as for TA, Tiger Army II is one of my top 10 all time favorite albums. didn't like IV to much. the bad thing about Rockabilly, Psychobilly, Swing, ect, ect. is there are too many snobs who say: "(insert band name here) aren't (insert music style here)." really who cares? if it rocks and moves you then great. I don't care what you call it, its all rock 'n roll to me.
Rev. Horton Heat plays "Rock This Town" with Lee Rocker
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Oct 26, 2008 2:49 a.m. garageink:
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Oct 26, 2008 8:44 a.m. tidalwave_sideburns:
What I dig about psychobilly is that is not political at all. As the punk scene was divided between left wing commie/right wing neo nazi having it out at the concerts, psychobilly stepped in with the same drive punk music has, yet with some the Fonz eternal cool, caddilacs, B-film asinine BS that was not meant to be taken serious in the first place. Furthermore, just like rockabilly, any genre like blue grass, surf, jazz, swing, blues etc could be blended in easily. I think this is a great approach. Too bad now we got bands like the Horrorpops, the Adams Family meets No Doubt, with an upright base so you legitly can call it prefix-billy. My previous band , the Burning Vampires, which sadly broke up about a month ago, was considered a psychobilly band (according to wikipedia)as we were al little faster louder and meaner than the other bands we usually shared the stage with, and were considered rockabilly. I dial in more distortion than I sometimes should, we don't do hound dogs. stray cat struts, or matchboxes,and when we started our gig, all the people that were dancing went back to their seats, went to get drinks, or home, :) . I guess we would have done well with a punkcrowd that never saw a double bass in action. People we played for wanted to dance, and you can't dance to the Ace of Spades, or the psychobilly freakout.
The funny thing is, I do like the approach of psychobilly, but I hardly like any psychobilly bands. I mean the Rev, Hillbilly Hellcats, Legendary Shack Shakers are my favorite bands by far, but I think Rezurex, Os Calepticos and the likes, well, are weak. The lyrics of some of these bands are so dumb that I'm asking myself why should I write one set of lyrics in 18 months, when I could write BS like that, and write 20 songs a year. No one seems to care anyway.
Whether psychobilly is dead, I can't tell. But as the genre seems to contain more and more bands who are more like Greenday with a slapping bass, than Johnny Cash or Jerry Lee Lewis on speed, we might be in for a reinvention and a revival. In general, I think music as an artform or medium is on Intensive Care to say the least. (Who is responsible is a different discussion, no need to go further into this topic)
Long post, better stop now
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- Rated: 22 ↑
Oct 26, 2008 9:09 a.m. Konrad:
Hmmm. I don't know if pyschobilly is dead, or if in the big picture it was ever really alive. It seems to me that there really are not that many bands that can keep my attention span over a whole concert in the genre (actually, this goes for most genres). I will say that I can listen to the Rev for a week straight - maybe because he is not 'all psycho all the time.'
I'm also picky about my rockabilly... Much of it is no more original than current blues (don't get me started on that), and I really can't understand the Setzer bashers who don't dig the big band. His 'Live in Japan' tape is probably the only DVD that I keep returning to, simply because it is so varied and of course so dang tight.
Hmmm. I dunno. The Shack Shakers, Setzer, RHH and Elvis. That's what I'd take to a desert island (with hopes that maybe someone would parachute drop in this or that from time to time.)
And Cousin Harley, can't forget that. His net clips look about as much fun as anything I've seen in a while.
Anyway, back to the point. Thanks for the clips. If anyone thought the Rev would have trouble nailing the licks on That's All Right Mama or Rock This Town, however, well, they haven't seen the Rev.
