Topic: Rockabilly suggestions (Read 9178 times)

the-artful-dodger-rodger · « **on:** 23 Nov 2006, 17:49 »

hi all, I need a little help, I want to get into rockabilly music and I looking for some suggestions. I have some tunes like The Stray Cats and the Reverend Horton Heat.

I'm looking for some suggestions.

AlexAttack · « **Reply #1 on:** 23 Nov 2006, 17:55 »

i like tiger army and mad sin but i have a feeling that they might be a bit more on the psycho edge for what you're after dude, but still pretty cool bands.

KharBevNor · « **Reply #2 on:** 23 Nov 2006, 18:22 »

BATMOBILE

the-artful-dodger-rodger · « **Reply #3 on:** 02 Dec 2006, 06:35 »

those bands are good, any other suggerstions?

FireStarter · « **Reply #4 on:** 02 Dec 2006, 06:40 »

Billy Idol, George Thouroghgood (sp?)

bff · « **Reply #5 on:** 02 Dec 2006, 12:11 »

Quote from: FireStarter on 02 Dec 2006, 06:40

Billy Idol

I must have missed something, when did Billy Idol become rockabilly?

the-artful-dodger-rodger · « **Reply #6 on:** 02 Dec 2006, 19:20 »

I was wondering that too

FireStarter · « **Reply #7 on:** 02 Dec 2006, 22:50 »

It's a cross reference type thing. Billy Idol was heavily influenced by rockabilly...anyways....Elton John is another rockabilly...Oh yeah.

the-artful-dodger-rodger · « **Reply #8 on:** 03 Dec 2006, 03:40 »

some reason I dont think Elton John is rockabilly either

bff · « **Reply #9 on:** 03 Dec 2006, 08:11 »

i suggest you get your doctor to up the dosage on your perscription, the current level ain't cutting it.

FireStarter · « **Reply #10 on:** 03 Dec 2006, 08:13 »

Crocodile Rock - Elton John

That's classicly a rockabilly peice. Me FTFW ASSHOLES!

the-artful-dodger-rodger · « **Reply #11 on:** 03 Dec 2006, 19:56 »

dude just take it easy, I was just asking for some ideas.

Devil Bastard · « **Reply #12 on:** 08 Dec 2006, 11:47 »

Rockabilly is an odd genre, in that there are tons of unknown/obscure artists out there whose work doesn't get thrown all over the webernets because, unlike other genres, most people don't bother with it. That said, here are some suggestions:

Old School:
Carl Perkins
Johnny Dollar
Roy Orbison (he cut some great songs for Sun)
Warren Smith
Jumpin' Gene Simmons (no, not the KISS guy)
Narvael Felts
Charlie Feathers
Billy Lee Riley
Joe Clay
Janis Martin

New School/Psycho:
the Tremors
Bloodshot Bill
Go Cat Go
Batmobile
Lucky Devils
Mad Heads
Season of Nightmares
Peacocks
Mad Sin
Spike (Japanese and hard to find, but worth the effort)
Speed Crazy
Demented Are Go
Klingonz

A good mailorder place besides Interpunk is Raucous Records (www.raucousrecords.com); they sell a lot of this stuff. Bear Family has a lot of great stuff too, but it's expensive.

That help any?

Brian Majestic · « **Reply #13 on:** 08 Dec 2006, 12:41 »

Yay, finally a topic about good music!

Now what sort of stuff are you looking for? We can go classic 50s rockabilly, hillbilly bop, or 80s neo-rockabilly, or into psychobilly, punkabilly, gothabilly, and a million-kinds-of-music-that-has-billy-in-it-in-some-way.

Unfortunately, i'm awesomely tired, so I will respond with more tomorrow!

Johnny C · « **Reply #14 on:** 08 Dec 2006, 13:03 »

MURDER CITY DEVILS

Brian Majestic · « **Reply #15 on:** 08 Dec 2006, 20:32 »

Right. Well, as to what you referenced, I would say you're into the neo-rockabilly sound.

I'd begin with all the "cat" bands...

Polecats
Blue Cats
Rockats

As is the case with a lot of neo-rockabilly bands, the older stuff is usually better; this is because as the scene moved from late 70s to middle 80s, new wave became pretty big and a lot of the bands were influenced by it; not a bad thing, per se, but it does lose a lot of its "billy" roots. (especially get Rockats with the early, Levi Dexter-era line up. Eventually, band members came and went, and while the band continues on, the operation is now based in New York instead of England and features no original members)

The Neo-rockabilly/teddy boy scene was very much british in the 80s. With this in mind, a lot of the best stuff came from there; the aforementioned bands, plus other stuff like the Ricochets, The Deltas, The Sharks (early stuff - the newer stuff was pretty good too, but crept towards psychobilly), Rattlers, Shakin' Pyramids, Caravans and DEFINITELY some Restless (who are playing their last ever show in Vegas in March or April) and Matchbox.

