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Reverend
Horton Heat at it Again!
April 02, 2007 - Blasting out of Texas, popular
rockabilly/psychobilly band Reverend Horton Heat are hitting the road once again
with a pile of tour dates in the U.S. and Canada. The band will be on tour for
the entirety of May and most of August, with Murder By Death acting as the
opener for almost every show. Go check 'em out if they come to your hometown!
The tour dates are:
May 02 - Eugene, OR @ WOW Hall
May 03 - Portland, OR
@ Doug Fir
May 04 - Seattle, WA @ El Corazon (Early Show - All Ages)
May 04 - Seattle, WA @ El Corazon (Late Show - 21+)
May 05 - Vancouver, BC
@ Commodore Ballroom
May 06 - Tofino, BC @ Tofino Legion Hall
May 08 - Calgary, AB @ Hi-Fi
May 09 - Edmonton, AB
@ New City Compound
May 10 - Saskatoon, SK
@ Roxy
May 11 - Regina, SK
@ District
May 12 - Winnipeg, MB @ The Zoo
May 15 - Ottawa, ON @ Barrymores
May 16 - Guelph, ON @ Cowboys
May 17 - Toronto, ON @ The Opera House
May 18 - Montreal, QC @ Les Saints
May 19 - London, ON
@ Call the Office
May 22 - Buffalo, NY @ Icon
May 23 - Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
May 24 - Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
May 25 - Knoxville, TN @ Blue Cats
May 26 - Memphis, TN @ Young Ave Deli
June 08 - Long Beach, CA
@ Queen Mary Events Park
August 03 - Dallas, TX
@ House of Blues
August 04 - Kansas City, MO @ Crossroads
August 05 - Iowa City, IA
@ The Picador
August 06 - Cedar Falls, IA @ The Reverb
August 08 - Sturgis, SD
@ Full Throttle
August 09 - Sioux Falls, SD @ Nutty's
August 10 - Fargo, ND @ House of Rock
August 11 - Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry (Early Show - All Ages)
August 11 - Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry (Late Show - 21+)
August 14 - Ft. Collins, CO @ Aggie Theatre
August 15 - Boulder, CO
@ Fox Theatre
August 16 - Denver, CO
@ Ogden Theatre
August 17 - Wichita, KS
@ Cotillion Ballroom
August 18 - St. Louis, MO
@ Pops
September 14 - Austin, TX
@ Zilker Park
For more information, check out the official website for
Reverend Horton Heat
-Frazer Johnson
Mad Sin to Headline 3rd Annual Psychobilly Brawl
February 19, 2007 - The
German psychobilly powerhouse Mad Sin will headline this year's Psychobilly
Brawl in Seattle, WA. This annual event has turned into a huge psychobilly and
hot rod show not to be missed. The full line-up for this year's Psychobilly
Brawl will be:
The show will get started at 6:00 PM on March 10th, following a hot rod show at
3:00 PM. Tickets are $20 and are available in advance from
TicketsWest. The price goes up to $22 at the door, but you're probably going
to want to pick 'em up in advance to make sure you get in. The show will be all
ages with a bar for those that have ID. For more information you can check out
Local Chaos Productions
and for venue information go to the Studio
Seven
website. -Frazer Johnson
Tiger Army Plan New Album &Tour
January 8, 2007 - Los
Angeles psychobilly trio Tiger Army have announced the official title and
release date for their upcoming album release on Hellcat Records. "Music From
Regions Beyond" will hit stores on June 5th, 2007 and will be immediately
followed by the "Return From Beyond" tour which the band will headline across
Europe. Once the European tour is complete, Tiger Army will be featuerd on the
main stage of the 2007 Vans Warped Tour. For more information, visit the
official Tiger Army
website or the Hellcat Records website.
-Frazer Johnson
Kansas City bands 'Bent Left' & 'Outlaw' hit
the road on KC Punks Invade Tour
December 11, 2006 - Here's one for the punk rockers to check out... punk rock
bands Bent Left and Outlaw will be playing the following dates on the KC Punks
Invade Tour in December and April....