K
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Oct 26, 2008 9:10 a.m. Danman:
Hi Tidalwave:
Actually the main reason I stopped playing and being psychobilly in the late eightties (or actually I think we stopped in 1990) was that part of the bands and audiences in Europe were attracting more and more Neo Nazi's. The atmosphere was becoming less pure fun and more tense. We were in there just for the fun, no politics, no pretensions, we just had fun playing music with lots of adrenaline. The fun was slowly dissapearing and I'm happy we stopped then. I haven't really been listening to modern psychobilly anymore because I moved on. But I still think back with lots of enjoyment to those years but I'm happy we left the scene on time. Of course it did help that there were also troubles in the band at the end but for me the nazi's and aggression and often gigs (specially in germany) ending or being interrupted by fights between nazi's, psychos and punks (think whole audience fights) were an important reason. -
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Oct 26, 2008 9:37 a.m. Pappy:
I heard psychobilly is where all the Nazis went after punk fizzled out. It's a shame, really.
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Oct 26, 2008 9:48 a.m. Danman:
Yeah it really is a shame because it really was a whole lot of fun in the early years. And I wasn't even there in the very early years at Klub Foot in London. I entered the scene I think in early 1985 and started a band in about the same time. And you really could get lots of gigs in those years in Holland, Belgium and Germany.
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Oct 26, 2008 11:13 a.m. gusto:
i seen my first nazis at a RHH show last year. they tried picking fights and swore at the Rev, he had none of it and called them pussies. it was great, but ultimately ruined alot of peoples nights who where there for a good time. i just wished i had my bros with me. why they associate themselves with psycobilly anyway?
back to topic: i appreciate the point on someones kids dicovering a musical genre, nothing wrong with that its great. But i still think the scene needs some kind of messiah. Its also becoming a but to much like halloween for me. But hey maye thats 1/2 of it, dressing up and playing the part. great discussion btw.
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Oct 26, 2008 12:37 p.m. tidalwave_sideburns:
Why can't nazi's go to these kind of gigs, :)
http://videa.hu/videok/zene/rezurex-everyday-is-halloween-elo-horrorpunk-koncert-w...
(And we democratically decided this song shoud be added to our setlist...)
I've never seen nazi's, they call them Hungarists here, at the 'scene' in Budapest. (It's so small, you can't even call it underground). That nazi's like psychobilly doesn't surprise me. Anything fast and filled with adrenaline goes for them, I guess. I'd be more surprised if they started to like Vivaldi's frivolous compositions, or the pussycat dolls. But let's refrain from labelling it as nazi music, as we all know what the consequences will be.
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- Rated: 93 ↑
Oct 26, 2008 1:38 p.m. Pappy:
I'll admit, if it weren't for psycho, I probably wouldn't have been as interested in Gretsch. I've been interested in them ever since I saw the video for Prisoner of Society by the Living End, but it was bands like Tiger Army and the Rev that sealed the deal and made me start lurking here in '02 and posting in '05.
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Oct 27, 2008 11:45 a.m. tidalwave_sideburns:
Oh yeah, let the record show that Lee Rocker has an amazing voice too.
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Oct 27, 2008 12:21 p.m. TwangOmatic:
tidalwave_sideburns said: Oh yeah, let the record show that Lee Rocker has an amazing voice too.
He does, better than setzer or the rev. -
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Oct 27, 2008 1:57 p.m. tidalwave_sideburns:
All fit their music well, but yeah.
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Oct 28, 2008 8:13 a.m. Konrad:
Lee Rocker surprised me with his voice on that clip. I think it's better than it used to be. On the other hand, I've always thought Setzer had a great voice, but it seems like he's slipping a little, probably because of his hearing problems. Does anyone have an update on that? I read once that he was not supposed to play live anymore, but he still does.
Since reading that I make my bands practice at really low volumes. I can't play with earplugs - just too weird for me. Don't feel like I can sing with them in. So we turn it down...
Sorry to get off topic.
Tidal, I didn't know you were in Budapest. We're neighbors! I'm up in Warsaw (not this week, but usually). We'll have to take a trip down one day with the band.
