Rockabilly-Online

The name “Whistlin’ Dixie” is an expression from the South of USA. So is the expression “ High-Faluter” meaning: “big-headed or nose up” (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=high-falutin).

It’s not the way the bandmembers of The Hi-Faluters are, but they did like the name and so the band name was chosen. Why they started the band? To answer this question they quote Elvis: “Rhythm is something you either have or don’t have. But when you have it, you have it all over”

The Hi-Faluters

Marc, tell us about how the band started.

We started as a Country & Western band “Whistlin’ Dixie”, but as “The Hi-Faluters “ we exist for 3 years now. We all live in Amstenrade, Limburg The Netherlands, except for Freddy (Upright Bas). So when we became the Hi-Faluters we decided to turn things around completely and to play the music that comes straight from our hearts.

When we choose our music we have a set of rules:

• We only play it the way it was played 50 years ago by many of our heroes, which means no devices like footswitches for our guitarplayer and away with the electric bass. All our instruments and amplifiers are from 40´s en 50´s. This combination produces our authentic sound.  
• The songs may not be written after 1959. So no new songs in a Rockabilly jacket. No Way!
• No standards songs that everyone has heard more than a thousand times and also not to many well known top 100 songs from the area we mentioned.

It’s a sure thing that all these points combined, and of course the way we play, results in a sound that’s very close to the sound of our heroes from the 40´s and 50´s.

About our style. We tried to prevent our gigs to get boring after five songs. That’s not easy because a band of four people has less possibilities than a bigger band. That’s why we play several styles like: Rockabilly, Hillbillly, Honky Tonk, Western Bop, Rhythm & Blues, Rock & Roll etc. To be honest, I think we handle it very well.

Very important! Play only the things you love to play. The enthusiasm will follow automatically. The spark will reach the audience and this audience is very important.

You play all around Europe and US. How is the Rockabilly scene over there?
Indeed, most of our gigs are abroad, I don’t know why. France, Germany and Belgium are the country’s we visit most. There is a huge Rockabilly Scene over there.
The request that surprised us the most was from Lithuwania. I can recommend it to all musicians to go and play there. You don’t know what’s happening to you. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that the audience, most of them youngsters, act like the audiences you see on old Elvis or Beatles footage. And this ain’t no Hi-Falutin’… Har har … really. Unbelievable!

Our last trip to the USA (Southern States) was in 2008. It was a big dream of us to play in Memphis, Nashville and Austin. This is an experience we’ll never ever forget. Over there, nothing can go wrong. First of all, the Americans are skeptic of course: “Mmmm… let’s see how these guys from Europe are doing.” But it didn’t take long for them to get excited because these Europeans  play “their very own” roots music. Besides, in Memphis, Austin and Nashville our music style isn’t played very much.

Is the Dutch audience much different than the ones abroad?

I answered this question a bit already. I’ll just say, the real roots music lovers are the same everywhere. Also in The Netherlands. They’re the ones you’ll keep on playing for. They know how to motivate you, to get the most out of your fingers and voice. However, there is a huge difference generally. The enthusiasm and fun of the audience is much bigger abroad. Don’t ask me why. It’s odd to me, because I thought Dutch people are known to be party people. But maybe we are too critical.

The Hi-Faluters

Which country is your favorite gig country?
We’d like to stay near home, so Belgium, Germany and of course The NetherlandsJ.

How did your first love for rock and roll start?
Well, that’s a long time ago. My first real hero was and still is “Elvis”. I was 12 years old. I’ll never forget that, out of curiosity, I took a vinyl record of my parents to my bedroom.  It was “Elvis –  Portrait in Music”. Wow….what’s this? In one word: awesome! I was sold immediately and I’m still a big Elvis fan. Later I watched movies like “The Wanderers” and “Grease” Hahaha…

It is hard to explain but my fellow musicians friends and I can identify ourselves with the 50’s completely. Of course I kept on discovering more and more music. I can tell you, sometimes I don’t know who to listen to. One of my favorites are: Elvis Himselvis , Johnny Burnette, Johnny Horton, Onie Wheeler, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Carl Smith en Warren Smith, Bob Luman, Big Joe Turner, Wayne Walker, Dick Glaser,  Moon Mullican etc, etc…….

Do you write your own songs?
No not yet. Probably because we decided to play songs from a certain era. There are so many beautiful and cool songs from that time, that well will never run dry. But who knows… maybe on our CD.

How about that cd. When can we expect the new one?
It’s coming. We record all the songs without an external studio. We record everything without a record label. I can tell you we recorded 12 songs already.

Do you have any do’s and don’ts on stage?
Actually we don’t have any. We identify us with the ‘50’s, so we dress in style automatically.  

Chris Isaak once said in an interview: “We always dress up for a show, because people show up and pay to see us, so why not put a little effort in how we dress. They don’t want to see people on stage, looking like them.”

We play the music we like, but we will always have in mind that the audience paid to see us (mostly) and they deserve something good in return.

Do you like other music styles besides Rock and Roll?
Yes of course: Rockabilly, Hillbillly, Honky Tonk, Western Bop, Rythm & Blues, Rock & Roll, Country and Western, Swing. 

Tell us a funny story.
How big is the chance that the endpin underneath the double bass, would sink into a small hole in a big wooden stage. I can tell you, that chance is very small. But it happened to our bassplayer and you can imagine how that looked like.  

Do you regret anything?
After a four hours drive our drummer found out that he forgot his sticks and cymbals. For sticks he used a pair of wooden slats that night. No one noticed 😉

Any special plans for the future?
We are going to finish the CD and we’d like to play on a festival in England. These things are going to happen eventually. 

Finish this sentence: If I would not make music then…
Let me rephrase the question: If I could not make music anymore then…
I would become very unhappy and the black empty hole in my life would be enormous.

http://www.hi-faluters.com/

http://www.myspace.com/thehifaluters