different: Homer Henderson, the 'Amazing One Man Band' from Texas is playing a bunch of gigs. If you don't know Henderson, and I won't blame you for it as I didn't know him either until some weeks ago, imagine a bass-less Rockabilly/Country/Blues band concisting of only one member. Or imagine the 50s/60s Hasil Adkins with a sense of rhythm. Or just go to his Myspace site and have a listen. Homer Henderson will perform at these fine clubs:

September 9th - Torvi, Lahti
September 10th - Gallows Bird, Espoo
September 11th - Graceland, Turku
September 13th - Yo Talo, Tampere
September 17th - Bar Soho, Porvoo

Psychobilly Records Ain't Selling This Year

2010-08-28T13:22:00.002+03:00

Except for Mad Sin's latest 'Burn & Rise' which almost made it into the German Top 100 Album Charts and for one week was in Finland's Album Charts. But in general the sales have gone down. Alan Wilson from Western Star Records said "From my own label's experience, Rockabilly bands, even relatively unknown ones, outsell Psycho releases by about 10-1. It seems pretty stagnant on the Psychobilly front once again, and talking to other labels, most of them say the same." There can be various reasons for this. Less people on the scene, lack of quality of the new releases or, and I guess most labels will say this is the main reason, illegal downloading and file sharing. I'm not sure if I buy that. People have always shared music and not every fan spent his money on records. I knew many Psychos in the 80s who would spent their money on booze and not on music. They would always tape the latest LPs from their buddies. For me the reason not to buy Psychobilly records is the lack of quality and originality. And the lack of a vinyl release. But no matter why, the bad sales lead to some unwelcome developments. Anagram/Cherry Red Records was able to locate and buy all existing master tapes from the recordings for the legendary 'Stompin' At The Klub Foot' LP series. From those they released in 2008 the Batmobile 'The Clarendon Ballroom Blitz - Live At The Klub Foot 1986' CD and just recently the Sting-Rays 'Live At The KLub Foot 1984' CD.

But if things, here sales, stay the way they are this will be the last release from the haydays pf Psychobilly and Trash and all other historical recordings, done when many bands were at their peak, style and sound-wise, will never be heard. Alan Wilson is the one working on the new Klub Foot albums, saving and mixing the old recordings and he said "I'm sitting on full live albums by The Tall Boys, Torment and several other great bands, all unmixed and mostly unheard, although as we all know a few odd tracks were released on the Klub Foot compilation albums. There's also a lot of bands in these tapes that don't quite have enough material for a full album, say 8 tracks or something - but I probably have enough of those to put together another 4 or 5 volumes of Klub Foot Compilations." The costs to save the old master-tapes, transfer the recordings and mix are quite high. Just too break even is hard with sales as low as they are these days, Wilson said. Due to this Anagram/Cherry Red has no plans to finance another Klub Foot project at the moment.

People always talk about the Klub Foot records as Psychobilly albums but there always were Garage and Rockabilly bands on the albums as well: Milkshakes, Prisoners, Styng-Rites(pre-Kaisers), Rapids, Rochee and the Sarnos etc. Maybe live albums by them would sell better?

Here is more insight in the work required to save the old recordings. Alan Wilson:

The tapes are stored correctly in a safe, dry and stable environment. But they are slowly deteriorating and will continue to do so - such is the nature of analogue tape - especially the Ampex brand from the early 80's onwards. The content of the tapes will never be truly safe until they are converted to a stable format. Because they are on 2" tape, it's a bulky and costly proccess to do that. The tapes have to be baked slowly in a specialist oven to de-humidify them. They then have to be painstakingly lined up on the tape machine for Dolby etc and because the recordings were done on a mobile 24 track using 2 seperate 24 track machines (these reels last about 20 mins so 2 machines were used so as not to miss songs on the tape changeover). Trouble was both machines must have been alligned badly and poorly maintained and one seemed to have different Dolbly than the other. No Dobly settings are documented on the tape boxes, no test tones, nothing...... Making everything trial and error, but with the added pressure that these tapes will not stand being shuttled back and forth on a tape machine.

So, trying to now play them back, in their fragile state, getting a decent head alignment, and trying various Dolbly settings is a f*cking nightmare. Too many passes and the tapes would litterally fall apart. And...t hese tapes were second hand when these gigs were first recorded! I know this because there are edits in the tape which songs have then been recorded over! These joins are falling apart and because they are often mid-song it really is a nightmare to repair them.

The Batmobile album took me around 4 days just to line up the two reels so they sounded ok and get the tracks transferred to a stable format. The results are great but look at the cost! That's all time spent before I was even able to mix the album! So it's easy to spend several grand before you even have a sellable product. AND there's always the risk that once you have done all that, the end result may be shit, faulty or even not what it says on the box! - I've already had that happen. It's a huge gamble for a label to spend thousands and not know if they'll get a product.... and even if they do, they then can hardly sell any copies because the scene quite small and because of illegal downloads etc.

With no interest from Cherry Red at this very moment other labels could take advantage and release those classic gigs. Wilson says "My idea was this: If I could get a label to license/lease the recordings and pay an advance to do so, this would help pay for the 'recovery' costs of the audio sources. In simple terms... Cherry Red would still own the rights long-term, but the money raised from the short-term licensing would help pay for the recovery process. So, once the lease expired, Cherry Red had the material forever and got it converted on the license money. Great idea in theory. I contacted dozens of labels. I got just one reply and they hardly wanted to pay anything." Ain't it a shame?! So maybe it's time for privat investors. I don't know if there are any fans of 80s Psychobilly 'n'Garage who have tons of money lying around on their bank accounts but if so do something good with it and get in touch with Alan Wilson so that the world can enjoy the unheard recordings from the days when Psychobilly was still fresh and kicking! Message Alan Wilson

Source: Forum at www.psychobilly-online.de

Rockabilly Fund Raising

2010-08-27T20:41:00.000+03:00

Thomas Yearsley, bassplayer of american Rockabilly/Roots/Rockin' Blues band THE PALADINS was hit by a train while trying to save his dog from being hit by it. Sadly he didn't succeed and was injured himself. He had to be flown to hospital but on the positive side it sounds as if his injuries have not been as bad as they easily could have been. Now his friends have started a fund raising to help him pay the costs for the helicopter, the hospital and to cover living expenses, as he won't be able to work for some month and like many americans has no insurance. If you want to help, go HERE.

Spin That 45 - Part 12: Hillbilly Boogiemen

2010-08-16T17:26:00.000+03:00

I don't know if every Rockabilly fan makes this transformation in taste but you maybe have noticed that often people after being into straight 50s Rock for some years go back even further in time then 1954 and explore the roots of Rock'n'Roll and Rockabilly and start listening to Rhythm'n'Blues, Jive, Swing, Country, Hillbilly and Bluegrass. I bet as a 14 year old Teddyboy you could have easily chased me out of the house with this 45 I am presenting today but with my now adult and sophisticated musical taste I love it!

The Hillbilly Boogiemen are a Country/Rockabilly/Bluegrass outfit from Holland and they have a very successful pure Bluegrass version of themselves simply called the 'Blue Grass Boogiemen'. Most releases of the band are CDs but they made two vinyl 45s. A christmas one with the Ranch Girl and this, the 'The Bluegrass Side Of The Hillbilly Boogiemen' entitled one from 1996. Side A 'Hitparade Of Love' is a cover of famous Bluegrass singer Jimmy Martin, the flip 'Why Baby Why', a George Jones song from 1955. Both songs are great examples of the style they are in, Bluegrass and Country, played with drive and a great sound. I highly recommend these little ditties. The 45 is out on Pickin' Pumkin Records and can be purchased via the band's webpage: http://www.hillbillyboogiemen.com/

Just dropping by...

2010-08-13T18:04:00.000+03:00

Wow...the summer has been even more busy then the spring. Well, now that the hottest summer in Finland since humans crawled out of their caves and walked upright is slowly coming to an end I hopefully will have time again to post my smart-ass posts.

So yes, I am still alive, so is the blog, and I hope I will still be on sunday. Tomorrow the Ricochets, old UK old-school(aka real) Psychobilly band, will play Finland and I plan to join the wreckin' pit. You know, the older they get the harder they fall...

Ricochets April 2010 - Speyer/Germany - Picture by Wildcat Björn

Cars, Guitars & Warm Beers

2010-07-07T15:18:00.000+03:00

I truly believe that Finland is Europe's most exotic country and if you don't believe me spend some time here and you will see what I mean. I also like to call it little America as so many things remind me of the States. The drinking laws for example. And the cars. I don't think that there is another country in the world where you see so many old American cars on the streets like you do here. I live in a small town and in summer not a day goes by where I don't see at least one breathtaking car. Usually more. Most of them are from the 50s, a few from the early 60s. Late 60s and 70s models are rather rare. Different to Germany where most people keep their cars in the garage all year and only take them out when they go to a meeting here people use them all the time. So you get my point, Finns are car crazy. No wonder there are tons of car events all over the country. We finally managed to visit one, the Ruukki Picnic in the South of Finland where streets and cities have 2 names, a Finnish and a Swedish one.

To see some nice cars wasn't actually the main reason to go as we see them on streets all the time, but music. The good people from Ruukki Picnic always have Rockabilly bands playing and this time the top-act was UK band Carlos and the Bandidos who were over for a short weekend-tour. We could have seen them also in the evening at some club in what's supposed to be Finland's most awful town, Kouvola, but the weather forecast promised a hot n sunny day and why not do a field trip during the day and relax on the sofa in the evening. It sounds appropriate for my age.

First band and main reason for me to go were the Rockabilly Boys, a Sun-Rockabilly trio with familiar faces from the Finnish Rockabilly scene. Miku 'Ellis Leslie - We Like Alcohol' Majuri on vocals and rhythm guitar, Timo 'Kali' Kalijärvi from the Wagtails, Cast Iron Arms, Cosh Boys, Mike Bell and the Belltones, Happotedit and more, on lead guitar and Iikku Riepponen from the Roadracers and Mike Bell on slap-bass. It's been a while since I saw the trio perform so I had to be there. Ever since I saw them live for the first time 2 years ago I was hooked by their straight forward, no bullshit Rockabilly with balls. The set-list is decent and it doesn't matter to me that it's all covers(I believe). I don't mind that at all when the songs are chosen well. There are so many great songs out there, why not?! Once again it was a great gig, very enjoyable and I hope I won't have to wait another two years to see them again.

Now it was time for a cold refreshment but the only beer they sold was hand-hot. The 'cooler' they had was just not able to keep up with the speed beers were sold. Funny, you'd think that Finns know how Finns drink. At a car show and Rockabilly gig. Well, it went down anyway and I've had worse.

Next on were Mike Bell and the Belltones with Kali and Iikku from the R-A-B Boys, now on vocals and rhythm guitar Mike Bell from the Beetle Crushers and as replacement for their original drummer the one from Carlos and the Bandidos. As similar as the line-up was to the first band, the difference couldn't have been bigger. Where the Rockabilly Boys had balls and kicked ass, the Belltones were just lame. Just another Authentic Rockabilly band that misses the point in my opinion, like so often. It was the second time I saw the band and it couldn't change the impression I got when seeing them the first time in April. Something's missing, something's not right, I just don't like it. Well, I'll see them again next saturday. Maybe then, with more beer(hopefully cold) I might start to like it.

After a break with more warm beer and cold ice cream it was time for the top act of the afternoon, Carlos and the Bandidos. I never cared much for them. I bought their first LP when it came out and sold it again and then didn't spend any money on them again but now it was only 5,- in, so that would be an acceptable loss in case of a boring performance. But I was wrong. The band played a decent Rockabilly set and the facts that lead-guitarist Malcolm Chapman used a digital guitar effect and none of the band looked as if he had just arrived with a time machine from 1956 could be seen as prove that this was not authentic Rockabilly. Hallelujah! Don't get fooled by the picture above that shows a part of the Rockin' audience trying to create some kind of Woodstock-a-billy feel I guess. It wasn't boring. Quite a few women were dancing(strolling) to the band in the grass.

Stack-A-Records - Fin-A-Billy Releases

2010-06-22T12:56:00.000+03:00

It's been a good spring and summer so far for fans of Finnish Rockabilly, by far better than the weather here in the north. Many bands, veterans and newcomers, have released records: 45s, LPs and CDs. Most new releases seem to be by Goofin' Records like the latest album of Fin-A-Billy veteran Buck Jones: 'Ghost Train'. His backing band since late 2008 are the Billyhowgs, on bass and on lead-guitar 2 members of the Flatbroke Trio. One of the oldest Finnish Rock'n'Roll/Rockabilly bands still(or again) playing is Mystery Train and also their new album(CD) 'Enjoy This Boogie' is out on Goofin' Records. So is the new 45 by the Barnshakers 'The Trance'. Grab it while you can, it's limited to 500 copies. Not on Goofin' but a vinyl 45 as well is the latest offering by another great 50s Rockabilly band from Suomi, the Rockin' 8-Balls' 'Lil Boy Blue' on Wax-O-Matic. Also this one is limited to 500 copies. Goofin' again is the home of the country's most booked new band, inside and outside of Finland: Mike Bell and the Belltones. Their debut CD 'Scream And Holler' was recorded at Lightning Recorders, Berlin, one of the few studios in the world using only original 50s and 60s equipment. Although their name suggest Northern Sound ala Freddie Bell and the Bellboys the 4 Finns(of the Beetle Crushers, Wagtails, Cast Iron Arms and Roadracers) play authentic Rockabilly.