12/14 KANSAS CITY, MO @ EL TORREON
12/16 DES MOINES, IA @ HAIRY MARY'S
12/17 OMAHA, NE @ O'LEAVERS
12/19 SIOUX FALLS, SD @ DISCHORDIA RECORDS
12/20 LINCOLN, NE @ DUFFY'S TAVERN
12/21 FORT COLLINS, CO @ SURFSIDE 7
12/27 MINNEAPOLIS, MN @ CLUB UNDERGROUND
12/28 CEDAR RAPIDS, IA @ EMERALD CITY
12/29 LEMONT, IL @ STAGE 83
12/30 DETROIT, MI @ PAYCHECK'S
1/2 ROCHESTER, NY @ THE BUG JAR
1/4 TRENTON, NJ @ MILL HILL BASEMENT
1/5 BROOKLYN, NY @ SPUTNIK
1/6 BATH, PA @ BRENDA & JERRY'S
1/8 PITTSBURGH, PA @ SMILING MOOSE
1/10 CLEVELAND, OH @ THE GROG SHOP
1/11 INDIANAPOLIS, IN @ THE ROCK LOBSTER
1/12 LOUISVILLE, KY @ THIRD STREET DIVE
1/13 ST. LOUIS, MO @ LEMP ARTS CENTER
1/14 KANSAS CITY, MO @ THE ANCHOR
For more info on the bands check out their
websites:
Bent Left
Outlaw
Frantic Flintstones Release 20th Anniversary Album
November 20, 2006 - To celebrate their 20th anniversary as a band, British
psychobilly mainstays Frantic Flintstones have a released a career-spanning
compilation simply called "Frantic Flintstones 20th Anniversary Album." Frantic
Flintstones have been one of the most popular British psychobilly bands ever
since their "Bedrock" EP debuted on Raucous Records in 1987. Since their
inception, the band has put out over 20 releases, appeared on many compilations,
and toured the world as a live act, gaining countless fans along the way. This
release rounds up 20 hand-picked tracks that draw from the entirety of the
Frantic Flintstones career so far, including well-known favorites and sought
after rarities. With dates already booked, Frantic Flintstones will be touring
again in 2007, including a much anticipated return to North America. For more
information or to purchase the 20th Anniversary Album, visit the
Nervous Records website. -Frazer
Johnson
Academy In the UK - 30 Year Anniversary of Punk
November 15, 2006 - The 30 Year Anniversary of Punk concert "Academy In the UK"
will be held on December 3, 2006 at the Carling Academy in Glasgow (UK). The
kings of psychobilly, The Meteors, will be performing as part of the event,
which will also feature punk bands GBH, Damned, Rezillos, Blood or Whiskey,
Beat, and the world's leading Sex Pistols tribute act known as Sex Pistols
Experience. Tickets are available from
TicketWeb and more information on the event can be found at the
Carling Academy Glasgow
website. -Frazer Johnson
Sick City Draggers
Sunday Oct 1st. In San Antonio, Texas the Sick City Daggers will have there C.D.
release show for there new C.D." Live Fast Die Psycho" at the White Rabbit. The
HorrorPops will also be performing, the cost will be 12 bucks its an all ages
show starts at 9:00. If you are not familiar with the Sick City Daggers we are a
4 piece out of Texas and at one time 3 of the members were playing for the
Phantom Rockers "Mr. Mark Burke outfit" for quite a while. Our music is very
melodic and if you would like I will send you a send you a copy of our C.D. you
can check us out @
www.sickcitydaggers.net.
Cheers and thanx much, Jake Snakeburns
Rev. Heat's showmanship united the faithful
under the church of rock
By Isabel Heblich, Star-News Correspondent - Willminton, NC - Highly styled
pin-up girls perched on devious swing-cats, while mohawkers draped in chains and
studs moshed playfully as professors of rock 'n' roll swayed nostalgically with
their wives on "date-night."
With a Johnny Cash-meets-The Cramps vibe, the Reverend Horton Heat united the
sundry congregation, from the first lick off his mango-colored Gretsch to the
last, at Marrz on Sunday. Let no soul go spared.
A classic showman, the Reverend (Jim Heath: guitar, vocals) had some
crowd-pleasing tricks up his powder-blue, flame-embroidered sleeve. He and
upright bass player Jimbo Wallace switched hands so that each was playing the
other's instrument, in addition to his own, at the same time.
Another time, they sparred like boxers or fencers, advancing and retreating
mid-song. Comedy-style drum riffs from Paul Simmons accompanied mid-set banter
from the Reverend, while Jimbo balanced both feet on his tilted bass.
He's recorded more than 100 songs, and played some of them after shouted
requests. That's when the full spectrum of the Reverend was revealed. He played
Indigo Friends, a recent song about the horrors of heroin addiction, then turned
on a dime for the raucous old drug-glorifying favorite Bales of Cocaine.
Two songs, before and after, spanning 20 years of hard livin', much like the
span of the varied audience, were set to rockabilly so boot-stompin' that the
compilation suited the audience perfectly.
A gentlemen too, the Reverend requested a round of applause for ghoulish
psychobilly opening act The Horror Pops, whose scary-sexy dancing girls and
Amazonian frontwoman Patricia Nekroman commanded the younger audience Night of
the Living Dead-style, and transformed the evening into an enjoyable Prom Night
in Hell.
Drive-By Truckers / The Cramps
Staying Sick by Don Waller - "Good morning, Silver Lake," Dave Alvin
deadpanned, referring to his set's 5:30 p.m. starting time last Sunday (August
27). It was the second day of the long-running Sunset Junction Street Festival,
and the only thing that had changed was the price of admission (an all-time high
of $15 this year). Same crazy-quilt crowd combination of proud gays, Latino
families, and pale hipsters. Listed set times? Out the window, as usual.
Backed by a casually blazing, five-man band, Alvin threw down an hour's worth of
loose-limbed, roadhouse roots-rock, working the soon-to-be-redeveloped Sunset
Pacific hotel that sat crumbling to his left into his introduction for "Out of
Control," which, along with the similarly fine-pointed lyrical detail of
"Abilene" and the autobiographical "Ashgrove," were obvious highlights. (Alvin
was reviewed recently in these pages, so there's no need for further
hagiography.)
The Drive-By Truckers an Alabama-spawned sextet were the evening's biggest
surprise. Whodathunk anyone could model themselves after Lynyrd Skynyrd's trio
of riffslingers and thanks to some truly inspired guitarchitextures from
Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley, and Jason Isbell (plus pedal-steel player John
Neff) transcend the obvious influence?
Well, having three singers-songwriters in the band helps. As does having actual
songs you know, the kind with verses, choruses, bridges, and witty, keenly
observant lyrics about contemporary life in the American South, such as
"Aftermath USA," "Easy on Yourself," "Goddamn Lonely Love," "Women Without
Whiskey," and especially "Uncle Frank," for openers. And that's just the
ones I remember without ever previously having heard a note.
