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

No Summertime Blues

 

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

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

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

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

It's Hammer Time

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

HAMMER TIME 

Hunch That Thing

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

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

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

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

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

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

One of the pictures I got from Hasil.

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

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

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

Joe Coleman painting of the Haze.

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

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

(The Boone County Wild Man)

Spin That 45 - Part 10: Nazi Death Camp

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

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

TEDS!!!

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

BACKDRAFT

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

FURIOUS

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