Another authentic Rockabilly band, local boys the Tail Shakers, just put out their debut-CD 'Pin-Up Lady' last weekend after playing together for 3 years. It's a self release containing 11 originals. Another self release is the 2nd album by the T-Bird Gang who are probably the best 1956 Gene Vincent-style band in the world. It's a live album recorded at various shows in 2008 and 2009 simply called 'Live On Stages' and you get it on LP(!) and CD. The label is called Snowflake Records and distributed by Goofin'. The Gang released the record at Screamin', Spain, at the end of May, where they were by far not the only Finnish band playing. So did the Barnshakers and Maibell and the Misfires who released their debut album on Spanish El Toro Records. So far it's available only on CD but word is that it will be available on vinyl in gatefold sleeve as well. Maibell used to play in the all-girl instro outfit Periferia and with the Misfires she got three musicians well established on the Finnish Rockin' scene who gained years and years of experience in the Daryl Haywood Combo, the Hi-Fly Rangers, Jussi Syren Rockabilly Revival, Phantom 409 and Mr. Breathless to name just a few bands they played in. But the most interesting release might be Red Hot's 'Big Black Engine' on Jungle Records. This album was bound for release in 1982 on the famous Rebel label but didn't see the light of day until now! Sucker for early/mid 80s Rockabilly sound that I am I can't wait to listen to this one!

After so much reading, now go and listen to the bands:

Buck Jones and the Billyhowgs

Mystery Train

Rockin 8-Balls

Barnshakers

Mike Bell and the Belltones

Tail Shakers

T-Bird Gang

Maibell and the Misfires

Spin That 45 - Part 11: Brilliant Corners

2010-06-17T15:45:00.000+03:00

One of the best Psychobilly tracks from the early days of this often misunderstood and misinterpreted music style is at the same time probably the most ignored song you could stick the label 'original Psychobilly' on: She's Got Fever.

Formed in Bristol, England in 1982 the Brilliant Corners released their debut record, the 'She's Got Fever' / 'Black Water' 45, one year later on their own SS-20 label. 500 copies of this masterpiece were pressed coming in a red cardboard sleeve, the 2nd pressing then came with a pink sleeve. Sources say that actually less than 500 copies of the first edition could be sold as records either were wrecked by the band(why???) or sleeves were glued to the vinyl, how ever that happened. The wide Psychobilly audience was introduced to 'Fever' when it was re-released in 1984 on Anagram Record's follow up to their 'Blood On The Cats' compilation LP: 'Revenge Of The Killer Pussies'. Granted, both LPs don't feature much Psychobilly but they were very important releases at the time for the young but growing Psychobilly scene. So from the 16 tracks on 'Revenge...' only 3 songs are Psychobilly, the rest is mainly Garage-influenced. Those 3 Psychobilly tracks come from the Meteors, Guana Batz and the Brilliant Corners.

Psychobilly was young and a lot of things were possible. In the case of the Corners it was the use of a trumpet in the song. If you make the effort to listen to other releases by the band you will notice that 'Fever' is the only Psychobilly song they ever released, but what a great 1 minute 34 second long Psychobilly song it is! Right up there on the same level as the Meteors' 'Wreckin' Crew' and early Guana Batz releases.

Mix-Tape: Glad To Be A Ted

2010-06-10T16:29:00.000+03:00

Well yes. Or in my case glad that I became aware of 50s Rock'n'Roll and Teddyboys when I was 12 years old. So when my 13th birthday was coming up and my friends asked what presents I wanted I said 'Well, I like Rock'n'Roll'. I got 4 Bill Haley LPs, amazingly all different ones, and the latest Kiss album 'Unmasked' because so far Kiss had been my favourite band. I don't remember listening to 'Unmasked' at all but I sure remember playing the Haley LPs many, many, many times. The rest is history. I combed my hair into a quiff, got original 50s winklepickers from a neighbour, put the rebel flag on the back of my denim-jacket and spend all my pocket-money on Rockabilly and Rock'n'Roll records. Today I still like Teddyboy Rock'n'Roll(or British Rockabilly as we used to call it) as much as I did almost 30 years ago. So here's a little mix-tape I made(well, it would have been a tape in the old days anyway) with many personal Teddyboy favourites, old and not so old. Enjoy!

TEDS

Psychobilly Band Updates

2010-06-10T15:49:00.000+03:00

Jim Jeffries, guitar-player and songwriter, and Puck, new bass-player for Mad Dog Cole(singer on the first 3 and best Krewmen LPs, all of them considered Psychobilly classics - at least by me) have left the band for artistic and personal differences during recording and production of the band's 2nd album 'Son Of Satan'. This leaves only the 2 original Psychobilly Krewmen Mark and drummer Dominic Parr, who had joined when original Mad Dog Cole drummer Lee Barnett had left the band. This would be an opportunity to get Tony Mc Millan(Krewmen founder and guitar player) on guitar as last time I checked, 2-3 years ago, he was wasting his time in a terrible Blues-Rock band(I had a look for their MySpace site now but couldn't find it anymore).

Also the Radiacs had a line-up change recently. Not too long ago the band had regrouped in their original 80s line up with brothers Billy(guitar) and Paul Oxley(Bass) and Dale(vocals) and Shaun Williams(drums) but now the Oxley brothers left and are replaced by Chris Skinner who also is an ex-old-Radiac on guitar and a guy called Shaggy on bass.

Check out Billy Oxley's(who also played in the Blue Devils and Tritons) VERY old-school Psychobilly, early 80s inspired new band the Chills: No Fool Old Skool

Scotland's Termites, the world's hardest and meanest Psychobilly band, played their latest gig in Manchester without bass-player Matt Black. He was replaced by Liam Revenge from the Hyperjax. If it was just for this show or permanent I don't know yet. I'll try to get info on that, as well as on the new album. With so many mediocre 'Psychobilly' releases from old and new bands being published the world needs another decent musical kick in the face and the Termites are just the right guys to deliver it!

Latch On - The Guana Batz

2010-06-05T14:29:00.000+03:00

Not too long ago I managed to buy a few old Rock'n'Roll magazines from England. Having been an editor of zines myself in my younger years I still get excited when I can get my hands on real fanzines made simply because of the love for music and nothing else. These old-fashioned, from start to finish hand typed mags with simple layout and a lot of subjective opinion have a higher value to me then any full-color mag sold by the thousands, layout done by a graphic designer, with a free CD(of which 9 out of 10 songs are boring anyway).

I got 3 issues of mid-80s UK fanzine Latch On, that covers by far not only contemporary Rockabilly of the 80s, but also a little bit of Psychobilly, Jazz, Blues(Howlin' Wilf for example) and Country(Dwight Yoakham is on the cover of one of the issues). I have no idea how long the mag was running and who the editor Malcom is(or what he's up to today) but I have the feeling some of my visitors here would really enjoy the interview he did with the Guana Batz while they were in the process of recording their second album 'Loan Sharks'. It's quite interesting(click on the picture to enlarge)!

Teddyboy Flick Knife Flick

2010-06-01T17:18:00.006+03:00

Movie time: A weird behaving Teddyboy who has a bad hair day dies in his car when it sinks to the bottom of a river after trying to escape from a carnage on the dancefloor he committed and comes back from the dead 40 years later brought back to (undead) life by Rockabilly music played by a pirate radio station loctaed on a ship above his car wreck and continues acting weird and killing people. Sounds good? It sure is!

Well, except for the guy's hair. That looks awful. But I wasn't around in 1960, the year the film takes place in the beginning. Maybe the Teds of the day wore their hair in such a mess. But I doubt that. Anyway, the music selection is surprisingly good(even Tarantula Ghoul and her Gravediggers' 'Graveyard Rock' is included - see the picture below I took straight from the screen - the Zombie Ted dances with the daughter of his crush from 1960, believing it is her, and in Karaoke version the lyrics are placed on the screen), there are Comic-style parts(think Sin City), killings, a crazy and because of that entertaining mother of the deceased, a one-armed Faye Dunaway and a Zombie in Drapes. No seriously, it's an entertaining little flick. There are definitely worse Horror-Comedies around.

Flick, UK 2007, Monster Films Ltd. - DVD 2009 High Fliers Films

No Summertime Blues

2010-05-30T20:39:00.000+03:00

May was a quiet month here at Satanic Hillbilly as the real world kept me busy but that will change in summer, I promise. For a start here are a few pictures taken in April in Tampere:

Mike Bell & The Belltones

Cherry Casino & The Gamblers

Ruby Ann

Fin-A-Billy Part 8: Tex and the Dixie Rebels

2010-05-15T17:59:00.001+03:00

In the late 70s/early 80s countless numbers of young Teddyboy bands were playing Crazy Cavan inspired Rockabilly in Finland. At that time Rockabilly was KING in this country and Crazy Cavan and the Rhythm Rockers got gold records. Tex and the Dixie Rebels was one of these bands. Mikko Takala (who later would play in the Tom Cat Rebels) on vocals and guitar, bass-player Pasi Valtonen and drummer Hannu Virtakallio were Tex and Dixie Rebels and in 1980 the three young men released their one and only record, their "Rockabilly Rebellion" LP on Heliander Productions.

I have never seen an original copy of the album but thanks to other collectors who are willing to share their vinyl-nuggets I was at least able to get it as download. And so can you, it is available here. Teddyboy Rock'n'Roll hardly gets rarer than this!

A Rockin' Good Read...Or Not? Part 7

2010-05-04T10:23:00.000+03:00

Sometimes you buy a book because you've read a review about it and got curious, sometimes you buy a book because someone recommended it to you and sometimes you buy a book simply because the title sounds promising. Option 3 was the reason for me to buy William Jones's book 'Rockabilly Underground London 1980s'.

Progress isn't always a good thing as we know. One negative side-effect of the internet and computerization of people's life's in general is the fact that today everyone can publish a book(via print on demand for example). Which means a lot of rubbish is produced. Often these books have no decent concept, show lack of research, have an eye hurting layout and picture quality that shouldn't be legal any more in the 21st century.

'Rockabilly Underground' starts promising. The cover looks decent with pictures of young Rockabillies, some 45s and event flyers. But as soon as you open the book the disappointment begins. The layout is terrible, the table of contents is not recognizable as being one, the quality of many pictures is awful(you would think that someone publishing a book would make the effort to get good quality scans(or prints) of pictures), there's no concept and the book doesn't hold what the title promises.

Sure, there are some decent parts. The book starts with author Jones talking about how he got into Rock'n'Roll, how he became a young Teddyboy, hung around with other Teds, how he went from Ted to Cat. That makes a good read. But then he loses it. He doesn't talk about Rockabilly in London in the 80s, he writes about Rockabilly DJs and clubs in the 80s and includes lists of people's fave songs. He publishes interviews he made with Ray Campi and Mac Curtis. Interesting yes, but London Rockabilly underground? He has a chapter about a trip to Finland in the 80s. Again, London Rockabilly underground? He mentions chicks he dated. London Rockabilly underground? The two really interesting bits of information the book has to offer are when Mouse(Red Hot'n'Blue) talks briefly about Rockin' Squats in London(more on that would have been interesting) and when Rob Glazebrook tells how Rochee and the Sarnos started. As Jones talked to Mouse, Glazebrook, Paul Roman, Roy from Nervous, Dell from Fury and the Polecats he had had the chance to really write a book about Rockabilly in London in the 80s, but he blew it.

Happy Hunching Day

2010-04-29T18:54:00.001+03:00

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

2010-04-29T11:23:00.000+03:00

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

2010-04-26T09:31:00.004+03:00

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

2010-04-24T16:17:00.000+03:00

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!!!

2010-04-22T18:13:00.001+03:00

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

2010-04-21T00:23:00.024+03:00

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

2010-04-18T20:11:00.001+03:00

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...

2010-04-17T11:55:00.000+03:00

...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

2010-04-07T17:53:00.002+03:00

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!

Spin That 45 - Part 9: The Syn-Dicate

2010-03-31T18:09:00.000+03:00

'It's Rockabilly and Disco fusion'. Wow. Just...Wow. And yes, it is as bad as it sounds. If it would be Boney M with slap-bass and a rockin' beat, maybe then it would work but as both, the Rockabilly and the Disco part, are incredibly bad the whole record is a contender for the 'Worst record of all times' award.

Side A 'Synthabilly Baby' sounds like a Revival Rock'n'Roll song, a bit lame and recorded with bass-guitar but to spice it up there is the synthesizer which they used like a Rock'n'Roll piano. It just doesn't sound as great. It sounds like a musical nightmare all the way from Teletubby land. I would like to say that 'Rapabilly Boogie' on Side B is better, but it is not. It's just not as annoying as Side A. Of course it is neither Rap nor Billy, it's just a strange 'Pop' song. Why they called it Rapabilly I have no idea. Which makes me think, the closest thing ever to Rap-a-billy must be the Scallywags(the German Psychobilly band) and their 'My Home Is My Castle' Rap-Mix. Or the Meteors of course with their 'I'm Just A Dog' 12" version.

This 45 was released in 1981 on Rebob Records(RB 501), London, pressed in France and re-released by Nervous Records on the 'Hep Cat Hop' LP compilation(NERD 003). Why is a mystery to me because the record is really bad. So bad it's fun to have it.

Night Out With The Boys

2010-03-31T17:08:00.003+03:00

The Rapids are returning to the stage, 10 years after their last show. Summer 2010 they will be in Hamburg, headlining(I hope) the '4th Psychobilly Fiesta Over Hamburg'. Of course they never played Psychobilly but I guess they just have more fans among them than amongst Teddyboys or Authentics.

The Rapids are without a doubt one of the best Neo-Rockabilly bands and their one and only album 'Turning Point'(a matching title as it sounds very different to the band's early releases) should be mentioned together with the Blue Cats 'Fight Back' and Polecats 'Are Go' when talking about refreshing, new and still rockin' Rockabilly records.

June 19th is the day when you should be at the Knust, Hamburg. Other bands that night are Belgium's Psychobilly legends Swampys and the great Go-Katz from England. I won't be there but I pray(well, not really but I would if I was religious) that one day I will get to see the Rapids. For a very interesting interview go here: DO YOU BELIEVE?

And while you are there, look around. It is an amazing page for Psychobilly. The real deal, not the makeup-secretgoths-punkswithquiffs-wannabilly certain people try to sell as Psychobilly.

A Rockin' Good Read...Or Not? Part 6

2010-03-31T16:17:00.004+03:00

Finally a rockin' good read from start to finish. The book about South Dakota based Rock'n'Roll group Myron Lee and the Caddies is one of the most entertaining and interesting books on music I have read in a long time.