And ya gotta love a band that to a man (and woman, in the case of bassist Shonna
Tucker) with the exception of drummer Brad Morgan alternated swigs off a
collective bottle of Jack Daniel's throughout its all-too-brief, 45-minute set,
which climaxed with the hilariously real-to-reel tale of "Let There Be Rock."
'Cause I saw Lynyrd Skynyrd open for the Who back when everybody was still
alive, and I drove straight from the Forum to Las Vegas with my friend The
Sarge, and we wandered around the city for two days without sleepin' 'til I lost
my last 20 dollars in 10 minutes playin' blackjack, so we lit out in a rainstorm
and rolled my VW bug gettin' on the freeway and found ourselves stuck sideways
in a soft shoulder with nothin' broken, nothin' bleedin', so we swallowed
everything we had left in our pockets, pushed the car upright, and drove it all
the way to L.A. with a broken left-front torsion bar and 180 degrees play in the
steering, but we made it back alive ...
Then Hank Williams III came out and did a buncha amphetamine-fueled country with
an upright bassist, drummer, fiddler, and the third consecutive pedal/lap-steel
player of the day(!). It's a cartoon. Then he switched from acoustic to electric
guitar, brought out a second vocalist (Gary Lindsey from the appropriately named
Assjack), and they finished the set with a wide buttload of gratuitously
obscenity-peppered thrash metal. Whatever.
The evening's palate-cleanser came in the form of the Cramps. Like their
spiritual cousins the Ramones, the Godfathers/Godmothers of Psychobilly haven't
changed much since they first burst upon an unsuspecting world some 30-plus
years ago. But, as all you too-hip cats 'n' kittens already know, rock 'n' roll
is nothin' but a hunk of raving shit, and that's prezactly what the Cramps
delivered.
With frontman Lux Interior now favoring a blond-dye job that left him looking
like Christopher Walken reanimated as a particularly dissolute vampire, and
titian-tressed guitarist Poison Ivy rocking her familiar mini-skirted mufti over
their latest rhythm section, the Cramps tore through an hour's worth of old
favorites ("Human Fly," "TV Set"), relatively new tunes ("Daddy Drives a UFO,"
"Let's Get Fucked Up"), and choice covers, including the most suggestive version
of Tommy James & the Shondells' "Hanky-Panky" that you've never heard. Scratch
glass, turn blue. Stay sick. Don't ever change.
Joe Dana, Pu$$y-Cow
By Matthew Singer - Before co-founding raucous punks Pu$$y-Cow, singer Joe Dana
had been in lots of other bands. Well, that's not completely accurate: He had
been involved in plenty of ideas for bands, or what he refers to as "fake bands,
where me and my buddies would get together, drink a few beers and someone would
pick up a guitar and say, ŒWe're gonna have great band one day.' " The group
with the provocative name he formed about a year ago began much the same way ‹
only this time, they actually progressed into the songwriting phase.
"I thought it would be another one of those instances where we just talk about
this awesome band we're going to have," the 29-year-old Los Angeles native
admits. "I can't believe it came to fruition, and I can't believe how much fun
we've had. We're not rolling around in dough or anything, but we're way more
successful than I thought we'd be. I thought if we're not playing in our
bedrooms, we'll be playing open mics."
Not only did they escape their bedrooms and the dead-end purgatory of the open
mic scene in record time, but Pu$$y-Cow has rapidly ingrained themselves into
the lore of the LA under-the-underground music scene. And it's no wonder:
Dressed in cowboy hats, bolo ties and suits typically worn by Mexican mariachis,
with their blitzkrieg song lengths (they cram 14 tunes into a 20 minute set) and
Dana's confrontational stage presence ‹ he was described in one magazine review
as a cross between iconic KROQ DJ Rodney Bingenheimer and manic comic Sam
Kinison ‹ the band has all the makings of a legendarylive act. And indeed, some
fans have already begun applying that adjective to them. Their shows are
visceral, electrically-charged events, with Dana channeling the spirit of his
hero, Lux Interior of the Cramps. "If you see us, it's definitely a whole lot of
Joe in your face," Dana says, "yelling, jumping on top of a bar, stuff like
that."
And to think, this is a guy who used to believe he'd never be more than a
spectator to that kind of display. Dana grew up obsessed with music. His mother
listened to Motown, his father acid rock. And once he discovered punk, the
floodgates burst open, leading him to blues, rockabilly, jazz and country, all
of which find their way, albeit in mangled form, into the Pu$$y-Cow milieu.
Still, because he didn't play any instruments and his singing experience was
limited to karaoke and occasionally sitting in with a Nirvana cover band, Dana
felt he couldn't hope to pursue a hobby ‹ much less a career ‹ as a performer
beyond those lazy drunken nights hanging out with his friends and talking big.
"It was a realist position: I'm not going to be in a band, ever," he says.
Then in 2004 he met bassist Flaco. Suddenly, things got halfway serious. More
pieces fell into place: They connected with guitarist Chissum Worthington, which
led to finding drummer Danny Poulos. They devised a highly stylized look,
somewhere between gallant cowboy and Texas oil tycoon. They began writing quick
dirty-bombs ‹ inspired as much by Mel Brooks and Bugs Bunny as the Dwarves and
Operation Ivy ‹ laced with jagged instrumentation and an equally sharp sense of
humor. Example: "Baby I'd Be Your Stalker (But I'm Afraid of Commitment)." "It
sounds silly, but I think it's a smart song," Dana says. "The quintessential
complaint from women is that men are afraid of commitment. Being a stalker is
nothing but commitment. They're over-committed. So I'm a typical male, scared of
commitment, and I made a deal with a friend that I was going to be her stalker.