Other bands, more in the modern age you may like are Germany's Rockabilly Mafia (a lot of their songs are in German though, that might not be your cuppa), 69Beavershot who in some ways come the closest nowadays to the Stray Cats/Rev. Horton sound you're into, The Howlin' Moondoggies, The Space Cadets, Red Hot'n Blue, and Japan's Starlite Wranglers.

Unfortunately, I have a class now; later, I can delve into 50s rockabilly/western swing/etc and then eventually into psychobilly.

Devil Bastard · « **Reply #16 on:** 08 Dec 2006, 20:56 »

Quote from: Brian Majestic on 08 Dec 2006, 20:32

Polecats...the Ricochets, The Deltas, The Sharks (early stuff - the newer stuff was pretty good too, but crept towards psychobilly), Rattlers, Shakin' Pyramids, Caravans and DEFINITELY some Restless (who are playing their last ever show in Vegas in March or April) and Matchbox.

Shit yeah, I forgot all about the Polecats and the Deltas.

Be careful with the teddy boy stuff, though. A lot of it is weak sauce. Your best bet is Crazy Cavan.

You also might want to check out Hillbilly Moon Explosion, too. They've got a clean, "neo" sound and are pretty good to boot.

Dayuse · « **Reply #17 on:** 09 Dec 2006, 01:09 »

A friend of mine suggested a psychobilly band called "The Matadors" to me once.
Not too bad. I think they have a MySpace.

the-artful-dodger-rodger · « **Reply #18 on:** 09 Dec 2006, 03:52 »

well I started with The Stray Cats and The Reverend Horton Heat, I like the sound then moved on to The Cramps,Mojo Nixon, Nashville Pussy.

but now I going to check out the suggestions that been made.

thanks guys

godinpants · « **Reply #19 on:** 09 Dec 2006, 09:49 »

necromantix

and living end, but the older stuff, like the eps, for your own good, and hellbound.

Brian Majestic · « **Reply #20 on:** 09 Dec 2006, 23:37 »

Quote from: Johnny C on 08 Dec 2006, 13:03

MURDER CITY DEVILS

GREAT garage punk.

Eh, I'll write my psychobilly guide later tonight.

the-artful-dodger-rodger · « **Reply #21 on:** 11 Dec 2006, 03:07 »

Brain Majestic, seems like you know alot about rockabilly, I look forward to your guide.

Johnny C · « **Reply #22 on:** 11 Dec 2006, 10:48 »

Quote from: Brian Majestic on 09 Dec 2006, 23:37

GREAT garage punk.

I think I can be forgiven this as the only full album I've heard consecutively of theirs was R.I.P.

Ernest · « **Reply #23 on:** 11 Dec 2006, 10:57 »

Tiger Army is okay, but psychobilly is one of the worst genres ever to spawn from rock'n'roll. I mean, fuck a genre of rock that fucking requires you to play a stand up bass in order to be legit (I just know somebody is going to give me an example to disprove that statement). Either way, I saw the Horrorpops open up for the Dropkick Murphys. At one point the bitch singer admonished the crowd for not being "the Dropkick audience [she] fucking heard about!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, "That's because you're not the fucking Dropkick Murphys!" Not to mention their stupid dancers. As if that ain't a tired shtick.

Brian Majestic · « **Reply #24 on:** 11 Dec 2006, 20:50 »

Quote from: Flaming Ostrich on 11 Dec 2006, 10:57

Tiger Army is okay, but psychobilly is one of the worst genres ever to spawn from rock'n'roll. I mean, fuck a genre of rock that fucking requires you to play a stand up bass in order to be legit (I just know somebody is going to give me an example to disprove that statement). Either way, I saw the Horrorpops open up for the Dropkick Murphys. At one point the bitch singer admonished the crowd for not being "the Dropkick audience [she] fucking heard about!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, "That's because you're not the fucking Dropkick Murphys!" Not to mention their stupid dancers. As if that ain't a tired shtick.

Tiger Army isn't psychobilly, nor is the Horrorpops...and Patricia is a horrid singer when it comes to trying to get "involvement" from the audience. A group of my friends and I were leaning against the back wall of the venue they played here...they stopped playing mid-song, and started bitching at us to start dancing and get excited or they would stop playing the whole show. We didn't really plan on getting into it, but then we were stared at by 300 intimidating mallrats and finally did so.

