Category Archives: rockabilly

by Nick

CINE-WEEN: Put Some Terror on Your Turntable With Pig Baby’s Deadbolt reissues

CINE-WEEN: Put Some Terror on Your Turntable With Pig Baby’s Deadbolt reissues

CINE-WEEN: Put Some Terror on Your Turntable With Pig Baby’s Deadbolt reissues

The scary and eerie voodoobilly sounds of Deadbolt have been emanating from southern California for well over two decades now, but until this past March, very little of the band’s output has been available on vinyl. Aside from a few split singles and 7-inch releases, the music from “scariest band in

Source: www.cinepunx.com/cine-ween-put-some-terror-on-your-turntable-with-pig-babys-deadbolt-reissues/

by Nick

JD Wilkes on the Dirt Daubers and writing

The Dirt Daubers (l-r): Rod Hamdallah, JD Wilkes, Jessica Wilkes, Preston Corn Photo: Joshua Black Wilkins

The Dirt Daubers (l-r): Rod Hamdallah, JD Wilkes, Jessica Wilkes, Preston Corn
Photo: Joshua Black Wilkins


If there were a position for the artist most likely to cause a ruckus, it would be JD Wilkes. As frontman for the Dirt Daubers, to say nothing of th’ Legendary Shack Shakers, the man’s known for being a growling rockabilly frontman, and absolutely captivates when he’s on stage. If you live in the Kansas City area, you’ll get several chances to catch Wilkes in the coming weeks: JD Wilkes & The Dirt Daubers perform at Springfield’s Outland Ballroom on Sunday, February 15, and then Wilkes performs solo several times during the 2015 Folk Alliance International conference, which runs Wednesday, February 18 through Sunday, February 22. Wilkes was kind enough to answer a few questions for us via e-mail in advance of these shows.
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by Nick

Ensminger’s “Mavericks of Sound” succeeds in spite of its author

The new collection of David Ensminger‘s interviews, entitled Mavericks of Sound: Conversations with the Artists Who Shaped Indie and Roots Music (out now from Rowman & Littlefield), is a mixed blessing. The insight one gets from the artists with whom he speaks is deep and interesting. It’s rare that artists such as Jason Ringenberg of Jason & the Scorchers, the Reverend Horton Heat, or the Nerves and Plimsouls’ Peter Case get the sort of deeply-introspective and serious discussion presented here.

To see Ensminger go beyond the superficial interviews most of these artists receive — if they’re ever spoken with at all — is heartening. Mavericks of Sound is best when it allows these rarely-heard musicians to go beyond discussing their latest album, and dig deep into the influences which shaped them, and the particulars of their journey to now.
book cover - mavericks of sound
That said: Ensminger can go on. When he does something like laying out a lengthy Woody Guthrie quote in his interview with Robert Earl Keen, you’re not quite certain as to whether that’s meant to elicit a certain response from his subject, or if it’s simply meant to show the depth of Ensminger’s own personal knowledge. Rarely does it seem that the author achieves much connection with the artist he’s interviewing. Reading the short pieces toward the end of Mavericks of Sound reveals a certain terseness of response from some of his subjects.
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by Nick

Podcast #102, “In Advance Of”

comingupThere are times where I wish I’d just use all of the outtakes to the show, just so you can see how utterly amused I am by myself. It gets a little silly down here in the basement sometimes — there are things I say and do that leave me utterly in stitches. Additionally, I feel Like I should let you know what i listen to as I type up these previews as the podcast encodes. Currently: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ Damn the Torpedoes. I’ve not had a copy on vinyl in the decade I’ve been in possession of a decent turntable, and it’s astonishing how much better it sounds than any of the innumerable singles when they’re on the radio.

All ranting aside, we’ve some great music from Slovenly Recordings, amongst others, to say nothing of an interview with Rick Miller of Southern Culture on the Skids about the upcoming three-way split double LP they have with Los Straightjackets and the Fleshtones. It comes out October 1 on Yep Roc, and is entitled Mondo Zombie Boogaloo. You can find tour dates and order the record at Yep Roc’s site.

Podcast #102, “In Advance Of”
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by Nick

The Lonesome Savages sound like I’m drunk (and why that’s wonderful)

cover-lonesome-savagesThe debut single from Wisconsin’s the Lonesome Savages, All Outta Love, might be the only thing the rockabilly genre’s produced worth listening to since the first Amazing Royal Crowns LP. It’s an astoundingly original take on the genre, yet draws on enough familiar influences (Charlie Feathers by way of the Cramps) to keep it grounded in some sort of reasonable genre ballpark.