Most of you will know the band for its Rockabilly classic 'Aw C'mon Baby', the B-Side to the band's self released first 45 'Homicide'. These two songs can be found on different European compilation albums. Other recordings by the band or Myron solo are harder to get hold of, unless you own the 'Rock'n'Roll Midwest Style' LP or 'Rockin' And Rollin' Out Of The Midwest' CD. Both include some more 50s and quite a few 60s recordings by Myron Lee, with the Caddies or solo.

This book starts right at the beginning with Myron as a kid and it takes us on a journey through his musical life until the point when he decided to finally put his guitar away in the early 90s. Yes, all those times from the 50s till the 90s Myron Lee and the Caddies were active and played countless amounts of gigs, not only in the Midwest. They toured the USA and Canada as well and during these times played in Texas together with an unknown young english band called the Rolling Stones or as the backing band for Dick Clarke's 'Caravan of Stars' in 1963 and 1965. They were in Dallas when Kennedy was shot, just blocks away from the assassination, Myron flew out to California to record with Dorsey Burnette, he became good friends with Buddy Knox, he organized sold out Rock'n'Roll shows in the little South Dakota town Spearfish in the Black Hills with the Everly Brothers and Conaway Twitty, a biker got killed during their show. All these stories and many more are in the book.

It is well written, sometimes funny(there's even a pee story) and if Myron has an opinion of any 'star' he met during his life on the road he will tell it, no matter if it's about George Jones drinking habits or Roy Orbison's hospitality. I was surprised to learn all these things about the band and Myron's achievements because all I knew before I read the book was that they had recorded one of my all-time favourite Rock'n'Roll songs. I had no idea there was so much more to say.

Seriously, this is worth getting! You won't regret it. It has tons of amazing old pictures as well. Get it directly from Myron Lee here: AW CMON

Spin That 45 - Part 8: Lee Kristofferson

2010-03-13T16:52:00.001+02:00

What looks like a 70s Porn-Funk 45 with the silver font and the terrible pink picture is actually a pretty decent Horror Rock'n'Roll 7". Take a close look at the chick's throat. There are two small bite-marks! Woooo scary! Even scarier is the guys haircut, or better non existing haircut and the fact that he shoves his right hand into the chick's armpit. What's that about? Weirdo!

This 45 is a classic example how it should not be done as packing and content don't have anything in common. The front sleeve looks like any crappy 70s Disco record but as I said already, the music is pretty much the opposite. Side A is a cover of the 1958 John Zacherle song 'Dinner With Drac'. I'm not too crazy about it, I don't even like the original too much and novelty songs in generell so let's talk about the real reason why you want this record in your collection: The B side. 'Night Of The Werewolf'!

Some may remember that I mentioned the song already in part 7 of 'Spin That 45' about UK Revival band Black Cat's 'Strollin' After Dark' EP. So here is the original of Black Cat's creepy Instrumental. Released in 1977 it sounds as if it could have been recorded in the early 60s and that's probably the reason why the song can be found on Ace Record's 'Teenage Rock'n'Roll Party' CD and Liverpool based Viper Label's 'The Ultimate 50s and 60s Rockin' Horror Disc' CD. Not many bands had the guts to cover this obscure 70s song, one of them are the kings of Psychobilly, the Meteors, who recorded it for their 1985 album 'Monkey's Breath'. But it seems that some band's own compositions are heavily influenced by 'Night...' such as Something Else's(pre-Mess Of Booze, pre-Lou Cifer) 'Werewolf Stroll' and Johnny and the Roccos 'I Was A Teenage Werewolf From Outer Space'.

Kristofferson's real name is John Lewis Wagstaff and his artist name is, you've guessed it, a reversal of Christopher Lee. He made a few more records and in the early/mid-80s he was programming popular computer games under his artist name Lee Kristofferson. His haircut was still weird.

Fin-A-Billy Part 6: Hal Peters Trio

2010-03-08T20:52:00.001+02:00

These guys played authentic Rockabilly light-years before it became a genre within the Rockabilly scene. Formed in 1984 in Finland's capitol Helsinki as Hal Peters Trio the name got slightly changed some years later(1988) to Hal Peters and his Trio when a fourth band member was added. They lasted till late 1994 when Hal Peters and his Countrymen were founded(now a 6-piece), who got replaced March 1998 by Hal Peters and his Stringdusters. But in 2009 it was back to the roots, a new 45 was released as Hal Peters Trio and the band played it's 25th anniversary gig at the 25 Years Goofin' Records Anniversary After-party.

No Finn is called Hal Peters of course, so Hal's real name is Heikki Laakkonen but as 'Heikki Laakkonen Trio' sounds more like a Jazz Trio from the 60s it was a smart move to use an English stage-name. Peters and his boys have released a bunch of records over the years. There are two LPs each by Hal Peters Trio, Hal Peters and His Trio and Hal Peters and his Stringdusters(okay, one's a 10" and it was actually recorded when they still called themselves Hal Peters and his Countrymen), as well as a bunch of 45s, one 12" and various CDs.

The band started as straight mid-50s Rockabilly band but with the years passing by they began to play more and more Hillbilly and Western Swing. This is what lead to the changes in band-names(Countrymen, Stringdusters). So if you like the later get the Stringdusters records, otherwise stay with the Trio(both versions) releases for some straight, no bullshit, old-school Rockabilly!

Neo-Rockabilly Jewel

2010-03-05T00:09:00.000+02:00

If you like Neo-Rockabilly, the classic 80s Neo-Rockabilly, those Cat bands that were popular 30 years ago, you will know Neo-Rockabilly supergroup the 13 Cats. In 2008 US label Cleopatra Records released a limited edition of 100 white label copies of the band's CD '13 Tracks'(plus 2 bonus songs) on vinyl. I just found about the album a few weeks ago and was lucky to get an unplayed copy on Ebay for the regular price. I don't know how many copies are still available but I guess it ain't much. So if you love vinyl and Cat music you better try the best you can to get one for yourself!

Mutant Rock

2010-02-23T16:53:00.002+02:00

Take a look at these pretty young men on the sleeve of English music magazine Flexipop. The people who bought it to read about their favorite crap band had no idea what was waiting for them inside. They were about to see the ugly face of Rock'n'Roll. They were about to meet the original Mutant Rockers

THE METEORS

It was 1982 and the Meteors were meaner than ever. The Berlin wall was still standing strong, so did the iron curtain. Americans and Russians were trying to outbid each other in who could develop the most destructive atomic weapons. The fear off atomic missiles was all around and the possibility of a 3rd World War always at hand. At least in the mind of the public. It was the time when Mad Max was in the movies. It was the time when the Meteors played songs about the end of civilization and released one of their best albums, 'Wreckin' Crew'.

So the Meteors line-up at that time, P. Paul Fenech, Mich White and Steve 'Ginger' Meadham plus part-time singer Russell Jones(who seemed to have a thing for dressing 'strange', so say the least) got together with some guys from Flexipop! and created this unique end-of-the-time photo-story. As it is rather hard to get and some Meteors fans maybe haven't seen it yet I decided to provide another service to the Psychobilly loving public and post the story. Enjoy while you can:

Honey Hush

2010-02-22T19:02:00.001+02:00

Sometimes it doesn't take much for a band to leave an everlasting impression on a scene or thinking in smaller dimensions, on the mind of a young fan. Sometimes the small output of only a handful of studio recordings can have more value then dozens of songs spread over a couple of albums. Sometimes even an outstanding band is forgotten, buried by time, and its records almost impossible to find. Honey Hush from Holland is such a band. Their total output is one 45, one Mini-LP and a few songs on a Live LP which sums up to a total of 5 studio recordings and a bunch of live songs. It would have been enough if they had only released their 'Getaway Girl/She's So Fine' 45. It is one of the best Neo-Rockabilly records of all times and it puts the 4 dutch boys right next to the Polecats, Shakin' Pyramids, Restless, Buzz and the Flyers and all the other classic bands. I must have listened to the record so many times in the 80s, I still remember the lyrics to 'Getaway Girl'. I noticed that it in the shower the other day. Besides the great music(I love the bass sound they had) the sleeve design of the 45 and the looks of the band were amazing. The picture on side one showed the band as 'typical' Rockabilly outfit, on the picture on the flip they had changed to Psychobillies, just like the Ricochets had done it before on the sleeve of their 'Made In The Shade' LP. It might not be a big thing today but in the early/mid 80s when most Psychobillies had their roots in the Rockabilly scene and were seen as traitors by Teddyboys and Rockabillies it was different thing to do. Maybe you can call it a visual kick in the teeth.

Now rare live footage from Honey Hush has been posted on You Tube. The quality is not the best but I got excited that I finally got the chance to see the band in action. If you watch it you'll maybe understand my excitement about them. If not, listen to their recordings. If 'Getaway Girl' doesn't make you want to dance(Bop or Wreck - both is fine) you are dead already!

HONEY HUSH

Made For Rockin'

2010-02-20T23:32:00.002+02:00

Clint Bradley, the voice of the Blue Cats, is working on his 2nd solo album. His first, 'This Hour', was released back in 1997 already. But as that album had little in common with the music Bradley had played with Tony and the Tennessee Rebels(see the picture above, young Clint Bradley is on the far left), the Blue Cats, G-Men or Beltane Fire the song samples from his new album entiteled 'Cross A Soul With Silver' leave the impression that the record will continue where the Blue Cats left off when they recorded 'The Tunnel'. Neo-Rockabilly, or Modern Rockabilly if you want, at its best. I can't wait to listen to the rest of the songs!

Jump Cat Jump

Let There Be Rock

2010-02-20T11:42:00.002+02:00

30 years ago, in the morning hours of Febuary 20th 1980 australian Rock-singer Bon Scott(first from the right) was pronounced dead in a London hospital, cause of death: He drunk himself to death. He suffocating on his own vomit. He was just 33 years old.

Bon Scott is THE voice of AC/DC and with him, the tattooed drinkin' hellrazor on vocals the band recorded their best songs imo. Anthems like 'T.N.T', 'Rocker', 'It's A Long Way To The Top', 'Highway To Hell', 'Dirty Deeds', 'Beatin' Around The Bush' and 'Let There Be Rock'.

In the beginning

back in nineteen fifty five

man didn't know 'bout a rock 'n' roll show

'n' all that jive

The white man had the schmaltz

the black man had the blues

No one knew what they was gonna do

but Tschaikovsky had the news, he said

Let there be light, and there was light

Let there be sound, and there was sound

Let there be drums, there was drums

Let there be guitar, there was guitar

Let there be ROCK

A Rockin' Good Read...Or Not? - Part 5

2010-02-18T16:50:00.001+02:00

I assume that everyone who stops at this blog has at least one if not more releases by Ace Records(UK) in his/her collection. And if you really don't have Ace releases then Chiswick or Big Beat ones, yes? So you know the importance of the label(s). The book 'Ace Records' by David Stubbs, published 2007, tells the story of Ace. The early days of selling records at a flea market, the legendary Rock On shop in Camden, the founding of Chiswick Records, how that became Ace Records, what all the sub-labels are all about and there even is a chapter on licensing. All those words get spiced up with images of a lot of record sleeves, posters, adverts, promo-material and tons of pictures of bands, the people behind Ace and such. So far so good. But why is a lot of Whirlwind promo material published but the record itself("Blowing Up A Storm") isn't mentioned? I understand that the author can't write the story behind every Chiswick(or Ace or Big Beat) release and rather picks Motorhead over a Teddyboy band, but when you publish a shitload of their promo material you'd expect that the band gets mentioned in the text as well, and if only to explain readers not familiar with them who they are. Next, nothing on Skrewdriver who recorded for Chiswick. Come on, that would have been a topic worth writing about. Next, no complete discography. You write a book about a record label and can't be bothered to publish their output? Who do you think buys a book about a record label? A record nerd. Of course he wants to have a complete discography, if possible with info on how many copies were pressed, how many repressings and all those nice infos. Next, a useless and incomplete list of artists on Ace and the others labels. I really don't understand what that is good for. Next, incorrect information. An example: There is a promo picture of the Sting-Rays and the text next to it says 'The Stingrays pose with Ace consultant Alec Palao, circa 1980s'. Hello? Palao was drummer and songwriter for the Sting-Rays and probably didn't even work for Ace when the picture was taken.

This could have been an awesome book, but the result is far from being awesome. It is nice to have for some of the published promo-material like a Guana Batz poster to promote the band's 'The Cave' single, an Escalators promo-sticker and Whirlwind gig-posters, but decide for yourself if that's worth paying 20 British Pounds.

The Piccadilly Bullfrogs

2010-02-17T18:06:00.001+02:00

Holy Rock-A-Beatin' Boogie, is this real or just a dream? The Stargazers go Rockabilly? Well, not quiet but sort of. Stargazers singer Danny Brittain, guitar player Pete Davenport and bass-player Tim Purkess make up the Sun Rockabilly trio 'The Piccadilly Bullfrogs'. Yes right, Sun Rockabilly. Meaning 2 guitars, one slap-bass and no drums Rockabilly. Just like the Rockabilly cuts ole Elvis did for Sam Phillips.

I am very excited about this. I love the Stargazers and I love Rockabilly. Especially the band's early recordings for Epic are awesome. I mean, even when I was a die hard Psychobilly in the mid 80s I rated their LP 'Watch This Space' as one of my all-time favorites.

The Bullfrogs have just released their first single 'Cutthroat Joe' for download(it feels wrong to call that a single, but the times they are a changin'...) and are open to offers from record labels. So please people, give them a deal and put out a vinyl single by them.

Read more, see a video, listen to songs HERE. It's worth it.

Put On Your Gorilla Suit...