As to the upright, it's not really an "essential"; see, the point of the upright is really to add to the "billy" in the music, because in "billy" music, the bass is percussion, and the neck is therefore micced up to get that extra clickity-clack. A lot of hillbilly and into early rockabilly, for example, had no drums, and the bassist was forced to slap away on his upright as the only beat.

And as to the "essentialism" for want of better word, the Meteors, the band that (arguably) invented psychobilly in 1979 rocked the e-bass from 1981 or so until the late 90s; other "big" bands in the scene that used e-bass were the Guana Batz (for the middle period of their career), the Coffin Nails (though their current bassist now swaps from upright to ebass), plus other bands like Monster Klub.

Within the past few years, there -has- been a bigger swap to the upright. I think a lot of it is because many of the newer bands overdo the "horror" lyrics (while the older ones tend to stay away from the cliche), and the guitar has gone from rockabilly-style on gretsch to more punky sounds...if these bands used an ebass, they would for all intents and purposes be horrorpunk...especially with bands like Koffin Kats, 12 Step Rebels, the Massaces, that already have vocalists that sound like Danzig or Michael Graves.

That post is a lot longer than I expected it to be. Haha.

Johnny C · « **Reply #25 on:** 11 Dec 2006, 23:09 »

Brian those are some increasingly silly genre names.

Brian Majestic · « **Reply #26 on:** 11 Dec 2006, 23:39 »

Agreed; imagine trying to say "I'm a psychobilly musician" with a straight face.

Ernest · « **Reply #27 on:** 12 Dec 2006, 02:01 »

I just knew someone would set me straight about Psychobilly.

KharBevNor · « **Reply #28 on:** 12 Dec 2006, 18:44 »

The Meteors are such a fucking good band.

Also, the Coffinshakers.

CaptainLorax · « **Reply #29 on:** 14 Dec 2006, 00:36 »

some of these are a bit borderline rockabilly: they are what I call 'Rusty' music

Red Red Meat (mmm twangy) -If you like Alice in Chains you will love them

what I discovered lately:
The Grifters (try em out)
Royal Trux (edit: this is too weird. I dont think its rockabilly at all)
Railroad Jerk (hard rockabilly)
Those Bastard Souls (Try them out)

and folkier or something:
Crooked Fingers
Sebadoh
Loose Fur
Ugly Casanova

check out Thrill Jockey and Sub Pop labels
you might like stuff like Arizona Amp Alternator or Giant Sand

the-artful-dodger-rodger · « **Reply #30 on:** 14 Dec 2006, 07:03 »

I just wanted thanks to all who replied, I found that out the most of the bands you guys suggest turn out to be some great tunes.

CaptainLorax · « **Reply #31 on:** 14 Dec 2006, 08:27 »

I think The Grifters are my new favorite band

the-artful-dodger-rodger · « **Reply #32 on:** 19 Dec 2006, 03:54 »

at this point of time I familar with neo-rockabilly and psychoabilly, even have some favorite bands too.

but I have heard of gothabilly and punkabilly, so is there any other form of "abilly", like metalabilly?

KharBevNor · « **Reply #33 on:** 19 Dec 2006, 07:08 »

I might call the Grave Stompers Metalabilly, if I was being paid in blowjobs.

Brian Majestic · « **Reply #34 on:** 19 Dec 2006, 09:24 »

Most Metalbilly band I could think of is probably Asmodeus. As I'm sure there's a million bands with this name, they are from the Netherlands and their most recent release is "Diabolique Royale" Their myspace is here: http://www.myspace.com/themightyasmodeus
Personally, I really like them.

Now, beyond that, a lot of the brazillian bands have a more "metal" edge. The recently departed Os Catalepticos, and the band that formed from their ashes, the Sick Sick Sinners.

Other metal-y bands are the Cenobites (Netherlands), Banane Metalik (France - their name means 'killer bananas' by the way), and then other bands like Godless Wicked Creeps (Kim Kix, by the way, later formed Powersolo), Demented Are Go (depending on the record), and the like have metal influences which show on certain tracks.

the-artful-dodger-rodger · « **Reply #35 on:** 22 Dec 2006, 18:10 »

I been listinging to "Demented Are Go", they're ok, could you give more some more neo-rockabilly or talk about 50s rockabilly or western swing.

thanks

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Author Topic: Rockabilly suggestions (Read 9178 times)

AlexAttack

FireStarter

FireStarter

FireStarter

Devil Bastard

Devil Bastard

CaptainLorax

CaptainLorax