Rockabilly-Online

The WyattChristmas Trio from Germany; I’ve already interviewed them in 2010.
But since then, a lot has happened.
The frontman of the band, Andy WyattChristmas (Wyatt like Wyatt Earp) is still leading the band, since he started the trio in 2008.
They’ve released their first album in 2010 called “Well, it’s allright”.
But since then two members have left the band and they’re replaced by Lee Diefenbach (drums & vocals) and Ralf Exter (bass & vocals).
With this line up they’ve released recently the second album, called “I’ve got rhythm”. And for sure, the name is perfectly chosen!

You can describe their sound as a mixture of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Blues and swing. A vintage sound like the early fifties, very danceable music.
Most of the songs (90%) are self-written songs and the harmony vocals run like a thread through the whole album.

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Photo by Terral Bouman

All of my 22 years here on earth I’ve lived in Rotterdam. I grew up with wild rockin’ stories about jivin’ in Jailhouse Place, and late nights at The Flaming Star. But those places are no more 🙁 So I traveled all over the country for party’s, thinking that rockabilly in Rotterdam is gone. Until the last few months!

It started with a event called “De Rotte Tiet”. In english, translates to ” the rotten titty”. But let me explain! The name came from a parody of The Titty Twister, from From Dusk Till Dawn! Born from the brains of Jesse van der Heijden and Dennis Klootwijk, the plan is to organize a party, where you can just be yourself. Guys can be just classy lads, girls can be pretty ladies! Not like the disco,hipster and hiphopin’ folk on the regular places. The evening is filled with dirty Rock’n’Roll and Rockabilly, boppin’ tracks! Hans Worst is there to still you’re hunger with sauce, right from the grill. You can have you’re picture taken! And it goes on till late! I know, because I spinned the wax there! I danced like crazy when I didn’t spin. But the best part, I saw the older generation rockers and the newer generation in one place! So I highly recommend to go there! And I Look forward to the next edition!

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Calabrese – the trio brothers that hail from Phoenix Arizona – have a new album called “Born with a Scorpions Touch,” a newer, harder sound busting out balls of steel and riding high on the hog. Blood, Sweat and Tears were put into this album and it is hardcore to the core. The Scorpion is the main symbol and the key to Calabrese. Revenge is sweet of this band as it tells the tale as this album unfolds. They call themselves “American Rebel Death Riders.” This is the band that is going to take the world by storm, the living and the dead, one step at a time.

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Front cover of the single

I see you reading this title, and think: ‘Why in Elvis’ name would he post this on here? Isn’t this supposed to be on the psycho page? That’s what i thought when i got the 45RPM in my hands from Dee-Ann at her performance in the Cruise Inn. Looking at the cover, you would think that too. The guys, Sir Lee Tea on the guitar and vocals and Devilish Daz Thrash on the stripped down Voodoo drum set, look like a bunch of English gravediggers.

The two titles i saw on the cover are Rockin’ In The Graveyard and a cover of Tornado. Off course “Tornado” got my attention, because its one of the best boppers ever! I frequently bop to this song, be it on the hardwood floor in the Cruise or in my room 😀 So I didn’t go my normal way but decided to hear the B-side first. Their version of this song, originally published in 1959 by The Jiants, Begins with a storm over the graveyard, which you keep hearing during the song. It sounds new and not with that classic feeling to it, but that doesn’t take away that this is a good cover. Lee’s voice sounds raw.

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Ollie Vee, a Canadian band, have their first cd released called Lonesome girl.

Jesse Adamson: lead vocals, guitar
Johnny Vassos :guitar
Howard Linscott: double bass
Adam Perzia: drums

The cover has some great pictures. Inside the sleeve you’ll find a story about the recording of the album, as they call it: it was live off the floor, some songs were recorded in one take! All on tape to get that vintage sound. (Jesse tells about it in RBO’s interview: https://www.karto.nl/?p=10417)

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Candye Kane’s new album Coming out Swingin’ has it all and proves again that Candye can’t be pushed into one musical direction. Starting with the title song, it has a the big band swing of the roaring twenties feeling. Then she takes us to rhythm and blues shuffles, sixties summer song “When tomorrow comes”. “Rise up” clearly refers to the Motown days and then back to her autobiographical and melancholic song “Invisible Woman”. You should listen to the lyrics to take a peek into her deepest emotions the last few years, of transforming from a big breasted singer, to a older and wiser cancer surviver, still singing and inspired more than ever to make music.