2010-02-12T15:18:00.000+02:00

...drink some elbow soup and have a ball! That's right! The father of Horror Rock'n'Roll knows best how to have a ball! And he wasn't just wise, he had a way with words, too and created some of the maddest rhymes in mankind's history. Stuff like 'Take the fleas from the knees of a demon.' or 'Brush your teeth with a piece of a goose toenail. After death steal a breath from a drunk in jail.' Wowee, doesn't that sound just like Beat poetry gone mad or what?!

It is out of the question that Screamin' Jay Hawkins is an icon of American popular culture. His most famous song has been covered numerous times by all kind of artists and bands. Also many established acts such as Tom Waits, CCR, Nick Cave, Marilyn Manson, Bryan Ferry and the Animals recorded their versions of the song. Jim Jarmush used it as single soundtrack song in his really annoying 1985 movie 'Stranger Than Paradise' and it even has an own Wikipedia site with much more info about it: I Put A Spell On You.

That he was capable of more then being a great singer and entertainer he proved with the few acting jobs he did. He's mad and maybe even a bit scary in 'Perdita Durango' but he is awesome in 'Mystery Train'. His other movies I still have to see. There should be a few more: 'American Hot Wax', 'Two Moon Junction', 'A Rage In Harlem' and 'Peut-Etre'.

Personally I don't like his later recordings too much. I mean yes, his voice is still great but the sound is not my thing. That's too modern and doesn't work for me most of the times, but 'Whistling Past The Graveyard' is very cool. I would have enjoyed an authentic 50s(or 80s) sound much more.

I was lucky to see him perform 2 times. Once in the late 80s when he made a club tour of Germany and then in the 90s when he headlined a Blues Festival. He was one hell of an entertainer.

Screamin' Jay Hawkins died 10 years ago in Paris, France where he had lived for the last years of his life, aged 71.

Uh-Uh-Uh

Rockabilly Psychosis

2010-02-12T08:50:00.000+02:00

Spellbound new years eve 1990 in Berlin

Here are some news from the world of Psychobilly. Irish Rockers Spellbound will start recording their new album soon. On their MySpace site they just uploaded two demo versions of songs they are going to record. It proves what we knew all the time: Old men do it better. You don't believe me? Go HERE. The album will be released by Belgium label Drunkabilly.

Drunkabilly has just released a limited white vinyl version(500 copies) of the last Astro Zombies album 'Convince Or Confuse'. Let's hope the new Spellbound will be available on vinyl, too.

Drunkabilly are also the people to contact if you want to book legendary Belgium Psychobilly band the Swampy's. Yes, they are back after around 20 years. Only original member is slap-bass player and shouter Jo Psycho. They played the 3rd Rockabilly Psychosis festival in Belgium last November, after they weren't able to play the 2nd one a year earlier where the band's comeback was announced first. Word was that the band would just play this one show and that would be it but it seems they changed their mind. They play California tomorrow and are booked for the Pineda Psychobilly Meeting as well.

Not really Psychobilly but these bands have fans amongst the Psychobillies: UK Neo-Rockabilly band the Radiacs is back again, too. They released 2 studio albums and one live LP in the 90s. On slap-bass for the 2nd album was Scum Rats singer/bass-player Charly Fallensteller who set a trend with it. Germans slapping the bass for UK bands. Different to other bands that came back the Radiacs return with the original line-up. They will also perform at Pineda.

Canadian Pornobillies the Alley Dukes are coming back as well. Their break has been rather short compared to the Radiacs, it was just two and a half years. Singer Danny Duke recruited ex-Gutter Demons Flipper(bass) and Custom Pat(drums) and Chris Robinson(lead guitar) who also plays with Joel Kaiser and the Devils Own. That band has french Psychobilly Charly Go Psycho on upright. Yes, THE Charly Go Psycho that runs the http://www.gopsycho.com/ site. They play some decent old school Country music. Nice!

Talking bout Canada. The Deadcats released their, what 8th(?) album 'Look Like Hell' last October on Flying Saucer Records, run by the band's bassplayer Mick(if I'm not mistaken). The artwork was once again done by Canada's own Merinuk. Check out the man's awesome art here IT CAME FROM CANADA

Cat Man Is Coming!

2010-02-11T12:18:00.000+02:00

75 years ago today the cat man came into the world. Eugene Vincent Craddock was born in Norfolk, Virginia. Only 36 years later he died, being one of the greatest and wildest cats in Rock'n'Roll, Gene Vincent.

As a young Teddyboy in the early 80s Gene Vincent was my number one singer and his recordings with the Blue Caps, esp. the 1956/1957 ones and esp. 'Race With The Devil' and 'Woman Love' were my favorites. I still remember my excitement when I saw 'The Girl Can't Help It' for the first time and they showed the band. The moment when they all dropped the caps from their heads at the same time while playing 'Be Bop A Lula'...legendary!

I am sure live it must have been an experinece like no other. Just listen to the live recording of 'Blue Jean Bop' on the 'The Lost Dallas Sessions' CD and have a look at the picture below, Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps live in August 1957. So much energy. He surely was telling the truth when he sang:

'Cat man is coming, you better look out!'.

Spin That 45 - Part 7: Black Cat

2010-02-09T16:16:00.000+02:00

"Wow, those are some fast versions of 'Night Of The Werewolf' and 'Peter Gunn'. I didn't expect that from a Teddyboy band. Cool!", I thought until I played the B-Side. It was then that I realized that I was playing the record at wrong speed. Instead of the 45 rpm it says on the cover it plays on 33. Never mind, the songs still are cool. And of course I can play the instrumentals at the wrong speed anytime I want to and enjoy it.

Everyone knows Henry Mancini's 'Peter Gunn', one of the most popular Instrumentals in the world. But also rather boring. So the winner track on the instro side is without the slightest shadow of a doubt 'Night Of The Werewolf'. A rather obscure song, not much covered it seems. Beside this one I know only the original from 1977 by Lee Kristofferson(aka John Wagstaff) and the Meteors version of the song(on their 'Monkey's Breath' album).

The B-Side starts with the slow Stroller 'Teddyboys Beano', a creepy sounding song that seems to be based on the old children song 'Teddybears Picnic'. The opening lines from 'Teddybears Picnic' btw were also used by the Meteors on their song 'Graveyard Stomp'. Seems like every British kid grows up with that song. The side closes with the happy-go-lucky Bobby Darin number 'Queen Of The Hop'. Solid Revival sound. Overall a top notch Revival 45 with a creepy undertone, thanks to 'Night Of The Werewolf' and 'Teddyboys Beano'.

Black Cat were originally around from 1978 till 1983 and released four 7-Inches during that time. After the split of the original line-up the band continued performing, kept together by founding member and guitar player Chris Black who to this day performs under the name 'Chris Fender Black's Black Cat'. This EP with recordings probably done by the original line-up(no info of the recording dates for nerds like me on the sleeve) was released 2001 by top Revival label Hot Wax Records and you should have no problems getting a copy from your favorite Rockabilly dealer.

21.10.1949 - 04.02.2009 Lux Interior

2010-02-04T12:42:00.003+02:00

One year ago was a very sad day. One of too many in 2009. Lux Interior, singer of the Cramps and one of a kind lyricist passed away.

Like to so many others the band was very important to me and introduced me to many great songs I maybe wouldn't have known without them because the Born Bad compilations would not have been made. What artist do you think of when someone says 'Goo Goo Muck'? I think of the Cramps. And then maybe the name Ronnie Cook pops up in my brain. What band made me care about the music of a Russ Meyer movie? The Cramps. Even when the music of many of their own songs was taken from old 50s and 60s tunes, the lyrics Lux wrote were awesome. He sure had a way with words. Also the visual side of the Cramps was unique, especially in their video clips. No matter if 'Garbageman' or 'Ultra Twist', they made quite a few outstanding ones. I hope a collection of them all will be available one day.

I bought my first Cramps album 1984 (Songs The Lord...) and from that day on I was hooked. I tried hard to get everything else they had released and also searched the record fairs for bootlegs. And those were the times when bootlegs cost twice or three times as much as a regular LP. Being such a big fan, knowing I wasn't alone and that many bands had been influenced or inspired by the Cramps I thought it was time for a tribute. So I contacted a bunch of bands from around the world and waited three years till all songs had finally arrived(bands can be SO slow...). Some songs that had been recorded to be included on the album I sadly never got because the record company didn't do as they promised. That's why there suddenly were Cramps coversongs on Mad Sin and Klingonz releases. All songs published on the album were recorded especially for it but some bands used their recordings on their own records later like the Hellbillys, Monsters and Rattlers. I named the album 'Songs The Cramps Taught Us', following the band's debut album of course, and pressed 500 LPs and 1000 CDs, the CD having 7 bonus tracks. Both are sold out for ages but especially the LP is hard to find as 300 of the 500 copies went straight to Japan and another 50 or so went to the bands. The pictures used on the LP sleeve, front and back, were taken by me in 1986 when I saw the band live for the first time. For the CD version I only used the front sleeve picture. A close up of Lux when he was standing at the edge of the stage.

To honor the man and his music make sure to play all your favorite Cramps songs today, have some glasses of red wine on him and make a legal download of the 1993 Jungle Noise tribut album HERE.

Spin That 45 - Part 6: Roland Heinrich & Gunter Gabriel

2010-01-31T17:38:00.000+02:00

They always say the world gets smaller because of the internet, news spread much faster than they used to and more people than ever have access to all kinds of information. Oh yeah? If that was true, why did it take me almost three years to find out about this 45?

If you're not German you probably don't know any of the two musicians who recorded this 45 together. If you are German you should at least know Gunter Gabriel. It's okay not to know who is Roland Heinrich unless you have an interest in German Psychobilly, Rockin' Blues and Roots-Music. Gabriel, now in his late 60s, started his career in the early 70s with a German version of Bob Dylan's 'Wanted Man'. He was a successful singer/songwriter in the 70s and early 80s, being some kind of German version of a Folk- and Country-singer. He recorded a fair share of Cash songs in his life, all with German lyrics that usually captured the spirit of the original very well. It's said that he was friends with the Man In Black and in 2003 he actually recorded a whole album of songs written or done by Cash in German at the Cash Cabin Studio in Hendersonville, TN. There would be much more to tell about Gabriel but that's not the subject of this post.

Roland Heinrich started his musical journey in the mid 80s being singer and bass-player for Psychobilly band The Swamp Dogs(7" & Mini-LP). When the band split up he formed the traditional Rockabilly outfit The Little Green Men(2 songs on a compilation). They didn't last long as he changed the name back to Swamp Dogs, but this time the music was very different to the original Dogs(Listen to the 'Jump For Joy' Split-LP on Rundell Records). In 1990 he formed Rockin' Blues trio The Cracker Jacks(Two 45s, a 12", one CD, some compilations) who split up at the end of the 90s. In 2004 he released the first record under his birth-name and on his 2005 Bear Family release he changed from singing in English to German. Style wise he plays Roots music today, others might call it Americana or Alternative Country. I think traditional Country would fit as well. Also about Roland more could be said, but not now, not today.

In 2007 these two musicians got together and recorded two Country classics in German. Cash's 'Folsom Prison Blues' and the 1949 song 'Riders In The Sky'. Gabriel had recorded a German version of 'Folsom' already in 2003, the German 'Riders' lyrics originate from 1949. That year East-German record company Amiga released the first German 'Riders' version sung by Rita Paul and the Cornell Trio. A West-German version followed the same year sung by Gerhard Wendland. Over the last 60 years many German entertainers and bands recorded the song, the most popular probably being the '62 version by Bruce Low and my favorite one being the one sung by Ronnie.
Both artists share vocals on the songs but Gabriel, being the living legend that he is in Germany, is still the leading singer. Both voices differ a lot which is nice. Gabriel sounds more rough and low, while Roland's voice in contrast is much higher. It makes me think of 40s Country singers. As Roland was in charge of the recording and production the sound is authentic/old-school/traditional (pick the term you like best), just like I would expect it from him.
Personally I'm not 100% happy with the outcome of the recordings, I think some things should have been done different, but the 45 is one of those 'must haves' anyway. Only 500 copies were pressed, the sleeve looks great and it is a nice oddity. I bet just like me Roland had seen Gabriel on TV when he was a kid and 30 years later he did a record with him.

Buy the record here: CASH

Back From Outer Space

2010-01-28T12:36:00.000+02:00

Reunion-Fever! Here is the third reunion to announce for this year and it's not even a month old. That's promising for the other 11 months to come.

Man... Or Astroman?, probably the best band ever to come from Alabama, U.S.A., will start gigging again in March. So far only shows in their home state and Texas are announced but I'm sure world tours and new records will follow soon. Man... Or Astroman? was without a doubt the dominating Instro-Band of the 90s, putting out quality record after quality record and having a stage show no other Instro band could compete with. All I will say is: Burning TV set!

Check what's happening and listen to sounds here earthling!
There's a small interview about the reunion over at Rock Is Dead. Click HERE.

Fin-A-Billy Part 5: Mary Celeste

2010-01-22T15:08:00.000+02:00

This Neo-Rockabilly Trio from Rauma, named after the legendary ghost ship and the great Polecats song, was around in the 90s(1993 - 1999) and released a 7" single, a CD single and a CD Mini album. For most of their existence they played as Marie but changed that to Mary on their last release. Their records are hard to get these days, even in Finland, and again this is a band the Japanese like to pay a lot of money for. But this time it's fine with me as the band plays decent Neo-Rockabilly, very pop-sounding(not unusual for Finnish bands, think Death Row or Nine Lives) heavily inspired by the Blue Cats(rather Fight Back than the first album and rather The Tunnel than Fight Back). You just have to get used to the singer's heavy Finnish accent. After the split of the band said singer Kristian Juva founded Pop/Rock outfit K.Juva & Haavekuva who released an album 2001. And that was it it seems. No other releases by any of the bands, no shows, no nothing. Let's hope the boys will come back to play some shows, like so many bands. In the meantime listen to Mary Celeste here: Rockin' and Rollin'

Spin That 45 - Part 5: Hasil Adkins/Crazy Amy

2010-01-22T14:02:00.000+02:00

I stumbled across this Hasil Adkins 45 by accident when I was searching Ebay for rare Hasil releases from the 60s and 70s. I had been totally unaware of its existence as I never noticed it in any mailorder list or saw it for sale at any shop. Being a fan of the Hunching Sound since the mid 80s and having had the privilege of releasing a record by the Boone County Wild Man myself I bought it right away. Of course.