I went from calling her every day to every other day to once a week to when
someone would mention her name, I'd say, ŒOh, I'm supposed to be stalking that
girl.' I don't know how these guys do it. They're committed to their craft. To
come up with a creepy paragraph to leave on an answering machine every day, that
takes commitment."
Finally, Dana came up with the name. It's based on the misheard lyrics to the
theme song for locally famous used car dealer Cal Worthington. "His little TV
jingle goes, ŒIf you want a car or truck, go see Cal,' but I heard Œpussy-cow,'"
he explains. "My mom thinks it's a dirty name, but I don't even know what a
pussy-cow would be. What would that be? I thought it made perfect sense, because
the commercial would say, ŒHere's Cal Worthington and his dog Spot,' but it was
never a dog, it'd be like an elephant or something. So I figured, okay, Cal is
confused about animals. It's not a pussycat, it's a pussy-cow." As it turns out,
Dana is not alone in his misinterpretation. "Instantly by calling the band
Pu$$y-Cow, people say, ŒYou mean like Cal Worthington?'"
At one point early on, Dana considered writing an entire series of songs about
other eccentric SoCal hucksters: the Adee Do! guys; the television-smashing
Crazy Gideon; the mattress salesman who promises to beat any advertised price
"or your mattress is freeeeeee!" The concept never panned out, but the very idea
reveals the band's deep admiration for the idiosyncratic ‹ and often absurd ‹
popular culture of Los Angeles that is, in some ways, the backbone of their
sound.
"I have a great love for the city. I'm one of the few people I know who loves
the city," says Dana, who aside from stints at three different colleges has
lived here his entire life. "We have a song called ŒTaco Chariot' that's become
about the taco trucks you see around L.A. This is the only place where you'll
overhear well-to-do, hoity-toity women saying, ŒOh, that place has such good
tacos. They're almost as good as the trucks.' Because of the fact that the taco
trucks are better than restaurants, we call them Œtaco chariots,' not Œroach
coaches' or anything like that. We're all very much L.A. kids, we've loved this
city forever, and we're probably going to continue loving it."
As much as they L.A., though, that doesn't mean they're not trying to get out.
They've already conquered sections of the city's independent rock community,
becoming one of the flagship groups with roaming punk club Kiss or Kill. Now,
they're hoping to expand their reach. But aside from successful gigs in
Bakersfield and Las Vegas, Pu$$y-Cow hasn't left their comfort zone ‹ which is
why Dana is especially looking forward to storming Ventura County for the first
time on August 31, when they play at Sans Souci.
As for any full-scale touring, that may have to wait. Because although he's
finally realized he can be in a band ‹ and a popular one at that ‹ Dana isn't
quite ready to give up the security of the working world. Of course, if he's
learned anything over the first three decades of his life, it's never say never.
"I was unemployed for two years before I got my day job, so I'm happy not being
unemployed anymore," he says. "If we were to get a bit more successful, to where
we could carry a tour, we'd consider it, but right now we're still in a
fledgling state. Maybe if we got signed or got big enough on the underground
scene, but I don't think we're close to either of those things. We're just big
enough now so that some kids like us, and we're very happy about that."
Pentecostal Presley
By Frank De Blase - Big-in-Japan psychobilly cats The Quakes blasted me back to
my youth with an impressive set at the Bug Jar Thursday night. Front man Paul
Roman (an artist who has mastered the art of looking really pissed and really
happy at the same time) seems to be sporting a new crew whenever he blows
through town, but always has them tuned in to precisely what he wants. They
sounded great.
The Broke Down warmed the stage with some really soulful, swingin' rock 'n'
roll. I don't wanna dismiss any of Croonin' Kurt's previous projects - I always
dug his Hi-Geared Combo and really, really dug Diesel Daddy - but this is the
coolest thing he's ever done. Is it that smooth baritone? Is it the trumpet? Is
it the way the bassist slings gunfighter-cool? Sure. Just good ol' barroom
boogie done by seasoned dudes with the know-how.
After last year's hiatus we were due for another Bug Jar Music Fest in Highland
Bowl. It probably would piss off the neighbors to have more events here, but
Highland Bowl is going to waste, man. What a fantastic venue, just sitting there
sadly vacant the majority of the time - but not last Saturday. With the crowd
peaking at around 650 it was a way-cool all-day shindig beneath the threat of
battleship gray skies. I made it in time for headliners Heavy Trash.
This Jon Spencer/Matt Verta-Ray baby hit the stage blasting "The Loveless" like
a bull out of the shoot-gate. The whole show dripped with Blues Explosion
energy, and was tempered by the awesome backing powers of The Sadies, who are
essentially this generation's answer to The Band. Hopefully their Last Waltz is
a long, long way off...
Anyway they were ridiculously good with Spencer raging like a Pentecostal
Presley, slashing at his guitar, felating the mic, and generally giving in to
the music's temptation. It got funky, it got raunchy, and even managed to burn
mellow with some keen doo-wop from the band as Spencer raved about teenage love.
Best show of the extended weekend that is our summer.