Now, is it three covers and one original? Yes. But it’s not like it’s the first debut release to do so. The Cramps’ Gravest Hits was mostly covers, as was half of the Specials’ self-titled. This is what bands do, if they’re able – when you don’t have enough songs you’ve written, you take the ones you know and put your own sonic imprint on ’em. Let those fuckers know who you are, one way or another, am I right?
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by Nick

Die Zorros, “Future” LP

cover-die-zorrosWhile Voodoo Rhythm might drop the occasional bomb, it seems that anything released featuring label head Beat-Man is a gem. In some cases, that gem is a diamond in the rough – emphaiss on the rough. Such is Die Zorros‘ Future, a strange journey through originals and covers in what the label accurately terms a “Farfisa Organ Fiasko.”

Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab” is stripped down to its instrumental components, with the only lyrics being “No, no, no.” It’s a deconstruction that continues on through the rest of the album – the only words in their strange surf version of “Paint It Black” is the rhythmic chanting of “black.” The whole thing plays like a warped version of lounge music, from a world where LSD is passed out like after-dinner mints and absinthe gets tossed back like PBR. The covers are familiar enough once your ears catch onto what’s being done to them, but the twists come fast and furious.
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by Nick

Author Max Décharné talks rockabilly

max-decharne
Author Max Décharné‘s new book on the history of rockabilly, A Rocket In My Pocket, was an instant favorite here at Rock Star Journalist headquarters. The book’s take on the rock ‘n’ roll genre precursor focuses just as much on the obscure gents releasing barely-heard singles on local labels as it does the big hits, making for an engrossing and informative read. So, it ges without saying we were thrilled beyond belief when offered an opportunity to interview the man. He was kind enough to take some time to answer our questions regarding his book and career via e-mail.
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by Nick

Decharne’s history of rockabilly covers them all, big and small

book-cover-rocket-in-my-pocketMax Decharne‘s new history of rockabilly for Serpent’s Tail, A Rocket In My Pocket: The Hipster’s Guide to Rockabilly, takes a little bit to get going. It’s understandable – there’s a lot of history to set up, and a lot of characters to introduce, be they Sun Records owner Sam Phllips, cover boy Elvis Presley, or the queen of rockabilly, Wanda Jackson. Basically, Decharne takes several dozen rockabilly musicians, as well as various labels that run the gamut from international to recording in someone’s garage, and gives them to the reader in a flurry of names.
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by Nick

Better than MTV

To make the obvious joke, we play videos… some pop-punk, rocket roll, more pop-punk, and some hardcore. All relatively recent, and good. Although, really… my promo copy of the new H2O album, Nothing to Prove, ended up being blank. SO I can’t say as to whether or not the whole record is as good as the singles I’ve heard.

Teenage Bottlerocket – “In the Basement”

the Phenomenauts – “Infinite Frontier”

the Cute Lepers – “Terminal Boredom”

H2O – “What Happened?”

Three Teenage Bottlerocket MP3s off of Warning Device over here at Battle of the Midwestern Housewives.

by Nick

Writing about writing about listening

Reading about stuff, especially music stuff, makes me happy. I mentioned Seven Ten Twelve recently, but I’d like to more deeply explain why it’s one of the best vinyl sites out there. Yeah, the stuff he covers is a litte hipster-y, but it’s all quality stuff that my local record store carries, so I actually know what i’m getting into. It’s like a second opinion from a friend you trust. A lot of the stuff Paul (Lawton, the fella who runs Seven Ten Twelve) mentions is limited, so it’s a nice heads up regarding things you might otherwise miss out on. And, as an added bonus, he’s from Canada, so you get interesting spellings like “tonne.”

Along the lines of obscure, limited vinyl is the simply-named Limited Edition Vinyl. As one would expect, that’s the subject, be it big name or small name stuff. You get pressing colors, variations, numbers, and (most importantly) where you can get this stuff ASAP. The best part about the site aside from the content is the insanely long list of labels that sell vinyl in the page’s sidebar. You can start randomly clicking and soon find your credit card maxed out. I recommend starting over at Voodoo Rhythm out of Switzerland. It’s run by the Reverend Beatman, frontman for the Monsters. Crazy crazy blues garage rockabilly label.

Lo-fi craziness, as is the stuff over at Douchemaster. They put out a Hex Dispensers 45 that I picked up after SXSW, and it’s damn good. They’ve put out a couple Carbonas singles, as well. Their stuff is a little more limited than the Voodoo Rhythm material, but the site isn’t a hodge-podge of bad HTML and spotty English, either.

the Monsters – “I Wanna Do What I Wanna Do” (from Garage Punk Vol. 1)
the Hex Dispensers – “Taxidermy Porno” (from the Lose My Cool single)