Although you’d think, can’t she make up her mind which way to go? This mixture of styles is held together by her great musicians like guitar slingerette Laura Chavez, master of the piano keys Sue Palmer, Thomas Yearsley, and of course her rhythm section, horn player etc. They create the sound on this album which makes it the perfect combination of songs which surprise you all the way through.

Most songs written by Candye and Laura. ‘What love can do’ is written bij Rick Estrin, one great Rhythm and Blues artist from today. All recorded live at the Thunderbird Analog Studio.

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As i might have mentioned before, Cousin Harley from Canada are one of the finer rockabilly trio’s out there. Deliberately i refer to them as a rockabilly band, however that label doesn’t do this band justice. For newbies to this band just a few words to better describe this pack of distinguished yet somewhat wild gentlemen; Drummer Jesse Cahill isn’t just a rockabilly drummer but in the Canadian jazz scene he is regarded as a fine craftsman practicing the art of subtle jazz drumming and played with quite a few jazz greats. Keith Picot has a great passion for Louis Armstrong and Bob Wills (keeps him up all night), which makes him a serious force in swinging the doublebass. Apart from his mysterious ways of turning soup into Cousin Harley’s greasy hairpommade he is a silent movie director and stars in his own productions regularly(with hilarious results too). Cousin Harley a.k.a. Paul Pigat doesn’t seem to have any hobbies and i imagine he doesn’t need any. Why? He is very serious about guitarplaying and songwriting and has brought out a couple of (solo)albums that showcase his talent. Travispicking at lightspeed is but one of his trademarks that made him earn the respect of guitarplayers all over the world.

B’hiki Bop is the fourth album the band has recorded and being the creative soul Paul is, he thought it was just the right moment for recording one strictly instrumental. Despite the fact that these gentlemen can play their rootsy brand of music at supersonic speed there’s a lot of variation to be heard and quite a number of styles and different rhythms.

All instrumental and originals except for 1 Chet Atkins original; Where Chet went for a Django-ish kinda’ tone, Paul seemed to have chosen for his own sound with class A backing from Jesse and Keith, love this one! I’ll talk you through a couple of the original tunes then.
Rigby’s romp; Big band floor tom groove with just guitar, untill Keith joins, that is. Freddie green-ish style rhythm guitar and a couple of whatevertherecalled whacky guitar effects. Nice snare and swing action on Jesse’s part there, love it, these guys cook!! Sounds like someone dusted off his cowbell on Winkle Picker. Not the everyday drumgroove, surf-ish guitar. This is a Cousin Harley signature tune.

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In the spring of 2012 I’ve already introduced you to The Obscuritones, a 6 piece band from London (UK), by reviewing their 8-track demo.

The Obscuritones are Joey Hill and Gaby Romano (both vocals), Hugh Byrne (guitar and vocals), Andy Bavington (bass), Phil Casey (drums) and Sam Kidman (guitar).

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Part 3: Nico Duportal and his Rhythm Dudes – Real Rockin’ Papa

The Album Cover

Before I started this review, I heard about this guys because they started appearing at some festivals I read about. I also read they were a rhythm and swingband.

Shot of the band

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Hoorn Rock ‘n’ Roll, a famed rock and roll party in the centre of the city of Hoorn, The Netherlands. I heard a lot of great things about this party, but i never went, though i had planned to go last year. To my disappointment i missed the party, and with that the Teddy Boy singer Yann the CorrupTED! So when I was asked to go, and one of the organizers  who also writes here one this site, asked me too, I didn’t have a choice 😉 So i got a ride and went there.

