Wild Weekends Ahead

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?

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

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

 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

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)!

 Copyright by Malcom and Latch on. Of course.

Teddyboy Flick Knife Flick

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