The story behind the record is that it is a split release between Hasil and his fiancée Crazy Amy, both singing songs about each other. It was released 2005, the year of Hasil's death, on the couple's new founded label Blink Records, the cataloge number being BL0429, the birthday of Hasil, April 29th. First it was planed to reactivate Hasil's old label A.R.C. Records again, but then they decided to start a brand new one, Blink Records. Hasil's song about Crazy Amy is a live recording, probably done at some house party. The song has a unusual sound to it, as someone is accompanying the Haze on harp. It's a fast Rock'n'Roll number on the edge to Rockin' Blues. Crazy Amy's tune sounds like a 4-track home recording done with drum machine.

This sure isn't the greatest Rock'n'Roll record of all times, but it's a nice oddity, Hasil's last official release and his song really rocks imo. HUNCH THAT THING!

Slap That Bass

2010-01-20T18:18:00.000+02:00

German slap-bass players are popular lately. After Grischa(Demented Are Go) and Simon(Meteors) the next one to slap the ole doghouse for a UK Psychobilly band is Puck(Boozehounds/Sewer Rats) who is joining Mad Dog Cole. Old bassman Choppy will leave the band after he has played 3 more Europe shows. Already gone is old MDC drummer Lee Barnett who got replaced by original (Psychobilly) Krewmen Dominic Parr. It's good to see him back from retirement as his style was a main part of the distinctive Krewmen sound we all like so much.

But that's not all. Together with fellow German Mad Man Markus(Astro Zombies) Puck forms the rhythm section of The Killer Trio, a brand new outfit lead by Jim Jeffries(Rancho Deluxe, Mad Dog Cole and a million other bands and projects). The band is currently recording a bunch of songs Jim wrote, gigs are not announced yet. On their MySpace site they put 2 video clips so people can get an idea about the band. According to Puck the songs are a mix of Punkabilly, Psychobilly and dark Rockabilly and their 'In The Pines' cover(video on the site) the song that has the biggest Rockabilly influence. As it doesn't sound Rockabilly at all to me I'm curious to hear the other stuff.

2 Sauerkrauts and 1 Kanisterkopp

Pizza and PBR

2010-01-20T17:32:00.000+02:00

New York City's latest Garage sensation 'The Othermen' have just returned from the studio where they recorded 11 tracks they hope to put out as 10" soon. Next month they will be back in the studio to record two more songs that will be released on a 45 by New York label Puta! Records. In fall the 4 young Garageheads with a history in Psychobilly will come over to play a couple of shows in Europe. It seems as if they will do a one week tour of Russia and gigs in Germany, Spain and Sweden. I hope that they will make the effort to come and play Finland as well, cause once in Russia and Sweden, they are in the neighborhood already. This land needs Garage!

The band has a bunch of live recordings on their MySpace site, audio and video. Go n check them out! Every band that states the Tall Boys as influence deserves attention!

OTHERMEN
Picture by Alan Betts

Spin That 45 - Part 4: The Wylde Mammoths

2010-01-16T11:16:00.000+02:00

Here is another 80s Neo-60s gem but this time it's no re-release I want to point your attention to. This is an original pressing and unplayed copies can still be found at various Mailorders.

The Wylde Mammoths rose from the ashes of Swedish Garage band The Crimson Shadows and were the first modern band to be signed by Crypt Records. The label released two LPs and one 45 by the band. Depending on the source this 45 is either called 'Help That Girl' or '7 Inches Of Please'. Judging by the sleeve I'd say 'Help That Girl' is correct. What's strange is that many Internet sources say the record came out in 1987. It clearly states 1988 as year of production on the label and the recording dates for the four songs were in November 1987. But that's nerd talk. 'Help That Girl' was Crypt's 3rd 45, following releases of Ralph Nielson's 'Scream' and a live 45 by DMZ, recorded 1978.

Musicwise I'd call the Mammoths a 60s R&B band, similar to for example the Tell Tale Hearts. So on this 45 you can hear early Stones or Them influences but no Sonics, Standells or Seeds.

Get your copy HERE.

Spin That 45 - Part 3: The Gruesomes

2010-01-12T16:52:00.000+02:00

This 45 actually plays on 33 but never mind. The Gruesomes were Canada's best Teen-Punk/60's Punk/60's Garage/Neo-Garage/How ever you wanna call it-band in the 80s and now Greek label Fuzz Overdose Records has re-released the band's debut 45 'Jack The Ripper'. The original was released in 1986 by Primitive Records, the same label that published the band's only other 45 'Unchained' a year later. To find copies of these records today is pretty much a mission impossible so hooray to our Greek friends at Fuzz Overdose for making the band's first EP available again, in original artwork! Side A features two songs about Jack the Ripper. It starts with the Link Wray tune 'Jack The Ripper' and ends with the same titled Screaming Lord Sutch song. On the flip the band provides 2 own compositions. The rather slow 'Things She Does To Me' and the fast Garage stomper 'No More Lies'. This Canadian Garage classic is available now in an edition of 800 hand-numbered copies. On this EP the Gruesomes aren't as outstanding sounding as they would on later recordings but it is a solid debut that should be included in every serious Neo-60s collection.

Attack Of The Pussy Eaters

2010-01-12T16:12:00.000+02:00

I've got the pleasure to announce another long time overdue comeback: The mighty, non-pc to the core, porno-garage-punk legends the Spider Babies are back!

Mastermind Kevin who's now in charge of the band's Myspace site announced a Europe tour and a new record for this year. The record will be released by Black Lung Records and the band is currently taking offers for the European tour. The Spider Babies 2010 are Kevin on guitar and vocals, original bass-player Jim Evans and drummer Metal-Mike. The picture above is the line-up that recorded the band's legendary first LP 'All Fucked Up'. If you are unfamiliar with the band but curious go and check out the MySpace site for discography, sound-samples and more info on the band's history: GONNA GET REAL HURT

A Rockin' Good Read...Or Not? - Part 4

2010-01-09T14:10:00.000+02:00

Before Scotsman Craig Brackenridge published his book on Psychobilly(Hell's Bent On Rockin') he gave the world 'Let's Wreck' and 'Vinyl Dementia: The Psychobilly & Trash Record Guide. Part 1: 1981-87'.

'Let's Wreck' is a fast read. It covers the author's relationship with Psychobilly from 1983 till around 2003 but as he was drunk and/or stoned most of the times when he was in the company of other Psychos he doesn't remember much and so doesn't really has a lot of interesting things to say. But he sure has a way with words which makes the book a good read nevertheless. There are even a few interesting insights the book has to offer, like the connection between Psychobilly and the Scooter scene, as that was something we didn't have going on in Germany but were aware was happening in the UK. Brackenridge comes from a place in Scotland no one has ever heard of, I am sure, and played in some small bands. So he tells about the early days of Psychobilly in Scotland and about his bands, the Rednecks(EP on Fury Records) being the most 'popular' one. These bits are partly interesting too but I could do without his chapter on important records of the 80s. First because the way he did it it doesn't fit into the concept of the book and second because there are mistakes that shouldn't be published in a book. What ever happened to proof reading and research? He says the Guana Batz had only the 'The Cave' 45 out before their debut LP was released. We all know that's not true.

For 'Vinyl Dementia' Brackenridge states that he included the 20 records released between 1981 and 1987 that 'infected' him the most. That must be the reason why really important non-island releases are missing. And with island I don't mean the record label. Seriously, you include 'Hell's Bent On Rockin' but can't be bothered to mention 'Psycho Attack Over Europe'? Yes, 'Hell's Bent' is a great album but 'Psycho Attack' was much more important. 'Vinyl Dementia' has about 30 A5 pages and I don't really know who benefits from it beside the author's ego. Many parts from VD were used in 'Let's Wreck' or vice versa, but at least he corrected his mistake about the Guana Batz 45s available before the band's debut LP. But therefor VD has other mistakes to offer. He writes 'Ghost Train' was on the Sharks debut album and seems to think that 'Migraine' and 'Witchcraft' from the Ricochets were part of their 'Made In The Shade' album and not bonus tracks on the CD release. Boy oh boy...how can something like that happen? It makes the author look as if he never owned the LPs he claims were so important to him.

I believe that Brackenridge really enjoyed his teens as Psychobilly and loved and loves the music but why he wrote these two pieces is beyond my understanding. Unless the motivation was a minor midlife-crisis. Getting bald, having a family, not much excitement going on anymore, all new bands suck. What better to do than recall the times when you were crazy and wild. I do that sometimes, too. Glorify the 80s and its music. And it's okay because Psychobilly just was better in the 80s. You don't get the same feeling from listening to the new Banane Metallic record that you got when listening to the Meteors for the first time as a teenager in the mid 80s. That opened the door to a new world. The Wannabilly bands of today make you wanna close that door, lock it and throw away the key.

Back From The Graveyard

2010-01-08T17:47:00.000+02:00

Another one is back from grave, another 80s Psychobilly band. This time it's famous screamers Skitzo. Not too long ago they posted on the band's MySpace site that there wouldn't be a comeback with just one original member and some session musicans but now they are doing it, they are coming back. With original singer Phil Connor. Actually with 3/4 of the band's original line-up. Just the bass-player is new. Good. I mean, I saw a strange Skitzo line-up with a different singer ages ago at one of the early Big Rumbles, I think the 2nd, and liked it. 'Terminal Damage'(the band's 2nd album) guitar-player Pete Davis was on vocals and it actually was, to my surprise, good. But of course Connor is the voice of Skitzo. As it's not the first return for Skitzo they probably know what they are doing. Actually everything they ever said about comebacks, the past and the future sounded as if they knew what they were doing. Read what the band has to say now about the future here: SKITZO MANIA

As cheap as the band's debut album sounds, it is a Psychobilly classic and I like its rough charm. Yes, you have to get used to Phil Connor's almost constant screaming, but once you did the album will grow on you(if it hasn't already the last 20 something years). The LP actually features some of the most melodic and best Psychobilly songs not written by Fenech: 'Witching Hour' and the awesome 'Under Pressure'.

Old Skitzo drummer Strut(Terminal Damage) is also active again. For ages he's been living in Sweden and with fellow countryman and guitar player Lee Tea of The Branded(a great Swedish Garage band) he formed Thee Gravemen, a Horror Rock'n'Roll Duo, where he calls himself Daz Trash. They have two awesome 45s out.

Spin That 45 - Part 2: 25 Years Goofin' Records

2010-01-08T16:30:00.000+02:00

Autumn 2009 finnish label Goofin' Records had its 25 years anniversary. To celebrate this owner Pete Hakonen organized a Rockabilly festival in Helsinki, headlined by Deke Dickerson, at the end of October. As a special treat for his customers and especially for the record collectors amongst them he released a set of five singles, all limited to 300 copies, only available at the show. As 50 copies each went to the bands, the math is easy: Only 250 people would be able to buy the complete set. I wasn't going to be at the show and accepted my destiny of not owning these Fin-A-Billy 45s. But luck was on my side. Not all sets were sold, some people reserved copies but didn't pick them up in the weeks to come, so Pete offered the remaining ones via E-Mail. I hadn't checked my mailbox for some days, so the E-Mail wasn't fresh anymore when I finally read it but I was still able to purchase a complete set of singles before some crazy Japanese could buy them all.

All five singles come in the same company sleeve, specially printed. On the front it has the Goofin' logo and on the back the list of the five 45s. The first single is by the Hal Peters Trio. These guys have been around for centuries and played Authentic Rockabilly ages before it was called Authentic Rockabilly. They do two cover-versions in best Sun-Rockabilly tradition. Solid! Mystery Train is an old finnish Rockabilly band that originally started in the late 70s, in the mid 80s took a long break and now is back on Suomi's Rockabilly stages up and down the country. They do an original and a cover-version of the obscure 50s song 'Rockin' Ghosts', originally by Little Gerhard from Sweden. Maybe more about him in this blog later. 45 number 3 is the only disapointment of the set. The Cast Iron Arms back Finland's Rockabilly legend Teddy Tiger of Teddy and the Tigers, who these days looks like the beardless brother of Johnny Legend, and the result isn't exciting. Two live recordings were chosen for the single. The rather unknown Buddy Holly song 'Learning The Game' and 'Nothin' For Me' by I don't know who, but it sounds like a 60s song. The undisputed winner 45 is the return of another Finland Rockabilly veteran, Buck Jones, who is backed by his band the Billyhowgs. Both songs are originals, sound great and rock. Side A 'Long Lonesome Highway' is a Western-Rockabilly song with lyrics I'd like to know more about while the flip 'Can You Feel Me Comin' is a fast Saxophone Rock'n'Roll number on the edge to Rhythm'n'Blues. Very nice, even when the song title is a bit creepy. The last single is by the relatively new band B. Cupp and the Strapless Trio whom I like much better than B. Cupp with the Fill-Ups. They also provide two decent sounding 50s Rockabilly numbers, both covers, and Side A is the winner. A fast version of Sid King's 'Shake This Shack Tonight'. Their version of the Glen Glenn classic 'I'm Glad My Baby's Gone Away' on side B on the other hand is a bit lame.

Just today when surfing the net I saw copies of these 45s available for reasonable prices, so go record hunting now! You might regret it one day if you don't!