Poster from the event

I went with some friends, and we first went to the Spunyboys, of course.  The first set was as energetic and powerful as every time i see them! He had a great arsenal of songs, including songs from Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran. He even played the great Sandy Ford’s song Oh What A Shame. ‘Especially for Rocky’, Remi(the singer) said, Sandy Ford being from the Teddy Boy band The Flying Saucers. Near the end of the first set we went for a stroll to see which band to go next. On the way I came by a lot of friends from all over the country 😀 We just walked from bar to bar and saw Gotta Go, The Rechords (good band!) and the 2-tones, before walking into El Rio Trio. Always good, the quartet from Amsterdam! Bopper had his new pinstriped bass and wasn’t scared to show it off.  And although the bar was small (all bars were), they played the roof from the joint again!

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Part 1 – If your lonely,  rock-a-bop your socks off!

The whole package from Crazy Records

When I came home I found two packages on my doormat. One contained a CD from The Royal Hounds, which I wrote about earlier.  The second package contained some vinyl and some cds. When I took a look, I saw that they container some various subgenres of rockabilly, like Neo rockabilly, Rock and Roll, swing and of course regular rockabilly.

Al Willis & the New Swingsters

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When I came home I found two packages on my doormat. One contained a CD from The Royal Hounds, which I will review here. The package didn’t contain only the cd, but also a nice letter was in there. I will tell something about the band. The Royal Hounds are from Knoxville, Tennessee, state of the king and base for the roots of rockabilly. Scotty Hinds is the leadsinger and standupbass, accompanied with Scott “Bramble” Billingsley(drums) and Brian Lee(guitar).

The Band

The Albumcover

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The Deadlies

Surf. Is it considered Rockabilly or not. Its an ongoing discussion. I consider instrumentalists like Dick Dale Surf/Rockabilly. And I think Link Wray is also more Rockabilly (Run Chicken Run is a bopper)! More recently, The Montesas bring their own style of surf rockabilly. So when I got a CD from The Deadliest, a surf band from California, I was curious. They say they pay homage to the Ventures, Dick Dale and the Chantays , so I didn’t know what to expect.

For me surf is very relaxing, like the soundtrack from Pulp Fiction. Wrong! When I inserted the CD, I heard a lot of upbeat guitar! My feet were taping, so much for relaxing 😛 Its modern day surf, with more electric. Although “Wudy’s Ghost” sounds oldschool. And Star Sprankled Banner has a little Dixie riff at the beginning, which I find funny because it’s the American anthem :P. “Rumbled” clearly is a cover of Link Wray’s “Rumble”, which they do good. A lot of variety in the guitar work! But the album also contains some relaxing surf i described earlier!

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Voodoo Swing released their first album We’re Usin’ Code Names! in 1993 on Nervous Records. Their second album Well, Okay Then! was released on Netherlands’ Rockhouse Records label. Now they are attached to the Electric Lotus Label, starting with their 2011 album Keep on Rollin’ and this years’ Fast Cars, Guitars, Tattoos & Scars.

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Being an Elvis-fan, I think it’s very nice to write something about his work and music.
In September 2012 you may have already read an interview on our site with Ed Philips, the Hungarian Elvis (https://www.karto.nl/?p=8698#more-8698).
How nice it is, that now the first CD is released by Ed Philips and the Memphis Patrol, called “Elvis Live”.
The CD is released by Grund Records and besides Ed with the lead vocals, the Memphis Patrol are Long Tall Sonny (guitar), Tom Stormy (drums) and Lizard Firehand (double bass).
The CD has 17 songs, all Elvis-covers. The CD starts with the song CC Rider. A very appropriate song, ‘cause in the seventies it was the opening song of every live show Elvis played.
But what a surprise it was; a very good version of CC Rider, not a standard version as we are used to but an up tempo Rockabilly song, very well played by the guys of the Memphis Patrol.
Also the second song, Stuck on you, was surprising to listen to, kind of a groovy version. I started to become really excited about the CD, not only because of the high quality of the band, but definitely because of Ed’s voice.  What a beautiful, sparkling and clear voice!

Very nice is the choice of the songs. Not only the well known songs of Elvis are being played, but also the lesser known songs like Fools fall in love, C’mon Everybody and Rubberneckin’.
And don’t forget the up tempo songs like Bossanova Baby, Rock-a-hula baby and Viva Las Vegas.
Surely a CD to remember!