The Hyperjax Celebrate 10th Birthday
Most people will probably pass their entire lives without hearing a note of
psychobilly music. Emerging in the early 1980s, the style, which blends 1950s
rockabilly and punk rock, has never become part of the mainstream.
But it has always commanded a dedicated, if niche, audience both here and
abroad. Influenced by their shared interest in this and rockabilly, musicians
Sam Woods from Preston and Bob Corner from Wigan formed The Hyperjax.
Originally gigging in local clubs and pubs, playing traditional 50s covers and a
few of their own compositions, the band has gone on to establish an
international following, regularly playing gigs in Europe and North America.
This year they celebrate their 10th anniversary, with a series of gigs in each
of the band members' home towns and the release of new album, The Bottom Line.
The album is only their second release, and the first with a four piece line-up.
The Hyperjax were consistently a three-piece - with drummers coming and going -
until last year when Cheshire-based band mates Bundie and Matt Cooley were
poached from another band.
Before their arrival the band had begun life with drummer Martin Cox on the
skins. He was replaced by Fido Banks in 1997, but it was with his departure in
2000, and the arrival of Wally P. Parkinson that the band decided on a change of
direction.
Having spent the years since 1996 playing in pubs and clubs on a rock scene that
had failed to embrace their new streetwise, punkier sound, they decided to make
their own path, ditching the covers in favour of a set consisting exclusively of
original songs.
This bold move paid off and they began to appeal to a younger generation of
fans, often from the punk scene. They continued to gig extensively in the UK and
found new doors had opened to them to play in various venues abroad. They had
gigs in New Jersey, Holland and Germany and began work on their debut album
Generation X-Rated, which was released on Raucous Records in 2002, and is
currently available in record shops.
The following year they played one of their biggest and most memorable gigs at
the Reading Festival, and were featured on a compilation alongside Billy Bragg
and Stiff Little Fingers. 2004 was no less eventful, with touring continuing
apace with a string of Californian dates.
2005 was a year of change, and this their anniversary year has seen them on top
form playing a New Year gig in Gothenburg, performing in Spain, and in the
studio - recording their second album.
Most of the tall tales from their trips abroad are unsuitable for publication in
a family newspaper. But anyone with imagination can probably guess what sort of
antics and scrapes four young guys gigging away from home get up to!
RedOctance adds "Psychobilly Freakout"
July 30, 2006 - At an event held in Australia (well, actually July 31st in the
land down under), RedOctane (video games) is showing off a new build of its
forthcoming
Guitar Hero II, the sequel to one of the best, most popular and
certainly most rocking music games ever created. Three new songs are on display
at the show, bringing the officially announced track count up to 11. Already
announced tracks include covers of Reverend Horton Heat's "Psychobilly
Freakout", KISS' "Strutter", Black Sabbath's "War Pigs", Butthole Surfers' "Who
Was in My Room Last Night?", Van Halen's "You Really Got Me" and Rush's "YYZ",
along with the original master recordings of Primus' "John the Fisherman" and
"Arterial Black" by Drist. The three newly-announced tracks are covers of Stone
Temple Pilots' "Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart, Anthrax's "Madhouse" and
Motley Crue's "Shout at the Devil". "Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart" is
taken from STP's third major-label release "Tiny Music ... Songs from the
Vatican Gift Shop" and features a bevy of muted chords strummed quickly
throughout its verses, making for a fast-paced play. "Madhouse" comes from
Anthrax's 1985 release, "Spreading the Disease", and is a great example of Scott
Ian's grinding guitar work. The Crue's "Shout at the Devil" appeared on the
band's 1983 release of the same name and gives hair metal a proper showing in
RedOctane and Harmonix's sequel. For video of all three songs in action, head
over to the media section for Guitar Hero II
click here.
The Livends: 10 Years
By Sarah Williams, The Brownsville (TX)
Herald, July, 2006 - When most people think of loud, hard rock artists like
Buddy Holly and Bill Haley don't usually come to mind. But the members of
Brownsville psychobilly band The Livends say hints of 1950s rockabilly punctuate
their act.
For one thing, bassist Carlos Solitaire,
aka "Bubba Creeps," plays the upright bass. "We have punk rock roots, but we
started experimenting with psychobilly-punk," Solitaire, 26, said.
The band fuses the twang of rockabilly
with a rousing punk rock sound and a love of horror movies on macabre tracks
like "Of Demons" and "Hell's Hungry Children."
The Livends recently played some new
songs Saturday at Chapa's Bar with other psychobilly acts, including Concombre
Zombi of Austin and Solitaire's side band Mariachis de Inferno.
The Livends' stage act is always a
spectacle with band members taking on aggressive alter egos with names like
"Vinny Bad Blood" and "Vic Shockerz."
"We just take on different personas,"
said lead guitarist Melvin Bush (He's Vinny Bad Blood). "It's intense. There's a
lot of yelling and crowd interaction. People really get into it."
The band formed in Brownsville more than
10 years ago. After a number of lineup changes, all five original members
reunited about three years ago.
"Some of the band members moved away,
but during that time, they were able to absorb different styles of music, so
when we formed again, we had fresh ideas," Bush said.
The band has been busy laying down
tracks for a new album set to be released this Halloween. "This is our hometown.
We'd rather (premiere) it here," Bush said.
Bush is impressed with Brownsville's
budding music scene. "I've seen a big change in the (music) scene in the last
two years. We're getting a lot more international acts down here," Bush said.
"It's just getting more united."
Solitaire agrees. "It's always great to
play together in our hometown," he said. "There's great energy here."