Fin-A-Billy Part 4: Huey, Louie & Dewey

2010-01-07T17:28:00.000+02:00

Huey, Louie & Dewey were a Neo-Rockabilly trio from the small town of Mikkeli. Now as the biggest city in Finland is Helsinki with about 500.000 people pretty much every town in this country is small, but Mikkeli has just about 34,000 residents. I have never been there but I know a few Mikkeli Psychobillies(and one Skinhead) and can say that they are among the finest young men I have had the pleasure to meet while in Finland. H,L & D played their Neo-Rockabilly between 1990 and 1998 and then gave it a try again in 2007. I think they didn't try very hard because the last time they signed in to their MySpace site was Febuary 2008. In 1993 the band recorded their only album 'A Date With...' that was release in 1994 by Rockhouse Records. I remember thinking 'The band name is so stupid, the record must be shit.' And so I didn't buy it and never listened to it. After I had moved to Finland I started to hear good things about the band and their album so I tried to track down the LP but had no success. No surprise as I found out now. It seems it was released on CD only. But thanks to certain blogs where you can get download links for long time OOP records, I finally got the album and I'm happy I didn't spend any money on it because I think it is boring and bad. No doubt, the guys were heavily influenced by the Neo-Rockabilly style of Restless but like most other bands who tried before to recreate that style they failed. The guitar playing is light-years behind the virtuosity of Harman, it sometimes even sounds as if the guitar was out of tune, and when, for a change, a song has some nice traditional Rockabilly guitar-picking it gets ruined by the bad voice of the singer. The 90s were terrible boring years for Neo-Rockabilly and Psychobilly and this album is proof to that. But I wouldn't be surprised if it's a cult-classic in Japan. They adore bands there nobody in Europe cares about.

Slap That Bass

2010-01-04T17:53:00.000+02:00

Dutch Neo-Rockabilly band Bang Bang Bazooka has a new bass-player. Their old doghouse-bass slapper Karel, who had replaced original slapper Bart(of Peter Pan Speedrock fame) moves to Sweden(Hello neighbour!) and is replaced by Eric Hammers from Batmobile, who already in the past played for BBB when they were in need for a bass-player. The band will start recording a new album soon.

Original Mad Sin member and bass-player Holly is more busy than ever it seems. After playing the bass on both Bela B. solo-albums (Bela B. is drummer/vocalist of Die Ärzte, a band VERY popular in Germany for many many years, and did some backing vocals on the Mad Sin album 'Sweet & Innocent') he will finally tour with the band. Something he didn't do after the first Bela B. solo-album was out. But that ain't all. Good ole Holly plays in a bunch of other bands at the moment: 1) 'The Wasted'. It's a 3-piece Punk band with his brother Dusty Gray on vocals and guitar (Yes, THE Dusty Gray of authentic Rockabilly band Dusty Gray and the Rough Riding Ramblers.) 2) 'Dr. Kinski', an AC/DC Cover-band. 3) 'Monokel', self claimed Power-Blues band with German lyrics that exists over 30 years already. 4) 'Firerazor', a Hard-Rock band that sounds as if they'd listen to Motörhead a lot. So not much -billy for Holly at the moment it seems.

Nigel Lewis, original Meteor, has returned to playing the bass in the latest line-up of Nigel Lewis & The Zorchmen. Doyley is on guitar and Ginger on drums. The band will release their new album(CD) in April at the Satanic Stomp and a limited vinyl EP will be available on the German Migraine Label, run by Wildcat Björn and Madhouse Jump Olaf. Nice!

A Rockin' Good Read...Or Not? - Part 3

2010-01-02T15:07:00.000+02:00

Hell Yeah! This finally is a rockin' good read. 'Rock Revival'(5 issues) is for the fan of Revival Rock aka Teddyboy Rock'n'Roll aka British Rockabilly what 'Now Dig This', 'Rockin' 50s' and who knows what other magazines are for the fan and collector of 50s Rock'n'Roll. Okay, the quality is not the best(it is photocopied), the layout isn't fancy, it is hard to get(each issue had a rather limited edition and was published years ago) and most of it is in German but still. This is a must have for every serious fan and collector of Teddyboy bands. Publisher Ernie, who also runs Hot Wax Records (Chevrolet, Bonneville, Black Cat, Town Rebels etc.) must have an incredible collection of old promo-photos, newspaper articles and records. Let alone the promo and live pictures of the legendary Ted-bands are worth tracking down this ace zine, but the best thing are imo the extensive discographies. Of course it can be frustrating to see how many records one is till missing and sometimes didn't even know existed, but it's also good to know that they are out there. I seriously recommend 'Rock Revival' to every Rocker, Ted and Greaser! And everyone else of course with a serious interest in this great music.

Spin That 45 - Part 1: White Lightning

2010-01-02T14:44:00.000+02:00

If you are a die hard collector of Teddyboy and 80s Neo-Rockabilly records you probably have heard of Kees 'Spider' Dekker. He was in dutch bands Wild Cats, Rocky Road and Del Rios. And in White Lightning. It wasn't until November last year that I stumbled across the band's 'The End Of The Hunt' 7"EP on the German Hellskitchen label. It is in fact the label's first release, dating back to 1999. Let me tell you, this is one fine piece of vinyl. It is one of the best contemporary Rockabilly records I have listened to in a long time, and yes, 11 years ago still counts as contemporary to me. The dutch 4-piece plays straight 50s Rockabilly and opposite to many of the so-called authentic bands(whose albums are often available on CD only. Wow, how authentic is THAT!?) their record sounds good, and not by purpose cheap or trashy. Songwriter credits are missing so I can't say if they do any originals or covers only but I recognize the Marlon Grisham classic 'Ain't That A Dilly'. I couldn't find any info on the band on the net nor a MySpace site so you just have to trust me on this one. There also is no download link. I can't rip vinyl. Just order this nice 7"(that actually plays on 33) from your fave Rock'n'Roll mailorder, put in on the player, put the needle in the groove and enjoy!

Fin-A-Billy Part 3: The Beetle Crushers

2010-01-02T13:31:00.000+02:00

Finland has been a Rockabilly country since the 70s and even when the heydays with Rockabilly chewing gum and Crazy Cavan Jeans are over, you can still find tons of bands all over the country, from the South up to Lapland, from the Russian border to the West coast, playing that crazy beat, no matter if Authentic, Neo or Teddyboy style. So it's not surprising that even one of Finland's most ugly places(no, not Vantaa) has a Rockabilly band. I'm talking about the small town of Kouvola, I'm talking about the Beetle Crushers. But to be precise, the Crushers are actually more Teddyboy Rock'n'Roll than Teddyboy Rockabilly. They say it themselves and you also hear it on their records, they are heavily influenced by British 60s Rock'n'Roll. They only do a handful of pure Rockabilly songs. Formed already back in 1998 the band's output is rather small. Two 7-Inches and 2 albums(both on Goofin' Records) is all the devoted fan can purchase, whereas the first EP from 2001 is rather hard to find these days but it is included as bonus on the CD version of their 1st LP. I have seen the band numerous times and enjoyed it every time, just as I enjoy their records. It's all killers, no fillers: BEETLE CRUSHERS

A Rockin' Good Read...Or Not? - Part 2

2009-12-31T19:03:00.000+02:00

Bo Diddley was wrong. Sometimes you can judge a book by its cover. This one looks shit and surprise...it is shit. Of course the intentions of the artist were only the best, but the result is not. If you wonder what this book has to do with music, that my friends is a legitimate question judging by the cover. It actually is a photo book about the Psychobilly scene. Or let me say, that is what the book was supposed to be. A partly blurry picture of a human skull can symbolize all kind of things but Psychobilly isn't one of them I'd say. Unless of course that skull has a silly haircut. To call the book 'Das Zeiko Bilderbuch'(The Zeiko Picture Book) doesn't help understanding that it's about Psychobilly and not about swiss watches and the title includes a typo. I mean, it can be funny for a second, or two, because many Germans pronounce Psycho Zeiko, but hey come on. Latest another minute later anyone with a little sense of what ever left would have realized that it's probably the most stupid name for a Psychobilly picture book. The subtitle says 'Die Bands und ihre Fans. Erinnerungen an eine wilde Zeit'(The bands and their fans. Memories of a wild time). This sounds more dramatic and nostalgic than it is. Not many bands are featured and the Meteors are missing at all. But photographer and publisher Michael Overbeck (he released this book, 32 numbered full color pages, by himself 2003 in an edition of 500 copies) included a few live pictures of budget-rock kings the Mummies taken at a Psychobilly festival they played in Bielefeld, Germany in the early 90s. On the book's first page Overbeck writes 'Ein Ausflug in die Psychobilly Szene'(A visit/trip to the Psychobilly scene), so maybe that explains why the book has so few pages and not many bands are featured. You'd think that someone who has been in the scene for a longer time would come up with more and better pictures. The book features photos of Mad Sin, Nekromantix, Klingonz, DAG, Batmobile, Broncats, a few fans AND the backstage girls. They actually get an own chapter. But hardly any of them looks Psychobilly or underground or counter-cultural at all. So why they are included is a mystery to me, just like the purpose of the book itself. But if you think you'd want a copy for yourself have a look at Ebay Germany. That's where I got my copy just a few weeks ago. As the cover of the book is so unbelievable ugly I need to end this post with something much much better looking, otherwise I'd feel bad. Enjoy the beauty of the King:

Fin-A-Billy Part 2: Happotedit

2009-12-30T14:01:00.000+02:00

When I said that Cast Iron Arms are Finland's best Teddyboy band at the moment I actually wasn't telling the truth. The best finnish Teddyboy band of course is Happotedit. I had simply forgotten about them because they hardly ever play. The whole band is more like a project anyway. All members but the singer play in other bands and the line-up can vary from show to show, depending on who shows up, who's passed out and other reasons. Just like those great Teddyboy bands from Germany, the Badland Slingers and Mess Of Booze, Happotedit sing in their native language. That is definitely part of the charm and it makes you pay less attention to the fact that singer Hogman can't sing. But as they sound like a Rockabilly washing machine from hell anyway, as it states on their MySpace site, that's fair enough. If you wonder what 'Happotedit' means: 'Acid Teds'. The band's songs are classic Rockabilly tunes and Teddyboy anthems done with, as I was told, amusing finnish lyrics. As the selection of songs they play is nothing but hits and everyone in the audience knows these songs inside out a great party is guaranteed when and where ever Happotedit enters the stage. I hope they will do so a lot in 2010. To get a taste of Suomi Teddyboy Madness click here TEDS

2010

2009-12-29T16:39:00.000+02:00

I'm wishing you, my 4 registered readers, and everyone who accidentally ends up here a great new year! Gig wise it looks promising so far for us here in the north-east of Europe. Bands that are already confirmed to play Finland are Crazy Cavan, Flying Saucers, Astro Zombies, Mad Sin, Nekromantix, Trashmen, Ricochets, Eddie Angel, Surf Rats, Uk Subs, Vibrators, Sureshots, Ruby Ann, Cherry Casino and the POLECATS!

A Rockin' Good Read...Or Not? - Part 1

2009-12-29T16:01:00.000+02:00

Not many books are available that deal with the post 50s Rockabilly and Psychobilly scenes. There doesn't seem to be much interest from publishing companies and writers/journalists. If you have a look at the music section of probably any book store anywhere in the world you will always find a handful of books on Punk and Punk bands. But Rockabilly? Forget it. The lack of interest from publishing companies and decent writers might be one reason why most of the few -billy books available are rather shit, a waste of money and reading them a waste of time. Often it seems that some fan felt the urge to write about his fave music but lacked everything, especially talent and experience in writing, or someone with a huuuge ego just wanted to see his or her name on a book to have something to jerk off to. This sounds harsh but seriously, has anyone of you ever read a GOOD book about modern Rockabilly or Psychobilly? It seems the people who would have something interesting to say, and those who know how to write and research, just can't be bothered to do so about the billies.

Some posts below I talked about a book on Psychobilly in Russia. I have no idea about its quality but I hope it's better than most of the books I have read about Neo-Rockabilly and Psychobilly so far. The German book 'Rockabillies - Rock'n'Roller - Psychobilles - Portrait einer Subkultur' (Portrait of a subculture) by social psychologist Susanne El-Nawab concentrates on the people that are in the scene and not on the music but any book where Restless is called a 'real' Psychobilly band needs to be returned to the shop where it was purchased right away and the money needs to be refunded. But I really wanted to puke all over it when I read her description on Psychobillies. That must be one of the worst and most stupid things written in the history of mankind. I can't be bothered to translate all that crap but believe me, it IS crap. So maybe somehow it's a blessing that the chapter on Psychobillies is very short anyway. Two East-German Psychos and East band Tazmanian Devils are featured with interviews. Hardly enough to paint a representative picture on what P-billy is and who are the people but never mind. She made more effort to portray the Rockabilly scene and actually found out that there are scenes within the scene. She talks about Rockabillies and 'Leatherjacket-Rockabillies', those that prefer the 'tough leatherjacket style'. Why she doesn't call them Teds I don't know. Or did I miss something the last 30 years and you can only be a Ted these days if you wear a Drape? Ah well... To sum it up, the book is bull most of the time. Sometimes imo information is missing. She mentions something but doesn't explain it, like the reason why Little Richard stopped playing Rock'n'Roll 1957. There are also discrepancies in her writing when she for example talks about Carl Perkins or plain false information is published. She writes the Johnny Burnette Rock'n'Roll Trio was formed after January 1956. It also seems that she can't make up her mind if she wants to write her book in some pseudo-intellectual lingo or use a more simple sounding every day style. The only time the book is entertaining is when some of the smarter interviewed Whateverbillies tell anecdotes from their old days. But that's by far not enough to make this book a must have.

More awesome book reviews will follow soon!

Fin-A-Billy Part 1: Cast Iron Arms

2009-12-22T19:13:00.000+02:00

Going through my 2009 gig pictures I noticed that the band I saw live most times was Finnish Teddyboy band Cast Iron Arms. That's not so surprising as I a) live in Finland b) in Finland are many Rockabilly gigs c) I like Teddyboy Rock'n'Roll (or Revival Rock or British Rockabilly or how ever you wanna call it). Still I thought it is worth mentioning here. Especially because I didn't get bored seeing them a couple of times. Each time it felt new and fresh. But then again that could also be because of intoxication at the previous gig. Anyways, I think they are Finland's best Teddyboy band at the moment, followed probably by the Beetle Crushers, and if you haven't heard them yet, give them a listen. Especially their newer recordings are top. I have their first CD and that's a bit lame. I will spare you all the details on band history and line-up changes, in what bands the guys used to play and in what others they play beside CIA. You can figure that out yourself with some web-research. Start here, at their MySpace site CAST IRON ARMS and go and see them live if they play a town near you.