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J.Tex & The Volunteers are an American hillbilly-country blues band from Denmark and Sweden.  So I thought it was worth it to check it out!  I always have fun discovering new bands in the scene! On their site I saw a photo with  bongo drums. I never heard that sort of instrument in rockabilly/country before!

After my research I played the cd. I heard traditional American sounds through my speakers. I couldn’t help but think of the native Americans while listening. Also I got a relaxed feeling as the cd played on J Every track has a beat that makes you sit down and listen.

For the lovers of roots, country/hillbilly or just relaxing music, this is defiantly a must-listen. That’s all I can say of this  album.

Vic Holveck is a musician who was already well known back in the 50’s. He recorded his famous song “Bop Diddle-Widdle” in 1955 and therefore he was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 2009. The Rockabilly Hall of Fame was created in March 1997 and the first certificate was presented to Sarah Craddock for her brother Gene Vincent.
Elvis Presley has been added almost 10 years later, because the Hall of Fame didn’t believe Graceland had the proper respect for their efforts!

Vic spent 15 years of his drumming career touring throughout the country with famous musicians as Jimmy Clanton and Charlie Prose.
He has been working as a drum teacher for over 32 years, the last 10 years at the Accent Music School of Contemporary Music. He teaches all styles including rock, jazz, bebop and classical drumming techniques.

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The Album Cover

For the rockers who are expecting a late Christmas-CD from this article, comes out deceived. Because that’s what i first thought when i heard this. But when i did the CD in the player on Christmas , I was happily surprised!

Let’s begin with the label, Part Records. I remembered that i saw this label on the cd’s and lp’s from the Foggy Mountain Rockers and other great bands. So I went and look at other bands Part Records putted out, so I could get some expectations from this album.

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“How much emotions can you have in one weekend”. Quote from a friend.

It has been 30 years since a well known group of friends called The Bopcats from Amsterdam decided they needed a Rock’n’Roll bar of their own. Since then the Cruise Inn grew out to be one of the greatest Rock’n’Roll bars of The Netherlands. Rockers from all over the world come here to listen to rockabilly, drink, dance, bop and just have a good rockin’ time. Although i’ve been going to the cruise all my life and a lot of people saw me growing up there, its just the last few years that I have been visiting the Cruise on a regular basis. But even in those few years I made a lot of friends, and every night I have a blast! Most of the nights I stay till they kick me out 😉

The Cruise Inn

So when I heard they would celebrate their 30 year existence big time, I said I be there. I even wanted to film it for 2 days! And when I heard the Foggy Mountain Rockers would play, I went mad! They are one of the best modern day Teddy Boy bands. They started in Germany in 1992, my birth year. With a lot of singles, LP’s and cds on their name, they grew out to be a standard on Teddy Boy concerts!

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When I got home, I found a package waiting to get opened by me. When I opened it, I saw two cd’s with a visit-card. On the back there was a Thank You from Jacen Bruce.  The first album was titled The Sun Album, which got me curious. Of course it’s a big dream for Rockabilly/Rock and Roll-artists to perform in Sam Philips’ House Of Rock! Like many of you know, Sun holds a lot of big names from the rockabilly-history: Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee, Johnny Cash and so on.

When I inserted the cd, I heard that sweet sound of rockabilly through my speakers.  I heard some familiar songs like “Baby Lets Play House”, “Little Sister” and “Don’t be Cruel” (all Elvis songs, accidently :P). But not only The King gets the honor of getting covered, also Burnette’s “My One Desire” and Cochran’s “Twenty Flight Rock” get sang back to life again! And once again I could feel the country-influence! It’s a nice tribute to Rock and Roll.

The second cd is titled “The Siren”, and since the subtitle is “14 tracks of Fact and Fiction”, I’m guessing it refers to the Greek mythological creature that lured sailors into their dead with music. Ironic:P. Immediately I heard the slap-bass!  The second song with the albums name actually is about a girl that obsesses man, pretty funny!

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