Spooky Surf Sounds
By Kirill Galetski - Messer Chups - the
St. Petersburg band known for its tongue-in-cheek mix of surf music, electronica
and trashy horror movies - plays at Ikra.
The St. Petersburg-based band Messer
Chups, a.k.a. Nozh Chups, is a jokey psychobilly-surf-electronica outfit with a
flair for lifting ghoulish guffaws from 1950s horror movies and noodling on
ancient Soviet analog synthesizers. Currently a duo consisting of 35-year-old
frontman Oleg Gitarkin on guitar and electronics and 23-year-old Zombie Girl
(Svetlana Nagayeva) on bass, the band has gone beyond its origins as a side
project of industrial psycho-hardcore group Messer f?r Frau M?ller, a.k.a. Nozh
Dlya Frau Muller, to become a full-time project after the larger band fell apart
in December 2004.
Currently on its fifth European tour,
Messer Chups twangs its twisted tunes this Thursday at Ikra in a rare appearance
-- the band plays Moscow only about twice a year. It will play material from its
latest album "Hyena Safari," issued by local indie label Solnze Records in
November and rereleased last month with additional material and videos.
Oleg Tarasov, the owner of Solnze
Records and Messer Chups' manager, explained the reason for the band's
interchangeable Russian-German names in a recent interview. Due to Tarasov's
German connections -- he lived in Hamburg for most of the '90s -- the band has
toured more abroad than in Russia, establishing itself as a presence in Europe
by way of Germany. It now has a cult following worldwide thanks to being on
other indie labels such as Ipecac Recordings, co-founded by former Faith No More
frontman and indie-rock enfant terrible Mike Patton.
Gitarkin, a St. Petersburg native who
was born with the surname Fomchenko, has no formal musical education but loves
to experiment. He hung out with the late, great Russian avant-garde musician
Sergei Kuryokhin, who was his "musical supervisor" at a local culture center
where they both worked. Gitarkin formed Messer f?r Frau M?ller in 1991, but the
band never really hit its stride due to frequent lineup changes, with Gitarkin
the only constant member. This had as much to do with some creepy circumstances
as with the bandmembers' infighting and lack of staying power. In unfortunate,
eerily ironic incidents, two of Gitarkin's bandmates died violent deaths -- one
was stabbed to death in a case of mistaken identity, while another was beaten
and died in a hospital. Other members died of drug addiction. Gitarkin once
showed Tarasov a photo of himself and four other bandmembers, all of whom were
dead.
But then again, Gitarkin always had an
affinity for the macabre. He describes himself as "a connoisseur of trashy
esoterica," well-versed in U.S. and Italian horror movies and the work of Roger
Corman, Ed Wood and Russ Meyer.
Frustrated by the ins and outs of Messer
f?r Frau M?ller, Gitarkin formed Messer Chups in 1998 during an extended stay in
Hamburg. The original lineup was Gitarkin on bass and Annette Schneider, a
German music promoter, on synths. Though amicable enough, this lineup did not
work as Gitarkin and Schneider lived in different countries, leading to hellish
logistics. In 1999, Gitarkin returned to St. Petersburg and found a keyboard
player in Igor Vdovin, former vocalist for the band Leningrad. They toured as a
duo in Russia and the United States in 2000-02. In 2003, Tarasov brought a
world-famous theremin player on board: Lydia Kavina, the grandniece of Leon
Theremin, the Russian inventor of the theremin, an instrument whose ghostly waw
was a fixture in horror movies of the 1940s and '50s. Zombie Girl joined the
band in 2004.
"Messer Chups uses computer technologies
for an intricate retro sound, mixing and matching sample-delia, surf, mondo and
so-called post-easy listening," Tarasov said. "They describe their
- WORTH A CLICK!
Warpforkpalooza
"Dead American Radio"
Music Review: Left Alone, Wade
Coggeshall - Left Alone asserted themselves as true safety-pin-in-the-nose punks
with their debut, "Lonely Starts and Broken Hearts." But with their follow-up,
"Dead American Radio," they've accomplished a rare feat. This L.A. trio hits on
about every strain of punk music there is. Best of all, they do it well enough
that anyone with a fondness for catchy music - the kind that actually makes you
feel something - would stop and listen to this.
On "Dead American Radio," melody takes
precedence over speed and sheer brutality, with amazing results. Add that to a
mix of punk-based sounds, and you have a disc that's remarkably diverse given
its scene.
"The Sinner" and "New York City" ride on
a bed of roughshod punk. Other tracks bring out the best in ska, including "4
Weeks" and the sing-songy "City to City," featuring blithe organ and guest
vocals by Rancid's Tim Armstrong.
Rockabilly, and its mutation
psychobilly, figure prominently in songs like the cowpunk of "She's the Only
One" and the caffeinated "Done Wrong," featuring the HorrorPops' Patricia Day
slapping her standup bass. "Waiting For You" has a distinct rockabilly flair,
aided immensely by a cowpoke rhythm and lonesome pedal steel.
"Every Night" is one example of Left
Alone being unafraid to express heartbreak in an often callous lifestyle. But
you had to figure there'd be some sneering involved. One song's called "No One
Likes Us," but they don't care. Nor is singer/guitarist Elvis Cortez especially
fond of emo music, saying its practitioners "look like girls" on closing number
"I Hate Emo."