Sophisticated Boppin' in Berlin

2009-12-21T17:26:00.000+02:00

The year is almost over and I am still behind with posting the 2009 gig pictures over at my Sophisticated Bop MySpace site. Today I took the time to upload some from our trip to Berlin in September where we saw U.S. Psychobillies the Tabaltix, the Peacocks, Slim Jim Phantom with Frenzy's Steve Whitehouse on bass and Mark Harman from Restless on guitar, Batmobile and a bunch of other bands. There are no pictures of the other bands but have a look anyway if you like: cool blurry pictures, please enjoy

Rock In Peace, Lord Ulli!

2009-12-13T15:50:00.000+02:00

The Lords were Germanys most popular band in the 60s. Maybe not the best, but for sure the best known one. The crown for best German 60s song probably goes to the Phantom Brothers 'Chicago', a song penned by Rattles singer Achim Reichel. But neither The Phantom Brothers nor the Rattles, nor any other German band in the 60s was as popular as the Lords were. Some say that the Rattles were Germany's best Beat band. Possible. Maybe they were better at what they were doing, closer to the English Beat and at the same time harder and more original, but I believe that the Lords at the end of the day had more success.

Founded 1959 in Berlin as the 'Skiffle-Lords' they changed their name to 'Lords' at new years eve 1962. In 1964 at the Star Club, Hamburg, they were voted best German 'Beat-Formation' and got the title of 'The German Beatles'. Between 1965 and 1969 twelve singles released by the band made it into the German charts. Between 1971 and '76 the band took a break(they split up), but since '76 they have been constantly touring, recording and appearing on TV. When I was growing up in the 70s and 80s I knew the band. I had seen them on TV and knew that they were a bunch of funny looking older men making boring music and their singer had the silly nickname 'Lord Ulli'. My whole opinion of them changed when I watched a re-run of 'Beat-Club' on German TV. 'Beat Club' was Germany's first TV show for teenagers, broadcasted between 1965 to 1972, and the bands would usually play live in the studio. A concept the station would sometimes use on the follow up show 'Musikladen', which lead to some legendary live TV performances, for example by Johnny Cash or the Ramones. That show I saw had the Lords performing a couple of songs live in the studio and I was blown away. I never liked Blues but the Lords version of John Lee Hooker's 'Boom Boom' was incredible I though. Poor quality clip here Same goes for 'Greensleeves'. What a killer song! Move over Beatles! As usual the actual recordings of these songs are not as wild and rough, but it can't hurt to have them in your 60s collection.

10 years and 2 months ago Lord Ulli died. During a show in Postdam on the 9th of October, as part of their 40 Years Anniversary Tour, he collapsed on stage due to heart rhythm disturbances. He suffered a skull fracture with cerebral hemorrhage from the fall and died 4 days later in hospital. In an interview he once had said: 'When I die, I'd like to drop dead from stage'. The band is still active today.

Rockin' Dolls

2009-12-07T13:47:00.000+02:00

Christmas is coming up and you don't have a present for your 50s loving boy- or girlfriend? How about the 'Rock and Roll Legends of the 1950s Paper Dolls'? Why? "The heart and soul of America's most popular performers live on with this nostalgic collection of paper dolls celebrating the very best of an unforgettable musical genre. Realistic figures of beloved 1950s legends are paired with ready-to-perform wardrobes the artists would have been proud to wear on stage." There. The text on the back cover says it all.
Elvis gets the most attention in the book. You can dress him up with his famous '50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong' gold suit, the 'Jailhouse Rock' outfit or his 68-Comeback leather suit. All other singers (Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, Fats Domino, Wanda Jackson etc.) come with one extra outfit only. There are not many Rockabillies included (Sure, Presley, Holly and Jackson recorded some great Rockabilly songs when they started but they soon changed to Rock'n'Roll), but at least they gave a page to Carl Perkins and his blue suede shoes. Why artist Tom Tierney made him hold one of them in his hand and show it to the viewer as if he was saying 'Here, take a sniff. I don't have smelly feet. Must be someone else that stinks.' is unknown to me, but it sure is odd. Then again, the whole book is.
Another favorite page of mine in this little oddity is the one for J.P. 'The Big Bopper' Richardson. Why the hell was he drawn with his fist up, ready to throw a jab? Is this how Tierney imagined Richardson would welcome Waylon Jennings in Rock'n'Roll Heaven, after he had died in February 2002, 'thanking' him for giving his seat on the plane that crashed 43 years earlier to the Big Bopper? Maybe. And then there is the Big Bopper's flying Cowboy hat. What is that about? Is it a ghost hat?
But beside creating mysteries and making you ask silly questions the book also uncovers unknown secrets of Rock'n'Roll. Look at the faces of Chuck Berry and Little Richard. Who would have guessed that they are twins! At least in the world of Tom Tierney.
This book is no must have but it sure is a funny, little addition to everyone's 50's collection. I will probably never look at it again, but before it gets dusty and will fall into oblivion on some shelf I wanted to share it with the world and give it its 5 minutes of fame.

Psychobilly Behind The Iron Curtain

2009-12-06T00:05:00.000+02:00

Not that the iron curtain still exists but Russia is still some kind of mystery. You still need a Visa to go there and there is no way in hell or on earth to figure out what their writing means. Of course some things have changed significantly since the USSR collapsed. Nowadays you see quite a lot of Russians on festivals in the West and more West bands play Russia and the other way round. But how big Psychobilly is in the East we can only guess (and my guess is that it's not very big) but in 2007 they published a book about it in Russia. As I mentioned, there is no way to figure out what anything written with Russian letters means, but judging by the photos and flyers published the book definitely covers the Russian bands Meantraitors, Swindlers, Scary B.O.O.M, Bombers and some others I have never heard of before. There are also special chapters on the Quakes, Reverend Horton Heat and the Horror Pops. Okay, I get why the Quakes are in the book, but the other two? The only other pictures by West bands are from Batmobile and Klingonz so I guess that the history of Psychobilly isn't covered. Fair enough. For that we have the incredible bad 'Hell's Bent On Rockin' book from Cherry Red Books, hahaha.

In case you can read Russian and want to know more about Russian Psychobilly or if you are a die hard collector of everything that says Psychobilly, go to www.amphora.ru. They published the book.

No Boss Night - The Sonics in Helsinki

2009-12-05T17:43:00.000+02:00

Last Sunday was the big day. The Sonics played Finland. And we had tickets. When we arrived there was a long cue at the door but we got in much faster than I thought. The guys at the doors just checked the ticket and took the 'service' fee. There was no security check for possible weapons or small bottles of booze you tried to hide in the pockets of your jeans. I wish I had known that earlier. The beer from the tab was 'just' 5,- Euros but as usual in Finland it didn't taste very good. I wonder why some countries just can't produce decent tasting beers. The place was if not sold out for sure very packed and like predicted there was a lot of long hair. But also quiffs and baldies. The average age was way over 30, possibly even over 40. But this time no one was constantly stepping on my shoes or bumping into me. That made the evening much more enjoyable.

When we entered the hall the Flamin' Sideburns were playing already and it was a disappointment. No one of them had sideburns. Sometimes my girlfriend calls music I listen to 'Adult Rock'. Of course I don't agree with her but what the Sideburns delivered I'd like to call just that. Adult Rock. There wasn't the slightest sign of Garage. IMO. I never was a fan of them anyway, I always found them to be pretty boring. After seeing them live for the second time now this didn't change. I like their cover of 'Out Of Our Tree' but that's pretty much it. Which reminds me of one of the great mysteries in Finnish Rock history. This country never had one decent Garage band. They have and had great Rockabilly, Punk-Rock, Surf and Hardcore bands, but when it comes to Garage there is none. Yet. I play guitar, anyone plays Farfisa?
Then it was time for the Sonics. It was ok. Not as boring as the Roky Erickson and the Explosions show two years ago but also not the exciting, wild, bursting with energy gig I had been hoping for. Maybe they are just too old to tour and kick ass a few days in a row. Credits go out to Rosalie for drinking beer on stage and to their mad drummer. He was the only one that seemed to be really enjoying himself, followed by the always smiling bass-player. Which is sad in a way as they are the two non original members of the band. I mean, yeah it was nice to hear those Garage classics 'The Witch', 'Boss Hoss', 'Cinderella' etc. played live by the original band but let's face it, 2009 is not 1966. They are no longer hormone driven, pimple faced wild young men with an unsatisfiable lust for adventures of any kind and an uncontrollable urge to drink, fight, fuck. They are old dudes with probably more than one prostate problem amongst them. And you could hear that. Not the prostate problem. The age. I for my part am done with paying a lot of money to see grandfathers who made a few good recordings in the 60s and just came back to make some extra cash. It's just not worth it. Legends or not.

Let's All Get Dixie Fried

2009-11-26T14:35:00.000+02:00

In case you are not a native speaker, and probably if you are a native speaker but didn't grow up in the south of the U.S.A., you got no clue what the heck Carl Perkins is singing about on his 1956 Sun single. I was just as clueless as you but then something changed my way of listening to old Rock'n'Roll records. I found a book. That book didn't only explain the slang used in old Rock'n'Roll, Country and Blues songs, it also explained expressions used in Pulp novels and Noir and Exploitation films. Author of this essential piece is singer extraordinaire Max Décharné, frontman of the great, and I really mean it, Flaming Stars. The book is called 'Straight From The Fridge, Dad - A Dictionary Of Hipster Slang' and the 3rd edition has just been published http://www.straightfromthefridgedad.com/. I will get me a copy for sure, as I own only the first American paperback edition, and that one came without any pictures. To make you understand how great and essential this book is let me tell you, when I moved to Finland from Germany this was one of the few books I took with me, along with some Chandler, Kerouac, Bukowski novels and books on music.

Not All Was Bad In 1939

2009-11-24T11:37:00.000+02:00

In 1939 (some sources say 1938) young Alex Steinweiss(born 1917) invented the record picture sleeve. In his career he designed about 2500 of them untill he retired in 1972 at age 55 (some sources say he retired from designing record sleeves in 1970). Taschen has just published a 416 pages book of his work, limited to 1500 copies, you can get for 300,- Euros: TASCHEN. More info on Steinweiss and examples of his art can be found here STEINWEISS or here(Article in German) STEINWEISS 2. Above btw you see the world's first picture sleeve. Not bad at all for a start I think.

Mutant Leather Ted

2009-11-19T16:43:00.000+02:00

It's normal to forget things the older you get. But there are some people, names, things and even little details that will stick with you forever. No matter how old you'll be, you will always remember them. I will always remember the 'mutated leather Ted'. I read that term more than 25 years ago in a review of the first Meteors live album where the author called Rick Ross that. And that's what I think of each time I think of Rick Ross. No, don't get me wrong. I'm not obsessed with him and spend my sleepless nights in bed thinking bout him. But just recently I found the 1983 Meteors line-up promo picture again(see above) and BANG, 'Mutated Leather Ted' popped up in my brain and I started wondering what happened to him after he left the band. Back in 1984 the news was that he was joining The Cult, but I never found out if that's true. At least there is no Rick Ross in the list of ex-members on their Wikipedia site. Information about him is rare on the Internet and in most cases wrong. It often says that he was the Meteors bass player in 1983 only but I saw the band with him on bass on their 2nd German tour in May 1984. It was on this tour that the band was filmed at their 'Rockpalast' gig, to be shown on German TV. Check this link ROCKPALAST . On the pictures there you'll see that it's Ross on bass, but the page states 'The Spectre' as bass player for the show. Also the other info on Rick Ross and the Meteors you come across on the Internet obviously is wrong, the one that says that he had joined the band for just one national(UK) tour. Sometimes it's incredible how much wrong information gets spread here. But the question remains, what did Ross do musically after he left the band? Does anyone know? If so, please share.

Got The Sarno Fever No More

2009-11-14T15:21:00.000+02:00

There we were, all the way from Finland, standing in front of the stage of the 'Hyde Park', a rather big club in a rather small town in northern Germany, waiting for Rochee and the Sarnos to enter the stage and to entertain us in the way only Rochee can, playing their and other classics, songs like 'Sarno Fever', 'Rochee is a Monster' and Myron Lee's 'Aw C'mon Baby'.

I saw the band the first and last time 1985 at the Rotterdam Psychobilly Festival, as I managed to miss each and every Reunion show they played over the years. When Rochee announced last year that the band wouldn't perform anymore(due to him having depressions) I was mad at myself for having not put more effort into seeing them again. Than another gig was announced. The band would perform again November 2009 at the Rock'n'Roll Hellfest, Osnabrück. I told my girlfriend that no matter what WE HAD TO GO! Of course she agreed and flights were booked. The rest of the line-up wasn't that bad either from a Psychobilly point of view. Tazmanian Devils, Phantom Rockers, Mad Sin, Batmobile and Hungarian trio Gorilla would play their first show in years there. The night before we had been to the pre-party of the Westside Teds and Rockers Dance in Oberhausen where the Town Rebels from Darmstadt played. Compared to Finland the beer was VERY cheap and VERY VERY good so we had a lot of it and a huge hangover the next day. I don't know if that was the reason why I couldn't enjoy the festival at all, or if the bands were really as bad and boring as I thought they were. Tazmanian Devils have a great guitar sound but need a better singer and better songs, same goes for the Phantom Rockers. There's a reason why after 20 years they are still playing early on the bill. Gorilla had technical difficulties with the guitar amp and sound but at least they have some nice melodic songs. I never was a fan, but so far they were the best band. But not for long. Now the Sarnos would play. No, they wouldn't. Rochee had disappeared. He had come to Germany the day before but now no one knew where he was and he wasn't answering his phone. Great for everyone who went there because of them, maybe even from abroad. Maybe his depression kicked in again, I don't know. And I don't care. If so, take your medicine and play the show for the people who spend a lot of money to see you! The band, well Rob Glazebrook at least, the only original Sarno in the line-up, was def pissed(not drunk) too and I guess that's it for Rochee and the Sarnos. To save the day Rob and the other guys(The Houserockers) played a bunch of Rockabilly/Rock'n'Roll classics that went very well with the Hellfest crowd. They even played 'Aw C'Mon Baby' and 'Mudboat'. The audience's positive reaction showed one more time that Rockabilly bands do great at Psychobilly festivals so I hope promoters will book more of them in the future and not just Caravans, Rockabilly Mafia, Restless and Space Cadets. Next on the bill were Mad Sin and Batmobile. Both bands always deliver a top performance, real value for money, but still we left to spend the night at my family's. We came to see Rochee and we didn't, so no need to stay. We had just seen Batmobile in Berlin in September and I once toured with Mad Sin for 6 weeks. I guess I can sing every song in my sleep.