K
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Oct 28, 2008 8:28 a.m. jetbunny:
Konrad,
Believe me. BETTER wear earplugs now. Don't be like me, only after getting my left ear shot.
Setzer sold his 33' Deuce, his Harley thru eBay partly because of his hearing and partly money, I guess.
Going back to topic, yeah, Lee sings well.
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- Rated: 8 ↑
Oct 28, 2008 12:25 p.m. tidalwave_sideburns:
Hi Konrad, I already knew you were from Warsaw, I checked your band's homepage, :) (I'm not Hungarian, but actually Dutch. My wife's Hungarian, and the reason I moved here in the first place, :) . ) Say, if you need to check some hotspots in town to perform, I could give you a list. I won't be able to arrange a shared gig yet, as we only have 3 songs ready with my new band, but I'd be looking forward bringing you guys over, and do some serious rocking!
Also try and get to play on the Sziget festival, a very famous festival , held every year in Budapest, with bands from all over the world, famous ones too, :). Good times.
Recently, one of my old buddies came to town, and went to one of our rehearsals. He couldn't stand the volume, as it was too loud. At that time, I got used to the cymbals ringing, etc etc, but I also remembered I thought that there was no way in hell we're going to rehearse at this volume when we started there. We did, and now I got "used" to is....
Let this be a warning to you guys, because it is scaring the shit out of me... I should take care of my ears man, damn.
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- Rated: 22 ↑
Oct 28, 2008 1:34 p.m. Konrad:
Tidal,
Same story here. I 'got used' to the volume level at rehearsals, and now I'm toning it down. I think you do need to do some rehearsals at high volume just so everyone knows where they stand on stage, but not if you are gigging a lot. I have gigs about three times a month or more. The last thing I need is a loud rehearsal where I might miss something because of the volume. The worst thing is getting on stage in front of a great sound system and only then hearing some goofiness that shouldn't be there to begin with.
I'm curious, however. Does the Rev use earplugs live? I know a lot of guys do. It's just hard for me to sing in them - maybe just a mental thing.
Tidal, we'd definitely be interested in coming down... What's the scen like there?
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- Rated: 53 ↑
Oct 28, 2008 2:13 p.m. Ratrod:
I think Setzer's hearing problem has to do with the big band's volume. He needs two amps + monitors to hear himself play. And let me tell you, there's nothing louder than screaming brass. It's on the pain threshold.
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- Rated: 74 ↑
Oct 28, 2008 2:22 p.m. bonedaddy:
I had the opportunity to talk to Spazz (his bassist) after the last Christmas Extravaganza I attended. Apparently, the hearing stuff is so bad that he's been wearing hearing aids.
I believe you have two types of hearing deterioration; acute, and chronic. Acute would be a trumpet to the ear, chronic would be years and years of gigging at hearing damaging volume. I'm sure Setzer has a bit of both. The guys been gigging at volume for 30+ years.
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Oct 28, 2008 6:49 p.m. Konrad:
Bonedaddy,
That's totally depressing to hear. Such a great talent and he can't hear. I guess it's one of those kinds of things that when it's gone, it's just gone.
Whoa...
K
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- Rated: 53 ↑
Oct 29, 2008 4:39 a.m. Ratrod:
Wasn't it Mozart who was deaf?
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Oct 29, 2008 4:45 a.m. Danman:
Beethoven was deaf if I remember correctly!
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Oct 29, 2008 5:00 a.m. tidalwave_sideburns:
I always mix those two up...
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Oct 29, 2008 5:17 a.m. garageink:
I've been front and center at BSO shows and it is hella loud. I can't imagine being at ear level to that brass section, like Brian is.
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Oct 29, 2008 5:51 a.m. Tsar Nicholas :
How could you mix up Beethoven and Mozart?!
Beethoven was the man.
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- Rated: 31 ↑
Oct 29, 2008 6:13 a.m. Danman:
Hey Tsar, you are right: anyone who can write:
DA DA DA da...... DA DA DA da...... is the man.