With the title track, the trio is
challenging any pointy-headed radio programmer not to spin "Dead American Radio"
on the airwaves. Good luck finding a reason not to. Not only is it radio-ready,
it's capable of uniting mohawks, greasers, chromatic ska kids and anyone who
likes infectious music, no matter where it comes from.
HorrorPops
By Sarah Rowland - As a woman who's
never had anything as big as a standup bass between my legs, I need to know if
there's something empowering about straddling six feet of bottom end.
"Empowering? Shit, no. It's the same
feeling as getting on a treadmill or something," says Patricia Day, calling from
her Cali home. She should know. She is, after all, the lead singer and upright
bassist for the L.A.based HorrorPops. "It's a lot of hard work and it's very,
very demanding."
Another challenge for Day is making sure
the press doesn't describe her sextet, which includes two devilish go-go
dancers, as "psychobilly". To help her on this mission, the HorrorPops'
publicist makes a point of warning music writers not to breach the subject
during interviews.
"I didn't know that," Day says. "But I
guess that makes sense because our first song [ŒFreaks in Uniforms'] on this
album [Bring It On!] is about journalists wanting to call us psychobilly, which
is just stupid. I mean if you're going to call it something, please try and use
the right categorization. We do not play psychobilly."
She's right. There's very little psycho
in their billy. In fact, most of the their sophomore effort is a catchy mix of
ska, punk, and new wavetinged rock 'n' roll that just happens to swing and
sound like it has the love child of Siouxsie Sioux and Kate Pierson on vocals.
But Day admits that, based on their appearances alone, it's easy to see why she
and her ghoulish, pompadour-sporting bandmates are mislabelled. Having guitarist
Kim Nekroman (formerly of cult heroes Nekromantix) and exTiger Army bassist
Geoff Kresge in the lineup probably doesn't help clear up any misconceptions.
"I can understand the confusion because,
yes, we do have a standup bass with us and yes, we do have two very famous
psychobilly players in HorrorPops," Days relates. "But if you take the time to
compare something that is pure psychobilly, you'll see that HorrorPops is not
psychobilly."
So has she ever gone Jared Leto on
someone's ass for bringing it up?
"No."
Is she sure?
"Fuck, no! Why would I lose my patience?
Interviews can only benefit us."
'Kay, just checking.
When journalists write about Day, they
tend to describe the buxom Copenhagen native as a Danish bombshell, babe, and/or
Betty. But according to the singer, these flattering descriptions don't
necessarily translate into male attention on the road.
"I get none whatsoever," she admits.
"Unfortunately a lot of men out there are still intimidated by women who do
their own thing. That's one thing. The other is my bandmates are very
scary-looking and I guess if someone was actually attracted to me, they would be
scared shitless of the band members hanging around me."
But the hope is still alive.
"Yeah, it would be great," she says. "I
always dreamed of going into a backstage room and there would be 10 beautiful
male groupies, but it doesn't happen‹not often enough, anyway."
Speaking of things that Day would love
between her legs, she can name at least a couple of celebrities she'd
temporarily trade her standup in for. At the top of her wish list is Billy Idol,
but alas, the old Rebel Yeller is yet another dream that has thus far eluded the
boobular bassist.
News Notes: 6/20/06
- Philadelphia's Mewithoutyou have completed work on their third album,
Brother, Sister. The record was produced by Brad Wood (who helmed their breakout
2004 LP, Catch for Us the Foxes) and features guest vocals by Jeremy Enigk
(Sunny Day Real Estate, the Fire Theft) on two tracks. Sister is due in stores
September 26.
- Reverend Horton Heat will stage a traveling musical revival with his
long-running psychobilly band this summer. The tour launches June 30 in Tempe,
Arizona, with 45 gigs scheduled through late September. The band is also slated
to appear December 1 in Irving, Texas. Danish rockers Horrorpops will open on
most dates, along with California's Throw Rag.
- Whether roaring into a chorus with enough ferocity to humble even the
most vicious screamo group, or stuttering along in style somewhere between the
Sex Pistols and Talking Heads, LeGros brings a versatility to the album
superseded only by its intensity. Coupled with his bandmates' instrumental
skills and the Motherlode's infectious psychobilly stomp, the group has
accomplished a solid debut. Check them out at
www.myspace.com/themotherlode.
Th' Legendary Shack Shakers:
"Pandelirium"
It's sadly ironic, given the genre was
started by someone doing something different, that so few rockabilly/psychobilly
bands throw in any new ideas to liven up a worn-out formula. Thankfully there's
always one shining light among the dullards, and this right here is one of them.
Jazzing things up with a slew of instruments not part of rocka/psychobilly's
traditions (jew's harp, accordion, glockenspiel and more) as well as deviating
from patterns and style wherever they see fit, Th' Legendary Shack Shakers
almost single-handedly take the genre to the next step. With gypsy overtones, as
well as related region-specific music idiosyncracies (Romanian for example)
Pandelirium tries to mesh 'billy with suitable breeding partners, and does so
with splendid results. That doesn't mean to say that the rock is buried so deep
in the experiment it can't be foundŠ far from itŠ it just means you get more
than a bunch of posers playing dress-ups. Purists probably won't dig the
deviation from traditions, but anyone who is a purist of something that was over
and done with 50 years ago - and ain't 70 years old themselves - has enough
problems to deal with. - Mike Wafer
Horror Pops Play Summer Tour
If summer gas prices aren't scary enough
for you, The HorrorPops' psychobilly will give you one more reason to lose sleep
this summer. The act will play a three-week tour to support last year's Bring it
On! (Hellcat). The Danish psychobilly act picks up on psychobilly traditions,
though puts Patricia Nekroman at its front, giving it a change of pace from the
usual male-dominated rockabilly sound.