Mou-Mou-Moustache

2009-11-13T16:15:00.000+02:00

It may not be super new news anymore but still: Billy Childish has reformed the Buff Medways. The reason is that Nurse Julie, bass-player of his latest band The Musicians Of The British Empire, is expecting a baby. I never was a big Childish fan so my excitement is limited, but I know there are millions out there that look up to him like a Messiah. All you fans should get your asses to London where they'll play a show at the Dirty Water Club at The Boston Arms, December 4th. Easter 2004 I saw them play at some 2-day Mod/Garage-Festival in the British capitol and was very bored. And I had high hopes before because Graham Day(Prisoners etc. in case you don't know) was on bass. The only thing really entertaining was Childish's moustache and look. But I am listening to their songs on the band's MySpace site now while writing and must say 'not bad, not bad'. Maybe I just had to pass 40 to appreciate trashy recordings and a singer that can't sing.

Cavan & the Meteors

2009-11-13T13:40:00.000+02:00

Crazy Cavan and the Meteors together on the soundtrack of an animation movie? A movie about Jesus and Judas? What sounds like Walt Disney having a bad trip actually is true. 'Judas and Jesus' is a German 15 minute animation movie that features beside a Crazy Cavan song two unissued Meteors/P.Paul Fenech songs along with one of my all time faves 'I Don't Worry About It'. I haven't seen it yet but will purchase a copy in the near future, that's for sure. To see the trailer and to get more info go to www.judasandjesus.com

BOOM!!!

2009-11-13T12:54:00.000+02:00

Sometimes it's not the greatest thing to live in Finland. The winter starts early and lasts almost half a year(we had the first snow mid October and now we have snow and ice for about a week already, and we live in the south!) and not many foreign bands get booked to play shows here. But now us northern folks are in for a treat. The Sonics are going to play Helsinki at the end of the month. It seems as if this will be my only chance to see them as I've read somewhere that this Euro-Tour would be their last gigs. I'm excited and at the same time worried that I maybe will have a 'Roky Erickson' experience again. About 2 years ago he played Finland and it was a disaster. At least for me. I was a HUGE fan since my friend John Battles from Chicago played me some bad quality b/w video tapes of him. He was sitting on a cemetery playing a couple of songs on his guitar and it was awesome! The voice, sound, atmosphere. But that time in Helsinki he played a huge club with his band the Explosions and they sounded like Rock-Veterans. No great atmosphere, no goosebumps. The fact that the place was sold out and drunk long-haired Finns were constantly bumping into me or stepping on my shoes didn't help me enjoying it either. The Sonics will play at another club but it's not small either and I bet there will be tons of drunk long-haired Finns again. But this time I will be prepared. I will be drunk, too. Even if they take 6,- Euros for a beer. And even if I won't remember much of the gig. Who knows, maybe that will be good. I should have done the same at the Erickson show. Judging from the videos the Sonics have on their MySpace site they are still able to kick some serious ass. Just on one clip they sound like some Oldies-Band, so let's hope for the best. If you want to come by, they play Sunday the 29th at Nosturi and it seems that it isn't sold out yet.

Welcome To Your Nightmare

2009-10-15T23:18:00.000+03:00

I don't really plan on posting music here as there are so many blogs out there that do so already but I thought I can make an exception now and then. Like now. I used to run this small label called Jungle Noise in the 90s and released a bunch of 45s, Lps, 2 CDs and one pretty awesome 10". Some of those releases are still available, other are sold out for ages. Some of those that are sold out have become collectors items over the years, esp. in Japan, and I think they pay around 50 Euros for a copy. Maybe more, who knows. For example, I sold a Jailers 12" for 120 Euros to Japan and was told the first Peacocks 7" goes for 300(!). At least before the economic crisis. Anyways, I found just that 'expensive' Jungle Noise release, a comp-LP entitled 'Welcome To Your Nightmare' from 1990, available for download on two different blogs. Only 500 copies were pressed and as most songs are only available on that album(re-releases of some songs have all been without permission, tse - that's not nice boys!) I figured posting a link for download here would be some nice customer service.

Not all songs on the album are great, or even good, but that's what you have to deal with when just starting a label. You ask a band for contribution to a compilation and they send you some crap song. Or maybe the band just was crap and that song was still the best they could come up with. As far as I know you can find the Klingonz(Ireland/Scotland) song 'If U Knew' only on this album. They recorded it when they recorded their 2nd album, if I'm not mistaken, and I licensed the track from Fury Records. That was nice of Del(Richardson, owner of Fury) but some years later unfortunately some things wouldn't work out that well with Fury. The Swampys(Belgium) song 'El Ranchero' was the band's last release before their split and it is, like so many, only available here. Same goes for the Scum Rats(Germany) 'Scum Of The Night'. I took it from their first demo-tape, before they signed with Rumble Records and imo this version is much better than the debut-LP one. I was a big fan of Scottish band Radium Cats and so I was more than happy to include them on the LP with an exclusive song. Actually the boys didn't read the german contract they signed (I wonder why...) and so the song was also released on their 'Pink Hearse' 12" on Raucous Records, without my permission. Well, maybe I just lacked authority. Or a mean lawyer. Still I like the song and the band a lot. Those hairs, man. Those hairs... Another band I really like on the album are the Meatles from Finland. Great Neo-Rockabilly on the edge to PsychoBILLY. Just imagine what they could have sounded like if they'd had the money for a decent production! Than there are Axeman's Jazz from Switzerland. That's one of the crap songs I referred to earlier. Brainblasters were a bunch of young Psychobillies from Hannover, Germany. They had a Punk background and didn't like Rockabilly or even the Meteors (whaaat?) but def wrote, in modern terms, Old-Skool Psycho songs. These tracks and their LP on Tombstone Records don't do them justice imo. I have a bunch of demo-recordings by them that are really good and would make every fat, bold veteran Psychobilly's heart jump. The remaining two bands both are Spanish and you will be happy to know that it was Jungle Noise that introduced Spanish Psychobilly to the world! So there you have it! The Brioles are still going strong, they just played a Psychobilly festival in Hamburg and will be back in Germany in April 2010 to play the world's most famous Psychobilly event, the Satanic Stomp. Los Despiadados released an okay LP but much more interesting is, again, a demo I got where they play a spanish version of the Sting-Rays 'Dinosaur'.

So far about the music. Now the sleeve. One could say, it's as crappy as the music. Or worse. I think it's worse. But those were the days of DIY (which in this case means 'no money for decent artwork'). In the late 80s, early 90s people seemed to be obsessed with Freddy Krueger and I was no exception. So after I had come up with the totally awesome, totally PSYCHO title for the LP I thought a picture of Freddy Krueger on the front sleeve would be cool. That one together with the title would seem as if Freddy himself invites you to your nightmare which he, of course, would host. I had just heard about this photo-developing technique that somehow adds colour to a b/w-picture and as I liked the psychedelic-alike outcome it could have I wanted to go for that. And so I did. I asked my good friend Olli Sydow, who had been making logos and drawings for my zine Satanic Hillbilly for some years already, to come up with a custom made logo for the title and a drawing for the back. That, that n that added n this as well, there it was. Another awful Jungle Noise sleeve. And there was more to come!

Your worst nightmare starts here

Killing Time

2009-10-15T14:01:00.000+03:00

To kill some time...more pictures. This time from 2009: Pierced Arrows in Helsinki, the Barnshakers at Ruuhijärvi Rockabilly Festival in Finland, Rebel Ted Rock at the Real Gone Teddyboy Weekender in Finland and finally Lou Cifer and the Hellions headlining the same weekender.

www.myspace.com/sophisticatedbop

2009-10-02T17:45:00.000+03:00

I always liked taking pictures at gigs. It started around 1985 and I still do so today Some of those pictures can be seen at

www.myspace.com/sophisticatedbop

Much more pictures will be added there and maybe also here in the weeks and months to come, from 2009 shows and from pre-digital times, from Rockabilly to Garage, from Teddyboy Rock'n'Roll to Punk, from Psychobilly to Wannabilly.

Are We Not Men?

2009-09-29T18:52:00.000+03:00

A great movie, a great song. Island Of Lost Souls. Actually it was the song that made me want to see the movie. The original from 1932. Not one of the many remakes. I bought the 7" with the song on back in 1984, in Bexhill-On-Sea, an English small town in the south. I had just turned 16 and was for the first time away from home and fatherland. It were 3 weeks language holidays to improve my english skills. In the morning I would go to school for some hours, in the afternoon and evening I hung out with the local Psychos. Well, one local Psycho to be precise. And a young Skinhead. The Skinhead's name was Boris and he called himself a 'Sillybilly'. The only Psycho in the village was Chris. He played drums in a South-England Psychobilly band called 'Planet 13' and later joined an Exploited style Punk band. At least hair-wise they reminded me of them. I don't recall their name but I saw their picture in an issue of NME, or maybe Sounds, some years later. So they def had more success than Chris's Psychobilly band, which is a shame. I really liked their name. There in Bexhill-On-Sea they had a record shop, not too far away from the seafront, that had a selection of vinyls that would have a huge impact on my musical taste in the years to come. Chris suggested I buy the Tall Boys single 'Another Half Hour Till Sunrise'. It's a must have, he said. A real killer. Tall Boys? Never heard of them. But why worry? I had just listened to my first Psychobilly song half a year ago and was still learning. Of course I'd take a proper english Crazie's advice. I bought said 45, the first pressing with the custom label(as I'd learn years later), with 'Island Of Lost Souls' on the flip, the first Stingrays LP, the Meteors 'Radioactive Kid' 7“ and their debut vinyl 'Meteor Madness'. They actually had 2 versions on sale. One was the 7“ with full color sleeve, the other one was a 10“ with nothing but a b/w photocopy glued to a plain white sleeve. 'What is this?', I thought, 'This looks sad! I take the 7“ with the proper sleeve!' Little did I know... Obvious. Ah well. For sure an early entry in my list of bad decisions.

I had a great time, there in the south of the island. Boris, Chris and me would go to the local roller-disco (yes, those were still the early 80s baby, Roller Disco!) and hang out outside, drinking beer (actually I don't remember if we drank beer, but it sounds better than saying we drank soda) and when they played the only song of the day we liked, 'Destination Zululand' by King Kurt, we ran inside and wrecked to it. I bet we looked like total idiots to the other kids. But we had a ball and did what Psychos were supposed to do. Support the scene! I should add, back in '84 it wasn't called 'Wreckin'. The terms of the day were 'Slammin' and 'Crazen'(How it's spelled correctly? No clue!). Chris also took me to Eastbourne, where I'd meet other Psychos and even Teds they were friends with. Weird... Back home Teds and Psychos weren't really on the best of terms. Thee ole Teddys actually hated us. They probably thought we were all traitors, because we used to be Teddyboys as well. Now we dressed silly, had silly hair and listened to silly music. But back to England. I learned quickly that things were different there. These guys dressing in 50s clothes were no Teds. They were Hep Cats, or 'Rockabillies' if you like. Nowadays sometimes known as 'Authentics'. Again, home on the range everybody who liked Rockabilly and was able to comb his hair into something even close to a quiff was a Teddyboy. You didn't need to wear a drape to call yourself a Ted like these days. And you were allowed to like Neo-Rockabilly as a Ted. And 50s Rockabilly. THE SAME TIME. Crazy! But than again, I grew up in a small town, what do I know. Maybe in the big cities things were different.

When the 3 weeks language holidays were over I had not only bought some mind expanding records and met some nice blokes, I had also seen the Meteors live for the first time. Maybe more about that later. Back home I was immediately hooked by the Tall Boys 45. The fast 'Another Half Hour Till Sunrise' made a quick entry in my Top 10 of Favorite Songs and it may still be there today. I'm not sure. I should check. The flip 'Island Of Lost Souls' I liked too, but it was a slow song. That was a disadvantage. Young and restless as I was I wanted it loud, rough and fast. What caught my attention much more than the music were the lyrics and a picture on the single's sleeve that was taken from an old b/w movie with the same name, 'Island Of Lost Souls'. I had to wait until 1998 to see the movie. That summer I found it at 'House Of Monsters', a shop in Chicago specialized in, you might guessed it, monster stuff. Movies, posters, magazines, masks, that kinda stuff. Only open at weekends and run by a doctor, maybe even surgeon(mad?), it was an interesting place to be. And, to FINALLY cut a long story short, there I found a videotape of 'Island'. I bought it and when I was back in Germany some weeks later I finally got to see the movie that made Nigel Lewis write one of his many classics. It's a must see, and don't judge the original by the many bad remakes. I'm not a movie expert but it seems that 'Island' is among the underrated, to many people unknown, outstanding b/w horror movies, just like 'Freaks'.

And why all this glorifying of the past? Well, I wanted to post a screen-print postcard of 'Island' I had bought in Nashville some years ago to have something posted here, as a start, until I knew what to do with the blog. Then I thought, posting just the postcard is silly, write one or two sentences. This is the result. A lot of rambling, little information. If you liked it, come again, tell your neighbours. There might be more here soon.