The HorrorPops' tour dates are:
June 30 - Marquee Theatre, Tempe, Ariz.
July 1 - Oak Canyon, Irvine, Calif.
July 2 - House of Blues, San Diego
July 5 - Blank Club, San Jose, Calif.
July 6 - The Catalyst, Santa Cruz, Calif.
July 7 - Fillmore, San Francisco
July 8 - Bimbos 365 Club, San Francisco
July 9 - Empire Events Center, Sacramento, Calif.
July 10 - New Oasis, Sparks Nev.
July 12 - Midtown Ballroom, Bend Ore.
July 13 - Wonderland Ballroom, Portland Ore.
July 15 - Showbox, Seattle
July 16 - The Big Easy, Spokane, Wash.
July 18 - The Big Easy, Boise Idaho
July 20 - Ogden Theatre, Denver
July 21 - Mishawaka Amphitheatre, Bellevue, Colo.
July 22 - Sunshine Theatre, Albuquerque N.M.
Sasquatch and the Sick-a-Billys
Asbury Lanes (NJ) and Cocktail Lounge
presents Psycho Fest 2 on June 2nd, featuring Providence, R.I.'s Sasquatch and
The Sick-a-Billys, along with The Boneyard Brawlers, Haywire Deluxe, The Love
Drunks, Six Gun Republic, The Deadneks, and Danny Kay.
Featuring Sasquatch on guitar and lead
vocals, Johnny Custom on upright bass and Miss Natalie on drums, the band
describes their live show in three simple words: ruthless, gritty and hellbent.
Sasquatch rolls his eyes back as if he's
talking to the other side and plays guitar like a primitive monster. Johnny
Custom rides his bass like a bull that has just escaped the unholy gates of
Purgatory, and Miss Natalie pounds her drums like the Devil's train rides on the
tracks to hell, all according to the band's Web site, www.sickabilly.com.
A rock 'n' roll conglomeration that some
have called a combination of rockabilly, psychobilly, and punk and blues, the
band says the only real way to really get the picture is to get out to the Lanes
and witness the "revolution that is Sasquatch and the Sick-a-Billys."
Courtesy: Stephen Bove, Asbury Park Press, 06/2/06
Psychobilly Creepshow embraces the horror
By Steve Newton - When singer-guitarist
Hellcat (third from left) downs a bowl of four-alarm chili, the other members of
Creepshow know to keep their distance. Creepshow guitarist-vocalist Hellcat
lives up to her nickname on "Doghouse", a rowdy number from the Ontario
horrorbilly band's new CD, Sell Your Soul. That tune sees her exchanging vocal
unpleasantries with Howlin' Hooch Parkins of the Matadors, who plays the part of
the recently jilted ex-lover. "You're in the doghouse, honey," she declares at
one point. "You get out and you stay out, you filthy-ass dog." The scathing duet
leads into a string of vitriolic phone messages from Hooch, wherein the
locked-out rocker angrily questions why Matadors bassist Creepin' Jeff
Sheppard's car is parked in Hellcat's driveway at 4:30 in the morning. The
tortured rants sound genuine, but as Hellcat explains on the line from a buddy's
house in Thunder Bay, they were all done in fun. Parkins isn't her bitter
ex-boyfriend after all, but a happily married man. While "Doghouse" effectively
portrays a personal relationship shot to hell, most of the tunes on Sell Your
Soul are horror-themed ditties with titles like "Zombies Ate Her Brain",
"Creatures of the Night", and "Grave Digger". Creepshow blends reverb-drenched
rocabilly stylings with cult- and B-movie references to produce the type of
Halloween vibe the Cramps pioneered in the '70s. "It's definitely been around
for a while," notes Hellcat of the horror/psychobilly genre, "but it is getting
a lot more popular among the kids. At one of our last shows in Burlington, my
hometown, all the little hardcore girls with the black hair are now wearing
Nekromantix T-shirts." Nekromantix is the Danish psychobilly trio that took its
name from German director Jörg Buttgereit's taboo-breaking 1987 necrophilia
opus, Nekromantik. It's the kind of sick flick that Hellcat would easily rate
two dismembered thumbs up. "I have a huge, six-by-10-foot Creepshow 2 headboard
on my bed," the die-hard horror buff reveals, referring to the 1987 anthology
film. "I actually have people send me stuff a lotta the time, like autographed
pictures of Pinhead [from Clive Barker's Hellraiser]. I wish I had met these
[horror icons] myself, but I've made stuff for a few of them. I made a scarf for
Elvira, and a corset top for Sheri Moon, Rob Zombie's wife." In the bio on her
quartet's Web site (www.thecreepshow.ca/), Hellcat states that her hobbies
include "rockin' the sewing machine". For the last three years she's been
running her own business, Honeyshop 13, making women's clothing, including all
her own stage dresses. Her fashion skills are currently on display via
Creepshow's coheadlining tour with the Matadors, label mates on Toronto's new
Stereo Dynamite Recordings. "Our buddy Adam is runnin' the show," she says,
referring to Stereo Dynamite prez Adam Sewell, who also sings in Canuck
riff-rock act Damn 13. "He's been great to us, so it's cool to have a business
and friendship sort of partnership going on. As far as the future, I don't know.
We're just gonna rock 'n' roll and see what happens."
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